I think if I knew we would be returning to such aweful weather, I would have opted to stay for another week with my Aunt and Uncle.
My tan is fading fast and although yesterday was quite nice, it only lasted for half the day. It is cold rainy and rather depressing actually. I miss the sand and the sunshine. All the folks south of us getting a heat wave and we are stuck insome artic chill or something.
I guess I do have the photos and the memory of warm sun and air on my skin. If only I could sit out back and close my eyes and pretend I was still there. If I sit out back right now, I will be soaked and wind up with a chill.
Here is our cottage. There are two levels, both exactly the same with different furniture. I know it doesn’t look like much, but it is wonderful. Last year we stayed downstairs where the porch has a front door, a little nerve wracking when you have toddlers that can reach the lock on the door. This year we stayed upstairs where you can only exit through the kitchen at the back. We found things with both that we liked. We prefer upstairs because you can sit up on the stools at the table and watch the world go by. We enjoyed downstairs because it had much nicer furntiure and no stairs. We booked in for upstairs again next year because, well, the porch won out.
This is one of the views I had from the porch. There are actually two houses here, the white one on the left and a dark brown one hidden in the trees on the right. As I sat with my coffee the first morning all of a sudden I could see my characters in my
novel living in these cottages. I started working on the
rewrite of my novel back in March but, I just couldn’t get unstuck from where my characters were and how fast I wrote it. I needed inspiration, but was getting nothing sitting here in suburbia. Within a day, I had a whole rewrite going in my head. And since Hubby decided we didn’t need to bring out laptop because wireless was scarce last year. I had nothing but paper towel to write on. So off I went to the bookstore to purchase a journal. For three mornings I saw my characters and their stories intertwining. Some of the novel has changed a bit, but that is good because it wasn’t working for me the way it was.
Not only did my writing get inspired but so did my photography. I didn’t take as many photos as I wanted to, because carrying around my camera bag with my belly was a little more difficult than I first thought it was going to be. And Hubby was so inspired by my inspiration that he bought me another lens for my camera. I feel so blessed because our trip was gift enough, but he knows how much I love taking photos and how often I use my camera that he figured it would be best to make the purchase down there where our dollar was almost the same, there is no sales tax and the actual merchandise is a third less than up here. It may just become an annual event. And Bob at the photo studio was fantastic. Nobody sells DSLR’s and accessories anywhere near the beach. Everyone told us to go to NYC, which would have been great if we hadn’t been at the beach for a week. But, Bob has a supplier that could UPS me a lens overnight. It ended up that I missed the first truck, but got to extend our beach time on Saturday while we waited for the lens to come in. I didn’t get to take any photos with it at the beach, but I have been playing with it since we got home and am in love with it.
All that inspiration has already led me back to my sewing here at home. I just didn’t feel any creativity prior to vacation but it is back and I am so thankful. I don’t like feeling like I have lost everything all at once. I knew our trip was going to be tough, travelling at eight months pregnant is not ideal, but it was so worth it. I would do it again in a heartbeat.
“We’re going to the beach, the beach, the beach…” is the song J sang almost the entire ride to Rehoboth. It was so heartbreaking for him to realize that we had to spend one night at my Aunt and Uncles before we actually saw the beach. But in the end it was so worth it. My cousins dog Buddy was visiting so J had lots of fun entertaining my Uncle and playing with Buddy.
Our first stop on the way to Rehoboth was a detour to Ocean City, Maryland to visit with my cousins. Their beach is gorgeous and we often think of renting their condo for the week, but and yes, there is a but. Their condo isn’t close to the boardwalk, so going out for a morning, afternoon and evening stroll is much more stressful on a busy street than it is on the boardwalk, so for now we stay in Rehoboth. J found many sea creatures in Ocean City and Hubby found a horseshoe crab that wandered too close to shore.
We woke up Sunday to beautiful weather and gorgeous sunshine. Hubby went for a run, J and I went for a walk and A slept. Within the first few hours of being at the beach we were well on our way to being rejuvinated. I, myself, had been having creativity block for many things. I was feeling uninspired, but by the Monday morning so many thoughts and ideas were bursting to come out I had to buy a journal to write it all down. It is very obvious that my creativity is rejuvinated by being at the beach.
We got to experience a fantastic 4th of July. The weather was cool and there was a high seas warning so many beach fireworks were cancelled. Fortunately for us the fireworks were on the beach and at the end of our street so we were able to put on a sweatshirt and not fight the crowds to see them. And it is sad to say, but they were much better than any Hubby and I have seen living here in the Capital of Canada. We were so blown away we prebooked our week next year.
The owners of the cottage that we rent were there and invited us down to light up some sparklers. It was wonderful to meet them and to share in the festivities. The kids hit it off and chatted every time we met up.
I have so many stories to share and even more photos. We truly had a wonderful week and feel like we are ready or almost ready for the rest of the summer.
I guess I do have the photos and the memory of warm sun and air on my skin. If only I could sit out back and close my eyes and pretend I was still there. If I sit out back right now, I will be soaked and wind up with a chill.