Stacks within Stacks

Photo Sunday's theme is Beach. This shot was taken while backpacking in Washington State last summer. Sea stacks are remnants of harder rock left behind after erosion and wear by the ocean. They make for wonderful photos especially around sunset. Last summer I finally got the family to backpack. My husband has done so in the past but neither of my two sons. We were joined by one of my son's friends and my brother. We all had a good time but only one of my sons got the bug to do it again. Since he just moved to Seattle he will have ample opportunity. I'm jealous. Backpacking from Chicago is not quite so geographically easy. Even though this particular hike was incredibly easy--the only complication was needing to carry all our water the first day--barely 4 miles a day and flat, my 51 year old joints protested mightily. If I ever dream of doing any "serious" hiking, and I do, I will need to get into much better shape. It isn't that I can't "walk the walk"--it is that I need to build up some serious muscle around the major load bearing joints, especially my knees which are feeling their age. Time to get in training.

Waves of Sand

The sand ripples make for lovely images, don't they?
Taken when I was back home in Washington.
Thanks all for the kind wishes. Your thoughts are much appreciated.

Deep Thoughts

Sunset in Hawaii

Anyone remember the Saturday Night Live skit of that name?
I went for a walk to the beach today. I'm back in Chicago so this is Lake Michigan not a "real" beach. It still has a lot of the charm of the ocean, minus the salt air. I figured today was one of my last chances to get out there before spring. It was sunny but only in the 40's so I had my doubts about going but it turned out to be a good choice. The lake was calm and the air was well-warmed by the sun. I considered taking my coat off but didn't quite get there.
The beach is very calming to me. It brings back my childhood trips to the beaches near Seattle and I enjoy the chance to be relatively alone and untroubled by other people. No offense "other people" but sometimes solitude in required. For better or for worse, while I walk on the beach I tend to think a lot. I'm not sure why, but I do. Maybe I'm processing the week kind of like a dream does. Maybe it is the relative sensory calm of the waves washing, the quiet breeze and the lack of human chatter. Sometimes this becomes burdensome as I find myself pondering something difficult from my past or present but it seems to be out of my control. The beach just makes me free associate.
Today I wound up thinking for a bit about the philosophical or spiritual questions that come up often in my work and lately in my personal life, namely: why do bad things happen to good people, where is the justice in the world and so on. These questions came up twice just yesterday at work and as my two year old nephew heads into surgery this week for his cancer treatment it comes up in a more personal way too. I don't claim to be in possession of the answers to these questions but I do try to ease the pain of unknowing.
In terms of human caused injustice, my thoughts roamed to the question of good vs. evil. I believe in free will which means to me that as people we need to be free to do ill in order for us to be able to choose to do good.
As I pondered good vs. evil I spied a rock that looked interesting and picked it up. I turned it over and got a message from a most unusual place.



To my eye, this rock has a peace sign on it. I chose to take it as a message. Not directly from G-d or anything like that, but being reminded to be at peace felt pretty special. Take it as you will, but it really happened that way.

Surfing

My last full day in Hawaii, I made a circle tour of the island of Oahu. There is a bit of the coast which is not completely accessible by car--beats me why they didn't finish off the road, for some reason it reminds me of the bridge to nowhere--but I felt a sense of accomplishment for having circled an entire island. The total distance was around 120 miles. The hardest part of the trip was resisting stopping at every beach I passed.



At the tail end of my tour I passed the famous surfing area. I couldn't resist pulling off to see what all the fuss was about. I'm not a big fan of surfing but, man, those were some big waves. It was great fun to watch with a bit of that morbid curiosity that makes people secretly hope for a wreck at a car race. I'm not an ocean wimp since I lived half my life near the Pacific Ocean but let me tell you, that surf was scary. I wouldn't have even gotten my feet wet in water that wild.
Almost as cool as the surfers were the camera-men. There was some amazing glass there. I had only my 100mm lens so my pictures leave a bit to be desired but it was a great challenge to see what I could do. Here are some of my pictures.

