Tuesday Treats: a burst of protein (deviled eggs, cheese and crackers), some blue tortilla chips with salsa, and a spoonful of pastel M&Ms. The perfect boost at recess (for teachers) for energy to manage the rest of the day. (Our students did NOT see their shadow in February and they are in full spring behaviors!)
Afternoon recess duty: sunny and mild with a view of the blue Pacific Ocean. The PE teacher wrangling the competitive basketball boys to an organized line shooting baskets, so I didn’t need to put my attention there. Instead, I rescued the many basketballs that had rolled off the blacktop. As I tossed them back I noticed a couple of girls retrieving them and putting them back on the ball rack. I love when kids are helpful just for fun. A relaxing and non-stressful recess for me!
My daily walk: getting home in time to squeeze my walk in before my Zoom meeting. A chance to reconnect and debrief my day with my hubby, mentally clearing space for the complex thinking needed for planning a collaborative project with colleagues from the California Reading and Literature Project (CRLP).
Comfort Food: Yum! Spaghetti dinner prepared by our resident chef (not me!). Perfectly filling, hot and savory, satisfying without feeling heavy.
I sneak a peek at the news and the darkness spreads over me. It feels like a shadow, blocking out the sunlight and warmth I crave. Just when I think it can’t possibly get any worse, it does. How do I both stay informed and sane at the same time?
The sun was shining when I got to school this morning. I headed into my classroom and immediately got to work organizing materials for teaching. I looked up and saw my colleague pass by…and ran out after her to give her something.
That’s when the light caught my eye. The soft warmth of morning light caressed the yellow wildflowers that are a part of our landscaping. I couldn’t resist leaning in for a photo to try to capture that moment to carry with me throughout the day.
The light, my friend and her bright morning optimism, golden flowers aglow, and the warmth of the sun on my shoulders came together to create the perfect conditions to start my week.
Here’s to keeping the glow…or at least returning to the photo to remind myself not to dwell in the shadows.
What keeps your spirits up when things start to feel heavy?
That phrase–a picture is worth 1000 words–reminds me of the power that photographs have to tell stories. So today, when the #verselove prompt asks to tell the story of a photo in a poem, I knew I would have thousands of choices. Katrina suggested choosing a photo that includes yourself in it…hmmm, now my choices are much more limited.
So I picked this image and the first three lines kept echoing in my head. So…etheree it is…a poem in 10 lines.
Today summer arrived in March with warm Santa Ana winds from the desert bringing 80 degree temperatures to the coast. It was a typical work day–except that I had no after school meetings today. That is a rare occurrence and I took full advantage. I left school at a reasonable hour, called my husband to see if he was interested in heading out for coffee and a peek at the beach, and headed home feeling like we were embarking on a vacation–even if it was of the 60 minute variety!
I’d read on Monday that our beach was getting sand this week–part of an infrastructure project that involves dredging the local lagoon and relocating sand to sand deprived beaches. I wondered just what that would look like.
Sure enough, heavy equipment was parked on the beach and new sand was evident along the shoreline.
We weren’t sure just how much beach there would be for walking, high tide often means the water covers the ground right up the cliff (and walking too close to the cliffs is an accident waiting to happen–cliff failures are well-known in these parts and have been known to be deadly!). But after only a couple steps where my foot squished way down in the brand new muddy sand, we could see plenty of room for walking ahead.
Just like the winds, we headed in the opposite direction today–walking north instead of south. While the sea birds I love to photograph weren’t present, there was plenty of other action to observe. We came across lifeguards training on jet skis, roaring up and over waves, dragging a water stretcher with another helmeted lifeguard aboard. I watched them soar over the whitewater, doing donuts in the surf. I snapped and snapped and snapped, playing with capturing action in a still photograph. (My favorite photo is posted on Instagram, but this one shows the swirl of the water.)
With the sun a warm hug on our shoulders, we continued our walk to a popular surfing area. Like ants, we watched the trail of surfers going up and down to the water’s edge. The weather makes the beach irresistible, calling loudly with blue skies, warm air, and adequate surf, in spite of the not quite warm water (61 degrees).
We couldn’t quite make it to our turnaround point as we watched the waves splashing up all the way to seawall. I couldn’t help but snap these young people trying to time their move from the stairs of this private residence to the shore. (Note the seagull on lookout above).
This afternoon foray to the beach was exactly what I needed today. It’s been a stressful week following a too-short weekend, working on getting report cards finished for an upcoming week of parent conferences, not to mention those frequent after school meetings. Today was a perfect respite–a tiny vacation in the middle of the week spent with the one I love. Sometimes a mini vacay is the perfect solution to the mid-week blues. Thursday–I’m ready for you!
