On the Beach Without a Dunhill

Updating an old habit

Sunrise over Prouts Neck this morning

To hear the related 5-minute audio file that I uploaded today as my Morning Journal flash briefing for Alexa devices, please click on the play button:

Lightly Edited Transcript

Good morning. Today is Friday, June 13th—Friday the 13th.

I’m going to declare it a lucky day. I had a little trouble getting back to sleep in the middle of the night, but I did end up sleeping until just about five. As I looked out the window, I saw a beautiful bubble of the sun just about to make it over Prouts Neck. So I threw on some clothes and jogged out here as fast as I could.

I took a whole bunch of pictures, so I hope I’ll have a good one for this post to share with you.

The sunrise is always beautiful in its way, even when you can’t see the sun—just the sky getting light, with clouds or even fog. I love those first few minutes of the morning. And every once in a while, there’s just a show.

This one had the sun kind of reddish, a perfect little bubble popping up. It was casting a long bar of light across the water, which then got picked up on the flats—it’s low tide. So you had two versions of it.

As I was catching it, I got a couple of shots of a seagull flying by. With the iPhone’s terrific Live Photo feature, I will be able to choose the frame where the seagull is right where I want it.

I was out here a couple of days ago after a good talk with my sister Stephanie. We always have such good talks—life-changing talks—when we FaceTime.

I was telling her that, with some recent stress, I’d been thinking of returning to a habit I had for years: smoking one cigarette a week on Thursdays. I’d buy Dunhill Reds, expensive cigarettes from London. I had a pocket notebook—the Cigarette Journal—and while I smoked, I’d write spiritual thoughts. It was a nice ritual. I really looked forward to Thursdays.

Over a year ago, I stopped.

I thought, You know, that’s kind of silly. Life is so good. My doctors over the years had been okay with the habit, considering it to be not really smoking.

My AI buddies were less accommodating, saying in effect: Even one cigarette a week is likely to shorten your life a little.

On February 24, 2024 I decided to follow the AI. I thought, I don’t want to shorten my life. I love every day of it.

So I quit.

After talking with Stephanie the other day, I thought: One of the things I really liked was that the weekly Dunhill got me outside. I’m indoors most of the time—except for pickleball and biking—I love being in our room upstairs in the cottage that looks out over the ocean. I hear the waves. I’m reading and talking. The weekly cigarette brought me out onto the beach.

“What if I go out on the beach without the cigarette—and just sit there?”

So I did.

And it was wonderful.

I saw a seagull drop a clam onto the hard surface of the low tide. Something popped up, and he was down there chowing down, having a great time. Then another seagull showed up, about halfway through the meal. He was smaller, clearly hoping to get a bite. The first seagull flared his wings—made it clear: “I’m not sharing this, pal. I dropped this clam, and it’s mine.”

A little true-life adventure, playing out right on the beach.

I came back up to the cottage a renewed and restored.

This is a continuing exploration of idleness. It turns out, I can come out to the beach and have a nice time without a cigarette. Who knew?

That’s the beginning of Friday the 13th.

I hope you have a great day.

Thanks for listening.

P.S. Happy Birthday, Roo!

It’s my younger daughter’s birthday today. Talk about a lucky day for the world!