M is for Memories...

M is for Memories...

We just arrived home this evening. I drove the last 6+ hours of an eleven hour drive (by choice - my beloved offered, but I really prefer to drive.) Traffic from the Virginia border northward was simply NUTS. Three lanes of traffic, bumper-to-bumper, pushing 70 mph. It's just mentally exhausting.

But I can set that memory aside as I look at pictures from vacation...

This was where I had morning coffee, or an afternoon brew...
It overlooks the salt marsh, where the ibis, herons and egrets congregate.
And you know you are on vacation when you can sit in one place and watch
the tide turn...

This was taken one bright, sunny day (as you can see!)
from the beach, looking back at the row of houses.
My mom's place is second from the right. These are
duplexes -- spacious, quiet and refreshing.

I love this beach because it's a quiet, natural beach.
We never know what the shape of the shoreline will
be, or what critters will show up as we walk it. We loved
the barnacles on the back of this horseshoe crab!

One evening the girls and I went to the pool for a swim.
While they were in the water, I shot the sunset from the deck.
This overlooks the salt marsh, so the reflection was really something.

Our annual family photo: Yours truly, The Harpist (soon
to be The Johnnie!), Reedy Girl and Bearded Brewer. Taken
our last night on the beach. sigh....

SO... when my classes start to get to me, or my deadlines for papers and projects are too close together, I will wander back to my photos and remember... this space. This time. This resting place.

Thanks, Lord.

ahhhhhhhhhhhh...........

Sunset - the reflections on the salt marsh, the birds coming in to the rookery, the sounds of evening. Peace. Rest. The movement of the tides...

breathing deep and resting...

Deb

Meet Up with one of Mindy's friends!

We're leaving in the morning.... sigh...

Here in Beaufort, you can meet just about anyone. Bill and Hillary Clinton have been sighted at Hilton Head. Tom Hanks filmed a movie here, and so did a whole passle of other folks.

Beaufort is a sweet l'il ol' southern town where they still make sweet tea from scratch and call you "honey." It's just a nice place to vacation.

So, it really didn't surprise me when I ran into one of Mindy's friends...

She had some kinda rash! She told me that a girl can get her skin really roughed up if she doesn't use sunblock and moisturizer. Looking knowingly at my freckled, slightly pink face, she 'llowed as how I was gonna be peeling myself in a few days.

As for the things on her back? She shrugged. She was sure SOMEONE thought it was a great pun -- "bloom where you are planted. ha ha."


And she wondered why the Beaufort Arts Council decided to make her live just a half a block away from Talbot's, where, she noted, NO ONE with HIPS ever bothers to shop!!! As she pointed out, she was facing the other way... towards the Dairy Queen just a few blocks the OPPOSITE direction!


I like her style.

Deb

Oh... to Mindy she says, "y'all come to Beaufort any time."

Why should I leave??

Why should I leave?? I could do distance ed. from the beach... right???

I could send everyone home and coach them on what to do by phone... right???

I'm sure I could type a paper at the beach... right???

No one would miss me... right??? right???

sigh...

deb

I'm ready...

 

See ya...

A few of my favorite things...

The beach... quiet... peaceful... a God place...

Unexpected sighting - a bald eagle!

Me with my family... I love them! L to R: me, The Harpist,

Reedy Girl, Beloved Bearded Spouse

There is no way to describe the peace that

rolls over me...

Thank you, God!

Deb

slack time...

This week we're at the beach... and it has been wonderful. No real time schedule to keep. Maybe three meals a day, and maybe five. Maybe we eat green vegetables, and maybe we just enjoy the fresh corn, shrimp, stone crab and tuna steaks!!! (Yeah. I think I will go with the corn and seafood!)

It's slack time... In nautical terms, that's the time in between the changes of the tides... The waves are smaller, the current is relaxed, and your footing is very secure. In those moments, the bottom is clearest because there's less sediment being kicked up. You can see things you would normally miss as they navigate by you in the water.

Then, quickly and almost without warning, the tide turns. The waves pick up and things start getting tossed about. If you aren't careful, you are either left high and dry, or you get overrun by the advancing waves. Those moments have their excitement, to be sure. But it's kinda nice to be in the slack water, even just for a few precious hours!

My semester starts up this week. Classes and my internship begin Wednesday. I have a whole bunch of niggling fears but have been working on releasing them, not carrying them around like so many dead fish! The kids start back to school next Monday ("MOommmm!!! Don't REMIND us!") and that means all of their associated activities with school as well. All too soon it'll be... "SURF'S UP!!!"

I'm taking a deep breath.
Drinking in the quiet.
Soaking up the slack time...
Remembering and treasuring the places we have seen God this week...

And as I do, a verse of an old hymn comes to mind...
O, how great Thy loving kindness,
Vaster, broader than the sea!
O, how marvelous Thy goodness,
Lavished all on me!
Yes, I rest in Thee, Belovèd,
Know what wealth of grace is Thine,
Know Thy certainty of promise,
And have made it mine.
["Jesus, I am Resting, Resting" Words: Jean Pigott, 1876. Music: James Mountain, 1876]


Can't beat that...

Deb

just a TASTE...

The view from the pool... Yeah... sigh... it was lovely. (This was taken at sunset and shows the Alpenglow... the way that the mountains change colors with the setting sun...)

More pics coming. And more thoughts. I know I get no sympathy for telling you this, but I still have a paper to write...

Deb

home.... home... home...

Wonderful to travel and be blessed with wonderful scenery and the love of family. More wonderful still to be home.

Thoughts...
Reflections...
Pictures...

still to come!

Deb

P.S. MINDY! I met some cow friends of yours in Germany and Austria! Who'd a thunk it!??? Pics coming on that too...

Time to pack...

We have had a couple of wonderful days here in Munich. I have to say that I have enjoyed the city, but I am very glad it was our shortest leg. I am still a country girl at heart.

One of the joys of this trip as been taking along an iPod. I downloaded the "Pray-as-you-go" meditations and they have been a nice way to think and talk with God. I recommend them highly!

Yes - pictures WILL be coming. Once I am home and in sort of the same time zone I'll post the "good parts" version of the trip!

Later friends...
Deb

There IS a reward...

OK.

Let's make you jealous...

Picture this...

The Alps (snow already melted)
Big puffy clouds
Bright blue sky
A pool at a comfortable temperature
And a loungechair poolside.

Yeah.
I'm thinkin' I earned this one...

I will have pictures. The connection is very slow so you'll just have to imagine it...

Smirking but feeling very VERY blessed!
Deb