It’s always a sad, sad day when we have to say goodbye to the beach. Even though our week started out pretty rocky with a strong gale, lots of rain, and unseasonably cool weather…we ended on a high note yesterday! We spent the day out on the beach with plenty of sunscreen and still got sunburned. Mr. FixIt fished his little heart out, loving the new rod and reel I got him for his birthday.
We walked down to the beach after breakfast yesterday and it was pretty windy and cool. Mr. FixIt wants to fish with his new rod and reel I bought him for his birthday, but it’s been so chilly this week…it just hasn't happened. I told him it didn’t matter to me…if he wanted to bring the stuff out to the beach and fish, I was game for anything. He thought about it for a bit and said, “Wanna drive up to Corolla and see the horses?” I said, “Wanna take your bait with you and fish when we get there?” He lit up! Win Win!
We had a perfectly lovely day yesterday. We had no plans whatsoever. I saw an announcement on the FB page for the condo complex here saying we could get a tour of one of the updated units. We decided before we did anything else, we would take a look. It seems the original management company may have led the investors to believe they were collecting money for maintenance and upgrades to the condos. It turns out that was misleading. The company was fired, a new company hired, a special assessment levied, and now the desperately needed updates are being completed as quickly as possible…which is to say, at a snail’s pace.
The high today was only 56° but the sky was crystal blue…not a cloud to be seen until mid-afternoon. It was still breezy which made it feel a lot colder. Our first thoughts were beach time and fishing, but stepping out on the deck convinced us otherwise. Later in the morning, we decided we might go over to the Elizabethan Gardens and walk around, but again…that same windy condition is there, too. So, Mr. FixIt dropped me off at Knitting Addiction and I browsed a little and bought a little and knitted a little till he came back to pick me up.
(I have no idea where this photo was taken. It was just for demonstration of high waves from a gale.)
We’ve experienced hard rains at the beach before. But yesterday was my first “gale warning”. I knew that meant hard rain and strong winds. I’ve never experienced sustained winds of 34-47 knots over a period of several hours with waves reaching eight to ten feet or higher. I would have loved to have gone out to the beach to take photos at the height of the storm, however it was raining so hard and there was standing water all over the place. There was a time when I was so grief crazed that I stood in the surging surf a ways south of here during the tail end of a hurricane. Looking back on those pictures, I realize no sane individual would do such a thing. My better angels told me to stay put and knit and nap yesterday…which is exactly what I did.
Our week at the timeshare is almost always perfect. We may have a day or two of chilly, wet weather, but for the most part, it is usually in the 70’s with sunshine. That’s not exactly the same this year. We are looking at mostly sunny days, but our warmest day will be in the mid to high 60’s. The rest will be a mixed bag of rain and 50’s to low 60’s. But, like Mr. FixIt says…a bad day at the beach beats mowing any day!
We arrived on the island at around 3:00 yesterday afternoon. We made our obligatory stop at Harris Teeter grocery store to get some essentials. We are either stronger than we were last year, or we’re doing better packing because we had everything hauled up to the second floor condo in twelve minutes flat! A new record!
Once everything was put away and we’d had a sandwich for a late lunch, we both stretched out for a little rest. When I saw that the sky was changing color, we headed out to the beach for our first walk of the season. It’s amazing how different the sand looks from year to year. There are stairs that cross the dunes from the private homes on either side of the condo complex that were covered completely with sand. And there was a large amount of very coarse red “sand” laying on top of the normal sand. It’s obvious there have been some really big storms down here since we were here last spring.
As I write this, it is the first night of Passover. Oh…the memories this brings me. One of the most beautiful aspects of Jewish life is the rich holiday traditions. If you’ve been around here a while, you know I lived a Jewish life for twenty-seven years. I actually started following Judaism when I was a single mom back in 1977 or so. I had a roommate who was Jewish. I had been on a quest to find the faith that spoke to me. At that time, it was Judaism. Then, when I met Hubby #2 and he was Jewish, we were peas and carrots.
Zoom in on the picture to see Grandma’s Johnny Jump Ups in the yard.
When we went to the farm on Wednesday to mow, I backed the tractor off the trailer and headed to the road end of the yard to start mowing. As I turned off the drive and into the soft, spring green grass I saw a sight that stopped me in my tracks. I turned off the tractor and just sat there, admiring what lay before me.
The dance of spring can be wild. Multiple seasons appear in rapid succession within just a few hours. Afternoons can bring violent storms and high winds…thunder and lightning…tornadoes…hail…heavy rain….and beautiful sunshine. We’re trying to wrap up things here at home before we make our annual trek to the beach. I wasn’t sure if we would have a window dry enough to mow at the farm with all this rain we’ve been getting, but yesterday we found our opportunity.