Beach Time

With a great deal of respect for the Loggerhead Turtles, the town of Edisto Beach has decreed that there should be no outdoor lights from May until October, so as not to disorient the turtles who crawl up out of the ocean in order to lay their eggs in the sand. How cool is that?

Light pollution has long been an annoyance of mine, our body clocks so screwed up by electrical lights, sleep problems abounding, resulting in corresponding health issues, doesn't it make sense to go to bed when the sun sets and arise again with it? In summer I'm so dang tired from garden work that nightfall is a welcome respite, there at the beach even my children were wiped out from fishing and playing in the waves, easy to quiet 'em all down, the next mornings everyone popped up at first light.

The vegetation at Edisto pulled me in, the century plants, the palms and palmettos, it's farther south there in South Carolina than our latitude in northeast Georgia, and it shows in the tropical plants. I talked with a lady who'd potted up the century plants from her yard, I watched with fascination how they multiplied, as did the palms, I now have several of hers to take back home.

Chuy's first large fish had to be returned to the ocean, Mr. Jim reading aloud from the SC DNR publication the size and weight regulations, even pulling out a tape measure from his tackle box, but for my sons, who displayed a remarkable amount of patience, this was part of their process surprisingly resulting in very few complaints. I had to go out each day though, find my flip flops and get more groceries, more bait and fishing paraphernalia.

Sarah kept an eye on my younger children, supervising in order to allow me to take very long beach walks, never alone though as the older kids clamored to trail along, "Dang, you walk fast," every single one of them later complained, but I don't really have a lower gear. Once I'd had a coach at work time me, he'd challenged my 5 mph assertion, but I really do walk very fast, easily covering five miles in under an hour. I can't jog for squat though. My lungs don't hold out, I don't like the pounding.

Grandma came with us as well, her first beach vacation without Grandpa in 60 years. At 81, she'll put on her bathing suit and hit the ocean, but this year she's been quieter than usual, that's not her usual demeanor, she of mongo opinions.

There was no internet where we'd stayed, fortunately we could pick up sporadic wireless signals from other houses sometimes.