What a difference a day makes

No, seriously. Yesterday morning it was all sunshine and roses (well, a little early in the season for roses) and last night the sky was amazing with the near-full moon in the sky framed by palm trees.

I woke up to a lot of NOISE -- the waves are crashing on the beach -- big ones -- and the rain is pouring down. The birds are not chirping, they are yelling. Yes, birds yell. Listen some time. Chirping is akin to singing in the shower; what they are doing out there now is screaming "WHO STOLE MY UMBRELLA." Bird brains and all.

My brother and his entourage left Chicago yesterday at noon, and we were texting each other around midnight as they were driving through the mountains of Georgia and Tennessee (he said it was a winding road and the state kept changing ????) I finally said I needed to get to sleep because I envisioned they would arrive at dawn, loud and wired from being on the road for 18 hours. In fact, I dreamed as much, and the group was huge and arrived en masse and paraded around the living room for a bit and then insisted that we go out and see their caravan, which was like half a mile long and held together by rope, dragging boats, golf carts, trailers, you name it. I woke up to all the external crashing and went to go to the bathroom and noticed the other bedroom door was closed. Were they here?

They were, I looked and saw their vehicle in the driveway (no parade, just the only truck) and they came in quietly no less! I guess I didn't expect them to go directly to bed. Though I suppose you would be tired if you drove or rode shot gun. So that's a tad anti-climatic -- my rush for sleep not necessary for here I sit, the only one awake in a house full of people.

And so I blog.

The ocean has been very calm the entire time we have been here, which is now over a week, and I am enjoying watching the waves. I would love to go walk the beach, which I did for a few hours yesterday, but it is pouring out. And I am sure it is cold, though I don't care enough to check, perched as I am in my warm, cozy bed. It is hard to take pictures from indoors to out, but this sort of depicts my view. I am enjoying every minute of it -- can't imagine another place I would rather be right now. I don't mind that it's not hot and sunny -- I like a good rainy day every now and then. When the tide goes out later I am going to don my raincoat and walk, despite the wind and the weather.

Yesterday as I walked along the beach, I began to spot sand dollars. They are quite rampant in these here parts, but they are mostly kind of brown -- what they look like when they are in the stages of dying. So when I actually began to spot white ones, like the ones we find on beaches at home, I of course had to start collecting. Beach combing is one of my most favorite things to do; and while I prefer to scour for rocks, there isn't even the rogue pebble on this beach. It's actually quite devoid of anything "normal," like seaweed, shells, rocks, etc. There are sand dollars up the yin yang and a few shells, but that's it. Which is why the beach always looks like a desert at low tide. Just sand as far as the eye can see.

This is an interesting picture -- when Hallie and I were riding home, we saw this group walking in front of us. I commented to her that we should move further inland (so to speak) to avoid the "cowboys." I was sort of joking, but from a distance they looked quite odd, not menacing exactly, but certainly out of place. As we came closer, I realized they were three Amish teenagers. I am going to play with this picture when I get to my "real" computer, but it was kind of cool to see them. I wondered if they were on their journey where they go into the real world for a bit to see if that is where they want to go. It is referred to as "rumspringa" and begins when an adolescent turns 16. They can choose to wear non-traditional clothing, swear, have sex and drink, among things. And then they make the choice to be baptized within the Amish church, or not. These were definitely teenage boys, but they weren't trying to fit in by a long stretch! It is so crazy to think that there is a society that exists RIGHT HERE where they shun all things modern. I don't think they are right, or wrong, but it is certainly different.

And so ends another episode of ... as the waves turns!