At Home Instead Of Italy

 

Each Beach Walk is Unique ~

We may walk this beach a thousand times ~

And each time will be different ~

We've made it to September!  We should be home from our two month US mainland trip, and preparing for our three weeks in Italy... but instead, I'm working on rehabilitating my foot, and we're quarantining at home as directed by our government, to reduce the spread of the COVID-19 coronavirus. Words can not express how grateful we are to have this beautiful beach on which to do my physical (and mental) therapy!

Today, it looks like we've got a lot of rocks on our beach!  We set off with purpose to make the walk in a shorter time.  

But wait!!!  TURTLE TRACKS!!!

And more turtle tracks!

I just can't resist the distraction of new nests!  We wonder at how many nests we might be missing since we are only walking half a mile along the beach!  So, we abandon our walk and get busy marking and reporting these new nests.  

Bruce got to mark these because tramping through the undergrowth is difficult for me.  We finished our half mile and returned to our resting place near the gate.  But today, I was feeling a little more energetic and less tired after our walk.  I made a short side trip to do a closer inspection of the sea grapes that grow just outside our wall.  

They're beginning to ripen!

Also of note, I found a bunch of Latticed Stinkhorn  growing on our beach!

They are most odd looking, and have a bad smell, thus the name.  But I can't smell them, thankfully.  Evidently the gnats can though!  A small cloud of them was buzzing around this fresh fungus!

See the tiny flying gnats???

How cool is that???  Well, we packed ourselves up and headed for home, but had one more little surprise waiting for us just INSIDE our Clubhouse gate!  There must have been a recent lizard hatch, and bunches of brand new lizards were exploring their new world!  These babies are so cute!  And tiny!  You just never know what wonders will present themselves on a beach walk!

For scale.  See how small he is compared to the tile?

Welcome to the world, tiny lizard!