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But What About My Book?

March 25, 2009 By 2 Comments
See, I love to read. It’s my passion and my joy.  And the internet is interfering with it.  I will sit and cruise from blog to blog and pretty soon a couple of hours have passed.  Sure, I find some pretty talented writers and highly entertaining sites out there…but I hunger for literature still.

And my house is a mess.  Everyone says that, I know, but in my case it’s true.  
Yeah.  Told ya.

So anyway, I’ve developed this great ability to walk back and forth past this mess all day long, and the next day, and the next, and pretty soon I don’t notice the full, blatant, horrible mess that it is.  We recently got new carpet and had to haul the contents of one room to this one.  In the process, we are combing through the stuff to see what to save, what to store and what to give away.  And that takes time…I get caught up in memories and emotions and…let’s just say it’s been a protracted affair. 

Life’s immediate tasks take precedence so it’ll be Friday before I get round to addressing this situation which is frankly overwhelming me.

In the meantime, the library wrote to tell me that my book was waiting so I dashed over yesterday to

 pick it up, as though I’d actually be able to nestle in my comfy chair (or better yet, out on the beach) and lose myself for hours in its pages.  As if.  How can I relax amidst that mess?  But the larger issue is, really, detaching from the internet long enough to relax in my own home in order to do the thing that I love: read.

So, I have been reading in my car.  Yes.  In the car.  I even have a favorite reading spot that I drive to, park, cut the engine (0r, if it’s hot, leave the car and the a/c going and don’t even think of lecturing me about that) and…bliss.  I. Read.  I’ll even stay there for an hour or two, just reading.



Atlantic Beachlife reading at its finest.  No distractions.  No laptop (though the iPhone is in my purse), no messy house.  Just me and my book.  The most relaxing time of the day.  It might seem a little weird, but if you see a girl in a minivan (whatever, it’s paid for) parked at the Fourth Street Beach Access, do her a favor and just keep walking.


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If You Can’t Say Something Nice…

March 24, 2009 By Leave a Comment

We have the greatest tree service at the beach here today (a shout out to Lucas Tree Service), chain saws wailing, limbs falling.  On Sunday we noticed a very large water oak in the back yard, dead and leaning dangerously over a neighbors’ house.  Naturally we called the tree guys first thing Monday and out they came, we made a plan and it was game on for this morning.  

We tried knocking at the ‘target’ neighbor’s door twice and finally left a note explaining what would be happening the following morning.  The guys would need to be in their yard, too, slowly and carefully removing this tree limb by limb.  No problem, this neighbor was easy going and happy to oblige.  Anyone could see that the

 leaning tree was a disaster in the making.


Not the neighbor who lives behind us, however.  Our yards are only separated by a shared landscape of natural palms and scrub trees.  We like it because it’s like a campground and I know they like it too.  It makes for a natural privacy fence.  The tree guys had to cut a couple of scrub trees to get access to the larger, leaning water oak and that’s when this neighbor came charging from his house, shouting at them to back away from his trees.  It was f- this, and m-f that and so on.  He was loud enough that another neighbor heard him from inside his house! 

All this over a couple of scrub trees, more like giant weeds in the overall scheme of things,  when he could obviously see that this very large tree had come to down or it would fall onto the other neighbor’s house!  The tree-guy-in-charge told this fuming fool to step off and he did, I guess, eventually.  I am in shock.  I don’t really know this neighbor but… what? What happened to approaching someone and speaking in a reasonable tone?  Why didn’t he come on over here and chat with me if he was so concerned?  He had to have been in his house watching…waiting for his opening to pounce.  

What makes someone so agitated that they have to come at someone with such force and vitriol?  “My property!”  I can’t express how bewildered I am by this.  My son told me recently that his wife told him and his friend to stay out of her yard, when they were just tromping through our shared woods, playing like the kids that they are.

I didn’t think we had such un-neighborly people living here and enjoying atlantic beachlife.  They don’t mingle too much, but we always smile and wave when passing their house.  

