Monday, August 20, 2007

Seashells & Mermaids Growing Up

When I was a kid at the beach, I liked to lay with my head in the still moist, shimmering like diamond dust sand, one ear against the ground with my feet in the lapping, sometimes yellow & sometimes green sea foam.
Laying there, I felt like I could hear the heartbeat of the ocean.I felt free to do nothing, but soak it all in.
I 'd see how long I could just lay there before the sea foam starting tickling the side of my face & threatened to splash my eyes with salt water. Sometimes I'd just close my down
-side eye and allow Mother Nature to tickle me with ribbons of water, other times I would scooch with the changing tide.

Laying there, I would let my imagination run wild.
I would daydream about desolate beaches...
about the Florida beaches before white man came...
about beaches where horses ran free...
about glass houses underneath the water...
about Atlantis in the Atlantic out my backdoor...
about being small enough to ride a seahorse...
about Chicken of the Sea labels...
about being saved from tragedy by a great octopus...
about
Great Whites giving me water park rides...
about mermaids and about being a mermaid...

about what type of seashell I would want to live in if I was a little mermaid.

I always thought conchs would be better than the typical clam shells. Granted clam shells can close tight & one could sleep soundl
y & safely there. But the interior swell of the conch would provide natural pillow and the exterior would be like a form fitted blanket. Besides with my feet tucked deep within the conch, I could stay closer to all the action, ready to climb on out ...kinda like sleeping with the door opened.

Even in my sleep, I never wanted to miss a beat.

27 comments:

SpongyBones said...

I'm not an ocean boy. We had creeks. I never really dreamed of living in or near them. I was scared that I would grow up to run moonshine and marry my second cousin or something! Instead I hunted and fished from and near them ... this kept my mind from having nightmares!

Lola Starr said...

Very cool....reminds me of a story I wrote when I was younger about a superhero lobster and his sidekick shrimp. ;)

skinnylittleblonde said...

Spongy~ I love the creeks & rivers around me. The ocean is a great place to vaction, IMHO ... but the creeks & rivers, they are my home away from home. Nothing too threatening there. Hoping to go camping tonight or tomm. night!

karma~ Do Tell!

Lola Starr said...

SLB, I don't remember exactly how it went but there was a superhero lobster named Homard and his sidekick was a shrimp named Crevette....and I think in the one story I wrote they did battle with an evil octupus named Evilia. Or maybe she was an eel. It was supposed to be a little series (this was back when I wrote children's stories, btw) but I never continued with it. :)

Dee said...

This post made me smile!
My best memories are of summers at my grandparents "farm", not a working farm, but 40 acres of wooded bliss for a kid, complete with guineas, rabbits, dogs, cats, turtles, lizards, butterflies, frogs, whippoorwhills, the garden...when I die, I hope I go back to that space in time.

vicci said...

Hi my LOVE......I have been taking a break here and there....just much needed down time doing other things...I have MISSED you! and and I have been wondering if you are okay! How are things going??? I love you to pieces as you know....and I just finished reading all your posts that I have missed! :-) You are such a little loving mermaid of the sea...xxxoooo

Shimmerrings said...

And I swam at the lake, more often than the ocean, though I've always loved the sea. I can remember diving down deep, at the lake, and staying under as long as I could, feet and hands taking me along, seeing all that I could see, in the murky waters before me. I'd stay under so long that my mom would rise up from her chair, on the shore, and begin searching for me. I loved it under there, feeling all safe and serene.

singleton said...

Even in your sleep, you never missed a beat....
So true, little one...
you have hugged the world, one tiny seashell, slug, dragonfly, butterfly, smile, driftwood, see-saw, one eyed car, first star, martini moon, heart shaped rock, mudpie, ladybug, at a time.....
Embraced them all....
No doubt you do sand angels in your sleep!
ILYSVVM

JustRun said...

Beautiful memories.

JustRun said...

By the way, conch shells have always been my favorite. :)

skinnylittleblonde said...

Karma~ Crevette & Evilia...they sound like a pair made in Heaven! I had no idea you once wrote childrens' books... you are a jack of all trades, aren't you?

Dee~ Hahaha...Glad I made you smile & took you on a little trip down memory lane...back to a time & space where things were perceived as being simpler, yet we were taking in so much more new stuff... stuff that really matters more than a lot of the junk we take in adulthood...like our imagination ;)

Vicci, Sweet Vicci~ I too have been breaking here & there, so you are definitely not alone! ;) All's good here...Kimbies is still holding her own, Pam is busy converting a shed into a mother-in-law suite for an outlaw & I'm hoping to go tubing down the river tomm. :)Just wish I had some of your delicious looking blackberries to take with me ;) ACtually checked ours this week-end...soon they will be ready! yum.yum. P&L Beautiful Lady!

Shimmerings~ I'm a sucker for the lake too. the house I lived in the longest as a kid was on a lake. It was there that I learned that seaweed is nothing to be afraid of & that bubbles don't always mean fish ;) Natural waters are so peaceful...love the lake, love the river, love the ocean.

