Tag Archives: trucks

The Dilemma of Sand: SOL24 Day 10

Sand is both wonderful and annoying, but trust me when I say our beaches are better with it. Over the last decades, sand has been disappearing from our local beaches, shrinking the actual size of the beach that is not covered with water, eroding and undermining the structural integrity of the cliffs, and making our sandy beaches into tempermental rocky beaches that can only be accessed at low tide.

Over the years there have been some attempts to add sand to the beaches, bringing in big hoses to squirt large amounts of sand in very specific areas of local beaches. That effort seemed to fall in the category of too little to do much good. But recently a huge sand restoration project began on one of our local beaches. Orchestrated by the US Army Corps of Engineers, more than 700,000 cubic yards of sand was dredged from the lagoon, transported by boat, and then deposited via an enormous metal pipeline onto the beach–and according to a recent news article, doubled the size of the beach (for the price of $16 million).

Parts of beach have been closed over the last couple of months while enormous construction equipment pushed sand around, seemingly fighting against wave energy and the tides. The extra large boat became a familiar sight anchored off the coastline, and sand began to pile up.

A week ago we noticed that most of the beach was open, so we walked the new and improved beach. But the sand was deep and the angle of the beach was severe. Walking felt both hard and painful! How long would it take for the beach to get back to feeling walkable?

But on Friday when we walked again, the beach had changed again. Big trucks were flattening parts of the beach and spreading the sand further. The area near the water was much less steep and much more walkable.

Today as we walked again, I could really noticed how much larger the beach was. In early January, even at low tide we walked relatively close to the crumbling cliffs (with multi-million dollar homes perched precariously at the top). Today we walked a good distance from the cliffs and the water seems like it is not reaching them, even at high tide.

The most dramatic illustration for me was noticing the permanent lifeguard tower that I often photograph. Here’s a photo I took shortly before the sand restoration project began. Notice the rocks below the land the tower is perched on. Those rocks were always covered by water at high tide and were meant to protect the tower.

Today I realized that the water is quite far…and that the sand fully covers those rocks. I had to climb up quite a distance of sand to get where I could take this photo.

This sand restoration is supposed to last for a decade and be repeated then if funds are available. They just started this project at another local beach last week…and boy does that beach need it! We’ve been avoiding that beach lately because it is so rocky!

So, even though the sand can be annoying, clinging to every part of my body and depositing itself in my house despite my most careful efforts to mitigate it, I love it on the beach. The beach is definitely changed and I’m sure that not everybody is happy about that…but here’s hoping it helps with the severe erosion problems and gives us a bit more walking beach when the tides are not super low.

Never a Dull Moment: SOL24 Day 8

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Whenever the tide and my schedule cooperate, I head to the beach for my daily walk. I knew the tide would be low enough today if I got out of my classroom as soon as I plugged the kids’ iPad in and cleaned up for the day. The ocean cooperated and there was plenty of beach for walking and the sun was shining, creating perfect conditions for breathing out the work week and breathing in the weekend.

There was a lot going on today. We noticed the bathing suit photoshoot right away, beautiful young models posed as assistants held light reflectors and photographers shot both still photos and video. Every kind of ball play was going on: volleyballs bouncing high, soccer balls rolling and spinning along the ground, and footballs spiraling in the air. Surfers paddled out, swimmers in bathing suits squealed as they played in the cold water, while beach combers like my husband picked up trash washing up on the shoreline. Seagulls chatted among themselves while other shorebirds poked the sand for an afternoon snack.

There’s been lots of sand work going on so I wasn’t surprised to see some pretty substantial tire tracks and big equipment in the distance.

But I was surprised when I noticed the lifeguard truck with lights flashing followed by the big truck carefully balancing the lifeguard tower. Wait–it’s not summer yet! They’re already putting the towers back out on the beach? Then my husband reminded me: spring breaks are beginning. And even though we are not a tropical location, and in my opinion the weather will not be bathing suit warm, we find that we are a spring break location.

There is never a dull moment on a San Diego beach. And that was certainly true this afternoon. I’m a little worried that spring breaks will mean more crowds–and I certainly know it will mean more skin! I might be walking in jeans and a puffer jacket and look across the sand and see someone in a bikini heading down to take a dip in the (too cold) water. But it does make me happy that there are lots of ways for people to enjoy the beach–it is truly a treasure in our community.

Weekly Photo Challenge: Collection

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Like a line of ants, the trucks follow the leader up the length of the state of California along Interstate 5. An elaborate dance, faster trucks dart out knowing they will slow the flow of traffic then edge back in a bit further ahead in line. Vacationers and other travelers join the line too. Sometimes they patiently blend into the caravan of trucks, other times they show their frustration as they weave in and out of the line accelerating only to slow again and again.

Road trips are an exercise in balancing focus and boredom. Endless hours in the car–especially when motion sickness limits acceptable activity–means coming up with creative ways to entertain yourself, and hopefully the driver too. My husband’s old iPod meant an endless stream of oldies to sing along with and my camera reminded me to pay attention to the details of the environment.

The tomato trucks got my attention, double trailers filled with red fruit (or is it a vegetable?) in heaps visible from afar. I started by taking a photo of one (through the car window as we drove) and sending it to my dad. He’s always talked about driving tomato trucks in his retirement… Then I started seeing tomato truck after tomato truck, of all varieties and colors and I started snapping photos. I tried different angles and distances as we approached and passed these trucks, sometimes taking the photo from a distance and other times waiting until we came right up on the truck. Timing was tricky, sometimes it was hard to get a crisp focus.

Like a learning walk, this was a kind of learning drive–an opportunity to pay attention to the trucks that drive up and down our state. I noticed that tomato trucks going north were full, those going south were empty. Trucks carrying produce (tomatoes, nuts, garlic) were most prevalent in the mid section of the state. I never see them in my part of the state.

Then I started playing with the Prisma app, turning photos of trucks into a series of truck art. I started with the tomato truck.

And then moved onto other trucks like the log truck.

And the garlic truck (we had to pass several before I figured out that those were garlics in the truck!).

And even the hay truck.

So, to my surprise, I now have a collection of truck photos and a greater appreciation of the truckers who move goods, particularly food, up and down our state.

As I think about this collection of trucks, I realize that I often create collections of photos. I have quite a collection of seagulls. I’ve collected sandcastles, sunsets, trees, flowers, surfers, and more. So this week’s challenge is to share one of your collections–or create one!

You can post your photo alone or along with some words: commentary, a story, a poem…maybe even a song! I love to study the photographs that others’ take and think about how I can use a technique, an angle, or their inspiration to try something new in my own photography. (I love a great mentor text…or mentor photo, in this case!) I share my photography and writing on social media. You can find me on Instagram and Twitter using @kd0602. If you share your photos and writing on social media too, please let me know so I can follow and see what you are doing. To help our Weekly Photo community find each other, use the hashtag #collection for this week and include @nwpianthology in your post.

As always, you can define what collection means to you. It might be a couple of photos of the tree in your front yard, the birds on the fences in your neighborhood, your favorite flowers growing in the garden, the meals you ate in the last week… What collection will you showcase this week? I can’t wait to see your collections!