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!

Happy Hurricane!

Somehow it is Wednesday already and we are busily clipping towards the weekend which suddenly is inches away! Nothing like having a hurricane over the weekend to make time really fly!

A view down our street.

Hurricane Sandy was mostly, luckily for us, a very exciting story. We heard the most terrific wind I've ever experienced outside our house Monday night but besides a few trees down we have had very little to disrupt our daily function. A was off work and spent some extra time playing at home with us, we did some yard work we meant to catch up on anyhow and we have spent some time yesterday and today calling friends to be sure all our folks are safe and sound. We even miraculously managed to keep our power through the whole storm. I am still shocked that that happened. I carried a candle around with me all evening and went to bed with one on my nightstand, just waiting for the lights to go out but we woke up in the morning with the bedside digital clock blinking merrily at us (there were lots of brown-outs in the night so it went on and off and on and off) but still very much there and alive.

The new ocean-front in our fair city.

We had no major property damage and have been checking to see if anyone we know needs a place to stay or a hot shower but so far people are just toughing it out, waiting to see who will be in it for the long haul.

Halloween festivities have officially been postponed by our mayor to make sure they can get downed wires taken care of before kids take the streets. Still weighing what to do about that personally. Our waterfront was pretty walloped and is quite damaged and flooded I hear but here, one mile in from the shore our own street is pretty sound, we all still have power and the extent of the damage is just trees down in yards. We might check around with neighbors and see if people feel like letting the kids troop around or if we will all wait with the rest of the city. There's some merit to both options. Will see what I find out later today.

Siding off the side of our house that the wind blew down against our front door.

I am off to call and email more friends as I work my way down the list of people I am checking on. Lots of non-answering still...several I am still wondering about and still lots of hot water and food to share if people need the help.

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.

Poetry Friday: A Heat Wave Poem

Golden moment during our after-dinner swim the other night.

Happy Poetry Friday everyone! I hope you are all having a wonderful time wherever you are in this beauitful shining world. I am listening, all day now to the rattling buzz of cicadas and thinking fondly of sunflowers. (I will plant some next year!)

I am thinking about swimming to excess because we're headed off to the beach for the weekend. My poem today is perfect for a person who is a bit fixated on shore-life. I can think of very little else. So, enjoy this little glimpse of summer in my world and have a great weekend!

I will be back, re-charged and ready to conquor the world on Monday. Cape Cod, here we come!

August Remedy

When I was small we would end unbearably hot days
With boisterous runs to the perfect coolness of Lake Michigan.
I sit here this morning, sweating while sitting still and think
Of those childhood runs for the water, all of us flailing joyfully.
The sun is blazing through the open window, no breeze in sight,
I listen to the voices of our three boys, playing in the sprinkler
And I remember how I sat like this when I was nine or ten
Squinting in the sun, waiting for Papa's truck to crunch in the drive
How the house became a buzzing whirl of swimsuit searching
And six children slap, slap, slapped up the path to the minivan.
We are having a heat wave here in Connecticut and I watch
The wiggles radiating off the sidewalk and think of the big, wet ocean
Only minutes away from our house (if you have a minivan).
Almost Lake Michigan.
I miss the solace of knowing that when the car rolls in the drive
I'm headed for that cool, silver feeling when your head first slips under.
Survival sometimes depends on these notions
Our three sons slog into the house, tired of hose-play and too hot for tag.
We drip popsicles on the front stoop, and re-fill the ice-cube tray until
We peter out and sit languidly in front of the box fan.
I slowly fold a tower of clothes, they poke each other.
And so I dial, waiting for you to answer from your cool office, far away
And I tell you that tonight we need to stage a re-enactment,
A certain re-dancing of the steps I have been taught for these dog-days.
When you come home, we munch sandwiches standing up,
Dripping pickle juice down our wrists and on our bathing suits
Then our boys run: slap, slap, slap to the minivan, elbowing into seats
Even the baby jigging along behind, talking to himself as he goes.
And that is how I find myself, taking this flying run across the sand
Splashing into the water and drinking in that first shimmering plunk.
I pull the glittering cool into my very veins, sipping potent heat-remedy
And float like an otter, my grin lifting me skyward, along with my pink, boyant toes.

