Summer's End

As summer ends, the beach still calls for me to come and sit,

and mindlessly watch the sun set in pastel sky,

I'll search for shells 

and buried treasure.

While waves roll in,

each color will slip into inky night.

When I have come with happy heart to sixty years and ten,

I'll buy a boat and sail away upon a summer sea;

And in a little lonely isle that's far and far from men,

In peace and praise I'll spend the days the Gods allow to me. . . .

. . . For when I come with happy heart to sixty years and ten,

I fondly hope the best of life will yet remain to me;

And so I'll burn my foolish books and break my futile pen,

And seek a tranced and tranquil isle, that dreams eternally.

I'll turn my back on all the world, I'll bid my friends adieu;

Unto the blink I'll leave behind what gold I have to give;

And in a jewelled solitude I'll mould my life anew,

And nestling close to Nature's heart, I'll learn at last . . . to live.

-Beachcomber by Robert William Service

Anna Maria, Florida
August 2010

Back with no news

I really didn't intend on disappearing for two months.  And then I had all these grand plans of coming back with an updated blog. . . yeah, it didn't happen.  Summer was hot, then we went to Maine and had three incredible weeks of family, friends, ocean, lakes, lobster, Hubby's 40th, cousins, boat rides, fishing, and just general summer fun.  We came back and the kids started school last week.  I start an actual beginning German class next week at a university just because I want to learn it and I know that I won't do it on my own.  By January, I need to start coming up with what my plan is for here for the future.  We're still looking and there are still some possibilities from before that we are still waiting to hear from, but I've stop holding my breath.  Mostly I've just appreciated how lucky we are to be in a solid place in an area where so many people are on a slippery slide that appears to have no bottom.  Oh, and we booked an October trip with the kids to escape the heat and see autumn in one of my most favorite places in the world (hint: the language class will be useful there!).  That's it - we are lucky, we are healthy, and I finally seem to accepting that I don't control the universe. 

Now just a couple pictures from Reid State Park.  Reid State Park is Maine's first State-owned Saltwater Beach. In 1946, Walter E. Reid, a businessman from Georgetown, Maine, donated the land to the State of Maine to be preserved forever.  The park has two beach areas but most people spend their time on Mile Beach, but there is a second area, Half Mile Beach, which is also accessible to the public.  The beaches are also nesting areas for endangered least terns and piping plovers and resting and feeding areas for other shorebirds. (Information found at Maine Bureau of Conservation)

Mile Beach

For me, this is the beach of my childhood, my point of reference for beach vacations -with coarse, gritty sand, dramatic tide changes, water so cold, it aches and children being shepherded out with salty lips purplish blue that beg to jump just a few more waves.  My children are now imprinted with the my childhood memories of summer at Reid.

Watching waves crash on rocks is mesmerizing

The tide begins to inch in

The best way to warm up is a walk up the rocks