Gratitude Sunday-a day at the beach

Joining Taryn today at Wooly Moss Roots for Gratitude Sunday:
Last night we decided that today would be a day at the beach. We live an hour and a half from Lake Huron and every summer it's on my to-do list to spend at least one day at the beach. I've had my Manifesto for Summer in the back of my mind the last few weeks since cutting my hours back at my job and going to the beach is high on my priority list for really living and enjoying summer. I know in my heart if I set Sunday aside as a day of rest it does me a world of good. Keeping the Sabbath, in the words of Martha Stewart, is a good thing.

It's a stony sort of beach. After the water are the stones, then the sand near the trees.

We sat on the beach for awhile and The Boy combed the water's edge for beach glass and interesting looking rocks. I knit and drank coffee while my husband tried to become comatose on a towel in the sand. The water was pretty cold so not so much with the swimming today.

On the way home,

we stopped in Stratford and poked around the shops.

Somehow after all that sun and sand and riding in a hot car I managed to make an edible dinner of baked chicken, rice and sauteed green beans and mushrooms.

Now sitting here at the beginning of a new week and the end of a day I feel grateful for:
*living close to a beach. It's not California but it's just as pretty and the sand is still warm and the water cool (mmm, cold!)
*ice cream on a park bench
*my new camera and growing skills
*beach-knitting, car-knitting and small projects like socks
*good food and plenty of it
*the sense of abundance I've been experiencing this week
*new books from a book store having it's closing sale
*talking to my girl almost every day this week and hearing her adventures in France and Germany
*green beans from the garden