Yes I brought my laptop to Cocoa Beach. No, I didn’t bring it out ON the beach (good Goddess, no way) like the dude I saw yesterday. He seemed to think his little dome tent and door flap (not euphemisms) would save his laptop as he sat there all day doing whatever he was doing, wind blowing off the ocean right at his electronics.
So far this week I’ve watched two launches from Kennedy Space Center: one shuttle carrying a load of astronauts to the ISS and one rocket. It never stops being cool, watching spacecraft silently shoot across the sky like a comet before fading into the black of space, and THEN feeling the rumble of the takeoff ignition roll down the beach. The place my family stays in Cocoa Beach is far enough away there’s a noticeable delay, but we can see most of the launches pretty clearly from the beach. It was a good start.
Sunday was grocery day, and since it was overcast and cool I spent most of the day chilling on the balcony. Monday I had a beach chair and umbrella, and there’s nothing quite as relaxing to me as spending time alternating between “swimming” in the ocean and lying on the beach, whether it’s to soak up sun, nap, or read. I read the last in the Founding of Valdemar series, Valdemar, by Mercedes Lackey on Sunday and Monday.
Monday night I drove back to Orlando to pick up my solo-vacation crasher, who stayed for three wonderful days of bff time hanging on the beach and eating good food and hot tubbing after dinner. The overall agenda was the same, I just had excellent company for a few days. The first night we hot tubbed there was a group of 20-something girls from Michigan who were having a girls’ trip while their boyfriends were on a boys’ trip in Fort Lauderdale. They were lovely young women, full of kindness and fun energy and anticipation for the future that I envy. Apparently one was on a Netflix movie, which is super cool although I heard that secondhand so I don’t know the title. They were interesting and chatty and the whole evening fulfilled any social needs I had for the week, no clubbing required. Mwahahahaha.
Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday were essentially the same: beach, pool (there’s a tiki bar that serves lunch), beach, shower, find somewhere to eat, hang out until one or the other hits the daily limit of sun/sand/wind and falls asleep well before 10pm. On vacation I have no fucks about wake up, sleeping, or meal times. Ignoring time (other than my beach chair being available from 9-5) gives the whole week that surreal fuzzy quality unique to relaxing (vs adventuring) vacations.
At an unholy hour before what I would call morning, she left for the airport and is now likely almost home to her family. I don’t leave until tomorrow night, so after I post this I’m off to enjoy my last full beach day. Wednesday we saw a ghost crab poke his little clear eye stalks out of a hole in the sand at the end of the day. Yesterday we watched a pod of dolphins cruising not too far from shore, and cruise ships passing on their way to/from Port Canaveral, and seagulls competing with 3-5 year old girls for the highest scream pitch. Weirdly, that was funny and cute, not annoying. Today is likely to be either swamped (because Friday is a transition day) or dead (because it’s supposed to be overcast all day).
Yesterday I finished my second Mercedes Lackey book, a short story collection called Boundaries. Now I’m on to Anne Bishop’s new short story collection, The Lady in Glass. I adore her retellings of traditional fairy tales (although “The Match Girl” is a seriously dark read) right along with her four series’ universes (The Black Jewels, Tir Alainn, Ephemera, and The Others). I expect I’ll finish that today, which will be my last paper book from the suitcase. Luckily I have a kindle, too.
I’m in the waiting period between submission and review on the witch book to find out if I have any more rewrites or if it’s accepted into the publication schedule. At that point, I’m doing something to celebrate (it doesn’t feel quite real yet…not until I have official acceptance). In the meantime, I’ve been considering some rewrites on Banshee and noodling on the structure of the last few chapters I need to finish Rachel and Ben’s story. Then I do believe it’ll be time to explore Duncan and Aoife’s…complicated…history.
But first, I can see my chair is now set up on the beach and the waves are calling. Time to squeeze every drop of salty ocean breeze napping goodness (and finish my Anne Bishop book) before I head back to the woods in MN tomorrow night. It’s time: I discovered on this first non-business-solo trip since I went to Ireland alone in 2001 that a week is a few days too many to be away from SK and the fam. Quiet freedom turns into missing home fast (even when it IS nice to watch tv without Minerva barking her brains out at any animal on the screen).
No Pithy Phrase 