Yo Ho, Yo Ho, A Sea Bean Pirate's Life For Me!

 

We've had torrential downpours here for days, days and days, something like four or five days in a row. I've been spending more time in my studio painting and doing other arts like making glittery nice smelling soaps and today putting together a large macrame dream-catcher like thing. The majority of my quilts get made once it starts raining every afternoon. 

More rain was forecast, but by 11:30 am yesterday I started to see the tiniest patch of blue in the middle of the gray. Slowly that blue started to seep out and take over more of the sky until I started to push, prod and plead with Jim to get off his ass and go to the beach with me. We drove to Grande, my favorite place on the entire earth. Wet, partly clouded and cold, the wave pounded the shore in incredible foam displays. 

We weren't the only stir crazy ones coming out. The beach was crowded and more people kept piling into this place that is normally nearly deserted. People showed up with surf boards, and tourists walked down from the hotels. One guy Jim talked to had been here five days and it rained so intensely he'd just been staying in the room. So much for a vacation I guess!

Somehow we arrived not long after the peak of high tide! Perfect sea bean searching conditions. Jim did his usual beach walk and I went the other way to nose through all the sea wrack up the beach. Found more Nicker Nuts than I'd ever seen before, more than ten in the small area I searched. Usually I only get a couple maximum. Biggest Jamaican Walnut I'd ever seen along with a few smaller ones and assorted mystery beans. No sea hearts but that's okay. I got so many I filled up the pockets of my jeans, looked like I was smuggling potatoes or something lumpy.

This is literally the first time I've done a good hard search for sea beans since last October when I messed up my foot. I cannot tell you how good it was to walk and explore again! Just what I needed. 

Today it didn't rain like predicted, we had a mixture of sunshine and clouds. I baked bread for the first time in awhile. The monkeys came down to watch me knead the dough. Sort of feels unsettling when they get close to the windows. But towards afternoon they started to sound off in the trees, a mournful sound mixed with what sounded like a cross between a moan and a squeal. Many many monkeys. I have no idea what was happening, but whatever it was it was big to them. I wonder.

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