My hair smells like the sea.
Sep. 7th, 2009 05:34 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
logansrogueI visited the beach today, Amaryllis Cove, and got some beautiful photos. It's a little tucked away bit of limestone shore near Cottesloe. I call it Amaryllis Cove, it's not really called that. It's my special beach! Anyway, the wind was strong and the sky was full of fluffy grey and white clouds. The sea was a beautiful grey-blue-green, like a cloudy sapphire or piece of jade. The breakers were frothy and bright white, and the shore was lined with fresh seaweed.
Oh, that fresh sea smell. Not the rotting, old seaweed smell that chokes you in the summer (but I'm a freak and even like THAT smell). No, this is a fresh smell unlike anything else. The air is moist and clingy, and it rejuvinates the skin like nothing else. My skin is soft and smooth, and it had been horribly dried out lately. It's a brisk temperature, but I never felt cold. The clean, new air opens up every little bronchiole, I can feel it when I ran up the beach to see what my Dad was looking at on the shore. He showed me periwinkles. Told me about how the Romans collected them. Dad and me always get along perfectly at the beach.
My body felt alive after being at the beach again. I missed it so much. I missed the smell, I missed the taste of the air and the sensation of silky white sand between my toes. A cormorant cruised down over the breakers, wing-tips skimming the water. The curve of its neck was divine. I loved how the dunes looked in the wind and the grey, watery light.
The sea is so special in the winter. Moody, close, protective. The water seems angry, but it's not frightening. It's comforting. Like the rhythm of breathing, almost.
Before I get to sea photos - A Cat Diversion!
Lenny's crooked, old-man smile.
He loves nothing more than a scratch on his back.
A typical, WA beach road.
Gorgeousl stormy sea. The photo doesn't capture that lovely blue-green-grey colour. The ocean is alive with the weather.
The path down to my special beach. It's a nature reserve.
Some natural dune growth. It's usually fairly bushy the farther it gets from the shore. Nothing like seeing wide open dunes covered in this sort of brush, with the odd tree, until it grows bigger and bigger and becomes bushland. They're almost like moors, really. And the animals love it.
The beach, looking up towards City Beach. Now, nobody is there because this is winter, or the very beginning of Spring (but it stays stormy until November, usually). But I'm told this is summer weather in some parts of the world!
I had to get more of the clouds. They were just stunning.
Amaryllis Cove. The houses look much closer than they are.
I was climbing happily all over those rocks today.
Amaryllis lives here. She would lie there happily, the water washing up about her.
The beach, looking up towards Fremantle. During the summer, the water goes out much farther, and the soft white sand builds up so that there's a place to sit before you reach the limestone drops. That's shell collecting season!
Me at Amaryllis Cove. I don't know if it's clear, but I'm very fucking happy. I'm happiest at my beach. You know how when they teach you Relaxation Meditation, and they tell you to imagine a special place where you feel safe and is precious to you? This is my place.
Dad with a snail balloon thing. He was telling me about them at that point. Note the socks and sandals. Yes, he is that German.
I love a stormy sea.
Dark grey clouds over a moody sea. I never get tired of the ocean. Each season shows a different side of thel sea.
On the drive home, near Cottesloe Beach. The limestone drops here by the beach are stunning.
Dad told me of the first time he ever saw the beach. He was a child and it was on a school trip to the seaside. He lived inland, in Germany, and the beach was a special occassion thing for them. He was taken by the beaches, and by the special tourist shops with the shells and the keepsakes. He said that it made a lasting impression on him. I joked that it was his Viking blood coming out. Cause if there's anyone in my family that loves the sea more than I do, it's my Da.
Oh, that fresh sea smell. Not the rotting, old seaweed smell that chokes you in the summer (but I'm a freak and even like THAT smell). No, this is a fresh smell unlike anything else. The air is moist and clingy, and it rejuvinates the skin like nothing else. My skin is soft and smooth, and it had been horribly dried out lately. It's a brisk temperature, but I never felt cold. The clean, new air opens up every little bronchiole, I can feel it when I ran up the beach to see what my Dad was looking at on the shore. He showed me periwinkles. Told me about how the Romans collected them. Dad and me always get along perfectly at the beach.
