Gifts from the sea

This morning the tide gifted us with much bracken

and many jellyfish.

No swimming today. (They sting.)

How's that for a tentacle?

We've had our fill

of the wind and sea and sun

and sand

everywhere

(though never of beauty)

Back to the city

to finish installing the dog door for KJ

and make a few mods

to Alicia -

fix the plug

that I did not seat firmly

and dragged on the road

until a third of it was rubbed away,

add two more baggage doors -

so we don't have to lift the bed

to get at the food,

devise an awning

and rework the bed pad

again

Windy Afternoon

Later we nap, sunburnt, salty

then meet our chatty neighbors

their family and foreign exchange students

from Kyrgystan and Bangladesh

lend them a lighter for their stove

and try out KJ's stove with Mom's 

propane tank - works great!

ramen and fresh broccoli and baby corn for dinner.

towels and clothes still not dry

though they hung all afternoon 

in the constant wind

the wet salt wind

that plumps my skin and curls my hair

wildly

into tendrils

worthy of Medusa.

This wind, it almost drowns out

the generators on the other side of -

the tent? the Alite, the trailer - 

she needs a name, not a category

she is developing a personality.

The Jeep has a name - Norbert

our home needs a name too.

So we call her Alicia, with Spanish pronunciation, 

our treehouse, our fort, our shelter from the mist.

The Ocean!

Now I know

why horses pull

Poseidon's chariot

not dolphins

Dolphins are too smooth too sleek, slipping in and out of the water 

moving between earth and sky with ease and grace

These cresting waves carve out the fabric

of space

countless hooves sculpt

the water

slash the air

flatten the earth

to make way for their God

they crash over me

trampling past and future to 

sand and salt and spray

pounding eternity into one moment of

shock

and joy

I leap 

to meet the wave and hang

suspended 

between earth and air

entirely 

at the mercy

of the sea

entirely

at rest

Padre Island National Seashore

Late this morning

finally finished

the bed frame

the cut pads - 

jettisoning one

because the tape split

and I don't want to deal with it now.

Cans of food squirreled away

inventoried

waiting for KJ to come home

and tell us where the stove is.

Late now, the office

will be closed

by the time we get there.

We leave anyway

down to Corpus Christi

following the signs.

The hut is closed

the gate is open

we turn into the first campground we see

Bird Island Basin

pull up next to an RV bigger

than some apartments

I've had.

Late night run to the outhouse

the brilliant full moon

spills enough light

to read by.