Seeking Peace From the Sea

I think I may have mentioned that on my recent cruise I spent a lot of time sitting in a quiet spot and looking at the water ... if I didn't mention it I'm sure I meant to as I certainly did just that.  I may not be overly enthusiastic about cruising in general but I must confess a love of the ocean; generally I love it from the vantage point of a lighthouse but in this case I got to spend a little more time up close and personal with the sea.

As such, I took an awful lot of pictures of nothing but water - some came out okay and some came out not well at all but on days like today where life can be a major source of agitation I find the pictures to be relaxing and that's where this post comes from as I sought a sense of peace from the sea.  I think it worked ...
 

“The fishermen know that the sea is dangerous and the storm terrible, but they have never found these dangers sufficient reason for remaining ashore” - Vincent Van Gogh

“`Wouldst thou' - so the helmsman answered.

`Learn the secret of the sea?

Only those who brave its dangers

Comprehend its mystery!'”

 - Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

“The loneliness you get by the sea is personal and alive. It doesn't subdue you and make you feel abject. It's stimulating loneliness.” - Anne Morrow Lindbergh

“May your joys be as deep as the ocean, your sorrows as light as its foam.” - Author Unknown

"The sea possesses a power over one's moods that has the effect of a will. The sea can hypnotize. Nature in general can do so." - Henrik Ibsen

Nighttime in New Jersey

Parts of New Jersey on a dark and cloudy night can be kinda creepy but kinda cool at the same time - the Asbury Park Boardwalk is definitely one of 'em!

After meeting up with Darci and her Dad near the outlet stores in Jackson yesterday afternoon, the girls and I continued on to Asbury Park - site of the 2009 New Jersey Zombie Walk which kicks lurches off at 11:00 a.m. today. The day was overcast to begin with and when we got the Jersey Shore, it was even cloudier and windy enough to be mistaken for Chicago!

With the big beach season of the year being over, the place had that abandoned you-know-this-is-going-to-be-bad Stephen King novel kinda feel but at the same time, it was pretty intriguing - almost like I had somehow stepped back into the time of beach-goers past.

After checking into The Berkeley Hotel, one of the former grand hotels of Asbury Park, and tossing our stuff into what was a very nice room with a nice view of the ocean, the girls and I walked over to the boardwalk to check things out and find something to eat. There were a few other people out and about but for the most part, the place was almost a Ghost Town. Following dinner at Biggie's Clam Bar, the girls went back to the hotel and I took off down the darkened boardwalk by myself in search of a photographic opportunity or two.

Initially it was a little cold with the wind still blowing up a gale and only a few people out and about but there were enough of them to not make me feel like I should be packing heat or run back to my hotel room and hide! The night definitely had that 'other worldly' feel to it but I rather liked it, especially when I got to the end of the boardwalk where the remains of the 1920's casino once proudly stood ...

... as well as the Carousel Building that no longer contains a carousel - last night it contained an AA meeting with quite a few attendees. It's there that the zombies will be gathering a little later today which seems to be more than appropriate!

I'm not sure when I'll be able to get another full post up due to the long drive home tonight and a double-shift at work tomorrow but I'll try to post a picture or two via cell phone sometime today. After all, there should be a couple good photo ops here or there!

Balloons? We Don't Need No Stinkin' Balloons!

So what do you do when you go to a balloon festival and the only balloons that are there are the ones on sticks that you can buy for some truly outrageous price? Unfortunately that turned out to be exactly the case this past Saturday at the South County Hot Air Balloon Festival in Wakefield, Rhode Island but of course we didn't find that out until after we had paid ten dollars a piece to get through the gate.

Seems to me that someone should have at least done the courtesy of telling us that due to the wind, there was a pretty darned good chance that none of the balloons would be going up as scheduled but our money was merely happily scooped up as we walked onto the grounds blissfully unaware that the only balloons we were going to see are the ones in this picture.

Shame, shame, shame on the Wakefield Rotary Group which hosts the festival every year that has been touted by Yankee Magazine as "one of Rhode Island's top 20 events". I would be willing to bet it is when there are actually some balloons to see but alas, such was not the case.

So what does one do when they are no stinkin' balloons to be seen? Being that we were almost there anyway, I asked Jason (who was driving) if he'd mind a ride over to Point Judith so that I could take yet more pictures of the lighthouse that has really become quite a favorite of mine since first visiting it last September while on my Blogger Beach vacation with some of the nicest people in the world - and Claire! Kidding, Claire, you know I love you!

