the sea taketh and giveth

I know this is silly but yesterday morning I walked the beach looking for my glasses which had been grabbed from my face the day before. The waves Monday, after an amazing storm on Sunday, were humongous. The Texan Couple and I couldn’t wait to get out there. I let the waves carry me off – a little too far off which was strange as usually the waves carry you into shore, not out. It took me forever to paddle back, coming up against my first experience of undertow. Not only were the waves dragging me out but they were pushing me north and I needed to get south. By the time I reached Mrs. Texan I was exhausted. We were just a few feet from the beach when the first wave threw us forward. As soon as we stood, another was on us, pushing us down, trying to drag us back out to sea. That’s when I lost my glasses, my favorite pair, the pair that wasn’t strapped to my head (as Mrs. Texan had suggested but I didn’t think I needed a strap). Fortunately I have a back-up pair of glasses so the situation isn’t dire; meaning, I’m not wandering around blind as a fucking bat.

We pulled some chairs out to the palapas and Mr. Texan grabbed a six-pack of the beer he drinks, the brand called gatto or gallo something-or-other and is only $2.50/six-pack. It was great, drinking beer with the neighbors at 9:00 in the morning. That’s when Mrs. Texan told me that she was fasting that day. She’d been having an intestinal problem and so I told her about my daughter’s fast. I said that I had done the fast for only two days and I felt great, that even my body had changed. Well, she told me, she was going to be doing a liquid fast but not the syrup/lemon/cayenne pepper combo. I said “I think that’s an important part of the cleansing aspect.” She said it sounded terrible so she was going to stick to alcohol.

Needless-to-say when I saw her later in the day she was smashed, drinking viva la vida and coke. I’m not sure what viva la vida is – I think it’s some kind of agave rut-gut because a gallon of the stuff cost less than two bucks. I asked her if she was drinking lots of water and she said yes, she was getting her water from the coca cola and fruit juice. I didn’t say anything but I think she probably gained 10 pounds on her day of fasting. On the other hand, maybe all the booze killed off her intestinal parasite.

So yesterday morning I went looking for my glasses. Many things get washed ashore; maybe my glasses would get caught up in a mess of seaweed. I ended up spending the whole day on the beach. I didn’t find my glasses but after that storm and those massive waves and that undertow, the beach was filled with amazing shells, shells you rarely find intact.

This first picture shows what happens to lenses when you go from an air-conditioned colder-than-hell trailer out into humid hotter-than-hell air. Can't see a damn thing.

I can't believe I found an intact sand-dollar.

These ice-cream-cone-looking shells can be found all the time but I had never come across so many so big.
It's unusual to find these shells with the pink innards all in one piece unless something is living in them, in which case I leave them alone.
One of my favorites is this fan-shaped shell, also hard to find big ones.
Oops, Mr. Texan just came by; time to go out into the sea. I'm leaving my glasses behind.