PHOTO OF THE DAY – July 26th

Today I had the occasion to go to the Goleta Beach State Park. It was all of a 20 minute visit, if that, and it was sandwiched in between two appointments in Goleta. Not that Goleta is so far away (maybe 10 miles max), I just don’t travel north out of Santa Barbara very often.

I was wonderfully surprised when I drove into the parking lot for two reasons: an artist had set up her portable outdoor studio on the fringe of the parking area, and the beach was comfortably barren – meaning there weren’t throngs and throngs of people taking up temporary residence, and it wasn’t totally desolate.

Sometimes we think of things after the fact, like I wish I had talked to this artist and gotten her name, but I didn’t . . . and I took a lot more images than these three – she may have enjoyed having a copy of them, or maybe not.

In that short 20 minute visit I had the opportunity to witness, be a apart of, observe – the most wonderful array of goings-on: from the artist creating her painting, to the flock of pelicans flying overhead – while seemingly picking up a seagull during part of its travel – or maybe the seagull just thought it was a pelican for a brief while!

to the butterfly or moth that lit on this flower for the briefest of moments and had a bug on its wing (which I never saw until I got this image home and downloaded onto my computer)!

to the divers prepping for a morning underwater experience . . .

to the father-daughter bonding time with fun-in-the-sun kayaking . . . . . . .

all with the knowing and assurance that there was a lifeguard on duty as evidenced by his rescue board – this has got to be such a hard life!

And then there was this family of 5 young boys obviously setup for a day at the beach – what fun!

I remember when I was a young child – growing up in the heart of Pennsylvania (Hershey to be exact), the thought of a beach was more like a foreign country; but then we moved to a small town outside of Boston, Massachussetts (Hull) where water and the Atlantic Ocean were an everyday part of life – my Dad even took the ferry across the Hingham and Quincy Bays into Boston every day to go to work! Today, I don’t think I could live very far from the ocean for too long – the smell of the salt air and lull of the waves crashing along the shoreline have an indelible mark on my soul and call to my inner being – it is a place of solace, even during a storm or high surf, the ocean beckons.

And don’t you remember building sandcastle on the sand? This family was totally there for the day, with lots of activities to keep 5 young boys entertained – and worn out at the end of it!

And just before I left the park, a new arrival – a father and son. They placed this visor on the dashboard of their truck to protect it from the UV rays – it was a photo-op waiting to be!

They too noticed the artist in the midst of her creation and paused for a moment to take in the simplicity of the scene and the adeptness of her work. Then just as I had done, they went on their way . . . . and so the cycle begins anew: the cycle of being a part of ‘a day in the life of Goleta Beach State Park’.