13 Thursday: The Ocean View
1. If I was an alien and I landed on earth I’d say TAKE ME TO YOUR OCEAN instead of TAKE ME TO YOUR LEADER.
2. The next line would be, “and don’t forget the PEOPLE magazine.”
3. On vacation, life decisions come down to whether we should ride our bikes from the campground to the beach or drive.
4. Fully dressed people with socks and shoes on shouldn’t be allowed on the beach. They remind me of the people who stand around watching others dance but won’t dance themselves.
5. People who own houses along the beach usually name them. Here are a few I saw this past weekend while we were camping in Kitty Hawk, North Carolina: C-Scape, Sol Mates, Sun Bling, Pelican’s Porch, and Wright Nice (as in the Wright Brothers).
6. Apparently, if we had gone a little further south to Hatteras, we could have seen these ones: Shor Nuf, Knot on Call, For the Halibut, Seas the Moment, Pier Pressure, Native Sun, Fin and Tonic, Scooby Dunes, and Fish and Ships.
7. If you google “beach quotes,” you’ll get sites trying to sell you real estate rather than what famous people have said about the beach.
8. If you google “ocean quotes,” you might have better luck. You could find something like this: Faith is knowing there is an ocean because you have seen a brook. ~ William Arthur Ward
9. This is an example of how differently a pessimist and an optimist view the ocean: 1. Ocean: A body of water occupying about two-thirds of a world made for man – who has no gills. ~ Ambrose Bierce. 2. You must not lose faith in humanity. Humanity is an ocean; if a few drops of the ocean are dirty, the ocean does not become dirty. ~ Mahatma Gandhi
10. Number 54 on my 100 Things About Me says: Sometimes I feel like I’m more at home in water. Being in the ocean makes me giddy. I grew up on in the South Shore of Boston on the tip of a peninsula called Hull, surrounded by water. My siblings and I used to wonder how anyone could stand to not live near the ocean. Ironically, I’ve lived the last 27 years not near the ocean, but I periodically crave to be near it. I overheard my husband once say, “When she gets out of sorts, I know it’s time to take her to the ocean.”
11. I am from a granite boulder seawall … and cotton candy at Paragon Park …I’m from blackberry stains and beach rose petals … catalpa beans and bamboo … I am from the salt of the earth … One if by land, two if by sea …John F. Kennedy and Fenway Park … even when the Red Sox are losing … excerpt from the poem “Where I’m From.”
12. This is the essay I recorded for WVTF public radio about growing up by the ocean.
13. When it comes to owning beachfront property, this is the best my husband and I can do.
Thursday headquarters is here. My other 13’s are here. View more 13 Thursday’s here.
September 28th, 2006 9:31 am
now see, I love the beach. I love the sun. I love the atmosphere. But I hate the sand, and I’m mostly scared of the water. Weird, I know.
I’m glad you got to vacation at the beach. 🙂
September 28th, 2006 9:33 am
ahhhhh, the ocean! #4 made me laugh and nod my head in agreement 🙂
September 28th, 2006 9:45 am
I can’t even begin to describe what the ocean means to me, or how much inlove I am.
Next time, maybe you could visit the Charleston sea? And I could show you the pluff mud and the baby shark pools!
September 28th, 2006 10:09 am
I was a “concrete” city lady until I moved close to the ocean. There’s something addictive to it, I know I would survive somewhere else but it’s so nice to have it right down the street… My only problem with it is an old foot injury which doesn’t allow me to walk barefoot on soft sand, I have to wear sandals for support, but I leave my socks at home! happy TT 🙂
September 28th, 2006 10:10 am
Ohh great list, very beautiful. The beach is the best place in the world to me.
September 28th, 2006 10:19 am
I’d love to live on a lake or ocean. Trying to think of a name for my cottage or beach house…I love that “Pier Pressure”!!
What would you call yours?
September 28th, 2006 10:22 am
…LOL
Well, I checked out your beachfront property and I love it. I suspect if I ever move to the ocean I will copy the incredible architectural design of your beach front home. Hope you aren’t one of those type persons who objects to such things. 🙂
September 28th, 2006 10:23 am
I love your list!! I was able to see the ocean in April for the FIRST time. I loved it. I’m about as far away as you can get in MN.
September 28th, 2006 10:30 am
Ruth, Joe said “Nirvana.” I said “Life’s a Beach,” but those were our fast answers.
September 28th, 2006 10:59 am
All true!
i love the name Scooby Dunes!
