peaceful end to my chaotic day off

Wow, it is so beautiful out tonight. Cool, dry air. Breeze. Low patches of white clouds, backlit by the moon, which make the sky look like a cathedral ceiling. I stopped by the beach tonight and sat there for a good 30 minutes. The wind was fast and the waves were big and splashy.

I love when I go stare at the ocean late at night and way off on the horizon I can see a huge ship, all silently lit up and tiny in the distance. I saw one tonight; I think it was a cruise ship, which means it was probably full of happy and--let's face it--probably drunk vacationers. Based on where it was, I'm sure it left port today and the passengers have just started their vacations. I've been on a couple cruises now and they can be fun, though it's not really my favorite way to travel and I probably won't go on anymore. But still. I'm envious of the people on this one, who are probably on their way to new places and about to have a new adventure.

That boat was the only one I saw tonight. Otherwise, the ocean was all waves and sparkly reflections of the moon.

The pier at this beach is sort of old, and a huge chunk of it was destroyed during one of last year's hurricanes, so it's broken up into stretches of pier with big gaps in between. On the end that's connected to the shore, there's a popular restaurant, though I've never eaten there. The city has recently approved a plan to rebuild the pier over the next year or so. This is great news, and the town of Lake Worth will benefit greatly from it. But I have to say that there is something sweetly old-world about the broken-down pier. Something a little romantic even. At night, the silhouette of the gaps and splintered ends against the ocean is beautiful. Don't get me wrong; I'm glad for the repairs that are planned. But until that plan goes into action, I don't mind the weathered look of the pier, the gaps where parts of the structure gave way to the winds, and the scars left on the parts that remain standing.