Miss you Jane.

[butterfly]

:) [[[Jane]]] I haven"t seen you on hope everything is fine with you and your household. Just wanted you to know I miss you. :) butterfly

[jane]

ahhhh thankyou, Yes, everything is fine.

My husband works for the local community college in administration. They had to shut it down for a few days to do electrical upgrading... for him and his staff that meant NO COMPUTERS :eek:

So the Dean had to give them the days OFF ! :D :D


guess where we went? ;) TO THE BEACHES OF RHODE ISLAND AGAIN!!

It was an extra vacation that we didn't plan!

Went fishing, swimming, crabbing, bought lobsters right off of the boat and we all had a blast. Found this secret beach with HUMONGOUS WAVES and had to leave because my 2 year old wanted to jump in them. The tide drop from the undertow had to be over 20 feet straight down. NO PLACE FOR KIDS or neurotic mothers of little kids!

anyway, glad to be back....well sort of, you know what I mean. Miss you too.

love,
jane

[Michael]

Welcome back, Jane! Sounds like a great vacation. I love the ocean! I've never seen yours though.

In His Grace,

Michael

[jane]

Ours in connecticut is not ocean, just drainage from the pollution of our neighboring BIG states- that is why we escape to Rhode Island or Mass...

which ocean have you seen? The pacific? Not me but my husband went to San Diego and says that there is nothing as beautiful as that in the whole world.

jane

[Michael]

Yes, the Pacific. I've enjoyed it from Washington to California. But primarily the Washington coast. Rougher, not as beautiful as the Oregon coast, but still one of my favourite places to go.

The coast of British Columbia is beautiful too. Well, I guess by that I mean the western coast of Vancouver Island, rather than the mainland because I've never been very far up that coastline. But I have been to Port Hardy at the north end of Vancouver Island.

When I've been in Alaska, I've only seen Cook Inlet (Anchorage) Gastineau Channel (Juneau), and Prince William Sound (Valdez), not the actual ocean.

In the past I have annoyed and bored my kids on vacation. I can just sit and watch the ocean for long periods of time. Combine that with walking on the beach, and I can spend many hours there.

One of the first times I took my boys to the ocean, when they were big enough to enjoy playing there (or so I thought), they ran out to the water, stood there, looked around, then ran back, and said, "let's go. this is boring." (There was no joystick or controller set for the ocean, so they were bored.) Eventually they turned into almost normal children and began making things in the sand. But I had to give lessons.

Here are two ocean-related poems that I wrote. I posted them in response to another post in July.


WINTER SHORE


Each wave comes closer

searching blindly,

but resolutely,

knowing that I

remain motionless

just beyond its reach.


Summer sand has retreated,

revealing a shore

of smooth stones and black rocks.

Storm-dashed driftwood

defines its upper edge.


Ceaseless ocean winds

cold, wet and wild,

bring to my lips

the familiar taste of salt.


Above, a hundred hues of grey.

And heavy-laden clouds hang low,

clinging to distant horizon line.


Below, grayblue waves

capped with streaks of white

are suddenly broken

by a dark emerging form.


A single Orca breaches,

dives, then spouts;

a majestic mass of black and white,

sleek beauty and awesome power

amongst rolling storm-dark waves.


At this moment the water reaches me.

Stones and sand shift

moving beneath my feet.

This wave retreats, then pauses,

before returning

to engulf me once again.


Dusk draws near

and I finally turn to go,

knowing that I never truly leave

this blustery, winter shore.

--

and, on a much lighter note, here's another ocean-related poem that I wrote:


SQUID SONGS

If squid could sing us songs

of what would their songs be made?

Would they wax eloquent

about seaweed, salt, and smelt?


Would they ponder the beauty

of the sun drifting down

through hues of saltwater green

and fields of waving kelp?


Would lyrics extol the grace

of black ink expelled,

dispersing slowly in the sea?


I am sure that their voices

would be quite high

like sopranos sipping helium and wine.


Would a choir of squid send

bubbles of angelic sound

to burst on the surface above?


But we already know

that ten million squid

will never sing beneath the billowing sea.


For their creative gift has been confined

to creating soap opera scripts

for daytime tv screens.

--

In His grace,

Michael

[jane]

I love the poems- I especially love the ocean in the winter time myself. I like the quietness of less tourism- less trash- less noise.

I like the solitude and the ability to think. The crashing waves empty my head of any stress and is louder than the children's wines... if they even wine.

All my children are beach addicts but my 17 year old got too grown for it a few years back :rolleyes: .

He spent two weeks fishing on my brother's commercial boat in the gulf (you'll remember my panic about the hurricane) and now is back with us in love with the ocean. He doesn't enjoy sitting in the sun but he does grab his rod and try to catch supper. The first night out he caught a stripped bass- are those in the pacific? I am unsure but they are great on the grill.

My 2 year old is still talking about "jumping the big ones" and wanting us to go back.

My 5 year old is an incredible swimmer- apparently with his sensory issues, the water gives him a notion of his body space. Where on land he has difficulty walking without knocking into everything, in the water he is agile and focused. His speech becomes clear and he is able to communicate very well. His OT says it is large muscle input- we think he is just part merman.

I figure that I can create a mobil pool around him and he will be fine in life :p .

Do you think I can get the school to allow it for his special needs???

We don't see orca's around here unless we go to Disney (haven't been yet). We didn't go whale watching, too afraid the little ones will join the whales... but we see blue, sperm and dinki whales. I remember the first time that I saw an atlantic dolphin-- they look like baby orcas. I never heard of atlantic white sided dolphins until I was an adult.

Thanks for sharing the poems.

I can only pray some day to see the west coast. I would love to see Alaska, Washington state and of course, southern California.


Do they have lobsters out that way? We went to Ohio once and ordered lobsters at a resturant. They weren't the lobsters that we know here- I think they are rock lobsters or something like that. Always interesting learning about the different areas of our country.

It is good to be back,
Jane

[butterfly]

:) [[Jane]] I am glad everthing is well with you and your family.

[jane]

Hello ((Butterfly))...

Been thinking about you. Is all well with your family?

You deleted, is something wrong?

love,

jane

[jane]

Have you ever been to the beaches in New Hampshire?

We went through there on our way to Acadia in Maine on our honeymoon- 7 years ago, a LONG time it seems since we were going to return to New Hampshire and have not yet!

We want to take the kids to Story Land but it seems like it is an 8 hour drive from our home. There is no way our Caleb can handle that drive.

love you,
jane

[butterfly]

:) Nothing is wrong I deleted because the same post went up two times. :rolleyes: just my stupid finger pushed the button twice. Yes we have gone to the beaches in N.H. Hampton. We like North Hampton best more family"s there the big beach has more younger type. Rye is close also nice beach. We like before Memorial Day and after Labor Day less people. We go in the winter when it is not to cold. I enjoyed Michaels poems. :D No Maine beach or visiting family for us with the gas so high. Well I didn"t have to pack!! :D or unpack. I am glad everything is well in your house hold. Here I was sitting in this hot house wondering if everything was ok with you and there you were at the beach!! :D Love butterfly

[jane]

Sorry you worried, if I had known he was going to get the day off, I would have posted...

I am going to have to check out those beaches...I heard that they are nice. I look for family beaches too... :o

I tell everyone it is to keep my 17 year old fishing for fish and not barbies but honestly I am insecure about not being the 17 year old girl on the beach anymore... gravity my dear is a curse of this world...


love you,
jane