After being home only four days in July, I needed to relax. So I stayed a few days with my wonderful friend Pat, who had rented a house in Pismo Beach, CA. Walking on the beach is the most relaxing thing I can think of – and I don’t think when I’m doing it! Really, I just watch the waves, walk back and forth, and let my mind go wherever it wants to. It directs itself.
So this is what I saw.
I saw towels dotting the sand like a Seurat painting.
I saw a big clump of seaweed that looked like a sleeping dog. Or something close.
I saw a kite that looked like a sting ray.
I saw thousands of dead crabs – little sand crabs I think. That’s what all the white dots are. Never seen anything like this before.
I saw the ocean at low tide.
I saw someone’s discarded boogie board or whatever it is.
I saw the pilings under the pier.
I saw a delicate white seaweed bulb. I popped a few. They made a very satisfying sound.
I saw a string of seaweed with bulbs that reminded me of Christmas lights.
I saw a seaweed leaf. Seaweed has infinite varieties it seems.
I saw lovely ocean waves.
I saw a seagull eating a dead bird that washed in.
I saw a washed up jellyfish covered with sand.
I saw a piece of seaweed with such a graceful curve.
I saw a yellow plastic lobster that will no doubt be there forever.
I saw a poem carefully inscribed in the sand, so I took a picture of it to preserve it for the author. Who, of course, will never know that I read her (because it is a woman, probably no older than college age) poem.
I saw the pier.
Finally, I saw pigeons on the roof of a building, obviously not perturbed by the fake owl placed there to keep pigeons away.
Then I had lunch with Patty-cake, my friend of almost 25 years and fellow teacher. We are both retired.
