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I'm going to write about my two weeks at the beach, or at least part of it. I keep getting sidetracked.
I get really sappy about "my beach" because it's, well it's mine. It's my version of a family home, we moved a couple of times and my grandparents moved a bunch of times, so there is no real "childhood" home. But there's the beach. It's always been there and it will always be there. Over the years the shoreline has changed some, and the sandbars have shifted and shifted back again but it's still basically the same. Just being there throws up all kinds of memories---not jsut of what I was doing, but when I'm walking on the sandbars at low tide I can remember exactly what I was thinking, at various ages. The exact place I had been standing on might be a tide pool now instead of a sandbar, but I can remember.
For the most part the weather stayed clear and didn't rain. Some days the dark clouds would draw up and there would be lightning in the distance, but the wind would blow the clouds off way from us. A few times I stood right on the beach and watched the storm come up around me, watch the water change from calm and sedate and indigo blue to ripped up with white caps and gun metal gray. Dark clouds over head that just came out of nowhere and the wind whipping all around me, were a few minutes before there hadn't been any. Mostly though the rain was all off in the distance, a dark smudge between the dark clouds and the horizon. A few times I just stood out there and tracked the progress of the rain along the horizon.
Of course the windy weather meant that I couldn't go out kayaking like I hoped, but I did go out a few times. I even saw a turtle surface once. Mostly though I just saw birds and fish stirring up the surface of the water, I saw a shark at one point. Not exactly fun, but hey, that's life.
When I was a kid right in front of the cottages, the water was barren--lifeless sandy bottoms. Now there are grass beds, which means there's a lot more life around the shore. Not just fish but also birds. There are two Great Blue Herons that hang out, I would sit on my chair, reading or writing, and watch them as they stalked their fishy prey. During one walk I saw a small electric ray and another time I saw tiny baby box fish. Mostly though I saw the typical animals--blue crabs, gulls and terns, the occasional skimmer, egrets, Little Blue Herons.
Down the beach a ways a family of ducks were hanging around on the beach. I'm not sure what kind of ducks, and I was never able to get a picture, but they hung out right near the shore line so the parents could herd them into the water a way from people who got too close. At low tide they took up residence on the sandbars.
I spent a lot of time outside, I had my chair---one of those low to the ground deals---and my tent cabana and that was my living room. I slathered on the SPF 30 because a tan is OK but skin cancer runs in my family. And I wore a straw hat. I looked really goofy but I hardly got burned and when I did turn overly pink I just slathered on the aloe until I was slimy with it and let that sink in.
I was over there with minimal contact with people---just some relatives, most kids, no computer, no tv except for the tapes I'd brought of S3/4 of DS and BtVS, a small portable radio, and my only access for news was either going over to my great and uncle's and seeing what FOX NEWS was showing (it's the only thing my great uncle watches) or driving 8 miles or so for a local paper.
Some nights I'd just go sit on the beach in my chair and chill out, drink some lemonade or tea and relax. One night I sat out there and wondered what stars were what and thinking maybe I should have paid attention to astronomy 101 when I saw a falling star. I've seen shooting stars but never a falling star, and there is a difference. There was nothing and then a streaking arch and it was so cool.
I didn't even watch the videos for the first week I was there, just read the books I had out from the library and listened to cds. The same cd over and over usually because I'm like that, but I would lie on Comfy Couch and listen and occasionally think about vids I could make.
One of the highlights was my cousins. Okay here's where the genealogy gets tricky and I suck at it but: J and my dad are first cousins. J and K are married and they have a whole bunch of kids. K and the youngest were down there some and then later it was J &K with the kids. I got to go intertubing with them, which was a blast. My arms ached from trying to hold on to the intertube while I was being whipped over boat wakes and side to side. The last day we did that I flipped off right on my back. I actually wiped out twice that time, the first time I had to swim near the boat so I could get back on the intertube (because my upper body strength sucks) but it was hard to swim beacuse of the lifejacket. So while I was awkwardly swimming I kept saying "Bloom, close, kick 'em in the head." My cousins (the kids) thought I was strange but it amused the hell out of me.
I also played numerous hands of Go Fish, Uno and King's Corners. We only played Spades once because another cousin (I guess second ish cousin, she's the kid of J's brother) kept freaking out "What should I bid? What should I throw down?" It's Spades played among relatives, no one is going to kill you for doing the wrong thing, however we may kill you if takes you five minutes just to decide what card to throw each round.
I am terrible at Go Fish, I can't remember what cards have travelled where and I'm not that great at counting them. I do better at Uno and King's Corners. The 6 yr old wanted me to play cards with her, or play in the water (which we did), or all sorts of things. And when they got ready to leave for the last time (the day before I left) and I went over to say Bye! She wouldn't stop talking "And you know what?" everytime my attention drifted. She wanted to take me home, "We live close to you!" (her Mom said that a week or so before). And when I said that I'd call and arrange a visit she laid out a complete description of her house, and before they had to leave she said "okay! 1-2-3!" and Jumped on me.
So this next week I'm going to call and see if I can get together with them, if she even remembers me.
I'll have more later.
