Surfside Beach Retreat - Tweeners

It is day 5 at Surfside and some of the Group 1 people have left.  Two more are leaving tomorrow morning so we still have a full house, but it's much more laid back.  No one is racing around preparing meals and play is all around.  At one point, I am talking to Debi in the kitchen and I walk into my room for a split second and return to an empty kitchen.  After asking all around the room as to whether she went outside, no one claims to have seen her.  I start walking back towards my room and hear this faint knock.  Okaaaay.  It happens again and I stealthily follow it.  I'm sure to anyone else this would have looked super crazy but no one was paying any attention at all.  Finally, I come to a stop outside the pantry door and open it.  There she stands with her finger to her mouth going, "Shhhh."  I'm trying so hard not to laugh but I close the door and go looking for someone to pull a prank on.  I know --- Sharron.   I ask her to get me something from the closet but she gives me this really weird look and say, "There isn't anything in there that I can reach that you can't.  I smell a rat."  Well, dang it anyway.  Without giving anything away, a few minutes later Maria walks in and I ask the same question saying it's on the top shelf and that I need help.  This time it works because she is actually taller than me.  (Note to self:  remember this type of stuff when messing with people.)  She goes to the door and opens it.  Debi is standing there and say, "I needed a plate."  In reality --- it's a good place to escape and take a chill pill now and then.



All right --- let's hit the beach.  Time to play a bit.  There is a backhoe out today attempting to put the sand back on the beach, leaving mounds of sand along the shoreline.  As we leave the house, Meri says, "Take a picture of the bird."  Obediently, I do so but it's not very clear as I was in a hurry.  Why, you ask?  Well because Debi was heading towards it at a run.  Naughty girl.

There are these flies about today and they are oh so awful.  They bite!  I'm not kidding.  Staying in the water helps to keep them off our legs and so that's what we do.  First the plague of mosquitos, then the ongoing love bugs and now we have biting flies.  WTW?

Just a few minutes down the beach, a dead stingray is spotted.  Yes, the ocean is upset still.  It's world has been turned upside down the last month.

Debi, the ever brave one, picks it up to check it out.  Oh wow -- it's pink on the bottom.  Crazy.

Check out that face.

Just after I took the picture above, I am hit by three biting flies at once.  As I reach down to swat them, my phone falls into the ocean.  As I was grab for it, a wave comes and we all have to wait for the water to recede to pick it up.  Ugh.  All my pictures from the first weekend are on it and haven't uploaded to dropbox.  I quickly say goodbye to the gals and head for the house to dry it off, putting in a call to those who are in town shopping to bring me some rice.

At this point the story starts to get a little crazy.   My phone never dies.  Period.  It's about dead, battery wise, so I plug it in to charge and it starts making little pinging sounds as though the charger is not any good.  The gals have arrived back from town so into the rice it goes.  I wait about an hour and then check it again.  It's still working so I check with Val to use her hotspot and start the upload to Dropbox in the hopes of saving all the pictures.  It is during this that I spot the following pictures.

Yep, my crazy phone was taking pictures while in the ocean.  The more I look at the last one, the more I think those are our heads looking down and waiting for the water to back off.  So, so, strange.

At any rate, my phone is working fine.  I WILL, however, be using the waterproof camera down at the beach for the next couple of days.

With my phone in timeout - I settle onto the bed and finish up with the graphing of my beach quilt.  I have brought ideas and magazines with me for the extra blocks and I even manage to get cutting instructions for two blocks planned out.

Now to backtrack a bit -- While my phone was in the rice, I did take a couple of pictures with my other camera.  Arlene is making great progress on her QAYG Dresden Plate quilt.

As I'm looking out the window, I spot Lori down on the beach.  She has LEGS.  Must run for camera.

And Sharron has fallen asleep on the deck.  It's amazing I didn't wake her while running around to get pictures of Lori.  How is is that the flies have not bothered her?  Also, if I look out from the deck there are dragonflies EVERYWHERE.  Is this the next invasion?

Birds on the sand mounds.

Lydia has been working on a diaper changing station for her daughter and one of the fabric pieces has gone AWOL.  We call everyone who left to check their stuff and absolute all of us go through our things and Lydia's as well.  It's not a small piece --- 24" x 24".  Life is totally crazy and it is nowhere to be found.

Lori is working on her layout for her beach quilt and I settle in to help her with some graph paper.  It takes awhile but I think we've got it.

About the time I finish with her, Maria is ready to teach her jam class to anyone who wants to learn.  Today's flavor will be strawberry-rhubarb.  Oh, my mouth is already watering.  (Blurry picture, I know -- I am not so good with this other camera.)

Let the lesson begin.

Yes, it's a hands on class and the ladies take turns at various stages.  Sharron and Debi seem especially interested.

Having made jam for so many years and giving up on the canning method, preferring the freezer jam, I try and stay in the background but it's hard for me.  I know this and so am very cautious about comments while Maria is teaching.  It's just fun to share the science sometimes.

She does an excellent job and before we know it --- jars are ready to fill.