Our other neighbor, the one who heard the rants, said, “you don’t hear such language in this neighborhood.” And I had to smile to myself.  I guess he’s right.  We aren’t the kind of people to charge out and let the f-bombs fly at innocent workers who are just trying, at our behest and at our cost,  to be good neighbors and not let a tree fall on someone else’s house.




These are the gents who were so ungraciously treated.  On behalf of my neighbor, I apologize.  Thanks for the firewood and mulch, too, fellas!
Post Edit:  Said neighbor ate crow.  He actually came out of his house again, and apologized to all the workers for his earlier rant. It’s not easy for some people to apologize and own up to their own bad behavior, so props to him.  

You never know what someone might be going through that would make them act in a way that seems so uncouth so maybe this is a good lesson for all of us.  Let’s cut each other some slack and realize there might be a personal backstory going on when someone seems irrational and, apologize ourselves when we really must.

Mother is finished with her moral of the story now.
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Beachlife ‘Discovery’

March 15, 2009 By 5 Comments

An absolutely lovely day was capped off with practically the whole neighborhood gathering beachside at 7:43pm to cheer on Space Shuttle Discovery.  All these years and it’s still a thrill to watch that master of the universe come hurtling up from Cape Canaveral into the twilight sky.  Followed NASA on Twitter all day to ensure we were there at lift off or to see whether it had been scrubbed as is often the case.  But off it went, right on schedule.

It was the clearest launch I’ve seen yet.  The rocket and its trail were so clearly visible, and when it separated from the booster engines it traveled on its northerly path for all to see, in wonder and awe.




Afterwards the neighbors all trouped home in the just-dark night, thrilling to each other the wonder of what we’d just witnessed.

These images were captured with lil ‘ol iPhone.





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Dune House on Beach Avenue

March 4, 2009 By 2 Comments

This “quirky” house is known as Dune House and was designed by renowned architect William Morgan, who has designed many interesting houses throughout Atlantic Beach.

We have fondly referred to this house as the ‘Teletubby House’ as it resembles the grassy, green mound that the Teletubbies live in.  (Are the Teletubbies still around??)  It’s an oceanfront property, and the house is actually comprised of two “shells” placed into the dune itself, so that it’s used as a duplex / rental property.  I think the shells are made from ‘gunnite’, the swimming pool fabrication material.  They are exposed from the beach side – the light source come from the windows that peer out from the dune onto the beach.  The entry doors are opposite, from the street side.

You can Google William Morgan if you are interested in architecture.  He’s a real treasure, and we met him and his wife last summer.  He lives next door to the Dune House, in another home he designed, oceanfront.  On the other side of his home is my personal favorite of the three, a large, contemporary home he designed for one of his adult children.  

Dune House is making news here because it is now for sale.  William Morgan is getting older and he’s not well.  He’s published several books (we have one, a wonderful coffee table book we bought from him at a book signing in town) and has designed structures worldwide.  He’s a local treasure.  This property is a local curiosity. But naturally we are concerned that whoever shells out the big bucks for it isn’t going to keep it as is.  The asking price is $1.85 million…for an underground duplex of 750 square feet each unit.  It’s truly one-of-a-kind…someone could buy it and open and bed and breakfast. It would be a cool place to vacation:  Atlantic Beach, Florida is a great, relatively ‘under the radar’ place. The beaches are awesome, the town is relaxed and unique, and within driving distance of the more touristy and kitschy (if you like kitsch!) and okay, it is  the nation’s oldest city – St. Augustine.  But staying here would be like moving into the neighborhood for a time and some of my own best vacations were in beds and breakfasts nestled deep in the heart of a community.

More about Atlantic Beach and the beaches area to come. Beachlife temperature (in Fahrenheit) tonight is 52 degrees.  Warm weather is on its way!

