Friday, August 10, 2007

Maybe we should move

Back home safely and all is well with the cats and the house. Grey Cat and Brown Cat are following me around and are both trying to sit in my lap at once.

Here are a few pictures:

We walked 3 or so miles down the beach on the second day we were there. In the rain. With no shoes. It was awesome. At least these pelicans thought so:

I love this color:

The Mister and i discussed buying this fixer-upper. Everything else was too expensive:

Pretty color:

There were lots of civil engineers and architects at the beach. I love going up to kids and asking them if i can take a picture of their masterpiece. They love it. These kids had spent hours making this beauty and were just realizing that the tide was indeed going to come in. They were going to build a little sand wall around it to protect it. As if.

Just a peek out at the waves for anyone who misses the ocean.

There were pelicans everywhere. They are so prehistoric looking. This group was diving into a fish ball that was just offshore. You can see the pink pouch where the one bird is swallowing something:

I got up this morning a bit early so i could go for a last walk out on the beach. The Pacific is damn cold this far north, but i spent half an hour wading around getting the bottom of my shorts wet. I wanted to take some of the salt water smell home with me.
I am both happy to be home and sad to be away from the beach. Tomorrow i have a hike planned to console myself. I love summer.

40 comments:

Liv said...

so amazing... my God, I have missed me some meno! Could have used you around during this week from you-know-where in south GA!

Anonymous said...

Gorgeous, all of it. Well, maybe not so much the fixer-upper, LOL. Looks like you had a great vacation.

Lynn said...

Glad to hear that you had a great time. Living near the ocean, I find that I often take it for granted. Thanks for sharing those pics.

Girlplustwo said...

i am so glad you had fun. and welcome back. you were missed.

i so love the ocean.

Unknown said...

"Just a peek out at the waves for anyone who misses the ocean."

That wouldn't be anyone around here. Heh. *sniff* *sob*

Wow. What a beautiful trip. Did you happen to stop in the Warren House Pub? Blackberry beer. Best beer ever.

Marshamlow said...

Glad you are back and had a great trip.

meno said...

liv, you are the kind of person that anyone would want to be friends with.

ortizzle, what's not beautiful about the most beautiful beach in the world, or one of them anyway.

lynn, you live near the beach? You are a lucky dog.

jen, thank you, you are sweet. I love it too. Mmmmm. I want to marry the ocean and have little fishie babies.

nancy, i thought of you lots this week. I found you an adorable sand dollar. I found it my own self. That makes it special.

marsha, i am sort of glad to be back myself. But sort of not.

Schmoopie said...

Can't wait to go there! Your pics are very artsy. I could see hanging all of them on my walls (okay-maybe not the fixer-upper.)

I'm with Pants-the blackberry beer was amazingly good at the pub.

flutter said...

can I dip my toes in, right there?

Mrs. Chili said...

I've never been a big fan of the beach. Growing up, as I did, in New England, I associate beaches with STUPID cold, coarse sand and lots of slimy seaweed - and by cold, I mean "I'm in it up to my ankles and I can't feel my toes anymore" cold. Stupid cold. I much prefer lakes to the ocean. There is less slimy stuff in them and the water is generally much warmer.

I do, however, love to LOOK at the ocean. I currently live in a small coastal town, and I've been kicking myself for not having my camera in my car - it really is beautiful where I live. I'll toss my camera in my bag and, hopefully, get a few post-worthy shots in the next week or so...

p.s. - I LOVE the last photo, Meno. Gorgeous!

ms chica said...

I can see potential in the fixer upper. I'm not sure what that says about me, though. Okay, the truth is I want to recycle most of that lumber for picture frames and furniture building. I'll leave enough to rebuild a bathroom, and hell, I'll just sleep in one of those nice camping tents, you know the kind with more square footage than your average garage....Yep, that ought to work.

My favorite thing about visiting the ocean is feeling the tide go in and out while I sleep, after I have already returned home.

Joan said...

Glad to read you're home safe and sound and that you had a great time. Your photos sure do make me want to spend some time at the beach...maybe this fall after everyone's kids are back in school.

sari said...

You're back! Glad you had a good time.

I love the pictures. I also love the optimism of children at the beach. They will constantly create, even though in seconds their masterpieces are washed away. And they just start again! :-)

Anonymous said...

welcome home! returning to the regular grind is always bittersweet, but you lucky dog get to return to your own beach atleast. you were sorely missed and all is well now that you've come home

Anonymous said...

"For anyone who misses the ocean..." Meno, you almost made me cry. The shot of the waves-and the last little curl of surf pushing it's foamy front up the beach. I didn't get to to the ocean this trip to Oregon; being so near the ocean and not being able to go nearer than three hours to it nearly broke my spirit. Thank you for the photos.

Anonymous said...

That shot of the birds is amazing, the seagull with it's wings outstretched. And you got to walk in the ocean, smell it, hear it, feel it. I love the water, it touches a part of me, deep inside, calms me and helps me to understand how small I am in the universe.

Dick said...

I like your photos and I love the Oregon Coast. We will be going to Eugene, OR in late Sep to have the solar system installed on our motorhome and plan to jog over to Newport, then spend a week or two heading home up that coast. That is a real advantage to an RV. you take your "home" with you, kind of like a turtle (yes, sloooowly), so you are sleeping in your own bed every night, yet the scenery can change on a regular basis. One day the desert, the next day the mountains and then the ocean on the third day. It is easy to make that happen with an RV.

luckyzmom said...

I love old shit and love the picture of the fixer upper most of all. I love to wonder about who built, when, who stayed there, etc, etc.

Thanks for posting all the other great pictures too.

Mother of Invention said...

