Water, Water, Everywhere

Yesterday, I saw this tweet:

"Ironing is so much more pleasant with an ocean view." This was from Brendan Farrington, AP writer based in Florida.

The funny thing is that when I saw this tweet, I thought to myself, "isn't everything?"
What's funny about that is that I hate the water. Water scares me. Not dish water or bath water or even rain, but big vast pools of water. Like the ocean.

And lakes.

And ponds.

And, well, you get the idea.

Although funny enough, I really like Falls.

Then, I started thinking about all of the times that water actually calms me and makes me feel good, and I realized that maybe I don't hate water as much as I thought I did.

San Clemente, CA
This was sent to my phone from
my friend when he was on vacation.
It is the first time I remember
the ocean calming me.

Hudson River,
Riverfront Park,
Albany, NY

USS Slater,
Albany, NY
as seen from the AquaDucks Tour

Cohoes Falls,
Cohoes, NY
I come here on a monthly basis;
well, I try to.

Menai Strait sunset,
Caernarfon,
Wales

Afon Hwch,
Llanberis,
Wales



River?
near the base of the mound at
Dolwyddelan Castle,
Wales



Inigo Jones designed bridge,
Llanrwst,
Wales

River adjacent to the
Church of St. Grwst,
Llanrwst,
Wales

The only two I couldn't find was a drive around Saratoga Lake in Saratoga Springs, NY last Mother's Day weekend (2010) and Niagara Falls, Ontario, Canada (2002). I will try to add them when I find those because the Saratoga one was a surprise in that it was a spur of the moment drive and great fun because it was something different, and the Niagara Falls trip was right before my oldest son went to kindergarten, and despite the power and the force of the Falls, they are spectacular and bring back such phenomenal memories of my childhood visiting there.

I guess water isn't as bad as I thought it was.

Essay/Memoir Contest with The Writer Magazine

As you can see, this blog is slow going. That's because I'm not quite sure what I want to do with it.

I thought I would share with you, dear reader, my newest project, an essay/memoir contest with The Writer Magazine. I'll link at the bottom, but first, let me sing the praises of The Writer Magazine. It is the only subscription I get. I renew it every year. I used to buy all the writing magazines and then subscribed to two, but this is the only one I've stuck with. They are perfect for any level of writer who wants to do more and write more.

http://www.writermag.com/2011essaycontest

I've been toying of the idea of writing about my very special trip to Wales. I've written about bits of the trip in other venues and kept a journal for as much as I could while I was there. Some memories are so vivid still.  In fact, if you stick around, you will be subjected to treated with tales of my dream vacation almost constantly at times.
I decided that this contest was a good idea for practice and for experience and when I saw this contest, I saw it as an opportunity to use one of my dearest memories, so one day in the shower, the beginning of the book came to me and on another day in the shower, the beginnings of this essay came to me. Then I saw the ad on my Facebook for this contest.

And so, here we are.

If you also join in, good luck.