Even though the brisk breezes had totally screwed up the opportunity to take any pictures of hot air balloons in flight, I couldn't be mad as they made for some delightful weather at Point Judith which sits on the west side of Narragansett Bay. One seventeenth century legend has it that Point Judith was named after Judith Thatcher who was a passenger on a small vessel with her father when it ran aground on the point and was almost wrecked. The legend states that Judith rendered great service and as a result the vessel was saved; in remembrance of this the crew called the point after her name. Another more likely possibility is that the name was derived from the Tribe of Judah in the Bible as settlements named Jerusalem and Galilee are located nearby; some early maps even mark the spot as “Point Juda Neck” which tends to give more credence to this legend rather than the first (even though the first is much more romantic!).

Inscribed on a plaque in front of the United States Coast Guard Station building, the history of the Point Judith Lighthouse can be found: "Because the treacherous waters and rocky shoreline have become the scene of many a shipwreck, Point Judith is often referred to as "Cape Hatteras of New England". In an effort to protect mariners, this site was acquired in 1809 from Hazard Knowles, and Point Judith Light was established the following year by William Ellery, a signer of the Declaration of Independence."

If you'd like, you can click on the above picture to read the rest of the plaque which goes on to give the history of the first lighthouse which stood for only five years before being destroyed by a storm in 1815 as well as information about the other dwellings which have helped guide mariners safely into and out of Narragansett Bay, including the small building which houses the compressor for the fog horn that sounds every 15 seconds and can be quite loud if you're standing too close!

Even though it's loud, there's something horribly romantic about the sound of a fog horn and the rolling surf together even in broad daylight - at least for me! It brings back memories of stories of Captain's wives waiting anxiously on their widows' walks scanning the horizon for a sight of their men and their ships returning to port. Yep, I'm definitely a New Englander it seems!

In spite of my Yankee heritage and close proximity to the coast, I have always considered myself to be more of a "mountain" person than an "ocean" person but lately I've been rethinking that as I seem to have found a real affinity for the sea and the sound of the waves as they crash upon the shore as well as the smell of the salt in the air. Granted, I'm pretty sure I'd do pretty lousy as any sort of seafaring type (after all, I got pretty seasick just making the brief passage between Fisherman's Wharf and Alcatraz Island in San Francisco!) but the more time I spend near the shore, the more I like it and wish I was one of those lucky people who could afford a home by the shore. Unless I get around to actually buying a lottery ticket every once in awhile and beating the odds to win, though, that ain't never going to happen on dispatcher's pay!

I guess in the meantime I'll just have to be happy with the occasional journey down towards the sea so that I can sit on the shore

and watch the surfers

while listening to the waves crash upon the rocks

and wait for my ship to come in.

Sailing, Sailing ...

I've actually got all sorts of things to blog about but now just don't have the time - figures! Hopefully I'll be able to find some time to sit down and get caught up soon but in the meantime, enjoy this picture I took of some lucky folks sailing the Atlantic just off of Point Judith in Rhode Island yesterday. I've never really thought much about sailing but yesterday I really would loved to have been on that boat enjoying the beautiful day. Ah well, at least I was lucky enough to be standing on the shore enjoying the sea breeze!

A Brief Glimpse of Rhode Island

The sun actually managed to come out for awhile yesterday and there were blue skies - at least in Rhode Island if not Connecticut! Following a visit with my grandson for his fourth birthday, the girls and I went for a ride up the Rhode Island coast and made a stop in Narragansett at the seawall.

More pictures* later but for now, I really need to get out and mow the lawn before going back into work this afternoon after my short 'medical leave'. I guess all good things must come to an end, eh?

*click on pictures to biggify

Looking at the Sky on Friday

In honor of my upcoming trip out to Block Island in June that I wrote about the other day, I thought that I would look through my archives and find a sky picture or two from my trip out to The Block last September to use for this week's edition of Tisha's Looking at the Sky on Friday. I'm psyching myself up for some of the beautiful sky views that I'm sure I'm going to see while I'm enjoying my 3-day respite on a beautiful island out in the Atlantic Ocean!

These two shots were both taken from the deck of the ferry that we took from Point Judith out to Block Island, which is considered to be a part of the State of Rhode Island and sits 12 miles off of its coast. The sky was definitely doing some interesting things as we made our back to the mainland and there was even a small rainbow greeting us as we pulled into the docks!

When I go out in June, I will be taking the high-speed ferry from New London, Connecticut so the trip will be a bit longer even though it will be a lot faster. It takes about an hour to get from New London out to The Block but if I'm lucky we might pass an interesting lighthouse or two along the way and that will make the trip more than worthwhile!

For more beautiful sky shots, be sure to go over to Tisha's and check out the linkies to see who else has joined in her popular new meme this week. Matter of fact, why not join in and play along, too? I bet you've got a beautiful shot or two of the sky yourself, don't you?!?

Waving at You While I'm Working (Again)

Remember how awhile back I said that my schedule was changing at work and that I would be working less hours?

