Oh, Happy Day!

 Yesterday was a terrific day - despite the cold and clouds that drifted back in Toronto after a few days of glorious sunny spring (summer!) weather.

D and I used to frequent the beaches of Toronto quite regularly, more in the winter actually, to walk the dogs.  We would go more in the winter because of our dogs inability to get along well with other dogs, as you may or may not have read in my fur-baby posting.

Thus, the cooler weather yesterday was perfect.
We had the whole beach to ourselves...or so we thought!
As we walked down the beach on a side that we haven't actually ever walked on before, we came upon this interesting structure:

We walked to the end of the beach and discussed what it could be.  In the end, our curiosity got the best of us.  We had to go and find out what was going on over there!
Was it an extremely impressive beaver dam?  A beaver dam with seating?
So we meandered over.....
And met the friendly beach dude!

 

I'm going to keep the details about the friendly beach dude pretty sketchy, he requested specifically that I maintain his anonymity and keep his location under wraps. I was so impressed by his positive attitude, his eco-friendly lifestyle and his down-to-earth sensibilities so I asked him if he minded if I took some pictures of his creation for my blog.  He said, with a smile, that his door is always open to friendly strangers.  

We could all learn a lot from the friendly beach dude.

 

Friendly Beach Dude's Welcome Sign

Friendly Beach Dude's Welcome Mascot

The Nice Chilling Spot - aka Beach Hut

*you can't tell, but the bottom left corner of the hut was rebuilt because a few years back  the local coastguard/fire dept. boat came by and had to put out a fire that was started by  a couple who were found in a compromising situation in the nice chilling spot! 

  Being sprayed by 450psi musta been a rude awakening to say the least!!!*

We stood and talked with the FBD for about an hour.  He was so intriguing! He built the beach hut from wood that had fallen down the cliffs from the top of the hills that you can see behind the hut.  There are huge piles of debris all over the beach showing evidence that the cliffs are really tumbling down.  

 

Here's an example of a pile of trees that started at the top of the hill..... 

See the trees at the top that are awaiting the same fate??

After talking for a while (and essentially losing most of the sensation in my legs 'cuz the wind got BITTERLY cold) we started the walk back.  Here's some pictures that I really liked from the day...

 Friendly Beach Dude told us that he frequently sees Coyote's quite often.... 

These prints were HUGE compared to Bronx's!

LOVE the bits of red that show up every so often.

And, just as we were leaving, and I thought the day couldn't have POSSIBLY been any more perfect, we ran into another lovely creature while walking back to the car...

Can you spot him?

I couldn't believe how close he let me get!

And that was the happy day - we had such a good time, re-connecting and being outside... I just can't wait for summer and our next trip into the wilderness!