I should be learning about autism. . . .

But I decided to download and post a few photos. I hope this doesn't bring me bad karma. I've been running around like crazy here in Hawaii. Meetings from 6-3 and then a bit of wandering around Honolulu, dinner and collapse into bed. With the 5 hour time change I don't know whether I am coming or going half the time. My legs and back hurt from walking miles in bad shoes and carrying my conference materials, purse and cameras over my shoulders. It is hard to wear sensible shoes in 86 degree weather. But the Crocs are hard on my feet over time. My hotel is around a mile from the conference center. It makes for a lot of walking but it saved me a small fortune!
I can't wait until Sunday. My plan is to get out of the city then and see a bit of Oahu. Waikiki, although warm and sunny, isn't great for photography.
Here are a few of my limited number of photos:

Shore Birds and Surf

The Pacific Northwest Coast in winter is an entirely different world. No traffic, no cars, no stores, no crises. Just wind, waves, water and birds.

Eye Candy

Another photo from Washington state.

Sunday scribblings--Ocean

I didn't take this picture but I love this picture of me walking on a beach in Costa Rica a few years ago.

I have described before that I find oceans to be a place where I can relax, "let my hair down." Even though, now that I have long hair, I find getting salt water and sand in my hair most unrelaxing. Which is one reason I probably will get all that hair chopped off next month.
I probably love the sea so much because of the many childhood associations I have of visiting it. I love walking barefoot in the sand, hunting for shells and agates, sitting on the sand with my face to the sun and feeling the breeze and warmth on my face.
This summer, I'd like to take my kids camping on the beaches where I hiked as a kid. I feel guilty that my oldest is 15 and has never been camping. Yes, I have offered him a number of high quality life experiences including international travel, summer camp, music lessons and so on, but still. Where would childhood be without camping--unrolling your sleeping bag in a tent, roasting hot dogs and marshmallows on a stick, fighting off ravenous hordes of mosquitoes and so on?
I want to spend a night listening to the foghorns off the Washington coast from my warm sleeping bag and get up in the shivery cold morning to light a fire to make burnt pancakes for the family. I want to introduce my kids to the infamous taste of Tang (do they even still make it anymore?). Well, life would go on without Tang. I wonder what freeze dried foods they sell at REI these days? They used to have such appetizing names as "Turkey tetrazzini." Food like that could only taste good after a long day spent hiking.
I remember REI from the days before it had a catalogue, when only a privileged few Seattlites, could go to the downtown warehouse to get backpacking gear. We'd always buy our sleeping bags, sleeping mats, tents and hiking boots there. Also the food and maps of where we were going. One longish trip, I got bored and wandered around the store filling out entries for a give away they had at the store. I kept filling out the forms even as my folks were waiting in the checkout line. I must have stuffed a lot of entries in the box nearest the register because a few weeks later I learned that I had won my very own, large hunting knife. Fortunately they let us trade it in for an upgrade to my sleeping mat. For a few weeks, I had the most comfortable camping bed in the family.
I doubt we would manage to backpack this year. Too complicated and I'm not sure if my younger son would cooperate with carrying his gear for very far. But there is car camping which requires less gear I don't own (backpacks, ultralight stoves, water filtration devices, cook pots, and so forth). Unless you count my childhood back pack which is still in the garage growing mildew because I can't bear to part with it.
The other major complication of backpacking would be how would I carry all my camera gear? Well, one thing at a time. First I have to figure out what we are all doing this summer. Which reminds me, I'm supposed to be doing that today.
I hope there is a beach trip in your not-too-distant future. Enjoy your Sunday.
sarala

Shutterday--Ground

As in things seen on the ground.

Photo Friday--Relaxation

Imagine pulling up your lounge chair and relaxing under this umbrella!

See it Sunday--Sand

Saturday Photo Hunt--Gross

Not what you want to find while beach-combing. Made me realize we should be more aware of what we throw away and where we might later find it. Ladies, consider using the ones with biodegradable packaging. Guys, if you don't get it, don't ask.

