This morning my daughter and I discovered that at low tide....part of our beach was a tide pool....purple red starfish.....crabs....snails....and little fish darted in clear basins of water.
We also found about a dozen starfish stranded on the beach....high above the water line...since some people come by and collect them....we decided to gather them up and place them back in the cool ocean tide pools....given them another chance ....to ....well....be starfish.
It's almost midnight and I am dog tired......my day started with an early morning walk on the beach with my daughter....included a job interview over the phone at mid day....and it's ending with me trying to stuff two weeks of sea shells...interesting rocks and a few t shirts....gathered here in NY into luggage and bags....which appear to bemutliplying like reckless rabbits in heat.
Tomorrow....Saturday.....we spurce up the house.....go for our last walk on the beach......and drop my hub off at the airport....he's heading for home.
It's startling... to think....that time has gone by so quickly.....he's already returning to our real home and real life. We've had so much fun the last few days....cooking....beach walking....and just being a complete family again ... it's hard to believe.....we start unwinding....this perfect carefree arrangement already.
After I drop Hub off at the airport......I'm heading into the City with the kids for a couple days.....then send them off too....in different directions...one to go home ....two to spend time visiting family in Chicago.....
Hard to believe.....next Friday night it will be my turn to pack up and leave for home.....
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This morning, for the second morning in a row.....the sweet chirps of meadowlarks have been my alarm clock at dawn. The house if full of sunlight .....and I slip out of bed to try and make coffee ....quietly.....which is task....since this house is a hundred years old....and many floor boards has something to say when you put your weight on them.
I love this place....the hamlet of Orient....the old houses.....the small scattered farms.....and the ability to see both the Long Island Sound.....and the Bay which is part of the Atlantic Ocean.
I already collected a few real estate magazines for the area.....but owning a home here....would be in the "something to dream" about category....since many of the small historic homes run at least 1 million dollars.
But that didn't stop me from walking around the hamlet....and deciding which one or two I could live in....which garden would be perfect with only a few more flowers or a nip and tuck on an overgrown shrub. One of the historic homes even had an open house on Sunday....priced to sell....at 800K.....it was an odd ..quirky....beautiful old house.....but even I knew that a few of the floorboards felt way too soft (possible joist rot?) and the kitchen was left behind in the 60's......and one bathroom looked like it needed lots of work. Sometimes I watch those stage your home to sell shows on the Home and Garden Channel....and I'm able to pick out suspicious decorating touches. In this house.... a bright new luxurious shower curtain hanging in an out of date bathroom made me suspicious. Pull it aside and uh huh....yes.....the bathtub from hell.
There's lots of wind on this point of land....strong wind....not the kiss of a gentle breeze....so it's interesting to be out and about....walking down the narrow old streets or on the beach. You don't have the pleasure of introspection or getting caught up in your own internal thoughts.....because the wind bats at you....as if to say....think of me think of me....and you do....it's almost like a child tugging on your sleeve for attention. And it's not necessarily a bad thing.....since you feel the sun. ....the smell of water....the constant russle of leaves in thick old trees...and of course the wind....tossing your hair around....making your windbreaker or t-shirt into a sail.
Today we will go into the bigger town of Greenport about 6 miles south of here....to buy groceries....and walk around. I'd like to pop into the library and look at a history book of the area....and there are numerous art galleries along the main drag....which my hub hopes are closed on Mondays...to help me avoid temptation.
I finished one book....from my pile....a book I brought along because it was so small....The Story of My Life....Helen Keller. It's only 75 pages....but I was astonished.
I could not phantom....and still can't.....how a woman who was deaf and blind....and unable to speak well....could acquire the education, sophistication, and communication skills (in writing) which she did. For example...she attended Radcliffe.....and graduated. She studied through people spelling each word into her hand....or reading embossed text books.
Okay...can you imagine someone spelling an entire book into your hands? or touching someone's lips to read what they are saying....at a college level? The woman also mastered French and German....and was fond of German literature. I have all my senses and I can speak "pig" rough French and read enough words to get me down the street and into a coffee shop. Fini. That's it.
Possibilities......we simply limit ourselves and sell ourselves short some times.
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My booty from two days of work.....a handful of sea glass....and special shells....called "jingles"....which I hope are magic seeds.....which I'll use later to make wishes.
My new found treasures of sea glass and shells....needed something to go into.....walking through the hamlet....we stumbled upon a garage sale....where for the non-haggled price of $1.00.....I bought the perfect sweet dish to hold my dream seeds.
Heart stones. Loves stones.
When I met the owners of our rental house last fall.....she showed me her collection of heart stones. Well...that's nice ....I thought.....but how cliche....you know.... a woman collecting heart stones.
Wow....scratch that opinion....when I looked down on the beach and found a love stone....I felt like Snoopy doing that little dance he used to do....the happy dance.
Okay....collecting heart stones is a brilliant preoccupation on the beach.
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