Time for Happiness and Lightness of Being.

 

 

Emu Park,  Queensland,  Australia.

Some of my happiest memories as a kid are of our family holidays at the beaches.
 Wild, unpopulated beaches, some with a few, beach front squatter's huts.   We did not have one but friends did were generous in the use of them.  Primitive doesn't describe them well enough.
 They had a corrugated tin roof and walls with earth/ sand floor.  Beds made from bush timber  with the legs dug into the sand.  Home made benches and a wooden stove in a recess.   I think there may have been snakes and spiders because Dad would go in first to check it out. 

Mum would make the tastiest camp oven stews/casseroles if the fish weren't biting.  Sure enough,  I would have a mouth full of ulcers and couldn't have any.  I suffered from these for years, well into my 20s.   We grew up with an abundance of fish and crabs.  I think the crabs were called Mud Crabs or maybe Blue Swimmers.

The Big Crab, Cardwell,  Queensland, OZ

Cooked crab

Uncooked.

 I enjoyed cleaning crabs and I think this was because I could sit there and think as sure as hell there wouldn't be any volunteer helpers. It's a messy, smelly job but somebody has to do it......
  I don't eat seafood now, with the exception of fish.  I think I have overdosed as a kid and also being married to an avid  amateur fisherman put me off it.   I can't stand the smell of prawns!

Mooloolaba during heavy seas and rain. Cyclone up north, off shore.  Queensland.

  I still love the beach but because it is 'there' I very seldom go and we live about 23 ks from the nearest beach.   I love picking up some take away fish and chips and heading to the beach to watch the moon rise.    How long since I have done this??   Damn  near a year! 

Time to do the things I love to replenish my soul.