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Day Two: Beachlife Housewife Happy

March 3, 2009 By 5 Comments
By 12:30 this afternoon, these two fellas, Atlantic Beach’s best painters

were packing up their brushes and posing for my camera-substitute in front of my lovely new staircase. Not only did they do a wonderful job and cleaned up after themselves (as always), they cheerfully indulged me as I asked them to repair a small section of my office ceiling that had been water damaged, and patched and painted  a couple of dings in the kitchen as well. I can’t tell you how much that pleased me.  The water damaged ceiling bothered me every day  and the kitchen wall was newly-gashed by two wild kids.  And now, it’s all good as new.  He scraped off the damaged part, stain-killed it, patched it and primed it, then painted the section today.  They rummaged around my garage, looking for an old can of paint they remembered using more than two years ago in the kitchen…and they found it.  It was pretty much dried up but they were able to wet it and get enough to paint over the kitchen kid-gashed spot. I wish I had more local readers, but I never know who might be reading this, so: If you are in the area and want a great painter call Greg Critzer.  They give him props at the paint store also.  E mail me at jeannie@atlanticbeachlife.com for his number.  In fact, feel free to contact me there anytime, anyway.

But back to the stairs.  I’m thrilled with the outcome.  It was tough to get a decent photo of it because of how it’s situated in the house.  The color works so well, it really seems as though it was just made to be painted that shade.  It hardly seems new, it just blends into the surroundings. It’s as though it’s always been that way, and I couldn’t be any happier.

Well, that’s not quite true.  I noticed a small ding in the paint already.  I almost hate to look closely for fear of finding more. I want perfection but I know that doesn’t really exist.  It’ll take a few days for the finish to harden completely.  

I won’t pretend that this project/topic really interests anyone but me. Now, having said that, I present the following pictures. I chose these because they show off the actual color the best, and they include the post lids painted black, which I really like.  That was a last minute idea that was actually a good one! They’re awkward photos, but you get the idea. Personally, I’ll enjoy looking at these for the next few days anyway:




Imagine the brown/black concept and see if you don’t agree that it would have been hideous?

Next week the carpet arrives and then it will seem like a new house completely.  Woe to anyone who wears shoes in my house then! 
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The First of March

March 1, 2009 By 1 Comment

brings beachlife breeze
blowing
beautiful
billowing clouds
breeze in the neighborhood means wind on the beach
Me and iPhone are taking a little walk to the beach to see what we can photograph.  February ended its run at 83 degrees and March mustered its might and arrived in a flurry of 51 cold ones.

The gulls were poised westward, hundreds of them, all in agreement that there was something worth waiting for.


This house is adjacent to the public walkway to the beach.  It’s an enormous, contemporary, stucco creation.  I looked up and was lured by the end-of-the-day light striking the palm fronds, the blue sky and the architectural elements from the viewfinder of my eyes.  

iPhone camera picture stats:  Beach picture taken with iPhone camera and enhanced with my newest app,Picoli.  I used the ‘Color Balance’ filter over the image as shot.  In the second picture I used the ‘Saturation’ setting.  
In this picture I used the filter called ‘Sunburn’.  Again with the seagulls, still waiting for the magic in the west.  

It felt much colder than the 51 degrees it was.  It was sunset and very few people were walking about despite the gorgeousness of the waning afternoon light.

Truthfully, I was freezing my bum off and rushed back to my warm home where the scent of the yummy dinner my husband had made awaited me.

The end.

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Local Life

February 20, 2009 By 4 Comments


“… No One Trusts Big Anymore. In The Future Everything Will Be Local.  That’s Where The Magic Will Be…” excerpted from a column by Peggy Noonan, The Wall Street Journal, 20 February 2009.

This really resonates with me, and is why I love my community so much.  The localness of it.  The proliferance of small businesses, of independants out on the street, claiming their share, offering uniqueness and adding individual character to our beachlife here.

I’m not against big, per se.  But I love the texture of a community comprised of small businesses, the independent man or woman, or small group of folks offering something of value to people who live in a community or those just passing through.

