Down by the Sea by Barbara Quinn

When the weather is not too hot, or too cold, I love taking a long walk along the shore. I travel from my place in Bradley Beach north to Asbury Park and then back again. It’s about three miles roundtrip and no matter how many times I walk that walk I enjoy it. Much of the pleasure has to do not only with what passes before my eyes, but with what passes beneath my feet. I am grateful for the physical wooden structure of the boardwalk.

In particular, I like the old wooden boardwalk of Ocean Grove. It’s wobbly, and needs repair, but the feel of those old boards beneath my feet is a joy. The wood gives a natural spring to your step. It’s so easy on the joints. I do need to be careful of holes and raised boards while walking. But that’s fine with me. That soft feel is worth the effort. In summer the boards swell. Now with the cool fall air there are small gaps between them and they emit a different sound when your feet hit them. In winter the brittle boards snap beneath your feet and have much less give to them. Any time of year, when a bike rolls over the boards, an unmistakable sound rumbles toward you. The boardwalk becomes a giant xylophone with two notes.

Some parts of the boardwalk have new man-made material. It’s a pleasant gray color, plastic, too uniform for my taste. And it feels different when you tread on it. There’s no give. It warps in odd ways. Other places, like Bradley Beach, have installed stone pavers along the shore, in place of the old wood. The stones look pretty but boy are they hard on your feet and legs.

There’s an older gentleman in Ocean Grove whose job it is to mark dangerous boards for future repair. He carries a bucket with red paint, and a brush, and he circles the areas that are sticking up, holes, the nails that jut out too far. He walks along slowly studying the boards. What a nice job. And he seems well-suited and dedicated as he thoughtfully makes his way along.

In some communities they are using ipe, a Brazilian wood that is working out well but causing controversy since it comes from the rainforest and needs to be certified to eliminate protests over its use. Ipe is much nicer than the man-made plastic boards, and lasts about three times as long as yellow pine boards. I’m glad they came up with a wooden solution that will enable the boardwalks to survive for future generations. Go walk the boards. You’ll come back a better person for it. Guaranteed!

Opera by the Ocean by Barbara Quinn

Every summer the town I live in on the shore, Bradley Beach, NJ, puts on a program called Opera by the Ocean. These are free nights of listening to opera sung by local performers, and students. I’m grateful that the town sponsors this program, and grateful that the performers show up each season to sing for their fans.

I love sitting outside on a warm summer night and listening to classic arias and duets. The pavilion where the singers perform is on the boardwalk right beside the ocean, which makes a wonderful crashing accompaniment to the music and singing.

The programs would not be possible without the dedication of a group of opera lovers. The singers and their accompanist show up whether the evenings are eerily fog-shrouded, crystal clear, or terrible windy. The cool breezes off the ocean often become quite chilly by evening’s end. But the performers put on their show with good humor. They explain the operas and songs as they go. And there, scattered in the mostly older crowd, I see wide-eyed children, soaking it all in. How wonderful that the next generation of opera lovers is being schooled in this lovely setting.