Today was a perfect beach day. A worthy beach day for the beginning of the Summer of 2007:

I spent the day on a trolley, on a boat, on the beach, eating ice cream, and chatting with the mayor and council president of Stone Harbor. Pretty tough, huh? Anyway, the headline from my day is this: contrary to rumors that fly around the island every year, Oprah Winfrey does NOT own a house in Stone Harbor. Her significant other (are they still engaged?), Stedman Graham - no relation - went to high school nearby, and returns every year for a reunion of the basketball team of which he was a star. So there are occasionally Oprah sightings. But she is not a property owner. Glad we got that straightened up.

In other news: have you been to The Point? (No, not the nightclub!) It's a portion of the beach cordoned off to serve as a habitat for wildlife, especially some endangered birds that need protection. It's less than one square mile in size, and you can frequently spot piping plovers, terns, and red knots. (Wish I had a photo of a bird to show you, but no dice. Here was a funny turtle I spotted, though!)

This is what $12 million can buy you. It's the house that's the talk of the town. View from the boat, out on the bay:

This house is merely $9,900 per week during the peak summer season. It's got six bedrooms, and some of the best deck views I've ever seen. It's a beach block house, of course, and from the top deck, you can look one way and see the ocean and the other way and see the bay. It would cost about $4 million, says real estate agent Patty DeMarco of Diller and Fisher. Here's one corner of the spacious living room. I love the murals painted everywhere:

It's going to be a great summer.