This is my current stance, looking east wishing to see the ocean across which I'll soon fly.......................home.
These images were taken in the Autumn of 2007 on a lovely day in Lyme Regis, Dorset, just along the coast from my home in Devon.
If you have grown up by the water it's hard to spend months where it's far from your daily view. In the United Kingdom nowhere is really far from the sea. Living on a small island means you are either on the coast or just a short distance from it. The sound of the waves and the smell of the salt air never leave you and you crave them when far away.
Life on the coast is different, often revolving around the turning of the tides and kindness of the weather. Livings are made from the sea. They say riding the waves and casting nets is in the blood, passed down from father to son.
A fresh crab sandwich is already making my mouth water. Leaning on the old rail around the harbour, watching small fishing boats unload the daily catch costs nothing, makes one thankful.
Walking a pebbled shore, the beach huts still boarded up before the season opens, Spring and Autumn often the loveliest times of year on the coast.
Home can mean an awful lot and one often appreciates it more as the years go by. It may have been a simple life and a silent place compared to now but, oh, how wonderful it was!Do you have a special memory of your childhood home? Did you grow up along a coastline? Are you far from the ocean now.......and missing it?
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I didn't ever live very near the ocean, the closest was when I lived in Tripoli, Africa, the Med. Sea was there.
ReplyDeleteI grew up in the town I live in now after many years of living all over the place.
I envy you going home to England. As Heidi and I always say, "Oh to be in England". It is just the greatest place.
Nancy
I completely understand your longing for the sea! I grew up in a small beach town in Southern California, back in the days when anyone could afford to live there. Walks on the beach in the early morning or when the sun goes down....the salt air and the brisk breeze, the rolling waves that slide up the beach in sheets of water marbled with foam, the sound of the gulls...yes, it never leaves us. The only thing I did not experience were the pebbled beaches that you have there; ours are always sand.
ReplyDeleteI'm so looking forward to your future posts from Devon!
Beautiful photos, wish I was there
ReplyDeleteMary,
ReplyDeleteYour post put a lump in my throat~you sound so homesick. But I am glad you will be going back soon for a visit.
As you may know, I am a Midwestern girl. I grew up in the middle of the prairies and wheat fields. Living in the city now, I do sometimes miss the big golden fields and little bumpy roads that ran through them taking us to small towns to buy our food and what not. In the summer I made a few dollars a week picking corn. We had a little lake that we walked to for swimming or fishing. I wasn't a tomboy but I can fish with the best of them! ;-)
We have our second home on a big lake in Michigan. Up there I can satisfy my yearning for what I left behind. You CAN go home again!
xoxo
Jane
I never lived on the ocean but love it. Beautiful photos, Mary!
ReplyDeleteOh Mary... tell about the ocean line... I so miss being close to the sea! I hope you, Bob and Jsmin had a wonderful weekend! My sis will be here this Friday so hopefully you'll get to meet her next week before you leave. Much love, Vanessa
ReplyDeleteDear Mary, you are right, I am exhausted. My cousin and her hubby arrived while we were in Fl. I spent the day visiting and going to therapy. sigh. I hope I can catch up on visiting my blogging friends.
ReplyDeleteI love your post today. I grew up after leaving our farm in MI., in Miami, Florida. I love the ocean and boating too. However, the change of seasons is my true love and my roots. We are getting late snow right now. It is very wet and won't last long. I was just loving the spring weather.
I know you are longing to visit your homeland and I truly understand. It is not as far as across the pond, but a trip to Michigan always is a thrill to me. I love to visit the farm house with so many family memories. One day I will get the nerve to ask to come in and see the inside again.
Mary, thank you for your very kind words about Beth. There is some peace knowing she is with Our Lord and there is no more suffering. There is closure here.
Hugs and love to you today.
Jeanne
I didn't grow up by the ocean but that's where I would like to live. Something about it just calls to me. Maybe someday...
ReplyDeleteYes, far from the ocean.
ReplyDeleteYes, missing it.
Cornwall is so lovely in Spring and we arent there!
Mary,
ReplyDeleteYour photos make me long for the coast. We used to live about 45 minutes drive to the Pacific Coast, now it's about 3-1/2 hours! I miss it...
First, let me share that of all the wonderful places I have toured in the UK, Devon and Cornwall remain my favorite!!! I can only imagine how you long to get back for a wonderful visit. I grew up landlocked in the midwest but have lived in MD, MN, GA, FL, IL, MO and now OR. I also love the smell and feel of the ocean ... living in FL afforded the opportunity to drive about 45 minutes to the Atlantic ~ and I did this as often as possible. I loved how the ocean changed with each of the seasons them. Now I can enjoy the Pacific ... though it's over a three hour drive to reach it. But well worth the effort.
ReplyDeleteThank you for sharing your beautiful photos! Our honeymoon was spent in Savannah, Ga and there's nothing like the smell of the ocean. Hope you'll come visit my new blog and give-away.
ReplyDeleteWelcome back to my neck of the woods!
ReplyDelete