Singleton~ Hahahaha...you know how I always slept with the door open, light on & feet ready to jump should there be any activity after midnight. Lol, so much like you! ILY2!

Just Run~ I have some beautiful conch shells here that are supposedly about 100 years old that you would probably love. They are solid white & they feel like bisque. I got them out at Indian Pass (ssshhhh)

david mcmahon said...

Hi SLB,

You painted a vivid picture with that post.

We're all beach people - and you;ve spoken for us too.

Cheers

David

skinnylittleblonde said...

Hi David...I imagine you have probably taken some pictures that would go good with this post. I scoured my computer, my albums & my discs for a picture of glistening sand. I can see it in my minds eye. Cheers to you, my Aussie Mate

indicaspecies said...

Beautiful writing. You evoked life like images in my mind too. I am not one bit surprised that this has been awarded the Post of the Day award. Well deserved skinnylittleblond. Cheers :)

Chuck fka: Meanie said...

Your post reminded me of a book I just finished called The Mermaid Chair by Sue Monk Kidd. Being from a state that is 'land locked', I have never experienced the ocean except for a short stay in Santa Barbara, CA where I got a glimpse of dolphins swimming. Mermaids have always been a mystery to me and for some reason, I connect with them and dream of swimming with the dolphins. This is quite strange for a Wyoming girl. Anyway, I enjoyed your blog.

skinnylittleblonde said...

Indica~
Thank you...That man is full of suprises!

meanie~
I love Secreet Lives of Bees, so I'll have to check the Mermaid Chair out...has been on my list for a couple years now. Wouldn't it be nice to swim with Dolphins? Once I inadvertantly did and I think they may have even saved me from a shark... another tale from days gone by...

Sister Singleton, Kimbies, Dee & Shari~ Gone Campin'... time to make one with the bullfrogs! ILY!

eric1313 said...

Gotta love that peacefull feeling of sleeping with the door open, and nothing to worry you.

Bless you. And congratulations on your award. Beautiful work deserves all the praise that it reaps.

P&L

kj said...

horses on the beach.....

aahh, that sounds like freedom blowing in the wind to me. not to mention the smell of the sea.

i'm a beach girl too, skinny. it stays in your innards forever.

:)

Momentary Madness said...

I need a crowd of people,
but I can't face them
day to day,
I need a crowd of people,
but I can't face them
day to day.
Though my problems
are meaningless,
that don't make them
go away.
I need a crowd of people,
but I can't face them
day to day.

I went to the radio interview,
but I ended up alone
at the microphone,
I went to the radio interview,
but I ended up alone
at the microphone.
Now I'm livin'
out here on the beach,
but those seagulls are
still out of reach.
I went to the radio interview,
but I ended up alone
at the microphone.

"Get out of town,
think I'll get out of town,
Get out of town,
think I'll get out of town.
I head for the sticks
with my bus and friends,
I follow the road,
though I don't know
where it ends.
Get out of town, get out of town,
think I'll get out of town" Neil
Y;-) Paddy

Scott from Oregon said...

The East and West coast beaches are so different.

Someday, you should come play in my sandbox...

SHE said...

beautiful post! -could feel cool, damp sand on my face

gentle waves. wild imagination.

and like you on the beach, when i read your words, the whole world disappears into the ocean

of possibilities.

skinnylittleblonde said...

Eric~ TY...been camping here... floating in the warm green waters!

kj~ Just gotta love the waters, the sands, the salts, the shells, the sunshine ... all of it!

Paddy~ Lol & that's kinda what I did... took off, to the woods, down by the lake where the sound of traffic was the hum of crickets & the wrestling of leaves from deer, rabbits & maybe a coyote or two!

Scott~ That is what I have been told & from the pics I have seen, it is true! I'll play in the dirt, in the clay, in the sand, in the pebbles, anything as long as h2o is near by...I'm in heaven.

She~ LOL, this post was actually a reaction to a drawing that dear Vicci (of Moon,Stars & Paper) had done about 10 years ago of a little kid looking into a conch shell. That artwork brought back memories of daydreams gone by...
daydreams are so full of possibilities & in a way, they are the foundation to everything real. Love, my friend.

Me said...

Can't wait to get across the great Pacific and onto our local shores. You'd fall in love all over again with your sweet mother nature.

Anonymous said...

I think I would like to be a cool rock that is all rounded and smooth from the waves. Someone would find me, pick me up, and treasure me at home. I think maybe I would like to be tossed back to just lay there in the splashing waves with my other rock friends.

M@ said...

I love clams.

skinnylittleblonde said...

Orhan~ She is a beauty & definitely a force to be reckoned with, deserving respect & appreciation.

Wreckless~ I love rocks, brought one home yesterday from the lake. It had a face in it & it was almost yelling at me to get him out of the pile of bigger rocks, threatening to smash his face in.

M@~ I love oysters & scallops. You know, thinking about it...I believe most mermaids live in a scallop shell.

david mcmahon said...

Hi SLB,

Okay, so you've given me an assignment now. I'm off to shoot some pictures of glistening sand!

Cheers

David