Beach Daze
June 23, 24 and 26, 2002
June 23, 2002 8:09 PM
I have decided that I will begin to use this blog format to try and at least jot down a couple of thoughts on a more frequent basis. Life seems to fly by so quickly that the individual moments seem to be lost in the blur.
Today was the first "official" day of vacation on Lake Michigan. For some unknown reason Mrs seems to be able to attract the best weather and today was no exception. The wave-runner was a hit on the beach, and although the winds were up and blowing from the southwest, I had no sailboat to launch into the waves. I left the hobi-cat at home this year, since I got a call from one of the locals who told me I could use his boat for these two weeks. Unfortunately today there was no boat on the beach, but I suspect that it will appear soon enough.
This year we decided to try and fly the eldest into the local airport so we wouldn't have to take a two and a half hour trip back to the big city. It turns out that the fare was actually cheaper to fly into the local small town even though it involved one extra flight.
Airlines, go figure.
The three of them have grown up on this beach, so to speak, since they have come here for two weeks every summer since the eldest was six, and the youngest was a newborn.
The sun set against a lazy calm lake but soon after we were graced with an orange moon as it rose over the dunes.
All in all, a very good day was had by all.
It's great to see them smile.
June 24, 2002
This day is probably best described in a few words,
Sun
More sun
It was a hot day, temp in the high 80's, but cooler down by the lake.
The morning was spend getting my friend's Hobi cat across the sand dune and down onto the beach. After about 2 hours the mast was raised and the ties of winter were cast aside as once again the rainbow sails fluttered in a light breeze.
I told them I thought if there was any chance for a sail it would be later in the afternoon, and either it would be a great day for a sail, or it would be very calm.
Calm can be good, as the boys and girls set out to try and drive the waverunner to extremes.
Mrs sat on the edge of the sailboat and said something to the effect that all the children were pushing the wave runner to its limits.
"Why do you say that," I asked, as my son and one of his friends rolled the boat upside down.
I continued: "Don't you think they get that from you?"
"I don't think so," was the rather obvious reply.
Sometime between the morning work on the hobi-cat and the afternoon wave running I found time to sneak in a trip to the barbershop. Ever since my barber retired I have not been happy with the guy who took over his practice. The woman who cut it came highly recommended, and I'd probably come back to her again if it didn't involve a 3 hour drive each way.
Last year I wrote about a great photo session I had on the beach while shooting with my left hand and throwing bread up in the air for the sea gulls with my right.
This year I got a bit smarter, I asked my daughter to come along and be the "thrower."
With her help and a new telephoto adapter for the digital camera, we got some great shots.
I suspect that before too long I will end up making a gallery of images of sea gulls in flight.
After we came back from our photo shoot my youngest and his friend had made some significant progress on their "hole" that they had decided to dig.
I was told that they decided that their project for the day would be to dig a large hole in the sand, but decided late in the afternoon that it would need more work on the next day. I convinced them that they would either have to cover the hole with the sailboat, or fill it in, as I didn't want to find that some small child had fallen into it and had been trapped in some type of cave-in.
I was asked of course, to document the progress of the "hole."
There is a distinct possibility that somehow the teenage boys thought that the teenage girls might be impressed with their digging skills, but that of course is pure speculation.
The sun was put to bed with some more bread tossed out amongst the gulls.
One shot can make up for a hundred that get thrown into the cyber bin of trash.
June 26, 2002 - The MONSTER
For a moment there, I thought that finally it was time to relax.
Sitting down by the shore I leaned back against a large log and bathed in the late afternoon sun.
Ever since I left the office on Friday I have had a task rolling around in the front of my mind, that could only be pushed aside on a moment by moment basis, only to return stronger than ever. Since it appeared that Wednesday might be a "rain day" I decided to push the finished project off until today.
As the discussions with my potential new employer progress, I was given the assignment of writing up a job description for the position in question, along with my salary requirements. That's no small task, especially when you consider the fact that my job description for the past 25 years has been that of the employer, doing whatever needed to be done to keep the business alive.
I bought a book What Color is Your Parachute to see if I might pick up any specific tips and spent time off and on during the day and early evening skimming through it. After this morning's early trip to take the wave-runner in for some engine adjustments, it was time to sit down and try and write something up.
The finished outline went out from the room electronically, since finally, after some 50 years, the resort has finally put telephones in our rooms. In this particular case having the connection was helpful, and my daughters will also vouch for the joy of having boyfriends able to call and connect.
I felt the burden shift the moment I hit the send button and headed down to the lake.
This represents a pivotal moment in the process, as one more card was laid down on the table.
I felt confident that I had put together a good proposal, and I also feel good that we are progressing toward some kind of resolution of the issue, one way or the other.
I think the not knowing is the hardest part.
The clouds had cleared and a fresh breeze was blowing in off of Lake Michigan as I sat down next to my daughters.
Eldest and I threw more bread to the gulls.
After dinner I thought I'd call home and share the good news that my proposal was sent, and was hit with news that might best be described as excitingly unsettled.
If I get good news on the Colorado front, then the fact the Mrs will probably get laid off on Friday will be good and exciting news. If however, the opportunity in Colorado does not work out, then the news is unsettling to say the least.
But life goes on.
Earlier tonight son set out to take on the resort "sweet shop" in a challenge as to whether or not he could finish off the "Monster."
The monster was a bowl of 25 scoops of ice cream, a tad of whipped cream and some vanilla wafers thrown in for good measure. It cost 20 bucks for the bowl, but he was told that if he finished it, it would be free.
Announced with the fanfare of Rocky, da man walked into the room to the cheers of the crowd.
I had suggested that I might even try such an event, but would refuse the watermellon ice cream and stick to flavors without chunks of chocolate.
He did give it a good effort, I must admit.
However, at the end of the event he finally had to throw in the towel.
As a consolation to the crowd for his defeat, he buried his head in the bowl.
Somehow I suspect that it was good that mom was not around to watch.
