Tag: ocean

To listen or not to listen

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V.J.’s Weekly Challenge #107: listen

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Breaking News! – more bad stuff happening everywhere!

Well, technically, that’s NOT what is announced nightly from my television. But it might as well be…as an earnest news anchor rattles off the News Headlines Of The Day when the show begins. She leaves the one bright spot – a friendly citizen delivering food to a neighbor or making someone smile – for the last 5 minutes of the broadcast. Saving the feel-good news for the end.

So…I ask myself…why do I listen at all? To the TV reports. To news radio. I jokingly (but not really joking) reply…well maybe there will be a cure! a solution! a miracle! Either that’s a sign of my foolish hopefulness or unfortunate naivety. I guess I want to know what’s (mostly) going on. It’s the continuous not knowing that I find so hard to live with.

So I turn on the news and try to pick up on what positives I can. There must be something hidden between the lines to hold on to. If I pay close attention.

However…what would I rather listen to?

The sound of waves hitting the beach. It’s predictable and calming and I don’t have to pay close attention.

This video of Hampton Beach, NH is from last year. Now, due to COVID-19 restrictions, it is next to impossible to access the beach in person. Too many people. Not enough parking.

I could listen to this all day.

 

Fandango’s Friday Flashback: April 17

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Inspired by Fandango’s Friday Flashback: April 17

Wouldn’t you like to expose your newer readers to some of your earlier posts that they might never have seen? Or remind your long term followers of posts that they might not remember? Each Friday I will publish a post I wrote on this exact date in a previous year….Why don’t you reach back into your own archives and highlight a post that you wrote on this very date in a previous year?

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This post is from April 17, 2018

Two years ago…when the beach was open.
It is now closed.
I look forward to the predictable again.

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the beach

Here is where I want to be:

hamptonbeachnov2016.jpg

It has been raining for 2 days; puddles and small lakes forming everywhere I look out my windows. The grass disappearing underneath. The sun hiding behind stubborn clouds.

As soon as it clears and the sun comes out…and it warms up a bit, that’s where I’ll go. My favorite place to walk. It fills me up; its peace, its soothing sounds – the ultimate room with no doors, no walls – infinite space.  There is power in the ocean – an energy, a purpose. The tide goes in and goes out. Predictable. Not much in life is that predictable.

Often I pass by small children digging holes – trying frantically to avoid the waves that ultimately wash away their castles. Joggers of all shapes and sizes. Dogs run and jump despite the “no dogs allowed” signs. Couples pose for selfies; the ocean at their backs. A lone walker will stop and stare at the horizon. And nobody bothers her. I get it. It is hypnotizing and calming and energizing all at the same time.

Seagulls run up and down the sand. They stop. They look around, shake their heads as if bored. Same old, same old.

Freezing mist

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Inspired by Frank at Dutch goes the Photo: Mist

Three years ago tomorrow my husband and I closed on the condo we are living in now. A long awaited moment…after years of planning, downsizing and exhausting work.

That morning the air temperature was 2° F – so brutally cold that I was afraid my car wouldn’t start, as it was parked outside. The gusty wind making it worse.

If my car didn’t start, how would I get to the closing?

At the time we were renting a condo across the street from the Atlantic Ocean in Hampton Beach, NH. I was up early enough that morning to catch this view out the window. I stepped out (briefly!) on the tiny deck to capture this shot…

Ocean mist (perhaps a “freezing mist”) like I had never seen before.

IMG_3341
8:23 am
December 16, 2016
Hampton Beach, NH

It never warmed up past 10° or 12° that day…but much to my relief, the car reluctantly started.

Cee’s Fun Foto Challenge: Blue

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Cee’s Fun Foto Challenge: Blue

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Nothing beats the blue found in nature.

Whether it’s the sky meeting the ocean off the coast of Maine…or the sky meeting the ocean somewhere in the Atlantic Ocean during a cruise to Bermuda.

Inspiring one of those I’ll take a different kind of picture moments.

Maine

 

Atlantic Ocean near Bermuda

 

 

Magical

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Inspired by Lens-Artists Photo Challenge #63: Magical

 

Magic exists. Who can doubt it, when there are rainbows and wildflowers, the music of the wind and the silence of the stars? Anyone who has loved has been touched by magic. It is such a simple and such an extraordinary part of the lives we live.

Nora Roberts

 

During two visits to Vermont’s Shelburne Museum this summer, I kept gravitating back to this pond. One of many beautiful spots on the 45 acre campus. I’d walk by and then double back as the light shifted throughout the day. I took photo after photo, each shot just a bit different from the one before.

At one point, as if out of nowhere, a family of ducks glided across…and then…disappeared.

Magical.

magical pond

 
A few years ago I felt the pull to another favorite place…the ocean’s edge…late afternoon. In November when the beach was nearly deserted. The sun sinking.

I was lucky enough to be at the right place at the right time.

Magical.

hampton beach magic

 

Silhouettes

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Inspired by Lens-Artists Challenge #62: Silhouettes

 

After a recent long walk up and down the shoreline at the beach, I noticed a row of seagulls perched on the roof of a shelter near the parking lot.

I assumed they were taking a rest from a long day of swooping down on unsuspecting tourists and their dropped chunks of sandwiches, fried dough and chips. Always on the lookout. Always hungry.

They didn’t seem to mind being photographed.

seagulls on roof

 

A couple of years ago, another beach goer on the lookout…who didn’t know he was being photographed.

silhouette beach

 

 

 

Vista

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This post inspired by Frank at Dutch goes the Photo

The prompt: Vista

 

During a cruise to celebrate our 30th anniversary, my husband and I visited St. George’s, Bermuda. We spent a wonderful day exploring the town and a gorgeous nearby beach.

We enjoyed views from the ship and during our walk around town.

 

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA
View from the ship

 

 

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA
View during a walk

 

 

Photo a Week – Sunshine

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Nancy Merrill is hosting a photo challenge. The theme this week – Sunshine

IN A NEW POST CREATED FOR THIS CHALLENGE, SHARE A PHOTO OR TWO (OR MORE) OF SUNSHINE

 

When the sun is shining, everything feels a bit better.
Warmer.
Creating a bright space for peeking.
Out a doorway.
Or a window.
Through the trees.

Inspiring songs, poems, smiles…and photographs.

A favorite part of living across the street from the ocean for 3 months?
This view out the balcony door on a magnificent sunny day…

sunshine beach

 

 

A favorite part of taking a walk last Saturday?
Discovering the sunshine…framing the trees.
Behind the main street…down a short hill…next to the river…
In my new hometown.

sunshine river