Cloudy Cabin Sunrise

Il Mostro

I got up and out early this morning and walked the beach by myself. It was still and quiet out. It felt like my own private beach, isolated from the rest of the world and very peaceful. It was nice having the beach all to myself, even if I was not all alone. As I paced the sand I noticed deer tracks in it. These are not all that uncommon, but along this one stretch of sand it looked like the deer had had a party. There must have been a herd of them too, because there were deer tracks going every which way. Further along the sand, some kids had built a sandcastle of sorts and scrawled the message in the sand, “Made by the best sons in the word.” That’s their spelling, not mine.

There was little wind out and the water was reflectively still, reflecting the day’s cloudy sky, when I saw Il Mostro (The Monster), this year’s winner of the Trans-Superior sailboat race. It’s a big boat, one of the biggest in the race, if not the biggest one. Compared to some of the smaller boats in the field it really is a monster. It was headed down bound under sail, returning victorious from Duluth. It mustn’t have even waited for all of the field to finish, before it turned around and headed back down again. That must have been a little disheartening to the stragglers, as it passed them going the other way..

Finally, I saw cormorants, a common sight and a loon, a rarity on the beach. It was fishing not too far off shore. Occasionally diving and then resurfacing. Not too long afterwards, I got a text from Anne, “Coffee is ready.” I then beat feet back to the cabin, full for telling of all the sights that I had seen.

Beach Loon