Some highlights and lowlights from the past two weeks!
I've worked less! I had some uterus issues and pain, but no babies! There are less than 69 days of camp left (nice)! I found a new water collection system so I can stop buying plastic! I saw the Barbie movie! My newish phone has started turning off randomly and inconveniently! I successfully got into the ocean every single day in July and plan to continue this with Liv!
Now, to expound upon some of these and give some deeeeeets!
I've been trying to eat from the earth more lately (not buying plastics or overly processed foods). A coworker has located a local spring nearby that has cold, fresh natural water. Background - I was sick last week (and still am). Terrible horrible pain I've never felt before and I was stuck in bed for the better part of the week. This friend, also named Sarah, brought me pain meds and fresh spring water from a natural spring about fifteen minutes from our houses. It tasted delicious and was cold from the spring already. There's a map online that shows where more of these springs are located, and I'm going to do my best to utilize these moving forward. It will 100% save on the cost of water instead of paying to get processed water from stores and whatnot. I will be filling a jug or two before I leave Maine. Now to just speed up my gardening processes! I have seeds and a way to transport my garden as I move around, it's merely the time the growing process takes that makes Not buying a shred of anything whilst still eating daily a bit difficult. In due time, though!
Last week, Liv and I went exploring since we miraculously had the same day off on a Saturday. And since I'm not a gatekeeper *(and this is a google-able location slash less than local secret, more just a local spot), I Must tell you about this lowtide beach! Liv and I hiked a mile through a faerie kingdom and lovely mossy swamp to somehow crest a fucking mountain and then pop down to a beach that only appears during low tide. It was wild, so many beautiful stops along the way and mushrooms to oogle and ogle.
Me, trying to find a cute little spot to pee in the faerie kingdom.
Crest of said mountain, see the ocean and islands below?
Once at the beach, we set up a little spot for a drink and some snacks, and read while we waited for our sunscreen to soak in. Once it did, we ran straight into the water at full speed! It was so so cold! (Apparently the science behind why this spot is colder than the spot we go to daily is that it is closer to being Open Ocean. Our usual spot, Newbury Neck, is in an inlet of ocean water but isn't 'open ocean'. It's kept warm and protected by two shores. The more you know.) When I say so so cold, I mean FRIGID as fuck. Ice ice baby. But still very cool, as in awesome. We watched as the birds (Terns) dove from high up in the sky WOOOOSH down into the waves to retrieve fish and crabs. One literally dropped a crab from the sky over us into the water. We didn't notice until we looked over and saw the crab fighting for it's life on the surface of the water, slowly drifting back down to the sand. The hour hike in and out wasn't bad at all - the way back felt like twenty minutes compared to the way in. We will be going back once we get a day off together again, but we aren't sharing it with others at camp because we want to go alone most days. Not gatekeeping if asked about it, just not openly giving it out to people we know!
On the mountain top heading down to the beach, me and Liv
Later that day, we went to a nice little restaurant that was playing live music (think old timey bar music, slow and sultry). It was called Verona and Wine by Design. They had some good charcuterie boards, even gluten free options for Liv, and excellent wine and sparkling margaritas. At this point, I was going on 24 hours of not sleeping and I was fading quite fast. Liv kept having to shake me to wake me up more because we were still hoping to catch a 9pm showing of the new Barbie movie that night. We drove to Bangor, got popcorn and a soda to stay awake with, and wouldn't you know? I stay awake through the entire movie but LIV FALLS ASLEEP. Go figure! The Barbie movie was everything I wanted it to be and more, I just enjoyed it so much. We drove home after and I slept for over 18 hours, but it was very much needed.
I tried making it back to Ohio this past week, but did not make it past Connecticut. I was in too much pain after having a uterus issue and had to stop every hour or so to throw up, poop, and cry. I will not go into more detail than that because it was traumatic and we're here to have fun, right? Fun and laughter and no pain or gory details! Yay! I was sad because I miss Tara and we planned to have a detox to rid our brains and hearts of very shitty situations and happenings recently and it was much needed. But! I will visit soon enough - there are less than 70 days of camp left and Ohio is my first stop in October.
Next weekend, I will be seeing the Chicks (formally the Dixie Chicks) live in concert, then the Lumineers, and finally in September - NOAH FREAKING KAHAN, so I am living for the next few weeks to fly by. Once I get to Noah Kahan, it's basically time to head west again and I am just DYING for my little spot atop a sandy plateau in Arizona and a nice fire. I am not a concert person, how did I get here?
Oh! Oh! OH! July's Dip a Day goal was successfully completed! Every single day in July, rain or shine, I went into the ocean. All 31 days, I swam, I kayaked, I boated, and my body went into a body of water each and every single day.
The benefits:
1) I was a calmer person overall. I'm usually very, very high strung when faced with a new job and living situations daily, so this helped me relax and have something to look forward to when I was stressing out or not looking forward to a conversation or shift at camp that day.
2) I also ate every day. This is a big issue for me, forgetting to eat for days at a time. You'd think I'd lose weight - no. I just binge eat on a random day to make up for it and end up making myself sick trying to recoup all the lost days without food. I would bring a breakfast sandwich to the beach and eat it while I read or journaled before taking a dip.
3) I did, however, drink more - what's a day at the beach without a few beers? It wasn't all bad - I was being more active and working the alcohol through my system, probably. BUT that's an August goal now - no alcohol unless had with dinner out. No beach beers or kitchen shots; we are curbing our alcoholic intake because we're doing too much right now. In September, we will balance once we've curbed our poor habits.
4) I slept in the evenings so I was more well-rested before a camp shift at 10pm. Going to the beach directly after work most mornings meant I wasn't sleeping until noon. This meant a solid eight hours Right before going back to work and not being as sleepy once I was there.
5) I got to spend most mornings with Liv or Katie and on the days neither of them were able to, I had a nice, relaxing and quiet beach to myself and could read or journal and just vibe out in silence.
6) THERE WERE SO MANY DOGGOS!!! Every morning after high tide, a lady brings her dog Opal to the beach. Every morning regardless of the tide, another woman brings her old Olly to the beach and plays fetch with him (this means we got to play fetch too). Another woman, who lives right across the street from the beach, always had a tiny, scrappy white dog with three legs she brought to the beach (we lovingly call him Tripp) but sometimes dog sat for a family member so she brought an older chocolate lab with her too. So so so many dogs!!!
Katie is excited Dip a Day July is over so she doesn't have to stress about making it to the beach everyday, but Liv and I gladly welcome the stress and plan on continuing the tradition daily. I haven't been to the beach two out of the five days so far, only because I've been stuck in bed sick. But! I did tippy toe into the ocean in Rhode Island on my failed attempt to Ohio when I was on my way back and you can bet your ass I'm counting it.
So here's to many more ocean dips, playing fetch with beach doggos, faerie-esque hikes to hidden beaches, and journeying back out west so so soon!