Stone--See It Sunday

Two views, same sunset, and a poem

Words cannot do justice
To a nature like this.
Poems do not suffice
To recreate experience.



First Beach, La Push, Washington

Forks, Washington

One last post for the night--beach flotsam

Blogger miscellany

So I did my duty clogging up the blogosphere with my comments on other people's sites. I had no idea blogging came with all these obligations. Or am I just a compulsive, blog-addict?
I may create the first 12 step group for bloggers. #1 We admit that we are powerless over our blogging. #2 (I forget what the second step is--maybe something about a higher power? Any 12 steppers out there to help me out? Actually one of my proudest possessions is a copy of the "big book" given to me by a patient, but I have no clue where it is at present. Probably in a box never unpacked from my last office move.
I have two blogger problems of late. The first is that blogger thinks I have an unmoderated comment but if I click on it tells me there are no unmoderated comments. This is mildly annoying. Of course there may be any number of immoderate comments. But they should be all moderated by now. Especially since part of my blog addiction is to check for unmoderated comments whenever I am on-line.
More annoying is that I have to sign in afresh to blogger each time I want to access my dashboard from the blog itself. This started recently when I downloaded a new firewall. It turns out two firewalls are definitely worse than one (or as my secretary puts it, windows firewalls don't play well together). I discovered to my dismay that it requires much labor and uncertainty to remove my old firewall. I am afraid I will accidentally dismantle my entire computer while doing so. I also think it will take me on the order of an hour to accomplish this. Problem #2 is probably not blogger's fault. As my husband would gleefully gloat it is because I still use Windows machines and not Apples. As I've retorted only a million times, Apple doesn't support the software I use at work. Sigh.
Last, but not least, I've added a few links to my blogroll. (You know who you are). Fellow bloggers are what make this fun.

Mushrooms and fungi and slugs, oh my!!

Dorothy, we're not in Tuscany any more! Since the last time I blogged, I have returned home to Chicago, worked for a month and climbed back on a plane to Seattle. One can infer from this that I do not blog during work weeks and that I travel a lot. So what do slugs have to do with this?

Today, I am posting from the Pacific Northwest coast near Pacific Beach, Washington. This is a marked contrast to the beaches of Italy. For one, it is not hot, there are no crowds, no beach umbrellas and one is more likely to see a banana slug than a topless woman sunning herself. (I deny all responsibility for that free association). Fortunately the banana slug was willing to pose for a picture.

As I walked back from the beach today, I thought of naming today's blog, "This land is my land. . ." Not that I claim ownership. More that it owns me. These are the beaches that I grew up on. The water is numbingly cold and it is nearly impossible to get a tan. But I feel a sense of belonging on these beaches.

As a child, I used to backpack near here. At night we would camp on the beach and listen to the waves and the foghorn. During the days we would explore the sea stacks, climb on the piles of driftwood logs and look for agates and sea shells. One of my favorite memories is of finding a floating log in a small creek flowing into the ocean and spending much of a day poling it around.

Sometimes sharing these places and experiences with my own children makes me feel closer to this land. Other times I realize how far away I have moved. Today I learned that my younger son is afraid of kelp. How can that be? I guess we do not have kelp in Lake Michigan. I suppose kelp is a little slimy (but not compared to the above-mentioned slug), but it does have its charms. Did you know that you can make a pipe out of a large piece of kelp and blow on it like a ram's horn? Smaller kelp are fun to pop, like bubble wrap.

As elsewhere, sometimes people manage to spoil paradise. Some 15 miles from here is Ocean Shores. This is a small town with an incredibly long sandy beach. Since the beach is open to vehicles, from motor bikes to SUV's to campers, it more resembles the parking lots outside Disneyland than a chance to commune with nature. If any kelp are left on this beach, they have surely all been popped.

So don't come visit here, unless you plan on walking softly and parking well away from the beach. And bring a jacket and rain gear. You likely will need it.

Until next time.