Padre Island

We were listening to The Beatles White Album. I hear the song While My Guitar Gently Weeps. Martha My Dear.
…Martha my dear hold your head up, you silly girl. Look what you’ve done. When you find yourself in the thick of it. Help yourself to a bit of what is all around you, silly girl…

Wise words from my favorite band.
I guess I needed to hear them. I’m trying, though.

The beach looks and feels different on Padre Island than Corpus Christi. Someone’s flying a kite. There seems to be more space. It’s calming. Until the girls in bikinis park close and the boys act like idiots, shot down and obvious.

He came to me
Helped me
Dug me
Dug into the mud

I felt weak
I could barely dig
He jumped into the water
He swam in the ocean



The mud was like lava flowing
Milk chocolate pudding
Or chocolate frosting

And then I heard the song Blackbird.

For My Aunt

Today is a special day.
It is a day to celebrate another year in someone’s life.








A life that is not taken for granted.













“She… is a miracle that never ceases to be miraculous… full of beauty and forever beautiful loving and caring and truly amazing.”
-Deanna Beisser

Seeing the Sun Rise and Sunset

I asked him “I wish we could see the sunrise and sunset better from our house.”
He said “I can see the sunrise when I get up in the morning.”

I said, “I can’t. We can barely see the sunset because all those houses are in the way. “

“Don’t worry we’ll be able to see it.”
(cause I was thinking we used to could see the sunset in our old backyard, the way our patio faced. And we could see the sunrise over the mountains).
“Well it’s not out here, in the evening. Is it cause our house is facing the opposite direction?”







“Yes.”

Staying Strong

At the beach shop buying my sand toys.

The cashier asked to see John’s ID.

She said, “Utah? What are you doing here?”
“We came to see the beach. We used to live in Utah, but we live in Texas now.”

She said, “I’m going home to my country soon. I’ve been waiting for months. How do you like Texas?”

I said, "He likes it. I’m homesick, but I like the beach.”


As we were leaving she called out “STAY STRONG!”

This is part of a palm tree.


We also got to swim with jelly fish.

Dolphin Encounter

In Corpus Christi we went on a dolphin encounter. No, it wasn't swimming with the dolphins.
Which I still plan to do some day, like my cousin Cass.
 This was all in honor of her.

My guy is kissing Shadow in photo.

 Shadow was the oldest dolphin. I think he was age 16. Shadow had the most calm temperment, and was the first dolphin the trainers get to know and learn. He was darkest in color, and he weighed about 450 lbs.

I'm explaining the hand cue for talking,
to the lady, at the dolphin show.

We learned so much about the dolphins: hand cues, training signals, and adolescent male dolphins.
 Each of the three dolphins had their own personality, like kids. They love praise and cheering.

DJ was Shadow's half brother, and the youngest dolphin at age 12. He was the watcher and imitator. His spots were scars similar to acne. DJ was the second dolphin the trainers got to know.

Each dolphin had certain tricks they excelled at. 

They get treats as rewards after the whistle blows, and they perform each trick. The rewards they get are: fish, ice, touch, praise, or playing with their toys.

Kai was age 13, and the lightest dolphin in color. I called him the flirt, cause he was the most free spirited.

Did you know that it's illegal to swim with wild dolphins? Dolphins in captivity have to be bred or found sick. They tend to live longer than wild dolphins because they receive medical treatment.

When dolphins are asleep half of their brains are still awake and functioning, or they'd drown. They can also move their eyes independently of each other. One eye can be looking at you and one eye can be looking at something below.

I talked to the trainer about how she got the job. She said you need a bachelor's in science of some kind, more experience with domestic or other animals, and luck. She had been working with dolphins for 6 years.
There were about 7 total trainers at the aquarium.

They only do the dolphin encounter once a day because this is like work for the dolphins and they get tired. They make sure they get enough rest and play.

There were two groups of 4 people each. They can have up to 5 people. So one group goes with one trainer and dolphin. The other group goes with another trainer and dolphin. The third trainer plays with the dolphin, and the dolphins can rotate, and get breaks.

That's DJ on the left with spots,
and Kai on the right.The encounter lasts an hour.
We got to feed them ice, (DJ's favorite), have them throw a ball, spiral in circles, kiss the dolphin, rub their bellies, and fins, get splashed, and strut their stuff.

I'm so glad we went, and did it.

My Bro's Birthday

I think this is the first birthday I haven't been there for. Aren't you feeling lucky? My meat and potatoes, video game, Star Wars, eclectic music, funny movie, Broncos, Jazz loving brother. Sorry I was such a brat for most of your life, but I always loved you.

So have an extra piece of ice cream cake for me. I know you can beat my behind at Guitar Hero and Texas Hold Em. But remember who can play the real guitar, huh? And John is still the reigning Monopoly king.

Enjoy

your final days of freedom, before fall semester begins. I miss you every time I go to the pharmacy. Because no one else has smiles on the bottles. So, I keep my old bottles, and put new my medicine inside.

So keep dreaming of the ocean and beach, and so will I.

Corpus Christi Beach

I am an ocean junkie.
We walked along the beach at sunset. We stayed until after 10 pm, walking and talking.
The beach is one of those places I feel at peace.
I could just sit there all day watching the waves crash and digging in the sand. I found a fish mold sand toy that someone left behind. There were children screaming, running and jumping into the waves.

When we left, I saw these kids with a shovel, pail, and flashlight. "What are you looking for?" I asked them,
(thinking maybe it was their sand toy I picked up).
"Sand craps. We already caught five!."
"Let me see! Oh, wow! I've never seen sand crabs before."

Happy Birthday Mom

I know it’s a day early. You know we’re going to be out of town. We leave tomorrow. We’re going somewhere new we’ve never been before. I wish I could be there where you are. I wish I could make your favorite chocolate cheesecake, and sing. (I know I’m sparing you that). I wish I could see the look on your face when you unwrap the present I made you. Instead I'm going to embarrass you with photographs.



"Older?

It’s

who

you’ve

always

been,

only

later.” -Jan Epton
Seale



And what could be more fitting, for The Queen of


Lateness?


I should know for I am the Lateness Princess.



With Love.

Energy and recycling

Yesterday was garbage day. Happy to know my house is run by 100% clean electricity. Which means our whole house is ran by wind power. Great for the environment. There wasn’t just one power company that we had to pay our money to. They had three different choices. I live in a place where I can choose!
Recycling where we used to live they only accepted paper and # 1-2 on plastics, and aluminum. In our town they accept # 1-7 on plastics plus, glass, ceramics, paper, aluminum, and aerosol cans minus the plastic lid. All lawn clippings have to be in a brown sack labeled that they pick up for you. I do think it’s weird that they don’t recycle any plastic grocery sacks at all.

"The world will never starve for want of wonders, but for want of wonder."-G.K. Chesterton

It's official

John has lost his mind. Do you see what he has decided to hang in our outside entry way?

I told him what people are gonna think. He said "It's a peace flag. First established in 1961, in Italy as a protest of the war " Uh, huh, but babe we live in America, and here it means something else. What's a girl supposed to do? Except tease him relentlessly, then say okay if it makes you happy.

Bullet For My Valentine Concert

Thurs. night was fun! They encored with my two favorite songs: http://www.playlist.com/node/43308073