Safe

Sometimes habits get in the way. When I visit Palm Beach I always stay with my dear friend who lives at the north end of the island. Every day I would walk on the beach and do so by entering through a gate at the end of her road. For years when I stood on the beach I always turned left and walked about a mile and a quarter north to the inlet where I would watch the boats pass in and out of the Intracoastal Waterway. The beach was wide and the terrain was open so it could be an exhilarating walk. Then one day I stood on the beach and wondered why I had never turned right, so I did. To my surprise and great fortune I discovered a group of gigantic sea walls rising from the sand, they were fortresses against the sea. Ah, I thought, I found something to paint; they became a series of paintings.