A (short) day at the beach

©2013 Lydia Hinshaw

Wednesday's chilly picnic spot

 ORMOND BEACH, FL -- Here it is Almost April and Mother Nature has misplaced her calendar.  The low at our house Tuesday night was 41 degrees.  That's merely cold for January, but it's positively frigid for late March.
 Along with the chill has come low humidity and cloudless days so bright we fear the tropical version of snow-blindness.  We love this weather, but it does impose some limits on our activities.
 Wednesday, Prince Charming and I decided to have a picnic at our town's new beachfront park which opened in February.  At first we were concerned that the place would be crowded, as it is spring break week for local public schools and lots of other school systems too.
 But we had no trouble claiming a picnic table. Why?  Just after noon it was 52 degrees with a breeze that made it seem colder.  The beach at the park was empty except for a retirement-aged couple in jeans and hoodies, huddled in beach chairs with the wind at their backs.
 We were comfortable enough to enjoy our lunch, but were not tempted to linger, or to drag our own beach chairs out onto the sand.  I snapped a few pictures and we retreated to the warmth of the car and our living room.
 In about six weeks, we'll be heading off to Montana for the summer.  We'd love it if the weather stayed cool until then.
 No chance.