Virginia Is For Families

Captain Jack told me the this was “Dolphin Beach” but after checking a map it seems clear to me that it is Salt Kettle Beach.  Jack is like a little kid sometimes and he loves to tell stories.  You have to watch him closely when he opens his mouth.  But when he is guiding the sailboat at night you can sleep soundly .

I was exploring the beach and deciding that I really was not interested in following a path into the interior. There is a cool cave a mile or so from the water but it is further down the coast. Several hundred years ago a group of settlers lived in that cave for two years while trying to figure out how to establish a colony.

It is so hot today. I can’t imagine how they did it. And as I walk down this deserted beach to the water’s edge I look up and for a second think that there are sharks in the water. There is not a sound as a large fin glides  near my feet. And the darkness around it seems odd in this brief moment. Is this a dream? Am I seeing a strange sea creature?
For a second I am aware that life is a dream and I experience this in my gut. And then my rational mind jumps into the fray and tells me “It’s a pod of dolphins and you can almost touch them”.

My camera is on a rock as the tide comes in and I take a few steps while frantically pulling it out of its protective bag. And then while forgetting any notion of planning a shot I start taking three photos per second trusting that some of them will actually capture a dolphin as it rises in a smooth and soundless arc out of the depths.
If I had been anywhere else on the beach I probably would have missed this and so I feel fortunate even though in a few seconds they are gone. Jeremy has taken a walk down the beach and later tells me about his experience.
“I was standing waist deep in water and thinking about nature and how beautiful it can be. I was really at peace with the world and when I looked up there were several dolphins swimming towards me.”

We will always remember these moments.  Such a beautiful dream.

I have been pretty sick this week with a cold. And the heat and humidity have not helped. I don’t know why a summer cold is the worst kind of cold. But it’s true.

Why is that?

So I was supposed to drive down to Virginia Beach Friday but canceled those plans. And then the AC died because a wire came loose and was chopped in half by the blade. Fortunately I had installed an extra window unit so that it is still cool in here.

What to do? Order stuff from Amazon.com! Feel better using your credit card! Yehhhhhh! I ordered a couple of books and the newest Adobe Photoshop Elements 6.0. And then I ordered the detachable flash unit for the Nikon D70.

So I feel better. Recently I went to my other favorite place LLBean and bought what has to be the absolutely best shirts for this kind of weather. The material in this shirt is very, very thin and there  is a vent all across the back. There are also vents in the front inside both the pockets.

So I bought seven of them. One in each color. And they have saved me from even more extreme suffering this past week. Take a look at a great shirt.

Of course the other great thing about these shirts is the money back guarantee. If you are ever unhappy with this shirt they want it back. And I am not shy about taking them at their word.

So I need to go get a passport SOON. We are going to the Bahamas this summer and you need one these days to go anywhere.

What else? I miss my rum and cokes. Evita talked me into giving up the nightly drink or two. Her blog is very helpful reading and I enjoy the way she writes. It is called Evolving Wellness and it is in the blog roll here. Apparently my wellness has not evolved very far since I feel like such a piece of shin bone this week.

I should go back there right now and read some more!

Hey! It doesn’t cost anything! My credit card company may not appreciate that but there is someone in the next room who would be very impressed.

Hey Honey! Guess what I am doing! Cough…..

We are off in a few hours for the beach and on the way plan to stop at Colonial Williamsburg. It’s time to wave good-bye to the family and dogs and accelerate down the road.

We have been watching the HBO miniseries John Adams and are pretty impressed with the job they are doing to bring back earlier times in American history. Of course we are also on the lookout for my son Zachary who was in extra in the series which was made here in Richmond and in the surrounding area.

So it will be interesting to go down there and be immersed for a few hours in a different world. How did they manage without cell phones and computers? For that matter how did we manage without them when we were growing up?

The terrible state of the economy has finally intruded upon my consciousness. It has come up in conversations a few times and now it looks like the time has come to leave the stock market for awhile. If we had wise economic policies in the world these corrections would be so much easier to bear. But as things stand it looks to me like a major event is in the making.

And I really do hate standing in line. But if it comes down to that in order to get some milk or bread I guess it will have to be. I will just think about Colonial Williamsburg and be grateful we have a few things that they could not have imagined.

I guess. Hopefully.

So stay tuned for photos of something other than ducks or the James River. Grab a feed for adventures this summer in the Bahamas and other travel destinations. But for now our goal is to take photos of the cherry blossoms in DC and much else. It will be good. I promise.

Here’s the Slide Show from our trip to Williamsburg. 

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