Monday Morning Meandering

Gracie and I took a nice long walk this morning. We started out through Bay Oaks Rec Center, past the Community Pool, Beach Elementary School, the Library and Matanzas Pass Preserve. We strolled past Red Coconut RV Resort and crossed Estero onto the Beach. I am trying to teach Gracie to heel. She is the most willful animal I have ever known. When we get on the sand, she is nearly uncontrollable; the muscles in my left arm and hand are certainly getting a work out. The gulf is kicked up pretty good this morning and the steady onshore winds are heavy with salt spray. Many folks out walking the beach this morning. I became interested looking at all the different shoes: one man had on water socks over his cotton socks (very odd indead). One woman was wearing keds with the back broken down under her heel. Lots of sneakers with Nike seeming the most popular. Surprisingly few sandals and even fewer bare feet. I was wearing my Rockport sandals that I bought last year for my NW trip. I had to mend them yesterday - Gracie chewed a part of the leather strap sometime when I wasn't looking. (she's quick).

There were a few sunbathers this morning, even though the air is a cool 71 degrees. I saw a woman sitting and reading a book wearing sweat pants and jacket with a blanket over her shoulders. A few yards further down the beach, two women were stretched out in lounge chairs in scant swim suits. It's not hard to guess who's a tourist and who's a local.

I was attracted to the sight of sitting in a beach chair reading a book with the salt spray on my face and the sound of the gulf rushing ashore. I entertained the thought of doing just that as I walked back home. As I sit here typing this, I'm painfully aware of the dishes I need to wash (from my homemade chicken soup last night). I have laundry to do and I have to ready the front room for company next week. When I whine that there's not enough time, I am reminded of a saying that was on my desk when I worked for the newspaper: We have all the time we are ever going to have. Another favorite of mine was an expression of my father's: If you have time to do it over, you have time to do it right the first time. My mother's favorite expression was: Procrastination is the thief of time. And another I gleaned from some new age seminar I listened to: Space and Time are not conditions in which we live, they are modes in which we think.

It's about time, it's about space, it's about people in the funniest place.