Everything's Beachy

On the way to Shelter Cove is a wonderful little general store, called, like the best ones are, after the area, the Shelter Cove General Store. There are groceries and wine and beer and hardware and gifts and fishing stuff, along with more I haven't thought of yet, but if I looked I bet it's there. We were headed to the beach and I forgot to change out of my ratty and very old sandals I keep here. With my first step, one of them decided to give up its sole. Any flip flops, I asked? Of course there were. But it's almost 2020, these weren't your grandma's rubber flip flops, which is how I now own a pair of FloJo leather flip flops. They would need baptizing in the ocean. They got that.

The weather looked fine.
From the mid-90's leaving the house, it dropped to the high 60's at the beach.
It felt good!

We parked and the smiling tractor guy came by saying "Just a head's up, it's going to get tight here, just want you to know." Translation, I might hit your vehicle with this tractor, but I gave you fair warning. Another guy with his truck on the concrete slab right by the water on the other side was leaving, perfect timing. Again.

It definitely would have been tight.

Thoughts of prancing into the water had left me as the temperature dropped but it still felt good on the feet. 

But you know how the ocean is...first it's your toes and then you're in to your knees. That was enough for me. For awhile.

Black sand is weird. But fun. In a way.

O was into jumping wavelets.
The beach was pretty quiet but vehicles started coming down
as we got ready to head out.

I'm always fascinated by how they get their boats out.

There were the remnants of snow crabs all over the beach. One set of claws came up on the tide as Iko and I stood in shallow water, looking very, very much like a skeleton hand waving hello. We said hello. We said good-bye. All I could think of was 'I wonder if the meat is still any good?'.

Have a wondering Wednesday. Do something worthful.

Mystical Monday

Butterfly sipping

Its beauty and toil one

Watching it, a gift

Camp Winnarainbow and Wavy Gravy Fun Day

The first time (of many times, from Florida to Georgia to Colorado) I saw Wavy Gravy was at one of the pop festivals in Florida that used to happen a few times a year. Big name bands, hundreds of people, and in-between acts, Wavy Gravy, encouraging the crowds to stay hydrated, take advantage of the Hog Farm's free food and know where the medical tent was, in between making us laugh with the clownishness that we loved and would come to love more over the years. I was 14 or 15. Some things stick, even if in not quite precise detail.

A lot of kids juggling as Wavy looks on

That was a long time ago. And over those years, Wavy Gravy and his wife and extended family have done many really good things (you can read about them in this 2011 interview here - old interview but it's only gotten better). 

Yesterday was what is called the Big Show for Camp Winnarainbow; O's brother would be there, his camp stay over (you can read all about Camp Winnarainbow here. The Big Show really is big, kids on unicycles and stilts, kids using silks, kids singing and dancing and juggling, kids being really funny in skits. All of this was from their experiences in camp and all of us adults wished often we could go to camp too. Yes, there is an adult camp! Elijah knew he could get me to go by promising Wavy Gravy would be there. He knows me well.

Kids on the silks.
They acted out activist stories and were
brilliant.

The teepees were sewn up by a woman named Georgie.
When the camp season ends, each one is taken down, though the frames remain.
These kids were waiting for their turn in the Big Show. 

Cotter making magic while family looks on

Watching the stilt dancers

This was the actual beginning, Wavy awaiting the campers as they came in
on stilts and feet on the ground, about 150 of them.
It was pretty dramatic. I thought I was videoing it but...oops!

The Hog Farm has always stuck in my mind as safe people, doing good things while the rest of us were being...whatever we were being in the last of the 60's and early 70's. But it was and is way bigger than I imagined. My son has worked there, and O's dad and girlfriend work the huge gardens there, produce being sold to local markets, a win win for everyone. I should have gotten photos of the gardens and apple orchard but I was full of too many questions to remember to do that. 

Waiting in line for lunch

Another view of the teepees.
They are huge!

Super nice bathrooms, I was surprised.
This sign made me laugh, exactly the opposite of home. 

Some random shots while walking around

There is dress up tent with hundreds of costumes and accoutrements. Iko tried on a hat.

O and her brother checking it out

 Each teepee has its own name and the names of the campers using it. I loved the variety of names.

This is all the campers heading back out. I kept thinking of home and our kids. They've had 40 some years of doing this to perfect the organization, but it seems like something we could have, albeit on a smaller scale. All the money that comes in from selling food and various items goes to a scholarship fund for kids who don't have the finances to pay for camp. It's just...good.

As we walked through the only-us-at-that-moment check-your-kid-out of-camp line, there was Wavy Gravy, back in the shade, sitting in his golf cart. He sang 'Happy Trails' to us as we left. I was in my 'don't bug him' mode, but wanted to have said something, more than just thanks. Or maybe not, maybe letting the reality and the memories be enough, was enough. 

Have a say and live peace and love Sunday! Do something splendid!