My Summer

Greetings from the Gulf Coast. As my "sabbatical" comes to an end ( I return to my "life" next Tuesday), I felt compelled to share some of it.

It was the best of times, it was the worst of times.... man, isn't that the truth. Let's see... the best of times...

There is nothing better for me than a day spent on the beach, using all my senses.
Listening to the waves crashing as they peak over the sand bars and push their ways to the beach, small children squealing with delight in the sand and water, and the flying rats (sea gulls) begging people to feed them.
Feeling the heat from the sun on my body as the sweat runs and the breeze cools the moisture on my body which keeps me cool and comfortable, the sand beneath my feet, oozing through my toes as I stand in the water, the waves washing over me as I float out in chest high water, that is fairly clear for the Gulf.
Gazing on the the water as the waves wash toward me on the beach, searching for seashells while working my way down the beach, people watching (you wouldn't believe some of the stuff I have seen), and reading a good book while bathing in the sun.
The taste of salt when a wave surprises me and splashes my face. The cool, refreshing slush of a previously frozen bottle of Powerade or Dasani water. Eating chicken salad with chips and cherries for dessert is great on the beach and revives my energy to stay for the day.
The smell of salt in the air, cocoa butter sunscreen, and nothing seems anything but fresh and inviting.
The Sixth Sense is my greater feeling of rejuvenation and relaxation, which I truly needed.... it is all priceless to me.

Sometimes opportunities don't turn out as positively as you would like, and that was certainly the case this summer. I had the opportunity to travel to Florida, the reason, at this point, is moot, but there were great lessons to be learned and it did turn out positively. I had the chance to go for a half day deep sea fishing, which was fabulous. I even caught a fish, and I ate it for dinner so that was the icing on the cake (there were only 6 fish caught and there were over 40 people on the boat). Tarpon Springs is a great area I visited where they harvest sponges off the sea floor using divers, who came from Greece. The area is a great Greek oriented community where I found folks eager to help me find things that would be educational to use in my classroom for greatly reduced prices. The food was to die for, and it just reinforced my desire to someday see Greece (when I was a teen I had a poster of Greece in my room and now see that I should have gone a decade or two ago). On the way home I stopped in Pensacola, but due to the Tropical Storm Cindy, who blew through a day before I did, it was not as impressive as I expected. Hollywood ruins more destinations for me, due to how they portray them, and then I expect more than what is truly there. Other than that, what happens in Florida, stays in Florida.
On the Texas coast, well I have to say, I have spent most of my time enjoying the beach, cooking healthy meals, reading books I have picked up over the last year or so, and working on my master's degree.
Terry, one of the greatest friends I have ever had, came over for a couple of days. She and I went to eat dinner at a fantastic restaurant near Crystal Beach, called the Stingaree. We ate, drank and were merry, then we bought t-shirts to celebrate. Apparently the restaurant once had a resident cat named Mr. Beasley but he died. They had commemorative t-shirts, one created while he was alive, and one upon his death. So, of course, we had to have those. We wore them the next day while we doing the "touristy" thing... I thought some clever person would notice... if they did, they didn't mention it to either of us. On our way to the restaurant we saw the lighthouse, I think it is the Bolivar Lighthouse, but I am not sure, the picture is attached. We rode on the ferry to our dining destination, which is always a treat for me. I never feed the gulls, at least not in the last 30 years, but I did find it interesting they were attracted to the top of a nearby SUV, and I was thrilled it wasn't mine they wanted to use as a perch.

The Worst of Times:
There would be more pictures, but my camera died after the deep sea fishing trip and there isn't a "camera shop" on the island.

There has been seaweed on the beach all summer, due to the ?Sargasso? sea and the seaweed that grows there and breaks loose and floats to the gulf coast. It didn't stink like it does in Corpus, and the last few weeks it has been better and the water clearer.

RED TIDE in Florida, so there were all kinds of dead fish on the beach, which was gross and cool at the same time. I saw eels and puffer fish and others that I would have never seen otherwise, but it was also why so few fish were caught on the fishing trip even though we went very far out into the gulf (ten miles as opposed to the usual 3-5).

Hurricane Dennis, which at least hit much further south, but it feels weird to be on the beach in the middle of the summer and it is cloudy and raining for two days. It was least negative of the ones mentioned, and they are all Mother Nature's doing.

The main thing that occurred was the change in me, I hope that when I return to my "life" I will be able to maintain the "new" me and not fall back into the stress and rush of learning a new job, as a kindergarten teacher, the stress and worry of having a child that trouble follows around and tempts him at every chance, and continuing my journey of finding myself.

Adventures are not always all positive, but you hope the positive will outweigh the negative, and this summer that is certainly true. I have loved it, overall, and hope that next summer I will have another adventure, either here or abroad.