If you get the chance, stop on over at, A Year of Literacy Coaching, today's Poetry Friday host-blog and read through the other offerings, a summery smattering of everything.

Dusk, Shore Walk

 I don't own a boat, I've never owned a boat...I'm not even really a big "boat person" but they sure are peaceful to look at, floating by the docks, all ready for seafaring adventure. I have a boat photograph that I'm trying to work up the nerve to paint, and some day I will have the guts to give it a spin and try putting boat-happiness on paper.

 Spent the dusky, muggy evening strolling the shore, at a park near the marina. Geese and swans, the lighthouse in the disance the last of the golden sun, and boats galore....

 Old men in boats are extra cute. Maybe I'll get a boat to putter around in when we're old. As long as he'll take me along on misty evenings near the shore.

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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Holding A Star In My Hand

Have you ever seen a live starfish? I suppose for people who grow up on the shores of the sea it isn't such a ridiculous thrill, but for me? Whole different story! I got to hold one in my hand recently, and we're not talking tame aquarium example, a wild starfish that we found by chance. It was amazing.

These are the perks that are involved in having a sister who is a biologist. She finds amazing things, things I am just completely awed by whenever we go for a stroll together. And then she knows all kinds of things about them! She rocks. Biology rocks. Starfish definitely rock.

I painted the above piece, of a starfish a while ago. A hopeful, sort of exotic painting done from a photograph that wasn't mine. I can't believe I actually got to recreate the scene in real life.

The variety of starfish we found was Asterias forbesi, Forbes' sea star. I wonder who Forbes was? I feel like I know a good bit about the flora and fauna of the woods and meadows, at least in my own climate, but I am a bit "at sea" if I go to the shore. I have lived here for years, I need to learn what to call the things that my boys find washed up on the beach, for crying out loud!

Consider this a start. Sea stars have an exoskeleton, like clams and lobsters so holding ours felt like holding an animated china figurine. So strange! They move by virtue of a million, million little tube feet tenacles on their backside, and their flexible arms. This video shows a great view of the little feet wiggling.



They walk, through the ocean and in order to eat any clams (their favorite food!) they have to walk across them! Can you imagine? If something attacks a sea star it has great regenerating powers. It can grow back a missing arm, like ours was working on or even regenerate almost an entire body as it still has one arm and one fifth of it's center. Crazy, right?  Another thing my sister told us that I thought was super cool was that sea stars have no blood! The orange dot you can see on the star we found is a special valve used to suck in or out, the proper amount of sea water and maintain the proper pressure internally in order to keep circulation just right. AND, they have an eye at the end of every arm! Cool or what?

Autumnal Beach Explore

We took a little picnic lunch down to the shore that is a stone's throw from our house and had what I was calling at first the "Last Beach Outing of the Year." Heh. What was I thinking? It was gorgeous. Not super sunny and not over warm (high fifties) but there was no real wind and it was warm enough to be quite comfortable in our light jackets.

We explored a new beach we'd never been to (fun to learn our new neighborhood a little more), ate peanut butter in jelly in a hurried way and then spent a long time exploring the edge of the tide. So much wonderful stuff had washed up...oyster shells by the pound, pearly, purple mussel shells, claws from crabs, bits of horseshoe crab shell, and all kinds of fabulous sea weed.

Anyhow, all that to say that it was a great way to celebrate the baby turning five months old and it will in no way be our last outing of the fall.

I can't wait to go back! I forget how wonderful it is to just wander around bent backed, looking at all the ocean detritus that has rolled in and watch the boys chase seagulls and drive away with the scent of salt water rubbing off your hands onto the steering wheel.

Yay for living by the sea!