I was recently thinking about the ocean. Quite a random thing to think about (and write about), but seeing as I live beside the ocean and have done so for my entire life, it really is taken for granted sometimes.

Let me just start by saying I love the ocean. I love it. One of my favorite things to do is take a walk down to the beach. One of my favorite smells is salty sea air. The reasons to love the ocean are really quite obvious. There has been a plethora of things said about it, but to sum it all up, it’s entertaining. It’s crazy. I love to just watch it sometimes.

One of my favorite times to go to the beach is late at night in the Fall and Winter. It’s dark and mysterious, windy and cold. On sunny summer days it sparkles and glistens and then on wintery days the wind blows and the sun hides behind the clouds, and the ocean is wild. I was driving down by the pier today and the waves were huge, crashing everywhere, and the water was a dark grey black colour. And this sounds crazy, but I was so tempted to just run and jump into the freezing water! (Yes, I have done a polar bear swim more than a couple times. Yes, I’m crazy).

From the time I was eight months old, until I was eight years old, my family lived on Saltspring Island, off the coast of B.C. Our house was just up the hill from the beach; five minutes away. My mom and dad would take me swimming in the ocean as soon as the water started to warm up a bit in March or April each year (though, it was still freezing).

When my family moved to the mainland, we lived in a coastal town, just a few minutes from the ferry. We could hear the ferry horns from our house and walk down to the beach anytime.

When we moved again, once again we moved to a small seaside town with the beach five minutes away.

Never have I been without the ocean. But, the other day I remembered hearing about a guy my sister went to school with, who came out to the coast to go to school. He had never seen the ocean in his entire life. He had lived his entire 20-odd years without experiencing the ocean! I thought that was just crazy and also sad.

On sunny summer days, the ocean shines with the reflected sun. During the winter, the waves often lash about, gloomy and angry, but beautiful. No matter the state it’s in, it will grab at your heart and stir it. I love the ocean. And I hope to never be without it.

 nicole

p.s. All this talk of salt water has me lusting over this gorgeous iPhone case!

Scribbling and drawing with Jade.

Properly sunscreened up, I trekked to the garden this morning to continue the never ending task of late-May planting.  I put the second round of beans in the ground (fingers crossed) and planted my two cucumber starts, and then hedged my bets by making four more mounds with seeds.  I noticed some birds possibly picking over the rows of carrot and beet seeds from yesterday, so I moved the bird netting over to protect those and the new cucumbers.

A well-guarded barren spot.

Beans. v2.0.

The tomatoes still seem quite happy, but I am a bit hesitant to plant more tomorrow since it looks like there is only 2-3 more days of sunshine before we are plunged into some early June showers.  I think the rest will go in next weekend if it is dry enough.  However, Chris might want me to risk putting them in sooner – before they develop mind of their own and start rearranging the balcony furniture for us.  This might happen soon – they are already giving me the evil eye when I rearrange them so I can have morning coffee in the sun.

I think I have a problem.

And finally – while down at the garden this afternoon I kept hearing some very strange noises.  The weather-vein on the neighbours greenhouse – the usual source of disconnected and unidentifiable noises – was sitting still.  Just as I was cooling down with a drink from my water bottle, before packing up to go, a roe deer ran right by my garden!  And then another, a split-second later.  I grabbed my camera just in time to see the second one dart back.  The fence was all worth it – those guys can munch down a dozen beans as a light afternoon snack.

Oh, deer.