I got the picture

Sue and I walked down to the beach this morning for a last gulp of sea air before the drive back to Portland.

There were great tangles of cord-like bullwhip kelp and thin lines of delicate bright green sea hair dotted with small round jellyfish like glass marbles. A few dead black and white sea birds (murres, she thought) lay in the sand as if sleeping on their backs, orange feet awry and dusted with sand. The morning air was heavy with mist.

Sue ran in the surf and saluted seals poking their heads above water. I lingered, savoring salt in the air, a tingle of mist in the face, the sharp fragrance and the sound, the endless roll and crash. I took pictures, as if a picture could bottle it up to drink later.

Here's what made coming home wonderful: one of my favorite blips of all time, printed on archival paper and matted elegantly, shipped to me carefully in strong cardboard. Gorgeous. Thank you, Mark. Anybody looking at that picture has to smile. It's going up on my bedroom wall so that every morning when I open my eyes, I'll see it and get a great hit of energy and delight. I'll smile to start the day.

What has everybody else been up to while I was soaking up enough ocean to last me through the winter?