I Was Mistaken

It's hard to admit fault, but it appears that winter is not over just yet, as I had previously thought. The illusion of springtime was aided and abetted by last Saturday, when my daughter and I took a walk along the pier in Oceanside in shirtsleeve weather. This is the pier, though I didn't take this picture:


As we got to the bait shop (the two towers midway down the pier), we noticed a crowd gathered around some brown pelicans.


There's a fading sign just above the woman's bicycle seat that says, "My name is Charlie. I bite." Apparently, Charlie has been biting for a while.

After pushing my way through working my way around the crowd, I got a good shot of Charlie (from a safe distance).


He's a fine-looking fellow, and I was surprised at the color of his feet. I guess I'd been expecting some shade of yellow.

Charlie posed for a while, then settled down for a nap, with Oceanside's northern coastline behind him.


My daughter and I continued our stroll to Ruby's Diner at the end of the pier, where the wait was too long for our time on the parking meter, so we walked over to Dairy Queen for lunch and ice cream.

On a day like that, is it any wonder I might start believing winter was over?

Yesterday and today settled that question for me. We had another rainstorm, including a torrential downpour this morning that had me looking out the front door, watching as the rain came down in sheets and visibly bounced off the street. I came back in and turned on the tea kettle.

Yes, it's still winter.