Monday, May 12, 2014

A real adult vacation and other happenings

The weather has turned hot and humid here.  I knew it would because that is so characteristic of the Lowcountry.  It has also been dry for over a week, and I have been watering the garden and the plants that are waiting to be put into the front yard beds after the irrigation system is laid out.

We decided to have the front lawn landscaped too.  I think that it will be truly stunning when completed. Right now, it looks like a dirt baseball field or a farm plot that a mule has plowed because all of the old grass was scraped up.  But soon it will look like paradise.  It actually looked good before all of this, but after seeing what magic was created in the backyard, we took the plunge on the front yard transformation too.

I didn't write a Mother's Day post yesterday because it seemed just too much. Last year, Mom had died in February. My mother has been dead now since 2005.  The loss of those two women has been incredibly hard. I think about them not just on Mother's Day.  Reaching the stage in life where I am without parents and no close blood relatives is sort of depressing. So I decided that yesterday, I would go for a sail with some friends and then visit the parents of one of my friends.

The sail was on a cat boat which is gaff rigged and only 18 feet. It was a lot of fun, even though we had light air.  The impending storm only concerned us for a few moments.  It did make for a spectacular backdrop for the city though.


I am getting ready to embark on another adventure. We leave for Cabo San Lucas on Saturday morning. Neither of us has been to Baja California Sur before, but I am familiar with the abundant marine life around the Baja peninsula, sandwiched between the Pacific and the Sea of Cortez. And I have read and re-read Steinbeck's Log from the Sea of Cortez, detailing a marine specimen-collecting expedition he made at various sites in the Gulf of California (aka the Sea of Cortez), with his friend and drinking buddy, the marine biologist Ed Ricketts. 

We are now trying to decide what to pack and what to unpack.  I am only concerned about taking my camera bag and tripod, knowing that a couple of pairs of shorts and shirts in a backpack will do me just fine. I can tell you that we are flying there. I have had an unbelievable number of people ask me how I am getting there--as if we are going to sail. I haven't calculated the time it would take to get there averaging 6 knots, but suffice to say, sailing would take a much longer time than we currently have. Now that would be a voyage! 

I am hoping to take in a meeting when I am on vacation. The condo where we are staying is about one mile from the town. So I will be looking for the Serenity Club when I am in Cabo.  Somehow, I think that just being in that place on vacation will be serenity enough. 

Hopefully, I will be able to do some short posts while I am away. I am not sure about the wifi situation. Maybe I will just be off the grid. But if I do post, it will be with some photos and to tell you what is going on. A real adult vacation--the first one in a long time. Too long. Be well. 



8 comments:

  1. it is understandable that mothers day would not be easy for either of you...i hope you have a great trip and get to experience all that sea life...school is almost up but it will be end of summer before we take a real vacation...if the front yard looks anything like the back i bet it will be pretty amazing...travel light

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  2. You will be on the Sea of Cortez, I will be on the Caribbean. Beloved to me. I think it's so lovely and serendipitous that we will both be in the beautiful country of Mexico at the same time and here we are- both of us living near a coast already, traveling to another. We are water people. Who both love the lushness of green things too. I am hoping we get to travel some in the jungle of the Yucatan while we are there. And you remind me of my husband- he has packed all the dive stuff and now has no room for clothes at all. Ay yi yi! Meanwhile, I have an entire wardrobe of clothes I mostly only wear in Mexico.
    Vaya con Dios, Syd. We shall too.

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  3. Enjoy your vacation. I look forward to seeing your photography from the trip. You have a gift.

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  4. It is a good thing Syd to watch as you move forward from the past couple of years of stress and lack of balance. You need nothing but yourself and C to be complete old man, in living all of your needs are fulfilled.

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  5. Have a fantastic time away!

    I liked the Steinbeck too and can't wait to see your pics

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  6. I hope you and C have a beautiful trip. I know you will. You both seem to be so good at creating beauty and peace where ever you are.

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  7. Hi, Syd! My uncle, who's name happens to be Sid, just sold his place in Cabo! I never did make it down there but I sure wanted to go!

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  8. Cabo is beautiful, I've been a couple of times and would go back. I look forward to reading up on the next couple of posts to catch up on how the trip was!

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