Out Playing In It

It's at the beach that you separate the men from the boys.

Metaphorically speaking, of course.

Breakfast eaten, I was ready to go walking on the beach but my companion had other ideas.

They involved a slow wake-up period, extended coffee drinking and who knows what else.

I don't but that's because I went ahead and walked on a morning too inviting not to experience as soon as possible.

There were loads of fishermen out, so I eventually asked one of them what he was after.

"Trout mostly," he said. "But I'd take drum or flounder. Problem is, the water's too nice and they're all further out playing."

I was as happy as the fish with the water temperature and told him so.

"I expect you'll be out playing in it, too, then," he said, all handlebar mustache and aviator sunglasses.

Further on, past the Avalon pier, I saw a kid skim-boarding and put on my truancy hat to inquire why he wasn't in school.

"I'm home-schooled," he said, grinning. "I've got a lot to catch up on, but we always come down this week cause it's cheaper and less crowded."

Clearly he'd already mastered economics.

Between the clear, blue skies and bathwater-warm ocean, it was a perfect day of beach-reading and ocean-going.

There's a giant sandbar in front of our condo, making for an ideal place to cool off, float over waves and observe the endless stream of aviation overhead.

I can't recall the last time I spent so much of a day in the ocean or a day I enjoyed spending so much time water-logged and prune-fingered.

Other than taking a a break from the breakers mid-afternoon to cook some steaks for lunch, it was pretty much a beach day start to finish.

We watched some idiot spend twenty minutes shredding bread for sea gulls and sandpipers, causing a rabid flock to assemble in front of us and look hungrily at the small children in the vicinity.

Too bad the beach patrol doesn't keep an eye out for beach idiocy.

There was some beach napping, a gin and tonic I tasted but did not share and more water time before heading up to get cleaned up for an evening out.

Our destination was Ocean Boulevard a few miles north and a safe bet for good wine and food.

We took the last two bar stools at the end and ordered a bottle of Villa Wolf Pinot Gris, a favorite at home and away.

I ordered sauteed shrimp succotash, a deep bowl of butter beans, roasted fresh corn, squash, tomatoes and N.C. shrimp in a light cream sauce, tasting like a bowl of summer.

If only succotash had tasted this good when I was a kid forced to eat the pathetic canned version.

My companion got shrimp, too (steak for lunch pretty much having killed any desire for blood), a dish of sauteed shrimp with a crab and cream cheese fritatta, and a tomato salad with dill and cucumbers in a citrus vinaigrette.

A woman next to us gave up looking at her menu to ask what we'd ordered and take recommendations from us on what she should eat.

What did we know, a couple of pruned out beach bums with no more accomplishments than new tan lines to show for this sunny Thursday?

We finished out the meal with dark chocolate gateau complemented by Graham's "Six Grapes" porto, a stellar pairing of the dense and slightly nutty wine with the deep chocolate.

Despite the hour, my companion finished with coffee and espresso, not all that different from how her day had begun.

Well, except for how fat and happy we were now feeling.

Another beach day well done.