Beach at Sunset, Isle of Palms, South Carolina, USA

I thought this dog's little heart was gonna burst - he just ran and ran and ran and ran - chasing gulls.  His human associate said he has never once in his life caught any bird.  He must just really like to run like the wind. Watching dogs play at the beach is a great example of living life in the moment - their example is encouraging - although personally I would never run full speed into cold ocean water or, pick up a sand covered tennis ball with my mouth, their example is encouraging.

These five bivalve mollusks climbed up on this piece of driftwood to get a better view of the beautiful sunset - unfortunately they faced the wrong way - the sunset view is to the right - they're not very smart but are apparently good climbers.

Surfer and dog - this dog had no interest in chasing gulls - only surfers.

A photographic silhouette of a photographer photographing her subject.

Golden sunset light under the pier.

Beach art. What does this say about the writer?  How old is she?  Why did she keep the little pile of extra shells for letters?  Is the drawing a tree, or lollipops, or ball-point pen springs, or just swirls?  Why did she make the letter "i" lower case? Why do humans write their names on random things all over the world? Why am I asking all these silly questions?

The ship on the horizon is the Carnival Fantasy, just beginning a 5-day cruise from Charleston to the Bahamas.

And another near-perfect winter day draws to a close.