Inspector of Sand Dunes

This is my first post on what I hope will be an on-going record of a year at Venice Beach and surrounding beaches. During this year, I hope to publish daily accounts of my wife Alma's and my perambulations upon Venice Beach as we gather materials for her art and exercise to defeat the nicotene demons. These daily accounts will, I hope, include photos. My eventual goal is to have a book-length manuscript

The great 19th-century writer Henry David Thoreau titled himself "Inspector of Snowstorms." In keeping with that sentiment and in honor of my newly unemployed status (since October 5, 2010, to be precise), I have titled myself "Inspector of Sand Dunes." Thoreau and I differ in many ways, marital status not least among them, but we share this: that each of us has, at least by the world's standards, failed to live up to our potential. On this, I shall have much more to write in future posts.

Yesterday, Alma (my wife of 10 years) and I walked a one-mile stretch of beach that crosses from Venice Beach (at the Washington Blvd Pier) into Marina del Rey. We took with us a recycling bag to collect any miscellaneous beach detritus Alma found that might make interesting materials for her assemblage art. The stretch we walked is about 1 mile in length. We walk this particular stretch more frequently than any other stretch and perhaps this blog should be called "A Year at Marina del Rey Beach." But just like Thoreau played a little fast and loose with facts in his work, so I too shall allow myself artistic license.

We arrived at the beach at approximately 5:15 p.m. We are now in good enough physical condition that a two-mile walk through the soft sand takes about one hour total. So our walk yesterday ended at around 6:15 p.m., just as the sun had set into the Pacific. I shall have much more to write on these magnificent sunsets in future posts. Even though it is well past high season here, we have had a stretch of nice days recently and so found many beach leavings, of which I shall also have much more to write in future posts.

The sky today is clear and blue with no clouds. So I believe our walk tonight will be much the same as it was last night. If so, I shall let you know tomorrow.