Yeah, well, scratch that ... my schedule changed yet again at work and I am now working even more hours (56 a week to be exact; at this rate I'm going to need to start taking Phentermine to give me a little bit of an energy boost!).

You folks enjoy the waves while I head back into work just 8 hours after I left work last night. This is truly becoming a vicious cycle!

Ah, Bliss ...

I don't know who these folks are and, frankly, didn't even remember taking this picture when we were at the National Seashore on Cape Cod as part our vacation but when going through my pictures I came across it and thought - yep, that's what life should be like right there - walking hand-in-hand on the seashore with the one that you love while seagulls circle overhead.

I'll be sitting over in the corner now ... sobbing. Everyone else have a great Sunday!

Siblings and Seashores

Amanda and I took a ride over to Rhode Island yesterday evening to visit my son and his family who live not too far from Westerly and not quite an hour from Norwich. They were having a birthday party for Christopher who turned five earlier this month but being the unsociable person that I am, we didn't get there until everyone else had left. Well, that and it was raining cats and dogs and I wanted to wait to make the drive over there until the weather had cleared up a little! In order to get to Mike's house I have to drive past Foxwoods Casino and the traffic can be horrendous, especially on weekends. Driving in pouring rain and too much traffic is just not my idea of a good time so I avoid it when I can. Yeah, yeah - excuses, excuses!

I had called Mike and told him we'd be there around dinner time so perhaps we could order pizza or something but after we arrived he suggested we go to the local Applebee's instead being that they were pretty "pizza'd out". Sure! Sounded good to me so off we went for a nice dinner and a chance to visit and catch up.

While Chris and Matt happily dug into their kids' meals, Amanda and Mike took the time to catch up a bit. Even though they don't look a whole heck of a lot alike (at least certainly not in the hair department!) ...

... they have no problem talking about music, video games, comic books, World of Warcraft, caped super heroes, and all that sort of stuff. While I sat across from them and snapped this picture it dawned on me for the very first time out of the blue that all three of my children wear glasses! Hmm, does that count as an epiphany?!? Amanda said I obviously passed down a "bad eye" gene but considering that I don't wear glasses myself - yet! - I am going to blame that on their respective fathers. Now if she wants to blame me for the sarcasm gene then I will certainly take full credit for that!

After a nice dinner with lots of french fries and ketchup for the boys, we parted company and Amanda and I went in the direction of Misquamicut Beach so that I could try out my hand at taking some pictures of the ocean before it got too incredibly dark. Weather-wise it wasn't the best of days to begin with and by the time we got down to the beach it was going on 9:00 and there wasn't much light to work with. Still - stubborn is as stubborn does and I decided that I'd try my hand at some more night photography and edit it a bit when I got home. Which I did with these pictures being some of the results ...

This picture shows how dark it really was when we got there, it was taken using a flash.
The rest were taken using night mode on my camera

The clouds touch the ocean while the waves meet the sand.

Dark waves roll up on shore.

This may not look like a wave but really it is!
Truth be told, I rather like this effect.

Light from a far away boat reflects off the sand.
And yes, that's another wave believe it or not!

A lone figure stands in the distance watching the waves come in.

This video shows you exactly how dark it was on the beach by the time we left - or maybe it doesn't because it's so dark you can only see the occasional whitecap! It sure sounds nice, though, doesn't it? I just love the sound of waves crashing ashore - it's just so peaceful and relaxing.

I'm now inspired to go back to the ocean when I can actually see it and try taking some more pictures and videos - ones that you might actually be able to see rather than just hear! I'll be sure to let you know if that happens!

I've Got a Question, You've Got an Answer

********************

Last week's "I've Got a Question, You've Got an Answer" begged to ask the question:

Which vacation home would you choose and why?

With 21 comments to the post, 11 people choose a Lake Tahoe vacation home over the other three locations which were Myrtle Beach, Orlando, and Nova Scotia. Not surprisingly no one choose Arizona luxury real estate but that could also be because I didn't list it as a choice!

Those who know me at all know that I'd take a Lake Tahoe vacation home over the other three in a New York minute! I absolutely love Lake Tahoe with its breathtaking scenery, myriad options of things to do, and crisp mountain air. Pictures do not do it justice - it's a breathtaking and majestic land and if you've never been - what are you waiting for?

That's not this week's question but it does lead up to it as it always seems that when asked, people are fairly evenly split when it comes to choosing the answer to this question:

Mountains or Ocean??

P.S. - I apologize for not getting around to anyone's blogs on Wednesday, I had a medical procedure done that waited until the next day to wipe me out and I was barely able to keep my eyes open long enough to knock out a couple of posts. Hopefully I will be back to my regularly scheduled blog-reading later today!