"So, like a forgotten fire, a childhood can always flare up again within us." -Gaston Bachelard

You know what i like about the ocean (other than it's big and wet and it never, ever stops moving, of course)? It makes a child of me again - the sand beneath my bare feet, its salty breath, and its voice that goes on and on and on - all makes me grin.  

Each year, our family gets together for a sort of reunion and, each year, it is held at beautiful Moclips on the Washington coast. The place we stay is a delightful little hotel/condo setup right on the beach - I walk out of our room, across the grass, over a couple of small dunes and there's the ocean. But the best part about this place is the Moclips River flows, after having traveled from the snows of the Olympic Mountains, into the Pacific Ocean just about 100 yards to the north. Now i can leave our room and stroll to the river and turn left and stroll to the ocean and turn left and stroll along the surf... pure delight.

i went out with the kite-cam just to see if i could take a few shots - the light was OK - overcast; no long shadows, no wonderful clouds, but there was going to be a fairly high tide this weekend and i wanted to wade thru the salt water and get my ankles wet. There is something about being in the shallows at the ocean that i find exhilarating - like i'm at the beginning of some big and joyful adventure and the water pulls at me and begs me to come join in and as the water rushes back out to sea, the sand undermines beneath my feet and leaves me unbalanced - earth and water conspiring to topple me and wash me away.  

I had the kite and camera up, my shoes off, my pants rolled to just above my knees (right on the cutting edge of fashion, baby), and i set out into the waves. My thought was that i would go no deeper than my shins and fly the camera in a very calm fashion - a few moments later, as the next wave washed over my thighs, threatening points north, I was thinking "shit, i better start taking my phone and keys out of my pocket so they don't get doused".  And so it goes with me at the beach - a little way out is never enough, jumping little waves always leads to bigger ones, and i always bring two pairs of pants.  

cheers, my friends - ya wanna go to the beach?

Image notes:

I spent about three hours in the surf and at the end i was thoroughly wet and cold, the wind had come up and my kite (which was tied around my waist) was dragging me around now, and as the light left, a rain squall waited just off-shore. But i was still grinning - didn't know if my camera had captured anything worthwhile but just the act of flying it, imagining what it saw, and having an ocean wash over my legs was enough for that afternoon.  

This man and his dog were also enjoying the shallows - although, i suspect the dog was getting the lion-share of the joy as he frolicked in the water - I will also say that Master Bow-Wow seemed to give me a questioning look as he raced past the kite-flying-goof-ball-in-water-to-his-knees a couple of times - ("Yeah, who you lookin' at? And hey! I'm not the one runnin' around panting with his tongue hanging out and lapping up seawater!"........ err..... pretty sure that wasn't me....). The motionless moment shown here was very brief and all other shots of him showed only a doggie-blur.   

No heavy manipulation on this - i added some color (most from watercolor washes) and played with contrast a bit.  - and i think i got all the sand from between my toes....   :))