We have talked many times about vacationing in that area. Only we would have to do a hotel. We are not campers!
September 28th, 2006 11:01 am
Oh, I so envy you being at the beach. Sounds like you’re having a fantastic time.
September 28th, 2006 11:32 am
Your first one was my favorite! Take me to your ocean! Now that’s an icebreaker!
September 28th, 2006 11:45 am
I do love the ocean. There’s nothing like it…
I grew up in the water… chlorinated water, but water nonetheless. I felt better in the water. More alive. More free. More myself. I miss the water…
Faith is knowing there is an ocean because you have seen a brook. ~ William Arthur Ward
Love this quote. My first new quote of the day. 🙂
Happy T13!
September 28th, 2006 11:47 am
I agree with #4. I grew up in a California beach community and I now live on the shores of Lake Michigan… the locals call it a beach… but it’s not!
September 28th, 2006 12:42 pm
Yeah, I’m with you on needing the comfort of water. I was born in Biloxi so our house was literally across the street from the Gulf of Mexico. It was destroyed by Hurricane Camille after we had moved away but I feel a sense of peace wash over me when I am able to get to a beach.
September 28th, 2006 12:52 pm
I love #10. I have never lived by the ocean, but going home certainly has a calming feel to it. How cool that you don’t have to go home for that – just to the ocean!
September 28th, 2006 3:45 pm
A “Wright Nice” Thursday Thirteen (as usual). Matter of fact, anything you “write” about the ocean is pretty “wright on” – me thinks cause it’s in your blood.
P.S. I’m not doing a TT today. shhhhhh.
September 28th, 2006 4:17 pm
Sadly, Muslim women cannot enjoy the Ocean if there are men around.
Thanks for visiting me; I linked to you from TT -13 reasons you know it’s 2006
September 28th, 2006 4:42 pm
Down there by Nags Head they have the outdoor drama about the lost colony of Roanoke. It is well worth seeing.
September 28th, 2006 6:54 pm
Your little homestead there IS priceless. You, however, have more natural fortitude than I, this much is clear.
September 28th, 2006 7:04 pm
I love the PEOPLE magazine! 🙂
Great list!
September 28th, 2006 8:12 pm
You are experiencing the best of both worlds…but my favorite is the mountain area. Lucky you.
September 28th, 2006 9:14 pm
We love the beach too! We were just at Nags Head earlier this month.
September 28th, 2006 9:18 pm
I like #4, and I like the ocean especially at this time of the year when the crowds have thinned out (of course, I’ve just come back from the desert).
September 28th, 2006 9:30 pm
I’ve been on the Atlantic beach on the other side of Florida more often than I’ve visited the Gulf of Mexico less than 15 miles from where I live. I love the photo — actually spent some time wondering if there was actually a beachtowel designed to look like a composition notebook.
September 28th, 2006 9:41 pm
This one blew me away. You know I’m a fan but there was so much packed into this list…I don’t know where to begin. Thanks for writing. I think your vacation has invigorated you. Blessings.
September 28th, 2006 10:58 pm
This week’s 13 Thursday sound track, all loose and leafy:
Letting the days go by/let the water hold me down
Letting the days go by/water flowing underground
Into the blue again/after the moneys gone
Once in a lifetime/water flowing underground
(Talking Heads)
Already been to Paris, already been to Rome,
Duh-duh dum de dum de dum dum-a-dum day!
And what did I do but miss my home
Oh, New England!
(Jonathan Richman and the Modern Lovers)
Same guitar player–Jerry Harrison.
September 29th, 2006 7:09 am
I am glad you got back to the water. I am the same way about being away from it too long. Loved the beach house names. Our ranch in Idaho is called Moose Run Ranch- and they really do wander through. Yes, I am hoping that we will be eating elk with our potatos but one never knows. Be blessed.
September 29th, 2006 7:50 am
Keeping the streak alive, yet another fantastic 13.
September 29th, 2006 9:26 am
Sun Bling
No one who uses the word BLING should be allowed to have a house on the beach.
September 29th, 2006 9:40 am
I think your property ownership looks the best…beach front property upkeep is way too expensive for my taste!
Enjoyed the list today…I like Sun Bling and Fin and Tonic, very cute.
September 30th, 2006 10:14 am
I grew up in Virginia Beach just a stone throw away from the outter banks. I could really realate to your T13. Love the beach name too.
October 2nd, 2006 11:47 am
I’m a Pisces and grew up on the Northshore of Boston….need I say anymore about water and the ocean?
Living on this island….I am truly in my element!