I get really sappy about "my beach" because it's, well it's mine. It's my version of a family home, we moved a couple of times and my grandparents moved a bunch of times, so there is no real "childhood" home. But there's the beach. It's always been there and it will always be there. Over the years the shoreline has changed some, and the sandbars have shifted and shifted back again but it's still basically the same. Just being there throws up all kinds of memories---not jsut of what I was doing, but when I'm walking on the sandbars at low tide I can remember exactly what I was thinking, at various ages. The exact place I had been standing on might be a tide pool now instead of a sandbar, but I can remember.
For the most part the weather stayed clear and didn't rain. Some days the dark clouds would draw up and there would be lightning in the distance, but the wind would blow the clouds off way from us. A few times I stood right on the beach and watched the storm come up around me, watch the water change from calm and sedate and indigo blue to ripped up with white caps and gun metal gray. Dark clouds over head that just came out of nowhere and the wind whipping all around me, were a few minutes before there hadn't been any. Mostly though the rain was all off in the distance, a dark smudge between the dark clouds and the horizon. A few times I just stood out there and tracked the progress of the rain along the horizon.
Of course the windy weather meant that I couldn't go out kayaking like I hoped, but I did go out a few times. I even saw a turtle surface once. Mostly though I just saw birds and fish stirring up the surface of the water, I saw a shark at one point. Not exactly fun, but hey, that's life.
When I was a kid right in front of the cottages, the water was barren--lifeless sandy bottoms. Now there are grass beds, which means there's a lot more life around the shore. Not just fish but also birds. There are two Great Blue Herons that hang out, I would sit on my chair, reading or writing, and watch them as they stalked their fishy prey. During one walk I saw a small electric ray and another time I saw tiny baby box fish. Mostly though I saw the typical animals--blue crabs, gulls and terns, the occasional skimmer, egrets, Little Blue Herons.
Down the beach a ways a family of ducks were hanging around on the beach. I'm not sure what kind of ducks, and I was never able to get a picture, but they hung out right near the shore line so the parents could herd them into the water a way from people who got too close. At low tide they took up residence on the sandbars.
I spent a lot of time outside, I had my chair---one of those low to the ground deals---and my tent cabana and that was my living room. I slathered on the SPF 30 because a tan is OK but skin cancer runs in my family. And I wore a straw hat. I looked really goofy but I hardly got burned and when I did turn overly pink I just slathered on the aloe until I was slimy with it and let that sink in.
I was over there with minimal contact with people---just some relatives, most kids, no computer, no tv except for the tapes I'd brought of S3/4 of DS and BtVS, a small portable radio, and my only access for news was either going over to my great and uncle's and seeing what FOX NEWS was showing (it's the only thing my great uncle watches) or driving 8 miles or so for a local paper.
Some nights I'd just go sit on the beach in my chair and chill out, drink some lemonade or tea and relax. One night I sat out there and wondered what stars were what and thinking maybe I should have paid attention to astronomy 101 when I saw a falling star. I've seen shooting stars but never a falling star, and there is a difference. There was nothing and then a streaking arch and it was so cool.
I didn't even watch the videos for the first week I was there, just read the books I had out from the library and listened to cds. The same cd over and over usually because I'm like that, but I would lie on Comfy Couch and listen and occasionally think about vids I could make.
One of the highlights was my cousins. Okay here's where the genealogy gets tricky and I suck at it but: J and my dad are first cousins. J and K are married and they have a whole bunch of kids. K and the youngest were down there some and then later it was J &K with the kids. I got to go intertubing with them, which was a blast. My arms ached from trying to hold on to the intertube while I was being whipped over boat wakes and side to side. The last day we did that I flipped off right on my back. I actually wiped out twice that time, the first time I had to swim near the boat so I could get back on the intertube (because my upper body strength sucks) but it was hard to swim beacuse of the lifejacket. So while I was awkwardly swimming I kept saying "Bloom, close, kick 'em in the head." My cousins (the kids) thought I was strange but it amused the hell out of me.
I also played numerous hands of Go Fish, Uno and King's Corners. We only played Spades once because another cousin (I guess second ish cousin, she's the kid of J's brother) kept freaking out "What should I bid? What should I throw down?" It's Spades played among relatives, no one is going to kill you for doing the wrong thing, however we may kill you if takes you five minutes just to decide what card to throw each round.
I am terrible at Go Fish, I can't remember what cards have travelled where and I'm not that great at counting them. I do better at Uno and King's Corners. The 6 yr old wanted me to play cards with her, or play in the water (which we did), or all sorts of things. And when they got ready to leave for the last time (the day before I left) and I went over to say Bye! She wouldn't stop talking "And you know what?" everytime my attention drifted. She wanted to take me home, "We live close to you!" (her Mom said that a week or so before). And when I said that I'd call and arrange a visit she laid out a complete description of her house, and before they had to leave she said "okay! 1-2-3!" and Jumped on me.
So this next week I'm going to call and see if I can get together with them, if she even remembers me.
I'll have more later.
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I'm going to try and use my film up so I can get the pictures developed/on a disc so I can put them online so everyone can see them.
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