Beach Sketches II
The Gulf Stream veers off somewhere near the coast of New York and makes its way to Ireland. There’s no warming stream to soften the frigid waters in the South Shore of Boston where I grew up. Even so, three little girls are in the ocean this evening playing on two blow-up rafts. One raft is magenta and the other is sun-flower yellow. The giggling girls and their brightly colored rafts stand out, now that the beach is nearly empty of the day time crowd. There’s an abandoned sand castle still standing and a neon green tennis ball whizzes by, followed by a collie playing fetch with its owner.
The pastel blue sky, streaked with the pink of sunset reminds me of painted walls in a newborn baby’s room. The large shuttered houses along Nantasket Beach seem to ignite into a blaze when the sun gets low enough to reflect off their windows. A sliver of moon hangs like a mystery in the darkening sky, signaling couples to come out to walk along the shore. If you’re not with your loved one, seeing couples walk hand in hand can make you feel lonely. But a lone jogger running by can make you feel better about being on your own.
July 14th, 2005 8:44 pm
I see what you mean about the lone jogger. I had registered the comfort but not consciously before you mentioned it.
July 14th, 2005 10:33 pm
sensuous descriptions colleen of your late day beach stroll. wish i was there in body as well as mind now. xoxo
July 15th, 2005 12:58 am
Great imagery. Some of the best sunsets I’ve seen have been from the Charles St. T-station overpass. And watching 2 women in a blow-up raft being towed by an enthusiastic Labrador retriever in Spy Pond (Arlington, MA) inspired me to get my own “inflatable yacht.”
Love the contrast between the couples and the lone jogger. So true.
July 15th, 2005 7:29 am
I love the line about the moon, Colleen. Very poetic.
July 15th, 2005 9:56 am
wow…i am so jealous…i wish i was at the beach… 🙂
July 15th, 2005 5:59 pm
Hi Colleen! Love your ocean images. Do you miss the mountains yet? Here’s a poem…the one I was looking for when you wrote “Why don’t we do it in the road.”
Miss you.
Diamond Knob Road
Rocky dry dirt curves
up the mountain—
all wheel drive stairsteps
into the low cumulus clouds.
The road rises to the knob.
Turning. Another path taken.
State maintained;
grass up the center
nonetheless.
Washout
from last week’s storm—
gravel bones
shed across the tracks.
There is most certainly
another way
up the mountain;
this one still gets us
where we want to go.
~Mara E. Robbins
July 15th, 2005 8:49 pm
I wish I was as good with words as you are. All I know how to say is “Hello, Michele sent me”
…. which probably doesn’t do your post justice!
July 15th, 2005 9:16 pm
Your writing is beautiful! Here from Michele’s! TTYL
July 19th, 2005 5:22 pm
I’ve missed reading your entries over the past few days. It does seem that everybody IS on the road. I so want a laptop now.
My extended family had a cottage up on the Maine coast we would visit when I was a child. When I was a teen on a night in early June some friends and I decieded to drive up and go swimming at night. I swear the water was 50 degrees.
July 20th, 2005 2:11 pm
Colleen…Howdy back!! Glad you’re having a good trip…I”ve been so lazy…can’t read, watch tv and blog all in the same day..have to pick one! HP6 Harry Potter Vol. 6 and TTYL -talk to you later ;0) I’ll ask around at the Festival when I go. Let me know if you head up..I’ll buy you a pint ;0)
July 20th, 2005 2:11 pm
Colleen…Howdy back!! Glad you’re having a good trip…I”ve been so lazy…can’t read, watch tv and blog all in the same day..have to pick one! HP6 Harry Potter Vol. 6 and TTYL -talk to you later ;0) I’ll ask around at the Festival when I go. Let me know if you head up..I’ll buy you a pint ;0)
July 20th, 2005 2:11 pm
Colleen…Howdy back!! Glad you’re having a good trip…I”ve been so lazy…can’t read, watch tv and blog all in the same day..have to pick one! HP6 Harry Potter Vol. 6 and TTYL -talk to you later ;0) I’ll ask around at the Festival when I go. Let me know if you head up..I’ll buy you a pint ;0)