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Tag: beach

#SOL24-14 Wonder

Published on March 14, 2024 
It is Tuesday and time to write a 'Slice of Life." 
Thank you  Two Writing Teachers for creating this supportive community
of teacher-writers!

If you and I were home, sipping tea, talking about favorite places to be, I’d assure you I love the mountains. I’d say, put me in the woods, let me hike and climb. The mountains are filled with such beauty and wonder. Yes, mountains are my most favorite place.  

But, hey, how can I deny the sea? I may not be a sunbather, but there really is no such thing as a bad day at the beach. It is glorious to walk alongside, and to be amazed. 

This old photo shows I have always loved being at the ocean, too. 

I’ve been writing a poem a day in 2024, and vacation doesn’t give me a pass. Today’s poem celebrates the wondrous sights of our beach vacation.

Hilton Head Island 

Low Tide mingles with New Moon 
Rippling waves begin to dance
Alligators sun at the lagoon
Osprey hides on a branch

Slender Fish jumps high with glee
Driftwood floats slowly along
Great Heron glides just beneath
Yellow Warbler creates a song

Shorebirds gather on found wood
Dolphins play hide and seek 
How still Snowy Egret stood
As we laze upon the beach

#SOL24-11 Beach

Published on March 11, 2024 
It is Tuesday and time to write a 'Slice of Life." 
Thank you  Two Writing Teachers for creating this supportive community
of teacher-writers!

We are on vacation at the beach in South Carolina and it is absolutely beautiful here. I offer you a taste of this magical setting through photos and haiku (writing format inspiration from Barb Edler’s post yesterday – thank you, Barb!). 

gift of this day
waking to wisps of seagrass
sheltering our earth 

dear sweet gull soaring 
along the lapping ocean
under striated sky 

spring glides on a bike 
with a wild giddy whoosh 
across shifting sands 

pelicans in flight
holding the ocean
together

water draws the sun 
into its bounteous arms
kissing the day farewell 
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SOLSC #9 – Beach Finds

Published on March 9, 2023 
It is Tuesday and time to write a 'Slice of Life." 
Thank you  Two Writing Teachers for creating this supportive community
of teacher-writers!

I love my long walks outside, and it’s been particularly delightful to walk the beach these past few days. I’m not a big swimmer; I am not a sunbather, either; no, I like to walk and explore. There are so many new and exotic sights. I love the feel of the sea breeze and to watch the ocean waves crash onto the shore. The water is cool and invigorating, washing over my feet – and that’s a thrill, too, to walk barefoot; I don’t do that when I’m walking in the woods back home.

There are very few seashells on this part of the Hilton Head beach – I feel as if that’s always been true, for as long as I have visited here. My parents retired here back in 1988, and I had many vacations here over the years, before my parents moved back north, closer to us children, in their frail elderly years. This is our first time back to visit the island since 2017, a bit of a nostalgia trip in some ways. 

So, yes, back to my walks on the beach. Here, at low tide, the beach is vast and wide and flat and almost entirely soft and bare. Every now and again, you’ll come across something novel, such as a horseshoe crab or a jellyfish, beached on shore. Let me share photos of my special finds these past few days –

Check out this jellyfish – it is easily more than 12 inches in diameter, bigger than my big ol’ foot. There were several on the beach that were perfectly clear, but this one was different – I could see undigested small shrimp and other crustaceans, oh my. TMI, lol.

There are beautiful grasses and sponges in a variety of colors. I imagine these riding waves, feeling the ocean in and around their being.

Check out this strangeness. This blob was about 12 inches long, a gooey gelatinous mass. Google helped me identify it, labeling it a “sea pork.”

Last but not least, here’s my favorite sighting – I always feel as if I have visited Hilton Head, if I see a dolphin in the ocean:

Today’s our last day at the beach – let me go enjoy!

SOLSC #6 – Blocked

Published on March 6, 2023 
It is Tuesday and time to write a 'Slice of Life." 
Thank you  Two Writing Teachers for creating this supportive community
of teacher-writers!

“I had a newborn and a three year old when I met my first husband. They were both boys. He had a two year old daughter. I married him for security, really. You should never do that, it is a very bad reason to marry anyone, just for security. But with two kids, I really needed his money. Sure, he had money. But he was cruel. He hurt my kids, I feel so guilty about that still. I left him.”

This confession was offered to me by the gray-haired grocery store clerk at the checkout, as she bagged our groceries for the week. (What’s the first thing on the to-do list on a vacation? The grocery store, of course!) I have no idea why she opened up to me in this way or what precipitated the life reflection. I felt as if time stood still as she spoke – I was so uncomfortable with the intimate details this complete stranger was sharing with me.

It didn’t help that she was moving oh-so-slowly to fill the bags themselves. I practiced my quiet breathing and said a silent prayer or two on her behalf, thinking how tough her life.

Back at our rental condo, as we put groceries away, I was telling my husband about this surprise and intimate sharing, chuckling at the awkwardness of it. Likewise, my sister-in-law was animatedly talking with my brother about our shopping, and I thought I heard her describe the grocery clerk by saying,

“She was a block away.” 

I burst out laughing – “Wait, how did you describe the woman at checkout? ‘She was a block away.’? I have never heard that said, but what a clever and funny way to describe someone who really isn’t ‘present’ with you.”

My sister-in-law looked at me confused – “No, I was saying, we put that first block of cheddar away and got the other one.”

This sent me into fits of giggles – I was totally dreaming up language! I guess I was the one who was ‘a block away,’ hahaha. 

Here’s a couple photos of our gorgeous location – we are here, at the beach!

We are here and the wind is strong!