After the storm . .

I still haven't had time to run up to Rehoboth to get pictures. I will try to do that tomorrow.

The weather is lovely right now. It has been in the 70's for the last 2 days, the sun is bright and there isn't a cloud in the sky. Purrrfect fall weather!!!!

Yesterday, Chance and I walked on the beach in Bethany. Chance is my sweet doggy. You can see her in the picture above.

As you can see, the storm caused a great deal of beach erosion. I found beach access at Oakwood Street. (The bottom picture.) Walking north, I there were drops of up to 15 foot straight down. The "cliffs" are so high that I wasn't sure exactly what part of town I was in at times. Once in a while, I could see just the top a roof that I recognized. Needless to say, the beach wasn't crowded. I only met one other person on the beach. The winds were gentle and there was only the gentlest of waves.

We walked a little over a half mile north before I found a place to get back to the street without having to turn around. The handicap ramp on the north side of town is still in place, so I used that. It was such a beautiful walk that I would have loved to have stayed much longer.

The shells are starting to wash in. Late fall, winter, and the early spring are good for shelling. I find it fascinating that different types of shells seem to the be more plentiful at certain times of the winter season. The beach was full of shells as you can see in the picture of Chance. Of course, all Chance wanted to do was run and that didn't make shelling easy. I did find a coupla nice conch shells.

The beach replenishment here was done in a much different way then in Rehoboth. The duneline was put much farther away from the boardwalk and it is much higher. It rally doesn't take much of a storm to give the ocean reason to claim what is hers. Rehoboth didn't have as much erossion this time.

A Stormy Jazzfest. . . .

There is soooo much going on in Rehoboth this fall. During the week the town is filled with people taking leisurely walks through town and on the beach, but on weekends it is still downright crowded. As you can see from the photos that I am posting many of the businesses in town are still open. It is so very different from when I grew up here. All of the businesses closed and boarded up on Labor Day back then. I think the only store open in the fall was Lingo's Market on first street. Back then, they were the small "country store" that provided for the needs of the "locals" all year.

Now, there is tons of things to do all over Sussex County every weekend. It is hard to pick what festivals to attend and impossible to do it all. This weekend was Jazz Festival weekend in Rehoboth. Almost every restaurant had a Jazz singer, group, or band for entertainment. There were so many choices that it was mind boggling and leaves you wishing that you had a whole week to take in everything. Each year, this festival gets bigger and better.

Thursday, we were visited by the first of two Nor'easters; the second arrived yesterday. The winds have been bad all weekend, gusting to over 40 mph at times. It has rained almost continually all weekend - sometimes just a mist and at other times torrential. When the rains have lightened people have rushed out wanting to get a look at the beach and to feel the shear power of the ocean. There is nothing like the feel of the salt air stinging your face. The beach has been eaten away by the surf and the water is licking the dune lines at high tide. Interestingly, a Nor'easter, draws people to the beach, so there were even more people here for Jazzfest then usual. Unfortunately, it wasn't possible to stroll restaurant lined Wilmington and Baltimore Streets to listen the the jazz music drifting onto the streets.

I drove from Bethany Beach to Rehoboth around noon on Thursday. The winds have blown the water up into the backbay, so water was all the way across Route 1 in places. Friday, really wasn't a bad day for winds, so driving around wasn't bad at all and people packed the outlets. Yesterday, it was the worst day of the weekend. The winds and rain were at their worst and only the hardiest were out. Route 1 between Rehoboth and Bethany was not a fun drive as the water was on the road in many places and crossing Indian River Bridge was a nightmare. It seemed to me that the worst of the storm hit last night. Today, I didn't go to Rehoboth. I did walk around Bethany and much of it is under water. Bethany is much lower then Rehoboth and is often flooded during a storm.

Good news, Rehoboth has received some of the federal stimulus money. They are replacing the rest of the boardwalk with that money. As many of you know, it is not before it is due. I have posted a picture of the construction. They have started on the south end of the boardwalk and will move to the north end when they are done there. Until they start on the north end, it is still possible to walk from my house to Funland on the boardwalk.

Life is good here!!!!