For the last couple of days we have been at the beach in Cambria, California. We got a little motel room and in the morning while all the sleepy heads slumbered, I dressed and raced over the road to find the beach.
My heart was literally hammering in my chest. I just stopped when I saw the sea, I did not even sit, I just stood there and breathed slowly in and out. Letting every sense center in my brain slowly open right up to fill like a sponge and collect all the information. And store it. Because these precious oceans of ours are just so incredible.
And I grew up just steps from high tide on Westshore Beach in New Zealand. So being without the sea for so long has left me parched. I soaked it up.
After a while I returned to our room, woke up the sleepy-heads, did the food wrangling thing (why are modern kids so hard to feed) shoved them all into clothes and coats and out the bloody door. I am so sick of closing doors! We spent a blessedly overcast cool day on the beaches of the West-coast.
The cloud hugged the coastline like a great mist. There was no wind.
It was in the 60’sF with cool breathable air – literally 30 degrees cooler than Visalia in the Central Valley. Perfect beach weather. Yes! For people who grow up on the beach a cool overcast day is perfect beach walking weather!
This is a shot of a rock pool. I did fix it a little to bring up the detail but it looks so abstract. Abstract as life. Lots going on in this little pool.
I have no words for it really. But the sea filled us and wore us out, our deep unrecognized longing placated for a while. It was like home.
Now, we are back in the fire scented city of Visalia now. I have my morning coffee.
Then we are off to find a farmers market.
And tomorrow I fly back to Illinois.
My family is calling. More soon.
Miss C
The Kitchen's Garden 
55 responses to “The Beach”
what a marvelous blog posting- such joy and exhilaration in your days on the coast! Lovely photos- especially the girls and the tide pool!
That was terribly funny. Though the screams were horrific.
You’ve expressed perfectly what happens to me when we head too far inland on one of our trips. Like you, I was raised on a smallish island with sea all around it and cool grey cloudy days. I can’t thrive anywhere the sea is too far away, and just get restive and parched when I’m too far inland. As for wrangling family around food and into coats, there’s only one way to describe that, and it’s ‘herding cats’! I hope the salt air has healed your soul. Wish i could bottle some for you, for emergency puffs when it all gets too much.
Emergency puffs of sea air!! Perfect. Once we hit the coast I had the window down and my nose out like a dog – breathing it in. Every beach has a different layer of scents and this one was all about seaweed!!
Yes! Nose out, sniffing for that first hint of salt, ozone, sun-on-rock, seaweed or whatever other amalgam smells like home. In Melbourne, I used to step off the train at my home station and take a deep breath of sea air, and whatever the day had held just dropped away and I relaxed…. Smell is so primal.
Water is life. I grew up around fresh water–lakes, rivers, creeks. I love them and the sounds and smells of them. Likewise, once I moved east, I visited the ocean and found the same thing–I knew exactly what you were talking about with the sounds and smells and the feel of the air. I could loop that video clip and go to sleep to it at night…
Yes! That video is so joyous!
What balm for your soul! I know exactly what it’s like to miss the sea. I can imagine every cell in your body is refreshed and glad.
I am so happy for you! And I feel so fortunate to have the sea only 5 minutes away. From this Aotearoa shoreline to yours, watery wave crashing greetings!
– I feel your greetings – thank you so much!
The ocean and beach replenishes our spirits… the sounds (of your video clip ♡) , smells and just being… Although I was born and grew up in a country town my Dad tells me I have been going to the beach since before I was born, and we regularly did the couple of hours drive to the beach during my childhood. It is still my happy place, and as your photos show, a wonderful place to be with family… and also yourself. I felt upliifted by the joy you conveyed. Now I live away from where I grew up but in a valley between the mountains and the beach… and it feels like the right place.
– your place is lovely. I am glad it is close to the beach. Somehow I too need to get back.
There is happiness pouring out of every word you have penned . . . so glad you had these all too brief days in a feeling world to which you could relate . . .
Just so beautiful. There are no words.
I live about 130 miles north on that beautiful coast. I can never get enough and treasure every moment. I will be leaving for Germany in a few days. Is the book Letters to my Little Sister still available?
I do still have a few copies left in Illinois. Though I am not sure I can get one to you before you leave.
Love the scent of the sea!
I’m glad you’ve had these lovely days with your family. It must seem all too short.
Ah, I can almost hear the waves and gulls. The smell of the salty brine. I have not traveled yet this year and I can tell it in my restless attitude. I get very crabby when I am tethered too long. Glad you had a good trip with family also.
I’m glad you got to top off the tank of your souls needs for a little while. There is something about the ocean beach that nothing else can fill us with. I’m hoping you found your center again here.
I hope so
Amazing post!!! Your ability to capture moment’s on the kids faces as they explore the dream like landscape is so precious.