January 4, 2024

Most glorious morning. Walked to the beach, having to avert my eyes from the glory in the east. Filled my lungs with sea air. Many Amish from Indiana at the hotel, very jolly and playful. Somehow didn’t expect that. Sat in the hotel lobby writing until driven out by the melancholy operation of taking down the Christmas decorations. 

Ate at Rita’s.

Drive out to island’s end, where you hike across the dune for a glimpse of the rusty lighthouse. We saw many dolphins where the river widens into the sea, and those riven trees that whiten and float across the water and set themselves up into a ghostly forest. Pattering of sanderlings across the beach. They were tame and came quite close. The day was cold but immaculate, a pale blue gray in every corner of the sky.