I suppose it was while racing down the street in my pajamas that I fully awoke, barefoot at 3 a.m., chasing the umbrella from the deck. It stayed just out of reach, bounced along the bluff where, mercifully, everyone else was asleep. (Or, on this morning's walk, simply too kind to say anything.) Back in bed, winds rocked the house and the cat, slightly freaked, sat at the window and watched.

So here's the beach at sunrise, where the gulls and crows and pelicans grounded by the winds tested their luck, tried to break free.