Oh, what a beautiful mooorning…

One of the patients I cared for this week (in my “day job” as a nurse) sings that song all the time. He was singing it the other day while watching the 70 km/hr wind force the downpour into horizontal sheets of rain (in the afternoon, not the morning). Nice outlook, I guess. Anyway, brings me to this morning. Cold, drizzly, a bit of fog. But, yeah, it felt like a beautiful morning. How does cold + drizzle = beautiful? Like this:

1. sleep in ’til 8:00 — oh, the luxury!
2. draft query letter for completed MG novel while still wearing cozy jammies
3. go for a run (not in cozy jammies) and just by coincidence – no really, I didn’t plan it – end up at the beach and be forced to pause and suck in large quantities of delicious sea air before running the last kilometer or two of my run… seriously, it was beyond my control
4. settle the youngest two kids in front of the TV (Spy Kids DVD) with a large bowl of popcorn so I can have some writing time — yes, I’m that good of a parent
5. work on synopsis of above-mentioned MG novel while consuming a vanilla yogurt / soy protein / blackberry smoothie. Oh, and blog about it, hee

Nice, eh?

Hope you’re all having a beautiful Saturday, too.

Blog tweaks, and beach-going as an extreme sport

Okay, it took far longer than it should’ve, but I now have a new blog banner (you like?) and an RSS button for anyone who’d like to subscribe. Whew! Now I guess I should get some real work done, such as, ahem, revisions. Oh, and laundry. But I’ve just started a terrific book, Sherman Alexie’s The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian, so I’ll probably just put my feet up and read. It’s too late to start work on something now, isn’t it?

While I was messing with that little starfish up there, I realized I haven’t been to the beach in a couple weeks. Sure, the sidewalks are slicker than the hockey rink after a fresh zamboni run, meaning that venturing out of the house to walk a couple blocks to the beach ranks right up there with BASE jumping and shark diving in terms of risk to life and limb, but still…. I’m in ocean withdrawal. Must get some beach time this weekend. Beach time makes me happy.

A Saturday plan just dropped into my brain: sleep in, bake muffins, drink tea and eat said muffins whilst (who says “whilst”?) reading Sherman Alexie’s book, then painstakingly inch my way down to the beach — it’s worth the risk — then, assuming I’ve made it home with life and all limbs intact, get to those revisions. And maybe the laundry. Maybe.

Ocean eats car

We had quite the storm earlier this week. The ocean tossed driftwood up onto the highway, trees were toppled, power lines were down, and my neighbour’s canoe was in my back yard (along with large chunks of my fence). My kids and I spent an hour or so down at the beach storm-watching — the worst of the storm had passed, but the waves were still pounding the shore. It was excellent!

Not everyone enjoyed the storm so much, however…. Here’s a lesson for coastal peeps everywhere: don’t park on the shore-side of the highway when a storm’s brewing.

1. Ocean grabs car.

2. Ocean eats car.

3. Ocean swallows car.

4. Ocean spits out car.

5. Ocean leaves its calling card on the highway.

The only good news for the car owner? She had replacement insurance which would expire 10 days later. Seriously. I’m gonna bet she parks her brand new SUV far, far away from the big hungry ocean.

Pictures from www.westcoaster.ca.