That sharkstooth is one of my collection from growing up in florida; I was just learning to scuba dive when we moved. I was 12. I know that I would have had a whole different set of skills if we had stayed down there ~ I would have grown up near the ocean and the pines, knowing a whole different set of facts about a whole bunch of different birds. I have memories of rivers, manatees, water moccasins and that panther that my dad saw once when he was camping on the river. When Tim and I drove down to Venice two years ago, I hadn't been back in 20 years. I had visceral responses to the spanish moss, the orange groves, and the air plants. I looked for shark fins like I used to do. I felt the thrill again of seeing alligators in the wild. I'm glad that part of my life has been opened to me again.
Tomorrow will land me on a gulf coast beach once more, the coastline of my youth.
I'm really looking forward to getting there.
*
5 comments:
i grew up on the coast of texas and feel the same way. i haven't been back yet...i can't imagine how i'll respond and what it will trigger.
It's really powerful!
I've been thinking about my impressions of Florida while I was there for just a few days. HEAT (it was August), sea water as warm as a bath on St. Augustine Beach. I was so amazed by this, I very foolishly sat in the shallows and burned really badly. Kindness...a fellow camper, on hearing about my discomfort, gave me a bottle of aloe vera gel. This was my very first introduction to it as it hadn't arrived here yet. I was so happy when it did a few years later.
Warm tropical rain at the same time every evening!
Lush vegetation. Gorgeous, slow, accents. One sighting of an alligator and a view accross the water to the Space Centre. The Space Centre! Pelicans! Nights filled with Cricket(?) songs. Darkness falling so abruptly.
Please say 'hi' to it for me and enjoy your stay.
This polaroid is gorgeous.
Sorry it's such a long comment.
Helen, that is a beautiful description of your visit! Aloe vera gel ~ yup! We just cut open straight aloe and spread that on us now, but I remember the ecstatic cooling and relieving properties of the gel in past summers. So nice that the other camper shared. :)
Pelicans are tim's favorite bird, and now I'm smitten too ~ we did see a lot in florida and they seem so laidback.
Accents? what accents? :)
Oh! Those so laid~back, drawling, close~your~eyes, curl~your~toes accents! :~)
Post a Comment