Let the ladling begin

This is the point where I learn something too.  I have never filled ALL jars a little bit to distribute the fruit more evenly.  What a head smacking moment for me.  It makes complete sense and would be beneficial whether canning or freezing.  Duh.

Now to level them all.

And into the canner they go.  It's at this point that there are a few leftovers and Sharron has discovered that she loves this jam.  She was the naysayer about rhubarb being in it.

After the canning class is over and the jars are out cooling and pinging their seals, the gals decide to go for another walk. Not being with them, I have no pictures BUT I do have these of the shell that Debi found.  Pretty cool.

She also has a box of shells on the deck that include a hermit crab.  I think she is hoping it will give up it's shell and take another one.

It's Tweener out to dinner time and we are back at The Red Snapper.  I have to admit, I do love the food here.

Evening activities are just lots of quiet work, visiting, and massages.  Rocky is a pro and everyone appreciates her talented hands.  Especially Lydia and that's all I'm going to say about that.

Here's a tweener good night to ya'll.  What an interesting day we have had.

Today is day 6 and that means it is laundry day and clean the bathrooms, etc.  We have woke up to a perfectly calm ocean and NO BUGS.  Not a mosquito, not a love bug, not a fly, not a dragonfly in sight.  It's so bizarre but we'll take it.  The ocean is becoming blue again.  Whew.  This is the Surfside we all know and love so much.

The house REALLY gets quiet today.  Meri has departed -- sniff, sniff -- and so has Sharron with Val and Rocky riding with her so they can retrieve Val's car in Houston.  We don't expect them back until just before dark.  Lori has gone to League City to visit a friend, leaving just 7 of us in the house for the day.

It's definitely kick back time.  Val finished all the laundry before she left and we have cleaned out the refrigerators, established leftovers to eat today and tomorrow, and cleaned up the bathrooms.  Now to just enjoy the day.

Maria and I are going to brave the outdoors and go for a walk.  Maria says no way -- the fly trauma with her and Linda last night is still to fresh in her mind but I promise that if we see even one fly, we'll turn right around.  Please let it be an absolute truth that the flies are gone.  At any rate, the red camera is going with me.  The tide is out and we are able to walk down to the house without any issues.  As we get close to them, I notice that the floors are open in spots, letting us see into the houses.  I DON'T ever remember seeing this before.  I can see tables, a lamp, and a television through one hole and through another -- A QUILT!!!  WTW?

We walk just a ways further and Maria says that she wants to go to shell beach again so we turn around and walk back.  A quick announcement that there are not any flies gives Linda the nerve to try again too.  Off we go.  I spend most of my time searching for more sea glass and am rewarded with a full baggie of it.  I am even fortunate enough to locate a couple of blue pieces.  No pink still though.

Upon our return, Debi has been working on jewelry, making earrings for her booth this fall.  I take some time and go through the leftover pewter charms to add to her stock.  No sense in just carting them around as I won't use them again.

Ramona has been working on a very cool bag and now has her TA-DA.  I love this bag - the hummingbird is so pretty and I think the patterns itself is awesome.  Great job Ramona.

It's time for me to take advantage of the tables and I pull out all the supplies for cutting out the remaining 8 pair I need to make this year.  It takes space and time so today is perfect.

While I work away on these many, many parts, Debi and Maria are making another batch of jam.  This time it is cherry with a wee bit of raspberry thrown in.  It's just so dang good.  See, we are not just quilters.

Late night snacks of leftover waffles covered in jam.  What could be better?

And that's it.  Our one full tweener day is over and we filled it with love and laughter.  Isn't that really what this is all for?  Yes, sewing is fun too, but we can do that at home.  Being together and drawing strength from one another is our reason for being here.

I would drive more than 6 hours for what we achieve while here at the beach each year.  We will be back again in 2018.

We are one week into our fun times and as day 7 dawn, I have managed to drag myself out of bed to watch the sunrise.  I know -- shock, shock.  The moonrise was at about 3 a.m. and so as I walk outside, I see that it is still on the way up.

The predawn light is gorgeous.  So serene and I love being out here.  Rocky and Lori are with me and although I take about 30 pictures, I'll restrain myself here and just share a few favorites.  Oh, and Rocky caught me on camera too.

Lori has completed her beach top.  It's great and through our graph, she was able to incorporate the panel she wanted.  It leaves her with two blocks to use for a large pillow.  TA-DA

And in no time, she follows it up with the pillow TA-DA.  Woot woot.

The day is winding down and I want one more walk before the second group starts to arrive.  This time, I'm on my own.  As I walk, I let the peace of the ocean take over and allow my eyes to wander about.

As I pass the rocks we have walked by EVERY day since arriving, I notice that a teal rope is entwined amongst them.  It goes quite a distance down the beach, peeking out every now and then.  Why didn't I see it before?

Miss Val is enjoying the sunshine and still binding away on the deck.  She has truly taken advantage of this space and time to get all her quilts bound.  How nice to have all those finishes.

Ramona and Linda are working and then Ramona takes a break.  It's time to hug a pole.

And just like that, tween time is over.  Group 2 is about to arrive and we are ready for them.  Until next year Tweeners ---- take care and know I love ya'll a ton.