bayside pier

Bayside Pier

May 2008

My iTunes: Love Song by Sara Bareilles

This is the edge of our pier. I spent many a summer on this pier doing everything from fishing to swimming to napping to picniking to sunbathing. It's starting to show its age now, and it splinters something dreadfully. I think it's still picturesque, though. But my favorite part is all the memories that it holds.

Today was an unscheduled day, meaning I didn't "plan" anything, other than starting to pack for Philadelphia (which I haven't quite started yet). I ran a few errands earlier, went to the movies with my mother (we saw Made of Honor -- it was quite a fun movie, but my goodness are tickets expensive these days!), did my physical therapy exercises, and have watched all three original Indiana Jones movies while getting some work done on the computer and putting together a packing list.

While running errands this afternoon, I found my favorite mini-series (Christy) on DVD for a bargain. Christy is based on the book of the same name by Catherine Marshall. Yes, we share a name, but I started going by Christy after reading the book and watching the movies. It is one of my favorite books of all time, and I think the movies are excellent as well. Even though some of the movies are not based on the book, I think they remain perfectly true to the characters of the novel. The casting was wonderful, too. Kellie Martin is a delight, possibly my favorite actress -- and she, like me, was an Art History major (at Yale). Even though Tyne Daly doesn't match the physical description of the Miss Alice character in the book, she plays a perfect Miss Alice in all other respects. And Stewart Finlay-McLennan may be nearly as old as my father, but MAN is he a hunk! (The accent doesn't hurt, either.)

But I've procrastinated long enough... it's time to start packing!

bournemouth lamp

Bournemouth Lamp

May 2008

My iTunes: The Mermaid's Song by Anne Sofie von Otter, composed by Haydn

Short post today: I am studying for finals and trying to write this massive paper.

in the ocean

In the Ocean
October 2007

My iTunes: In My Own Little Corner by Julie Andrews

Well, I started the week standing in the Atlantic ocean and will be ending it in New York City today seeing Hairspray. What do the two things have in common? I'll be taking pictures!

dunes

Dunes
October 2007

My iTunes: La Ci Darem La Mano by Renee Flemming and Bryn Terfel

If you're one of those people like I am who goes back to the same place at the same beach every year, do you ever notice how some things change and other things stay the same? I've been going to this spot on the beach at least once a year since I was 2 weeks old. I have pictures of me in diapers here, learning to walk, building sandcastles, swimming, and getting harassed by my two brothers.

Every few years, they'll bring in a new shipment of sand to replenish the beach and it always makes things look so different. They'll plant new beach grass along the dunes, and the fence that delineates the open beach from the dunes seems to shrink and disappear into the ground. Funny how a little more sand makes everything look really different.

And then there is the building on new condos. This area used to be full of tiny little cottages, and now massive vacation homes are popping up in their places. I miss the quaintness of the beach cottages.

Seagull
October 2007

My iTunes: Batti, Batti O Masetto by Renee Flemming

So, having 20 oz. of cherry coke at 11:00 p.m. is NOT a good idea if you want to sleep much...

Seagulls are such funny creatures. It's fun to watch them and see how they behave.

handprint

Handprint
October 2007

My iTunes: In My Own Little Corner by Julie Andrews

I've been trying to post this all day, but apparently blogger has been having some issues with its photo uploading capabilities...

I thought it would be appropriate to follow up a picture of footprints with a picture of a hand print. When I thought about it, I realized that I don't usually make hand prints in the sand. Just footprints. sand + my hands = sand sculptures, not hand prints. But of course my hands hardly got to the sand when I was little because I was far too busy playing in the water!

Seems like just yesterday that a week at the beach felt like a lifetime. Now the weeks just fly by at top speed!

footprints in the sand

Footprints in the Sand
October 2007

My iTunes: Shifting Sand by Caedmon's Call

October at the beach is quite different from the beach at any other time of year. All my life I've gone to the beach every summer, and each year it seems to get more and more crowded. Sometimes I'd go out at 7:00 just to make sure we'd have a spot for the day. No such difficulty this weekend! The beach was e-m-p-t-y, which made for some neat pictures.

One of my favorite mental images is footprints in the sand. It always makes me think of the poem "Footprints in the Sand" by Mary Stevenson, written in the 1930's if memory serves me correctly. Here is a copy of the poem:

One night a man had a dream. He dreamed
he was walking along the beach with the LORD.
Across the sky flashed scenes from his life.
For each scene he noticed two sets of
footprints in the sand: one belonging
to him, and the other to the LORD.
When the last scene of his life flashed before him,
he looked back at the footprints in the sand.
He noticed that many times along the path of
his life there was only one set of footprints.
He also noticed that it happened at the very
lowest and saddest times in his life.
This really bothered him and he
questioned the LORD about it:
"LORD, you said that once I decided to follow
you, you'd walk with me all the way.
But I have noticed that during the most
troublesome times in my life,
there is only one set of footprints.
I don't understand why when
I needed you most you would leave me."
The LORD replied:
"My son, my precious child,
I love you and I would never leave you.
During your times of trial and suffering,
when you see only one set of footprints,
it was then that I carried you."