I sat on the shore, with the waves lapping against my feet, as the foam tickled my calves. The baby sat next to me digging in the sand, and intermittently throwing sand in my ear. The sun was beaming down, warm on my skin. The breeze tousling my hair.
I turned around, and could see Warwick sitting in his lounger, waving his hands frantically.
Huh. Wonder what he’s saying? Wish? Ish. Now he’s waving his hands in and out. Lambada. He wants to go dancing? Now he’s pointing his finger towards the ocean. Towards my kids. Huh. Never mind.
I tilt my head back, stretch my legs out, and let the sun continue to warm my skin.
“Mommy! Mommy!” Shelbi runs up breathless, splashing water up my noise.
“While I was boogie boarding, something hit me on my back and then in the back of my head!”
Oooooooooh. Hmph. “What was it?” I inquired, knowing full well what it was, as I’m now putting the pieces together. But I mustn’t let on. Maybe it was that dolphin I saw earlier. Or that crazy wild eyed fish that popped out of the water. Yeah, not gonna even share that news.
“Well. That is crazy. Maybe it was some seaweed or something.”
“Yeah right, mommy. Seaweed doesn’t jump out of the water.”
“Well then, I don’t know. Go ask your father.”
And so she does, and he actually tells her he saw the whole thing. And it was a BIG fish that jumped out of the water, and hit her on her back. So now I’m thinking we can just go home, because there is no way in the world she is going back out there. We chuckled about it a bit, and she sat with me on the shore. And then, all of the sudden, she grabbed her boogie board and went back out for a swim.
– – – – x – – – – – – – –
Strange.
Very strange. I think I’m just going to call this THE SUMMER OF STRANGE.
Shelbi gets accosted by a man eating wild eyed dolphin/guppy and she goes back in the water despite this news.
Bella, who is paralyzingly frightened of most animals, finds and catches numerous crabs that she wants to bring home and KEEP.
Phoebe, debilitated by seaweed, is thrust into an apparent world wind of seaweed that has washed up on the shore. Despite it nauseatingly horrible feel upon her feet she weathers her fears, and continues to go back and forth in it without any adult supervision (meaning we didn’t carry her).
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u_AQhA-oWFI
And Soledad. Sweet, Sweet Soledad. Grabs a worm, hooks it on her line, casts that bad boy out, and catches a catfish. With no help from anyone. Which is infinitesimally amazing considering she is only four years of age and hates wiggly wet things.
This is going to be one great summer.
– – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – –
Summertime is all about taking it slow. Time to enjoy your surroundings, spend some time in solitude, really getting to know your inner self.
Maybe the person you thought you were, you aren’t.
Maybe you’re something greater than even you imagined.
Maybe when you take it slow, you’ll find out your amazing beyond measure.
I know it’s hard to take it slow, but you can start by making these tomatoes.
Good, it’s true just as they are. Fantastic even.
But when cooked slowly, a tantalizingly rich sweetness emerges.
And quite frankly they become stellar. Outstanding. SUPREME.
Can you bear the pleasure?
Slow Roasted Tomatoes
Now, there a million ways to make these. All require minimal effort, and a fair amount of time. But they are totally worth it. If you don’t want to do the overnight method, you can set your oven to 225 F and cook the tomatoes for 3 hours, or until the tomatoes are shriveled, dry with very little juice left inside.
Ingredients:
Small Tomatoes (Cherry, Grape, or Roma)
Kosher Salt
Olive Oil
Garlic
Rosemary (Thyme would work well, also)
Directions:
1. Heat oven to 450 F.
2. Cut tomatoes in half, and place on a lined baking sheet. Drizzle with olive oil. Sprinkle with salt and rosemary.
3. Place the tomatoes inside the hot oven, shut the oven door, and TURN THE OVEN OFF.
4. Leave tomatoes in the oven for 6-8 hours or overnight.
5. Remove, stuff your face, and float on a cloud of love.
* If saving for later, allow the tomatoes to cool, and place in a jar with a little additional olive oil drizzled on top. Store in the refrigerator for use in salads, on toast, or however you like!
