Seashore Cure

Well, we have....as I tell the boys....only two more sleeps until our family is all back in one location again. We're all good and ready for A to come home.

Today the weather was still insanely gorgeous. The day started off with a misty, fog that was stunning against the beautiful fall colors we still have and the fog burned off into a beautiful, if sometimes cloudy day. It almost felt like spring...the air was moist and warm and smelled of leaves and green things.

We worked in the yard a little. I raked leaves into the hen's new pen which made them tremendously happy. We finished the stone garden borders in the front of the house which I have been working on for about two years. SO AMAZING to have it all done! I keep looking out the window again to enjoy the accomplishment. I also laid a little more of the brickwork (mortarless) that I am using to edge our front walk. Should have taken a picture...didn't think of that. I am using salvage brick that is all red and the standard size but otherwise varies in style and design and mossy character. I love how its turning out. I have maybe one third of the walk left to finish although at the moment I am out of brick and need to keep my eyes peeled for more being thrown out somewhere.

Poor little Nib was sick again today. This is his second illness in the course of A's travel. I let him sleep in a long time and then we did some gentle things around the house and read a bunch of story books and then it was time for something cheering. The boys and I took a cloth bag for beach combing and headed to the ocean.

It was gorgeous. We saw a school of big silver fish, swimming and sometimes leaping out of the water. We found horseshoe crabs and ark clams and beautiful driftwood and more oyster shells than we could count. There are oyster beds right off the coast here so loads of their shells wash up. Some of them get to be enormous. I also thought to myself that maybe next time the chickens are getting low on their store purchased oyster shell, I could just take a hammer to some of the extra shells we bring home from the beach. Wonder if that would work?

By the time we got home Nib was feeling 200% better (there is no place better to recover than the seashore) and little Pom was taking his place with a clingy attitude and permanent bad mood. I have him draped across my lap right now while I type...his feverish little self snoring away on my knee.
Have to remember the seashore for the next time I get deathly ill...it seems like such a wonderful place to be sick. The air feels cheering, the sound of water is theraputic, there are shells for combing, there are birds wheeling over you and the endless water sweeping out in front.

Man, do kids get sick a lot. Good thing I have an immune system that can handle it! I can usually avoid getting sick and if I do fall prey I usually get a lighter version. I'm all for that.

Do lets learn invincibility!

Some Like It Hot

Two of the tomato plants fell over yesterday. They're getting so top-heavy with fruit in this steamy, blazing weather that the turgid stems can no longer do the job. They've come to depend on a diligent gardener driving in stakes thicker than a broom handle to hold them up. Next thing I need to do is make a trip out to garden with twine to lash them to their masts so they won't fall into the raucous sea of cucumbers below. Those cucumbers of ours are going like gangbusters!

I had to pull the lettuce because it had all bolted up into hopeless towers of bitter leaves but the cucumbers and the watermelons (real watermelons maybe!) and squash of all kinds are taking over the ground in a crawling, spiky, explosively fruitful tangle. Every time I walk into the backyard there are more cucumbers to harvest. I have started a jar of refrigerator pickles and am dizzy keeping up with the munching and the jar stuffing by turns.

The weather is hot but not the blazing 90's it was a week ago where all you do is sit languidly in a dark corner in the house and sweat. We're having solid high 80's temps now and the garden is very happy as long as I water and the mornings and evenings are cool enough to be pleasant walking windows.

The boys and I are even enjoying a little yard play during the day when we feel buzzy or brave. And even Nana had a stroll in the middle of the day today, sauntering off down the block with her phone on a chat with a friend. You can manage to cook but the summer dishes do sound best, just a quick saute, no oven work...and salads...always a few of those on the menu as they sound better and better in this heat.

I think we're off to the beach again tomorrow...maybe we'll go north to Rhode Island or try some other beach we've never been to. We're drifting off into the weekend with dreams of picnic hampers, sand in every crevice, the feel of the surf and the scent of the beach rose swirling through our minds. Be well friends, be well!

