... For a Picnic

Algies Bay

The golden weather is due to end tomorrow, according to the weather forecast. So we took the time today to pack a picnic lunch and head out to the beach while the sun still shone.
   Algies Bay was calm. We had the whole beach to ourselves, apart from the officious seagulls and the scurrying oystercatchers. The smallest sounds were so clear in the still air: the swish of the wavelets on the sand; the red-billed gulls stamping their feet in the shallows; the tuis singing high in the pohutukawa trees.

Nature's Treasure - a Clam Shell

  I picked up a treasure on my walk along the beach - a tiny white clam shell. I put it in my pocket, to add to my collection of beach finds when I got home.
  Despite the sun hot on our faces and silvering the sea, the islands looked dark and close, a sure sign of approaching rain, my father always says. And the clouds looked different too, heavier and greyer. 
  We'll see what tomorrow brings.