Too late

I tried to smile but it didn’t help much - I was in an extremely bad mood this year at the seaside. For several reasons, of course, but the main one was that the sea was so cold that I went swimming only twice in five days.

The northern wind kept blowing for whole three days, so the sea was absolutely too cold for me to go swimming then. Ž tried to be brave but most people stayed on the beach and only rare ones dipped their bodies into the cold salty water. I clenched my teeth on the fourth day… On the fourth night there was a thunderstorm and we woke up completely wet early in the morning. The weather forecast was too bad to dry up the tent and the rest of our things and stay there another day, so we packed everything, had an ice cream and drove home in the afternoon. I was happy when we were finally back at home.

There were also good sides of our short vacation at the seaside. Our morning walks to the nearest town were pleasant, coffee was delicious, fig trees were full of ripe figs, I managed to read one of those books that I usually don’t touch when I’m in a library, I ate lots of ice cream, enjoyed watching little creatures of the sea, gathered different sorts of seeds (that were all lost later in the thunderstorm) and some sage for winter teas.

The summer is actually over but I don’t complain. We talked about going to the seaside once more in September but if the weather is fine and my knee too, I will rather climb one of the mountains that still keep waiting for me. I keep fingers crossed…

Island Krk, camp Konobe (Croatia)

The seaside. Magical word for some people. This year we managed to stay at the seaside for five days which sums up our vacation by the sea to ten days in nine years. It was strange at the beginning to see so many naked people in a camp but we got used to this, exposing our bodies to full sun and secret glances from the residents of tents and trailers, too. I ate too much of ice cream every day but believe me, it was delicious.

The sea was cold, chilled by strong north wind from the mainland. It was good to be so far away as I forgot about everything that usually weighs heavily on my shoulders.

I also gathered some sage for winter tea and wondered at different kind of plant species which don’t grow in mainland. It is a different world out there.

 

It crossed my mind one day that I switched the mountain rocks with those by the sea. It was just the fragrance that was different.

Fishing

A day after Christmas Ž and I drove to the seaside. Ž wanted to catch some fish. No catch this time, so we visited one of our colleagues and took a stroll on a beach. It was a nice, peaceful day. Especially I liked the view - far away in a distance I could see my beloved mountains covered by snow. Walking along the sea I admired stones and sponges, some solitary flowers and fruit. We visited "a graveyard of shells", a tiny strip of a beach covered only by shells. A treasure, slowly being destroyed by too many feet. Also ours. I wonder how it was there hundred years ago.

I am very grateful for such peaceful days. I need them right now. My body says so. My soul says so, too. I also noticed that I became quieter, not talking so much. I don't feel I have to, especially if others are quiet too. And I like it this way.