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Water, Sweet, Water

Are you an ocean hater? I've met just a few who aren't sea folk: those who aren't swimmers, those who hate their bodies, those who are terrified of sharks, or those who think such idle pleasures are a waste of time perhaps. I am very pleased that my parents-in-law are both big fans of the ocean. They're a lot of fun to share a beach outing with. Truth be told, they are perhaps bigger fans than I am.

I love the ocean, I love water and swimming and the whole outdoor experience. But I have to admit I had to let the ocean in particular grow on me. I grew up away from the coast but a water child all the same. I just have this fresh water stumbling block. I was raised spitting distance from pristine Northern Michigan beaches and spent many, many happy hours of my childhood rolling in the sand or floating on the waves by turns.

I only had one short interaction with the ocean before adulthood, a wonderful overnight camping trip on Assateague Island fueled by our avid consumption of the Misty books (horse lovers unite!). It was a strange meeting: the weird, fishy, salt air, the strangely creeping tidal shore, and all the mysterious shells crunching under our feet. I wasn't sure immediately, what I personally thought about the big body of water in front of us, but I knew I was meant to like it. We stood on the cathedral shore as a family and prayed and sang and I watched my parents close their eyes and feel the surf and watch our faces expectantly for pleased reactions. I liked it.

Now I love a good trip to the beach and I feel kind of honored to be able to raise my children near the pounding ocean froth. I love the horseshoe crabs mating the spring, seeing scallops and mussels arranged like solitaire by my two year old on the sand, and the stiff salt breeze that starts to wrap its arms around you as you get close to the old beach roads. But I have to say, I'm a sweet water girl in my soul of souls. In my inner self I will always cringe about the bitter taste of ocean in my mouth and the sting of it in my eyes, I hate the way your skin feels coated with grime after the salt water dries and truth be told (although I'd never admit it to my boys) I do sometimes think nervously of sharks and jellies and other ocean creatures. I love a tide pool and I think seeing a starfish in person is one of the coolest nature experiences I've ever had but The Great Lakes hold a corner of my heart that can never be replaced. I'm a sweet water girl who has learned to love the sea too.

Its funny to think that my boys will have my opinions in reverse if life keeps on in the same vein. They'll grow up near the sea, know the salt water and feel at home in it and they'll visit sweet water and feel its strange bright smell and think its a little off....a little off but nice nonetheless. And I hope they find they have two watery corners of their hearts too.

A Little Sand In Our Shoes

We took the afternoon off and headed to the beach. A little sand in the shoes, a little saltwater behind the ears, a little wind in the hair, just the ticket. I am still so new at identifying all the little things we find at the shore. I think I know more than last year but never enough. So many little glinting mysteries in the sand. So glad to watch the boys pawing around on the edge of the sea just as curious as I am and never ready to leave.

Impromtu Beach Stop

 Mama saw a taco truck. Mama pulled over. Mama told the boys to put on their bathing suits. Mama bought some tacos. The Beach + A Taco Truck??? Crazy cool.

 There's a lot of sea lettuce on the shore right now at this particular spot, and so you had to find a clear spot or wade tip-toe through it to get to the open water. Love that my boys aren't to prissy to handle it.

 You can see why it got the name it did. I hear it's edible. I've never tried. I don't actually personally like sea veggies unless they're on the outside of my sushi.....at least as far as I have tried.

 Isn't this red kind pretty? Anybody know their seaweeds? I need to learn their names.

 There was a little wading, which became a little splashing, and a few falls...no harm done. Just slightly more damp  on the ride home. We don't mind a little sea water.

Found a lot of scallop shells at this beach right now too....interesting to see how the natural detritus changes over the season and location to location. We don't have many scallop shells near our house, we have whelks (Look! I know a new one!) and lots of oysters and mussels.

We sat and ate our tacos, watched the freighters unloading across the harbor, launched a few driftwood ships and then hopped back across the sand to our car. First impromptu beach session of the year? Check!

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