Now I feel like I should talk about this weekend. Scooter and I have escaped to the coast, and it comes at a time when I’m in desperate need of a break. Work and school have been steadily wearing me down, like a rivulet of water slowly eroding exposed rock. We came up with the full intention of doing nothing but cooking good food, making an adult beverage, and soaking in the hot tub. Science has shown that such a prescription is exactly what you need to cure insomnia, lift depression, regain vitality, and even improve appetite. Well not really, but it does help me feel like I can finish this semester, and I do have a lot of fun being up here.
So, we drove to the coast. I’m lucky enough to have family with a vacation house in a coastal town that I’ve known since early childhood. I actually have baby pictures of my first steps here in the house where I’m writing this post, and my first impression of the sandy beaches of the harbor. The house is a little different from the memories that I have of summers spent here; but it still has a bed in the loft where I sleep just like I did years ago, and it still smells the same. The view from the front windows is beautiful. I have a straight view up the channel of the harbor that leads out to the larger bay and ocean waters. Right now, the tide is low—I can see the mud exposed from the areas of shallow waters. In really low tides, the whole harbor will lay bare and only the channel will have water.
I couldn’t describe the weather as anything less than perfect. It’s been a perfectly clear blue sky all day yesterday and today—a rarity even in the summer. Usually fog rolls in each morning and evening, but for whatever reason, the sun has shone uninterrupted since we arrived yesterday morning. The birds have been very active too. Since spring is in full force, birds are nesting everywhere. Yesterday, I saw a bird building its nest in the cavity of a wooden pillar along one of the piers around the harbor. I seem to also have a scrub jay visiting the deck every few minutes to pick at the seed I put in the feeder. He’s out there right now, bobbing his head as he grabs food to fill his crop, looking around him for predators every few seconds. Ah, there he goes, flying away to whatever nest he may be keeping nearby.
This weekend also hails an annual festival that Scooter and I went to earlier. So many booths full of homemade goods—flatware, clothing, woodwork, stonework, jewelry (lots of jewelry!), and even llama-fur woven items. Five llamas from local farms were there with their owners, some of whom were spinning the shaved fur for the public to see. There was also some excellent fish and chips, with fish that had to have been fresh-caught this morning, mere hours before it was cooked and served for us. Scooter and I definitely got our fill of trinkets; I came home with a canvas bag made with a heron on the front, a wooden clock carved into the shape of a dragon, an amethyst necklace, and balsamic vinegar (more about that in my next post).
Then we had a tough afternoon—we had to come home, fix a plate of snacks and soak in the hot tub. Then I sunbathed on the deck for a little while as I read. I had to come in sooner than I would have liked because we didn’t have sunscreen. Like I said, a tough afternoon.
Just what the doctor ordered.
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