“At the beach, life is different. Time doesn’t move hour to hour but mood to moment. We live by the currents, plan by the tides, and follow the sun.”
The morning is ugly even though the sun tried to pop out of the clouds. The humidity is 79%. Today will follow the latest weather pattern: 70’s during the day and 60’s at night. The clouds will hang around the whole day. I’m fine with that as I’m going nowhere. I saw the traffic yesterday and saw the line of cars waiting through light cycles. The line went from one light to another.
Yesterday I actually got my dump sticker and emptied the trunk of all those bags of trash. I evicted a few flies. A very nice man helped me with the trash. Next, I had my car inspected. It was a 45 minute wait, my punishment for going on the last day of the month. A few cars failed ahead of me, but mine was fine. I had been getting a low tire pressure notice so I asked them to check, all four tires needed air. I guess that’s why I was squealing around corners.
When I was a kid, summer weekends were mostly spent with my family. We went to the beach, usually to Gloucester, to Wingaersheek Beach. I loved that beach. I could find neat shells, crabs and even clams. At low tide I could swim in tidal pools. They were deep and warm. I remember the houses which overlooked the beach. I wanted to live in one. My mother never swam but sat on the blanket and kept an eye on my two sisters. A famous mom story happened on this beach. She was yelling at us, my brother and me, for throwing stones. We stopped. She yelled again and said we had hit her on the head, perplexing to us as we hadn’t thrown a stone. My father checked for any injury. She screamed. A passing seagull had dropped his poop and had hit her, no aiming involved, just circumstance. She ran gagging to the water, and my father washed out the offending fecal matter. We laughed but not where she could see us.
My mother packed great beach lunches. We had a variety of sandwiches, chips, fruit, cookies and peppers and eggs. That last dish came from my aunt who had given my mother the recipe. It has stayed with me. I’ve made it to bring to band concerts and for deck dinners. I remember that by the end of the afternoon everything left was sandy. Even the cookies tasted gritty.
My father didn’t let us in the car until he had washed the sand from our feet. We waited in line, the four of us. He’d have us sit one at a time on the end of the seat with our feet hanging out so he could wash them. Once they were clean, we’d swing our feet around into the car.
When I was in bed after a day of swimming, I’d rest my head on the pillow when I was falling asleep. Sometimes a bit of water would run from my ears. It always felt warm.
Explore posts in the same categories: Musings
July 1, 2023 at 1:55 pm
Hi Kat,
Today is cloudy and the high temperature is predicted to only hit 94°.
This Spring our right wing nut job Texas Legislature passed a law abandoning automobile inspections. However, we who are living in the large metropolitan areas will still have to get an emissions system test annually which will be about $10 less than a current $25 State Inspection. The Texas legislature and our loony tune governor hates any kind of government intervention or requirements regardless if it affects health and safety. After all, in the spotlight of the Uvalde school massacre last year, the legislature failed to raise the age to buy an AR15 rifle from 18 to 21. Every kid deserves to own a military grade assault rifle to protect him or herself from those mean liberals who want to take away your stuff and give it to black and brown people.
Well, after all these years Justice Clarence Thomas got his wish and was able to kill race based advantage in college admissions. I guess he forgot that he is only occupying a Supreme Court seat because of affirmative action that got him his education. He’s an embarrassment to the Supreme Court and to his own race. The right wing nut jobs are quickly checking off all of their pet projects and desires that were passed since the end of WWII. This is including dismantling the civil rights legislation. Americans don’t realize that elections have consequences, or maybe they do realize it but only care about what’s good for themselves.
I’m not a fan of the beach. I don’t like the sand, nor the salt water, nor anything that swims in the ocean which might want to eat me. Yuck! Give me a nice clean swimming pool any day.
July 1, 2023 at 3:16 pm
Hi Bob,
Wow, a cold spell!
In Ghana when I lived there, buses were always overloaded, and cars were never inspected. I saw the aftermath of a bus accident. People were lying on the road or were huddled on the side of the road. The bus was almost in two. It was awful. I saw a Volkswagen hit another car, fly into the air and burst into flames. I am an advocate of car inspections.
I doubt Trumpers gave the Supreme Court much thought, but the Republicans did. The addition of these conservatives was well planned. We will see our rights dismantled for years to come.
I like the beach but not so much salt water. I’ll walk the shore line and hunt for neat shells and sea glass, mostly in the winter. The summer beach is unimproachable!
July 1, 2023 at 3:53 pm
Unfortunately, you and I will be long gone before a Democratic President will be able to shift the court back towards the middle. Our descendants will be the ones suffering the fact that Republicans want to turn the clocks backward to the 19th Century. Maybe Clarence Thomas will write a majority opinion reversing Loving v. Virginia. That was the Supreme Court decision that allowed interracial marriage. I think he’s that dumb. 🙂
July 1, 2023 at 11:29 pm
Maybe the democrats will win both houses in 2024. If so, they should propose adding justices to the court.
July 2, 2023 at 12:26 am
Or, impeaching and removing, Thomas and Alito for ethics violations and Kavanaugh for perjury during his confirmation hearings. Then, Biden can replace them with more moderate justices.
July 2, 2023 at 1:05 am
That works even better!