It's about time to update this again. The time sure flies. I really need to dedicate myself to writing more often. There are so many days that I would like to look back on that I never wrote about over the years. Especially with this move, I'd like to be more active on here. So let's start with August 15th. It was my first trip to the ocean alone. I got a month bus pass a week into August, so I used that to make my way to Ocean Shores. It was a beautiful sunny day. The skies were blue, decorated with only a few puffy white clouds. I walked around taking pictures along the path that I had to walk to reach my destination. Tall grass stood on either side of me as I finally made my way onto the warm sand. Drift wood lay around me on both sides, only slightly buried in the sand as people nearby flew kites and enjoyed the Summer sun. It was a Wednesday.
The water was ice cold though, and while it was a warm day, when you got by the water, you definitely felt a chilly breeze. Still, I got my boots off and sat them beside the tall poles with signs that notified beach goers that they could not park their vehicles beyond that point. I walked, sometimes running in the sand as I combed the beach and took pictures. I even found a crab leg that I took home later as souvenir. I plan to make it into a Talisman. There were little Jellyfish that had been stranded along the wet sandy beach where the water met land. At first glace, I thought that I had found smooth sea crystals of some kind. As I got closer, I realized that they were in fact Jellyfish. Grabbing a few photos, I was delighted especially by those which had been caught in my shadow, showing off their luminescence. It was awesome.
The energy that I felt hinted back to when I was 18 and had first visited the ocean with my dear friend Gary. There was so much to see and do. Later in the day I knew that I would have to leave soon, so I headed back for my boots, dusted the sand off of my feet, and prepared to head back in the direction from whence I came. Passing up my bus stop, I headed to a small Ice cream parlor, Murphy's. They didn't have my favorite flavor, though I did sample their Bubble gum ice cream. Deciding that I really wanted to be at Peppermint Parlor, I journeyed onward to McDonald’s and got two cheese burgers and a Dr. pepper before making my way back towards my pick up point. The line inside the fast food joint had taken me longer than I had expected, and I saw my bus heading for me. Flagging it down, I hopped inside and made my way back home.
The next day, I cleaned the Ol Lonesome, my friend John's bar. Afterward I spoke to Michelle (my other friend, who is Johns wife) and discovered that the Peppermint Parlor wasn't really all that far from my stop in Ocean shores! With a determination for ice cream I re-boarded the bus and headed for the beach. Heading back in the direction of McDonald’s, just on the other side about 20 feet was the Ice Cream Parlor I wanted to visit only a day before. I grabbed a picture of the outside and waited in line for my waffle cone. After discovering that the name of the flavor I had enjoyed there once before was “Beachcomber”, I sampled it to make sure and then bought a double scoop. It was pure heaven before I even tasted it! I grabbed a picture of the lady who sold it to me whose name tag read Ai-Lien and headed back to the beach. However, before I made my way there I had to sit down on a bench and finish my treat. It was an overcast day, and fog was obscuring my view of the water until I got close enough.
Again, I placed my boots beside a pole and this time I watched as the waters were much rougher with waves upon which surfers surfed. I believe “shark week” has just ended and I had seen far too many great white sharks leaping out of the water to get their prey on my Tv. I was sure that even though you're more likely to get into a car wreck or airplane crash, that one of the surfers was going to be bitten. The water was dark and foamy, the air salty and a bit chillier than the previous day, so I only stepped into it briefly. I decided that it was a good day to take less pictures and to do more beach coming. I had just eaten a Beachcomber after all. By the way, if you're wondering what flavor “Beachcomber” is, it's Aqua Blue ice cream swirled with Marshmallow ice cream and loaded with Blue Popping Candy, Confetti and Vanilla Bean specks. It tastes just like "Blue moon", a rare childhood flavor that I enjoyed in Ohio. Its got a SLIGHT Fruity pebbles/froot loops taste.
So off I was seeking out interesting stones, of which I found many, including a stone that I loved finding as a child. Its got to be some kind of quartz. It has a white/yellow color to it, sparkles in the sun, and if you crack it open it's super shiny and sparkles even more so. I was like a kid again in search for gifts from the sea. Time flew by so fast unfortunately, and I quickly realized that I wasn't sure which end of the beach I was on. After a struggle to find my way back towards the exit I needed (which took about 30 minutes), I took at least another 10 minutes to find my boots! For much of that 40 minutes, I'm thinking that I wont find my boots in time and will miss the last bus home. I did miss the last bus without a transfer, but luckily I caught the very last bus and made my way back to my apartment.
My shorts were weighed down with stones and sand in a bag, my ipod, a cell phone, my digital camera and a wallet. My legs and ass were definitely feeling the workout that I gave myself. Between all the endless beach coming, then jogging like I was David Hasselhoff in Baywatch to find my boots and exit, I was exhausted. It was an adventure though! I'll just be sure to keep a better eye on time during my next trip. I'll probably go quite a bit earlier too. Today my mom went in for surgery and got a defibrillator put in. While they were aware that she has a lot of scar tissue on the back of her heart, they were not prepared. Instead of taking and hour to an hour and a half, they took three hours, and one of the three wires they have to attach to her heart could not be put in because of the scar tissue and their complete lack of preparation, I say.
So they are calling in the surgeon who can finish their work, but it may be the day after tomorrow. We're hoping that they don’t send her home before they are finished because it'll be hell and near impossible to get her back. That means she has one more surgery to go. I talked with her and she sounds good. She wasn't hungry for the hospital food though, and was less than amused, but that's to be expected with her. Who likes hospital food anyway? I do hope that she will eat though. She's got to keep her strength up. I'm doing my best to keep myself occupied and to think positive, and it is going well. Life is offering up great things for me, and this surgery will extend my moms life which is great for her, me, and the family. I am truly blessed. I never thought that I would be where I am today. Life... it takes such interesting turns when you take a risk! The “risk”, I think was so worth it.
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newyork_pagan at Welcome
