Posted tagged ‘ocean’

“C is for Cookie, that’s good enough for me.”

April 25, 2011

Yesterday was an Easter gift. Today we’re back to a sun-less day with white gray skies, but it is still warm at 56° so I have a few upstairs windows open. I awoke this morning to the sounds of birds. I can’t think of a more delightful way to greet the day.

Dinner was spectacular yesterday. We sat in the bar waiting for our table and from the windows we could see only water making us feel as if we were on an Easter cruise. Our dinner table was in the main dining room by a window where we could see the shells and sand. We watched the tide come in along the break-way. We toasted the day. It deserved recognition.

Mondays have a stigma attached. I don’t have to drag myself out of bed any more, but Mondays still have nothing redeemable. Friday used to be my favorite day, but now I have no favorites. I like them all except Monday. I don’t even have much energy today, but I do need to get out for a few things, the in-between stuff I run out of before a massive grocery run. I need bread.

The day after Easter meant a half eaten bunny in my basket. I ate the small stuff, the jelly beans and hard eggs, but I left the bunny until last. He was always the star.

I have a special fondness for sugar cookies, and for most big holidays my mother would make batches of them. I remember waiting and waiting until they were cool enough so I could eat one, unfrosted. I remember the bottoms of the cookies were always a light brown, and when I first made my own, that’s what I looked for when I checked to see  if they done. For Easter my mother made eggs and rabbits. Sometimes we’d help decorate. The rabbits were just white, but it was the eggs which brought out our creativity. We’d try and frost them with designs and lots of colors. I was never very good with the decorator bag. More frosting got on me than the cookies, but it really never mattered how they looked. They always tasted just right.

“And even the sun in dawn chorus sings, a celestial melody to the earth below.”

August 13, 2010

The morning is a delight. When I walked onto the deck, I could smell salt air, borne this far inland from the cool, morning breeze. The air hasn’t a hint of humidity. It’s even a bit chilly in the shade. Gracie came out with me, and the two of us got comfortable in our usual morning places. She lies on the deck in the sun, and I sit so I can watch the birds as I read the papers. Today I was loathe to come inside so I had a third cup of coffee and just sat doing nothing but enjoying the freshly brewed coffee, the warmth of the cup between my hands and the goings of the birds.

I watched the morning stirrings from the house beside me. It is a summer rental, vacant all winter. Every Saturday packed cars leave and their places are taken by other packed cars. If there are kids, they are the first to run out of the cars. They are the explorers. I can sometimes hear them yelling about their discoveries, like the outside shower and the barbecue. Their excitement brings back memories of vacation mornings when I was young. Every day seemed bright, filled with sun. I always woke with the expectation of something different  from the usual. The ocean was just a short walk away on what passed for a road between the cottages, just two dirt ruts with grass growing between them. The grass was always tall and usually browned by the sun. Mornings were the coolest times of the day. At the first step out the door, I could smell the salt water and could always tell if the tide was in or out. It was quiet in the early hours. That was always my favorite part of the day on our vacations. I had the beauty of the morning and a whole new day ahead of me different than all my other days.