At the beach

Last week,  I spent five days at Indian Rocks with my sisters.  We had very pleasant, although a bit windy, weather.  

And lots of time to sit on the edge of the water and let our toes wiggle into the disappearing sand that washes out with the waves.

My niece was also visiting with her family, so we had good company to hang with.  I actually had someone there who liked getting in the surf, and at the same time that the temperature was ideal for swimming! The only trouble was that my head is still wonky from Sugar plowing into me, and I didn’t want to jostle my brain by getting flipped around too much while wave jumping.

So I mostly just waded out into about waist deep water and made the big girl choice of not body surfing back in.  

Ugh.  Being practical and safe sucks.  

Indian Rocks is relaxing, which is what I needed.  My Dr. told me that I should be resting, so that is what I did.  Most of the time, I was sitting on the beach or the balcony wearing dark glasses and not reading.  

By mid week, I actually was feeling better.  I still avoided going out much, and stayed in when others went out to eat a few times.

Typically, I walk for hours when in Florida, but this time, it was pretty low key, with shorter strolls.  On one trip up the shore, I came across this dead bonnet head shark, about 2’ long. That was something I’ve never seen before.  He looked about the way I felt, after dealing with weeks of concussion discomfort, fog, and kind of an overall flatness.  I simply have not been myself.

Still, I  did get out to explore the area, it wasn’t all droopiness and exhaustion.  We went antiquing and exploring a couple times too.  The beach we stayed at had a serious lack of shells.  

I mean, sadly so.  I am always glad to find broken bits to use in my sea shell fairies, but dang, this place mostly had shapeless crumbs.

So my sisters took me to Passé Grille beach after I did some research on nearby beaches to hunt shells on.  You really can’t tell from this photo, but behind me are piles and piles of shells, like snowdrifts.  We went to the tip of the island, which was rocky and excellent for catching all the ones that washed up.

Another morning, we played tourist at the Don Cesar.  We have stayed there before, but it’s pretty pricey, so this time we were visitors, not guests.  And you know what?  That works out pretty well.  Honestly, the rooms there, while being elegant, are too small.  Renting a spacious condo, driving to and spending time walking through the Pink Palace, strolling their beach, then having some ice cream is a better way to go for us.

We were there before it got hot, then did some antiquing after. 


Shelling wasn’t great, but better than Indian Rocks, (which could be said about any beach because Indian Rocks is about as bad as it gets).  I found enough to make a heart for Ryan.

 It was the anniversary of his death.

I listened to his song and sprinkled a handful of ashes. I always take a little bag with me when I travel.  I know, pretty weird, but Ryan was always such a good travel buddy.  Funny, he hated, absolutely hated to travel, but when we made him go on family adventures he had the best attitude of anyone there and was helpful, thoughtful and fun to be with.  

So I like to find a quiet spot, sprinkle some ash and tell him how much I’d have enjoyed having him with me.

 

 

 

Comments

[Brenda]

My daughter and I drive to P Grille..haven’t eaten there..I go the back roads and love it.I live on border of Palm Harbor and Dunedin…the pier at St Pete is one of our favorite places esp In the fall…we like Dunedin shops.tarpon springs…honeymoon beach our fav behind our homes…daughter flies down every 5-8 weeks with her husband one of the girls or just her…son lives behind me…we love the Coast…I moved here in March of last year when ,y son bought the condo for me…Clearwater beach…Howard beach…so ,any places…take care and rest…my daughter had a concussion…brain injury around 2014 or 2015…still suffers post brain whatever…on meds…she does anything she wants but driving difficult now…prayers

[Ellen D. Bailey]

Hi Karla - Your beach trip looked wonderful, and I'm glad you took the doctor's advice and rested. My young adult granddaughter seems to get concussions easily - one when she was 15 in H.S., and a boy playfully hit her in the head with his cell phone, and then again on Christmas 2019 when she was standing at the table and the dogs were chasing after each other and got tangled in her legs and she fell, hitting her head on a nearby bench. She still suffers for side effects, even after this much time has passed. Headaches and vision problems, mostly. So, it's important to rest and heal your brain.