Yesterday was pretty much perfect. Patrick and my dad and I drove out to Hollywood Beach, which was wonderful - gorgeous, glittering ocean water, warm sand, tall palm trees, and a line of ethnic restaurants including a really fantastic Turkish restaurant where we all ate lunch. I waded out just deep enough that the waves threw themselves against my knees, and I enjoyed knowing that I was part of the same ocean that goes around the world and touches Africa. Then I retired to our beach towel to do some Sudoku for a while. Every time I looked up from the Sudoku book it was a shock all over again: whoa. OCEAN!



I really, really love beaches. This was pretty much my Platonic ideal of a beach - warm sand, palm trees, etc. - but even cold, rocky beaches thrill me. There's something about being so close to big bodies of water that feels really liberating. All my stresses feel washed away.



I also did something else on the beach, but I'll have to wait to get a good photo before I show it off... ;)

Afterwards, we drove out to the Aventura mall, which is ridiculously, obscenely upscale (valet parking for a mall?!?!) but does have really wonderful cafés and shops...we went to one of them, the American branch of the café Paul, which my parents had loved in Paris, and the food was in fact amazingly good, just as good as in the original Parisian café. I ate a chocolate macaroon unlike any macaroon I've ever had before, and we bought a mouthwatering baguette and strawberry tart to take back home. Then a trip to the specialty tea shop upstairs in the mall, where Patrick and my dad both checked out the fancy Japanese cast-iron tea pots and loose-leaf tea, and a stop into the Apple shop to check email...

It was a really good day.