There's nothing quite like the ocean waves rolling in...so soothing.
Now there's a beach house that I can afford!

meno said...

schmoopie, i'll have to try the blackberry beer, although i am not a huge beer fan. You will love your stay down there.

flutter, absolutely. Right there.

mrs.chili, we used to go to the ocean in Maryland every summer when i was a kid. It was warm down there, as i recall. I look forward to your ocean pictures.

ms. chica, i know! Wouldn't that wood be great for something? Except it looks pretty cool where it is too.

joan, it is much quieter after labor day. Next year we'll be able to do that as Em will (sniff) be off at college.

sari, i used to love to build things at the beach. I would dig huge holes in the sand and then line the inside walls with little cliff dwellings. And then start all over tomorrow.

holly, i know i am a lucky lucky dog. I can look out at my own little lake beach and realize life is good. And thank you, that's sweet.

irrelephant, you will have to make do with these pictures for a while, but you really need to get yourself there for a soul break. Glad you liked the pictures.

deb, when i first get there and hear the surf and smell the ocean, i am nearly over come with joy. So i know what you mean. I can spend hours just meandering up and down in the surf.

dick, you are having the ENTIRE solar system installed in your RV? Wow, it must be huge! Take pictures of your trip, you have the camera for it.

luckyzmom, i spent some time looking up at that old building too and wondering about it's origins and uses.

moi, that's a beach house i can afford too! :)

urban-urchin said...

We haven't had a chance to go to the beach this summer- which makes me sad, as going 'down to the shore' is something that all our new friends talk about with such fondness.

Tomorrow.

Tink said...

Awesome pictures Meno! My favorite is the last one. I just want to dip my feet in it.

ellie bee said...

just beautiful! what fabulous photos!

Dick said...

Hmm, I guess I should have said to have "my" solar system installed. When I traded in the old RV I was told the solar power system it had did not add to it's trade value. So I said I would keep the panels, three 90 watt high output solar panels that I had paid $515 each for. And in Eugene I save sales tax which will probably about pay for the fuel to drive the RV down there and back. But I'll also get a couple of weeks on the Oregon Coast out of it, too.

amusing said...

WOw. Thanks for sharing your trip. Hey, are there fairies at the seaside; that sandcastle could be a perfect fairy house!

I will have to post a "fixer upper" shot I took in Wyoming. It's another one of those places that makes you wonder who built it and why they lived there....

Anonymous said...

Lovely. Thank you.

Cheesy said...

Meno... you were standing there taking pics of my house and you didn't knock?? I'm crushed.... nice images m'dear!

thailandchani said...

Great pictures.. and the beach is just beautiful! It would be awesome to live there.. by the beach.. walking every morning.


Peace,

~Chani

Anonymous said...

Well, I typed out a big long response and then got distracted and it got gone. Shiite muslims. I have to say, those comments were the most amazing, original comments ever, full of wit and vigor. But they're gone now. Sob. Let me type some drivel isntead, completely unlike the sparkling sparkles of a few minutes ago.

I love the last photo deeply, we have no pelicans here on the east coast, and also none of those green urchin-y guys. Summer is wicked good. Glad you're back. Have a nice hike!

Sienna said...

So beautiful...yearning for the sea, thanks for the pictures....Meno you would love the Great Barrier Reef, it's warmth, color, variety...I can't get over your pelicans, the only ones I've seen are white...I think I need to get out more.

That all looks a lotta fun.
I so love the sea.

Pam

meno said...

u-u, oooh, too bad. Maybe soon?

tink, i love the patterns that the waves and the sun and the sand make. I take far too many pictures of it.

ellie bee, thank you, i had a beautiful subject.

dick, :) thanks for the explanation. I really had no idea what you meant. It's cool that you have solar power panels on your RV.

amusing, I know there were fairies and water sprites eyeing this beautiful castle.

mcewen, oh, you are welcome.

cheesy, i WOULD hace knocked, but i didn't want to disturb you if you were...ah...busy.

chani, i know, the Mister and i are talking about it, believe me.

capacious, i have my best comments disappear too. Gremlins in the machine.

pam, one of the places that i promise myself that i will visit is the great barrier reef. And someday soon, i will.

OhTheJoys said...

Meno...
These are incredible!
OTJ

Andrea Frazer said...

You make me want to go to the beach. Thank you for including me on the vacation.

peevish said...

OOH, lovely. Thanks for sharing your trip with us.

Princess in Galoshes said...

This is the first summer in my life that I didn't make it to the beach when I went home to visit. (Delaware.) I didn't even make it when I was in Orlando last week! So your pictures were bitterwsweet for me, I do miss the beach a lot. But your comments were fabulous.

Welcome back!

Mermaid Melanie said...

I have yet to make it up that far to the Northwest Pacific Coast, after moving to so cal almost two years ago. Its something I am looking forward too. Lovely images. Sounds like you enjoyed yourself.

meno said...

OTJ, thank you, but it's easy to capture incredible images at the ocean.

mamap, you are welcome to join me anytime.

peevish, no beaches in Colorado. But lots of pretty cliffs.

princess, One summer we rented a place in Maryland near the Delaware border. The joke was that we would get in the water saying, "I'm going to float down to Delaware." And then we would.

Melanie, starting above Point Reyes, there is some truly wonderful beach scenery.

egan said...

The Oregon Coast always brings back some great childhood memories for me. Mainly really awesome times. There's something really refreshing about time spent on the coast.

Susanne said...

Beautiful, beautiful pictures. Seems to have been a good vacation.

Taradharma said...

all your photos are fantastic, meno! you've captured your vacation well. i am lucky that I live across the road from the pacific ocean...i can smell and hear it and wade in its damn frigid waters every day.

The last photo is especially wonderful - the light in the water blows me away.