It’s a warm morning, 5:20, the fan blowing across the room, cloudy sky outside, a few bird songs.

Yesterday morning I made my first fully-equipped bike excursion to the beach. I strapped my beach umbrella to the bike, loaded my backpack with supplies, and rode out around 8:00. It felt good, as it always does, to park my bike (for free) right next to the beach and have all I need right there for me. I walked about twenty paces and there it was, the pristine and almost empty beach. I stayed for several hours, reading comfortably in the shade of the umbrella and watching the beautiful sea slowly change its colors.

Later I met Jaimie, Noah, and Matt at a small beach in Stonington. This time I set up two umbrellas, and then read a few chapters in a book on teaching (a very good one), examined some small crabs Noah caught, laughed at the little guy’s invincible good cheer, and talked with my sons about teaching. Around five, we went to Stonington Pizza where we enjoyed grinders and more of Noah’s cheeriness.