My body felt alive after being at the beach again. I missed it so much. I missed the smell, I missed the taste of the air and the sensation of silky white sand between my toes. A cormorant cruised down over the breakers, wing-tips skimming the water. The curve of its neck was divine. I loved how the dunes looked in the wind and the grey, watery light.
The sea is so special in the winter. Moody, close, protective. The water seems angry, but it's not frightening. It's comforting. Like the rhythm of breathing, almost.
Before I get to sea photos - A Cat Diversion!
Lenny's crooked, old-man smile.
He loves nothing more than a scratch on his back.
A typical, WA beach road.
Gorgeousl stormy sea. The photo doesn't capture that lovely blue-green-grey colour. The ocean is alive with the weather.
The path down to my special beach. It's a nature reserve.
Some natural dune growth. It's usually fairly bushy the farther it gets from the shore. Nothing like seeing wide open dunes covered in this sort of brush, with the odd tree, until it grows bigger and bigger and becomes bushland. They're almost like moors, really. And the animals love it.
The beach, looking up towards City Beach. Now, nobody is there because this is winter, or the very beginning of Spring (but it stays stormy until November, usually). But I'm told this is summer weather in some parts of the world!
I had to get more of the clouds. They were just stunning.
Amaryllis Cove. The houses look much closer than they are.
I was climbing happily all over those rocks today.
Amaryllis lives here. She would lie there happily, the water washing up about her.
The beach, looking up towards Fremantle. During the summer, the water goes out much farther, and the soft white sand builds up so that there's a place to sit before you reach the limestone drops. That's shell collecting season!
Me at Amaryllis Cove. I don't know if it's clear, but I'm very fucking happy. I'm happiest at my beach. You know how when they teach you Relaxation Meditation, and they tell you to imagine a special place where you feel safe and is precious to you? This is my place.
Dad with a snail balloon thing. He was telling me about them at that point. Note the socks and sandals. Yes, he is that German.
I love a stormy sea.
Dark grey clouds over a moody sea. I never get tired of the ocean. Each season shows a different side of thel sea.
On the drive home, near Cottesloe Beach. The limestone drops here by the beach are stunning.
Dad told me of the first time he ever saw the beach. He was a child and it was on a school trip to the seaside. He lived inland, in Germany, and the beach was a special occassion thing for them. He was taken by the beaches, and by the special tourist shops with the shells and the keepsakes. He said that it made a lasting impression on him. I joked that it was his Viking blood coming out. Cause if there's anyone in my family that loves the sea more than I do, it's my Da.
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
(no subject)
Date: 2009-09-07 12:31 pm (UTC)We get a lot of older German tourists here and we're always amused by their socks and sandals but not so much amused by their Speedos.
(no subject)
Date: 2009-09-07 01:00 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2009-09-07 01:06 pm (UTC)I don't care if they wear them. We have this one beach that is pretty private and mostly occupied by German tourists with lots of the money and the resort there is happy when they wear Speedos and not their usual 'lets run around naked and scare the Americans!'
(no subject)
Date: 2009-09-07 01:15 pm (UTC)German tourists crack me up SO MUCH. Usually cause when I've met them, they've been friends of my Dad's, or my relatives. When they get impressed with something they see, oh God, I lose it!
(no subject)
Date: 2009-09-07 01:07 pm (UTC)California's beaches, away from LA, are just gorgeous. I remember my friend Jim taking me down to San Diego. We stopped by some steep cliffs and dunes, and I was in awe of the beauty of the place. So many interesting geographical features! And the ground squirrels in the dunes by the sea were TOTALLY ADORABLE.
(no subject)
Date: 2009-09-07 01:51 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2009-09-07 02:26 pm (UTC)And as an oceanographer you know I'm squeeing right along with you, right? Heh. Went diving at the shore yesterday--we had hurricanes/tropical storms offshore which made the beach surge too high and dangerous the past two weekends--and it's amazing how calming it is and how much I missed it even for that short while.
(no subject)
Date: 2009-09-07 03:29 pm (UTC)The same beach roughly six months ago!
(no subject)
Date: 2009-09-07 04:09 pm (UTC)The pictures are absolutely gorgeous, Nance.
(no subject)
Date: 2009-09-07 04:46 pm (UTC)And thank you, darling!
(no subject)
Date: 2009-09-08 02:17 pm (UTC)