Showing posts with label sunshine. Show all posts
Showing posts with label sunshine. Show all posts

Monday, May 25, 2009

Once Upon a May day....

.....a girl went on an adventure. Not just any ordinary adventure, but a beach adventure, taking her along the New England coastline.

This red-haired girl with freckles carried with her some essentials for a perfect beach adventure: her orange beach bag, beach towel, sunscreen, and books. These books weren't just any beach books either; they were the Betsy-Tacy books, a favorite series of hers as a child. She had decided to reread them just for fun...and because she could.
Her first stop was Rye Harbor, a favorite niche of hers. There is a land bridge here that she likes to walk on. It's quite serene.
{please note the difference of the water to the left and right....beautiful}

It was here that she couldn't quite stop smiling ear to ear. The waves rolled in, crashing against the rocks....
....and the water in the harbor was crystal clear. Of all the times she's visited this special place, she's never seen this!
It was marvelous and the red-headed girl was very happy. She paused for a few moments and breathed in the salty, briny smell of the Atlantic. Mmmmmm. She watched the boats cruise out of the harbor and bob in the ocean, the seagulls cruise in the sapphire sky, and listened to the waves crash.
Then she decided to continue on her adventure. Along her way she spotted the beach roses in bloom. My how good they smelled!
"The perfume of roses are like exquisite chords of music composed of many odor notes harmoniously blended. " -N F Miller

Her next stop was her most favorite spot along the coast. It is here that she always spends her beach days. It's not a sandy beach, although one of those is nearby, rather she prefers to freckle (as opposed to tan) upon great, big boulders and rigid rocks, where pools of ocean water collect and tiny creatures live. It was here that she set up her blue striped beach chair and beach towel and began to delve into her childhood with Betsy, Tacy, and Tib. As she devoured the adventures of the young girls, the red-head with freckles (which were quickly growing in number as the sun lured them to POP! onto her skin) realized she had a visitor....
...a ladybug! This ladybug was very dark though, a cherry chocolate color, no doubt from tanning in the sun. Her name became Betsy, after the heroine in the books the red-head was reading. Betsy flew away after a few minutes of exploring human fingers.
After reading for a few hours, the red-headed girl with lots more freckles decided to engage in one of her most favorite beach activities: hunting for sea glass. Her favorite spot with all the rocks also has a pebble beach hidden away a short walk from where the red-head was reading. She put on her shoes and hopped rocks to the spot.
When hunting for sea glass, one typically finds a great deal of brown and green pieces. Occasionally a white piece will manifest itself. The rarest pieces are the dark blue and red ones (red is the rarest of them all supposedly from the old, old lobster traps when they were partially made of glass). The red-headed girl had only once found a red piece and this was after hours of digging and searching. Today, only after a minute of searching, her eye caught something blue...a piece of sea glass and a large piece at that! Hoooray! She continued digging around the beach and found lots of pieces of green, brown, a few white, some neat rocks, even some sea-foam green pieces, and a green marble! Quite content (and sun-burned), she decided her day had come to an end. She set off to her yellow house to pour over her new-found beach treasures....
"Today is a smooth white seashell, hold it close and listen to the beauty of the hours." -Unknown


What a wonderful day!


“The Sea, once it casts its spell, holds one in its net of wonder forever.”-Jacques Coustea




Saturday, March 21, 2009

Perfect Day

Hello again friends!

I meant to post this yesterday but alas, I was too busy so I'm posting today. Yesterday (Friday) was the most perfect day!
Friday I woke up early, SUPER early but it was awesome. I must confess, I love getting up early; it's so peaceful. Anyways, when I got home, I went back to bed until 10:30. Woke up, styled my new A-line hair cut (I love it!), got ready and headed to campus. It was beautiful outside, absolutely perfect. A perfect spring day! The weather had to be in the 60s. Warm weather also warms my mood, so I was positively blissful. I managed to hold myself hostage in the library for 2 hours and then I had to leave. It was too much for me to handle being inside with the sun and blue sky teasing me through the windows so I left. I planned on donating blood but, when I went to the section of the WILK where the drives usually are, there wasn't anything there so I decided to treat myself to some ice cream: 1 scoop of chocolate chip cookie dough and 1 scoop of earnestly chocolate. DELISH! And the man who served me my ice cream complimented my hair! HA! That made my day.
I strolled outside and sat on a bench and soaked in the sunshine. Because I had some time to play with, I decided to hit up the Museum of Art. I must also confess that I am closet art lover. I blame this on the influence of my GP and on my humanities classes, but I just love art (well, no so much modern art, but I sure love the classics!). There were a few new exhibits on display:
1. Visions of the Southwest from the Diane and Sam Stewart Art Collection
Including Georgia O'Keefe...one of my favorite artists!!!!

2. Dan Steinhilber (more contemporary/modern but definitely cool! One of this pieces was made entirely of duck sauce packets (see below)....hahahaha!--also these pictures are offline because I can't take pictures in the museum)

Entirely made of balloons!
3. Walter Wick: Games, Gizmos and Toys in the Attic
He is the photographer and co-author of the
I-Spy books and let me just tell you....I LOVE THEM! Yes, as a 21-year old, I love to sit down and read I-Spy books. I will forever remain a child at heart and I'm proud of it! Here's a picture I got offline of one of the pictures that was on display (it's trippy!--look at the bottom of both pictures, the columns--how can the reflection be?!?!). He's all about the optical illusions (which I also love):
Anyways, I spent most of my time in the Walter Wick exhibit because it was so fun and so cool. After viewing the exhibit, I decided I had to have some of those I-Spy books. Well, lucky me! As I was passing the shop in the museum, they had some! TADA!
I am the proud owner of two of Wick's books. Which leads me to another confession. I LOVE books and reading. I attribute this love to my mom who also loves to read. She taught me to be a voracious reader. When I go home for the summer, I always have a book with me (in my purse, in the car, several by my bed, some in the kitchen, some in the family room). I love to read. My mom once said that she loved reading because she could travel to anyplace, anytime, anywhere, with any character. I think that got me hooked and I've been on a roll ever since with that thought always in my mind. Isn't it fun!? I mean you pick up a book and can instantly be transported to anywhere! I love all kinds of books. These books are fun because it brings me back to my childhood--and isn't it fun to reminisce sometimes? I think so. Some of my all-time favorite books are from my childhood, the ones I can read over and over and over again.
Anyways, I decided to head home with the plan to lay out in the sun. As I approached my apartment complex, about 12 of my friends were already outside. I was so excited!!!! So I sat down and showed them, proudly might I add, my newest purchases. And you'd think a bunch of 20-something year olds would be unamused by my purchase. WRONG! We had two groups huddling over both books trying to find the hidden pictures and solve the riddles. It was so cute and so fun!
It was the perfect day.
And to top my weekend off, I woke up early again today to play basketball (6:40am). I left my apartment and walked to the courts and it was so lovely. The sun wasn't quite up and it was so quiet except for the birds! It was wonderful! Basketball was fun (and my bracket is doing well...although that can change any game), today was also beautiful (I'm working on my freckles since I do not tan). And my precious younger brother e-mailed me asking for my advice. Precious? I think so! Gosh I'm a happy girl!