I guess this is the before picture, the groomed but empty  beach, still a trace of dog prints, 'beach closed' sign still nailed to the lifeguard boat hanger (a misnomer, because lifeguards or not, the beach is not closed during the winter), bright sunshine but still a slight chill that has people in sweatshirts not bathing suits. Soon, like three days soon, it will be the same landscape but, unless that weather forecast truly goes south, will be completely transformed. People seem ready down here for the world's attention to refocus on them, or at least the attention of Philly. I've got New York peeps headed this way this weekend, which seems to reflect a trend. Sometimes the humble Jersey shore starts to look pretty attractive to those New Yorkers who in better times never venture south of LBI, unless they're headed for Cape May. Seems to be a bit of rain in the forecast for the weekend, but never mind that. I'm sorry my dogs will be banned from the beach after an awesome off-season, and I guess I'll have to give up singing out loud to the ipod, which is one perk of running on a deserted boardwalk and beach, but is probably a good thing all around. In any case, in honor of all the moms who are going to learn to surf this year at surf camp (see my story here,) here's a video of the Aussie surf band The Atlantics, setting the scene. And here's the link to the philly.com shore guide.