October 30th, 2017

Thanks to Tropical Storm Phillipe that was causing havoc somewhere in the Carribean,  we had some serious rain on Saturday and very impressive wind on Sunday which in turn made big waves and then, of course, resulted in one of our favourite things, Big Splash!

You probably cannot tell from this photo but this splash was probably 15 feet high.  That's about three times my height. Very  Big Splash!  Way cool.  We must have gone to one beach access or another throughout the day yesterday a half dozen times or more.  Just cannot get enough of it. It is exciting, exhilarating, thrilling and a little damp. 

By the end of the day we were rather salt encrusted, my hair was in uncombable snarls, my skin was wind burned and I was wet through to my skin.  It was glorious!

I'm not positive what the attraction is to be fair, it's not as if I were an adrenaline junkie. In fact, as has been very well corroborated, I am a big chicken.  I do not go on roller coasters, I don't parachute from perfectly good airplanes or even ride the waves on a surf board.  I have never bunji-jumped nor have I attempted to walk on hot coals.   But I love being on the shore during a storm which is probably more dangerous and stupid than any of the above activities.

The wind was blowing so hard to Tim had to hold me in place while I was snapping photographs,  birds were canting sideways as they attempted to fly.  In fact, one bird nearly crashed into me as it attempted to fly. I could have plucked it out of the sky.  The pelicans, still fishing in the water had to constantly lift off and resettle to prevent being dashed into the rocks at the jetty and some of the smaller birds were hunkered down behind large rocks.  Tree debris were airborne along with our courtyard umbrella until I dashed out and took it down.  It was marvelous!

Every Big Splash is different. They fool me constantly which is why, when I go to photograph them I nearly always end up wet.  Some are small, some are  kind of cute, some rather silly.  There are the superbig impressive "I Am Wave, Hear Me Roar" ones and the little tinklingly  adorable splashes that would be better suited to a fountain. Some go horizontal more than vertical. Some splashes ripple across the rocks from side to side and some save it all up for one big crash.  Some appear as if they are going to be enormous and then end up being nothing at all, others sneak up and surprise you.  Some lean left, others lean right and some peculiarly go both right and left but leave a big space in the middle.  I adore each and every one of them.

The sound is usually that of  a magnificent orchestra playing a really Tchaikovski ish sort of piece, all anger and angst and power just barely kept in check with a few quiet lulls to trick you, to  lure you closer and then Big Splash again! And then the ocean chuckles a mean  little, "haha fooled you".  It can be so loud that it's hard to hear each other talk but other than the occasional "wow!"  or "watch out!" there isn't much to say anyway.

The scent of course is that lovely oceany, briney, fishy, clean, fragrance that I adore.  It's one of those smells that you either love or hate.  I don't know anyone who is so-so about it.  I love it.   And on  a chilly day like yesterday, it bites the nose a bit. I could taste it, it was strong.

I'm sorry everyone I know and love wasn't here with us yesterday to enjoy it with us.  But I however you spent the weekend, you had a much fun as we did!