bruce called me up this morning asking if i was free to do some naturing. we didn't know where we were going to go except it'd be north and by the beach. so we got into his car and drove until we arrived at marblehead neck. a lighthouse overlooking rocky cliffs awaited us. the jagged rocks by themselves would be dangerous, but they were also coated in a layer of ice. one false step and you could slide into the ocean, your body sliced open from the sharp rocks as you tumble downwards to your death. so naturally bruce and i had to investigate, make sure it was really as dangerous as it looked. we climbed down using our innate mountaineering skills, wedged between large boulders as we shimmy down the icy rocks. there wasn't much wildlife to see other than seaweed and the occasional mussel or broken crab parts. there were some small tidal pools but most of them were coated in a layer of ice. we climbed back up and went to the opposite side of the lighthouse. there we were able to spot some interesting ocean birds bobbing on the water surface; we weren't able to identify any of them. bruce even ate some of the snow to test if it tasted salty (yes it did).

we left marblehead neck and drove on the thin strip of land back to marblehead proper, stopping at devereux beach.

a beach of course sand littered with polished rocks that glittered in the afternoon sun like jewels. there wasn't much to see and the tide seemed to be coming in so the beach was shrinking as we walked.

lobster claw	rock crab	foamy rock
green crab	razor clam	mussel

on the other side of the land bridge was marblehead harbor, and road crews could be seen dumping snow into that body of water. ice floes dotted the landscape, and i even managed to hop on a few that were close to the shoreline, surprised by how sturdy they seemed (i figured they'd tip over right away). the large floe i was standing on started to drift out into the harbor though and i managed to jump off before i became stranded.

the drive home took an hour through congested traffic because we decided to try a shorter route that cut through swampscott and lynn instead of back out to the major highway. once we got back i immediately went across the street to get some chinese takeout from zoe's. it was a few minutes past their lunchtime but they let me get the lunch special anyway. i came home with general gao's chicken and ate it while watching the movie dune on television.

i took a brief nap before going back out to get some groceries. i made tacos and julie was supposed to come over but she said she might be busy with work. by 8:30 i figured she probably wasn't coming so i started to eat while watching game 2 of the ALCS.