Soaking Up the Warmth

For those folks weary of cool temperatures, the warmth is here at the beach. The pictures in my post are almost always taken the same day that I write the post. Today's picture is no exception. It was snapped this afternoon at the Eastern Regional Access in Emerald Isle. I thought it was a perfect picture for a nice warm beach day. A broader view of the beach would have shown people relaxing in all the ways that are normal for a beach. Young children were playing in the surf, sunbathers were stretched out on beach towels, surf fishermen were wading in the water, and a number of people were relaxing with a favorite book in their beach chairs. It was a summer beach day with the sun and air warm enough to perhaps tempt even the timid to get into the water.

I love weather like this. After a cool, windy spring, it is time to soak up some of the heat of summer. While that is true in the case of those of us who live near the beach, it is especially true for some of our visitors.

I have some clients who are visiting the Crystal Coast for the first time. They have come from the mountains of Montana where snow has been seen in the last couple of weeks. In fact I checked the early morning temperature at their hometown this morning, it was in the mid-forties. I am glad that they could wake up this morning on Bogue Sound to temperatures in the mid-seventies.

As I stroll to the mail box to pick up our newspaper each morning, I am always excited to experience that time of the day when the air is still cool, but at the same time, you can almost feel the temperature rising as the sun gets higher in the sky. Wednesday will likely be one of those days when the temperature gets over 80 degrees before ten or eleven o'clock in the morning. Those are not good days to mow your during your lunch break.

Those are the days to be on, near, or in the water. It is either that or find some shade and cool breezes off the water. Otherwise you end up in an air conditioned space all day. This morning after some early weeding of our flower beds, I relaxed on our front porch. The sun was still at the back of the house, and the breeze was coming off the water. It was very pleasant, and normal for this time of year. I stayed there as long as I could get way with it, just enjoying the warmth and the breeze.

While even this early in the year, the inland temperatures often soar into the nineties with little relief other than air conditioners. Here on the coast, the cooler-than-land water saves the day in June and even part of July. By late July, the water has warmed and finding cool sea breezes is a lot more difficult.

Today was a day that we could rejoice in the heat, beautiful waters, great breezes, and blue skies. It was one of those picture perfect days that keeps people coming back to the beach to make memories. It was a great day for visitors to defrost all those body parts that suffered so much this past winter.

On our first trip with our children to the North Carolina coast in the eighties when we were living in Canada, my wife got out of the car at a fast food restaurant just on the edge of the coastal plain one July day hot enough to melt asphalt. She announced that for the first time in years, she was completely warm.

There is something to be said for Carolina heat, it makes memories of the winter melt away quickly.