Gloomy weather makes this global crisis feel like a blanket of darkness, weighing heavily on our shoulders as we attempt to find some kind of normalcy with schools closed, work re-directed, and social distancing the new norm. I’m trying to keep a daily outdoor walk a regular feature of my day…so headed out this morning when the tide was low to walk on the beach.
The beach was a study in light and shadow today with dark clouds towering above the crashing waves. Slivers of sunlight transformed the wet sand into a mirror, reflecting images of the cliffs onto the shore.
As I walked today I remembered a tower of rocks I noticed yesterday–one that was knocked over (unintentionally) by a clumsy preteen just as I headed over to photograph it. My husband and I decided to recreate our own version of it today, balancing smaller rocks on a large rock pillar.
Finding the just right rocks was a challenge–one we were willing to undertake. He carefully stacked one atop another, checking for balance, noticing the flat spots, the round spots…looking for stability. I tried to talk him into standing one with a heart shape up on end…but it wasn’t happening today. We left it in the stack though and built on it with a few smaller pebbles.
As we left our tower of rocks, the sun peeked out, illuminating the water. Brilliant layers of turquoise were framed by the white froth of the waves below and the dark of the clouds above.
Light and shadow…and a bit of balance, somehow the beach is always a metaphor for life and its challenges. Fresh air, exercise, and my camera–the trifecta that keep me positive and ready for whatever curveballs life throws.
It wouldn’t be summer without taking some time to participate in a CLMOOC invitation. And who could resist an opportunity to engage in a feldgang? (Yeah, it’s not an everyday term for me either, as I understand it, it’s about paying attention to something you might not otherwise notice.)
Yesterday was the end of an intensive 14-day period of work for me. When Geoff got home from work, we headed out for a quick dinner and what I hoped would be a view of the sunset at the beach…a mini celebration. But it was evident, from quite a distance, that a huge wall of clouds would prevent the sunset I was hoping for.
But…the wall was extraordinary. It was thick and defined. Not that ordinary gray blanket that obscures the sun that we so often associate with the marine layer in these parts. The cloud wall did impact the sun and the light…and created a game of peek-a-boo with the sun and the sentinel palm tree that stands guard over my favorite beach.
The surf was more cooperative than the sky. Surfers were enjoying the larger than usual waves, showing off their expertise as they whipped and glided and ducked through the barrels formed by the curve of water. As I snapped photos of the surfers in action, I also noticed the way the clouds and sun above them filtered the light, and depending on the angle changed the color of the water. With the sun over my shoulder, blues and turquoises peeked through.
With the sun in my face, sepia tones appeared. The creamy white of the churning waves creating texture that my eyes could feel.
Knowing that as the sun dipped lower, the clouds would block the sun’s light, we decided to stay long enough for the sun to be covered by the clouds…but not until official sunset. I watched and waited and the sun lingered longer than expected. Time enough to take some more shots of that favorite palm tree. Even the pelican was enjoying the sky.
While I didn’t get my celebratory sunset, I did get a chance to study the wall of clouds and notice all the ways it interacted with the sea, sky, palm tree, and sun.
I heard the warning on the morning news show, yesterday’s rains caused urban runoff and increased bacteria count in our ocean waters. Stay out of the water. We still headed off to the beach for a low tide walk…in our tennies.
The clouds were heavier than I expected with no rain in today’s forecast–and much darker too. We actually felt misty drizzle as we first got into the car. But the beach was beautiful: low tides, gentle breezes, and yes, some people in the water! Beach people are interesting and they come in all forms. There are walkers and beach combers like Geoff, scanning the shore for bits of glass and interesting marine tidbits and picking up the many plastics that litter the beach. There are surfers who seem to never heed warnings about the water. And there are swimmers and waders, teenaged football throwers, the guy with the metal detector, the fishers knee deep in the waves as they cast. But for me, my eyes search the beach for that perfect picture.
Gray skies make photo taking more challenging. Colors fade away, making things look flat. I’m no expert with camera settings, so I depend on my own framing and the serendipity of light and shadow to create interesting images. I try to pay attention to changes in light…and always find myself drawn to shore birds.
As I wandered down the beach, I spied a whimbrel (I think) out for a snack. I crept close, snapping photos as I went. But I also took a few long shots, noticing a break in the clouds and the white of the foamy wave tops creating a bright spot as a backdrop for the bird. Experts might call my photo overexposed, but there is something I like about this burst of light and the tiny bird visible in the expanse of the wide open beach.
Gray skies and high bacteria count didn’t keep me home and it certainly didn’t keep this little guy out of the water! I got to stretch my legs and my camera skills to snap at least a few photos that were interesting. And I got to enjoy the beach along with all the other beach people today.
Thinking Through My Lens 