Monday, July 14, 2014

Beachy Thoughts

Beachy thoughts from Galveston, Texas:



There is always more sand. Even when you think you have washed, swept, brushed, picked or wiped every grain of it off, there's still more sand.

I have a parlor trick, just like my friend Kristi does! Well, not the SAME trick; she balances toys on her head for her granddaughter. Mine is actually more practical. I was sitting in the edge of the surf, picking up little shells, but with no pockets in the ol' swimsuit, I had nowhere to put them. Then I came up with a brilliant idea: I put them inside my swimsuit top, inside the bra part of it, under my boobies. Here's what makes this brilliant: I don't have any feeling in my boobies, so I can't tell that there are little shells in my suit. When I returned to our beach umbrella and chairs, I reached in and pulled them out, dropping them into a plastic bag to save. Only hitch was when I got back to the motel and took off my swimsuit. As I was making sure all the sand was brushed off of me, I found a little tiny shell stuck to the underside of my boobie. Didn't feel a thing.



Fish are jumping all over the place in the water. Silvery, trout-ish in shape, maybe 10-15 inches long. Don't know if that's what all the fishermen are trying to catch from the rock jetties, but if it is, then they're doing it wrong, because my daughter was in the water when one of them jumped out of the water and landed on her boogie board. They were both terribly surprised, then the fish flipped back off into the water. 

No matter how bad I think I look in a swimming suit, I still look better than at least 75% of the other beach goers.

I have big damn hair in Texas. It's wildly curly and the consistency of a brillo pad, and I really don't know why I bother to bring my straightening iron with me when I come here, as it just isn't going to happen.



This reminds me of a trip we took to Florida when my daughter was 6 months old and my son had just turned 4. The first time I washed my hair there, I couldn't find the bottle of conditioner that I was just SURE I had packed. All week, my hair kept getting wilder and curlier and there was nothing I could do about it without conditioner. Finally, the night before we left, I had had enough. I remembered reading a hint once that you could use mayonnaise as a conditioner, so I thought I'd give it a try. Of course, we didn't have any mayonnaise, but we DID have Miracle Whip. Practically the same thing, right? I slathered it onto my hair, let it sit there a bit, then went to the shower to wash it out. And I washed and I washed and I rinsed and I rinsed, and I still couldn't get all that greasy Miracle Whip out of my hair. And the longer I stood under the hot shower, the more my hair smelled like hot salad dressing. Eventually, I gave up. The next morning, as I was packing our bags, guess what I found in the toiletries bag? You guessed it. A bottle of hair conditioner.

I can't cross the causeway onto Galveston Island without playing this song, which is one of my all time favorites. Listen....



15 comments:

  1. How sweet of you to mention my talent! :-) While yours is impressive, too, you probably made the right call to not video it.

    Your Miracle Whip story is funny! Humidity does a number to curly hair, that's for sure. (Of course, the dry winds of the desert aren't great for my mop, either.)

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    1. I'm glad Clark hasn't said "video or it didn't happen."
      Don't ever be tempted by Miracle Whip, no matter how wild your hair gets.

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  2. Bwahahahah bless your boots! NEVER PUT FOOD IN YOUR HAIR!

    I'm glad you've been having such a delightfully fun time, in spite of stowaway boob-shells and unexpected fish and frizzy hair :)

    The beach is heavenly :)

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    1. At least it wasn't cheese.
      Stowaway boob shells - I LIKE that!
      I think our beaches are vastly different from YOUR beaches.

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  3. Bravo - with your new found talent...hmm! I have the same kind of hair a little bit of humidity and I have a head of curls and frizz with a mind of its own because I swear it keeps on getting larger! LOL!
    The beach is wonderful I am glad you are having a great time and pictures all prove that! :)

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    1. Once again, if life gives you lemons, make lemonade :)
      I tell myself it doesn't matter how bad my hair looks, because I'll never see these people again.
      We're having a wonderful time, thank you!

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  4. I love the beach! And your hair looks great-- all loose and windblown. Why straighten it? I have very straight hair and admire the naturally curly look.

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    1. I wouldn't mind the hair so much if it didn't feel like a brillo pad. But we always want the opposite hair than we have, right? I think straight hair would be awesome! Shiny and bouncy!

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  5. I can honestly say the only good thing I got from chemo was manageable hair... gotta get to the beach this year too! I loved hearing Galveston again... at first I thought it was Bobby Sherman accompanying him on guitar but was wrong!

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    1. I said I wouldn't complain about my hair ever again when I found out I got to KEEP my hair, but I CAN make comments about it.
      Isn't that a wonderful song? I've always loved listening to Glen Campbell, although I've never liked looking at him. "Wichita Lineman" and "Still Within The Sound Of My Voice" are two of my favorite songs EVER. And boy, did I ever have a crush on Bobby Sherman!

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  6. Ah, the beach...haven't been on one in years, but Zilla is dying to go so we're looking into a short trip somewhere not too far away.

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    1. Where do you live, Lisa? Is there a beach fairly nearby? We lived at the beach when we were first married, but it was a completely different kind than is here.

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  7. Don't even talk to me about hair and Florida! Having lived there almost 11 years I can tell you - either you wear it really, really short (you have to be really young or really old to pull that off) or you have to wear it long. No in between! The humidity destroys it! I moved there with a hair "style", my jar of mud, styling products and hair spray. NEVER used the mud, quickly stopped using the styling products and simply....let my hair grow!

    Never been to a Texas beach but now...you've got me curious!

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    1. Yeah, in-between hair in Florida OR Texas is a mistake. I would have looked like a chrysanthemum with short hair. Messy bun. Glad the messy bun is 'in' right now, because that humidity is perfect for messy bun hair.

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    2. Oh, and the only Texas beach I've been to is at Galveston. The water is very shallow and because of that, it's very sandy and brownish looking (brownish sand, not white like the Florida and Alabama gulf coast). But the water is nice and warm (unless it's stormy offshore). And cheaper than Florida.

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