Who doesn’t love a town with storefronts, offering everything from simple ambiance to things we need or want, there in your community.  Aren’t we drawn to be in those kinds of places?  Perhaps we find them while on vacation, as we amble up and down the street, watching all manner of life pass by, as we poke in and out of the shops, chatting up the store employees or a shopper next to you in line, before settling down for a cup of coffee, or a sandwich or an ice cream cone? Is it just me? I do enjoy casual conversation with store owners and the people who work there.  I’ve nothing against the mall,  but I’ve found myself preferring to shop locally for many reasons.  Because the core businesses of our town are what really put the frosting on the cake of this community to me, I think it’s important to support the local merchants.  If we don’t want to lose them, we gotta use them.  I’d hate to see vacancies populating our town center, certainly.  We’ve got such a jewel of a community here: the beach and ocean are steps away from the restaurants and shops of Atlantic and Neptune Beaches, and further on down A1A, it’s the same thing in Jacksonville Beach. There may be a franchise or two but mostly you’ll find truly independent businesses whose survival depends on the patronage of the people who live here.  And since a lot of us are hunkering down it only makes sense to shop locally rather than driving out to the mall and back.  

Nothing wrong with franchises – let me be quick to add – since they are largely operated by a hard working woman or man who is trying to make their way in business like everyone else.  I appreciate many franchise businesses…but I’m captivated by the magic of a great idea come to life in the form of an independent bookshop, a great restaurant, a garden store, surf shop or small art gallery.  These are the unique squares in our neighborhood quilt…it’s in front of these store windows that  I linger…these doors I pull open and enter.  I don’t have a lot of money to spend, and I appreciate the fact that our town is populated with enough small businesses to meet my needs so I can stay within a couple of miles of home 90 percent of the time.

When gas was $4 a gallon I appreciated this even more.

Our bookseller offers many extras that the larger chains often don’t.  There are book clubs where the passionate readers gather, and many authors visit, which, in the small venue that it is, make for  intimate exchanges between author and readers.  We had a very interesting event last summer with writer Andre Dubus III.  He came for a book signing on his promotional tour for his newest book and he greeted the larger audience.  The store hosted a dinner with Andre Dubus and a small group of us repaired to a local (independent) restaurant where Andre circulated, spending a bit of time at each table, visiting with us (paying) dinner guests in an intimate and personal setting.  It was wonderful.  I met some interesting people there and was completely charmed by Dubus who was the perfect author/guest.  He was attentive and polite and made everyone fell as though he was truly interested in them.  I mention this because it was a delightful event that was all about community.  

There are many things about Atlantic Beach and the entire beaches area that make ‘atlantic beachlife’ so satisfying.  I plan to introduce various businesses to you in future posts.  That way if you ever make a visit you’ll have some sense of what gems await you beside the best beach on the east coast!  And of course, I can arrange to be your tour guide. 🙂

There’s never been a better time for the mantra: “live globally, act locally.”  In the age of digital technology and (my beloved) smartphone, you gotta embrace the digital future.  But do your shopping in the neighborhood. 

Do you love where you live?  Tell me about it!

 
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The Fun and Games Continue…

February 9, 2009 By 4 Comments

Another shot with the iPhone, using two applications.  First, I took a picture of my eye using Quad Camera to generate the four-square effect.  Then I opened it in Photogene and played with the color effects.


Yes, the iPhone is the best toy I’ve ever had. 

I still want a real camera, with lenses and so forth, but who among us can argue that this little gadget really isn’t all that?
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Random Shots from Sunday Beachlife

February 8, 2009 By 2 Comments



again with the Quad Camera app for iPhone:





Today?  Celebrating the mild.  Today?  Left my perch at the kitchen window, emerging into sunshine and clean air. Frustrated by lack of a real camera, but enjoying iPhone’s fun photo apps that turn everyday objects into little bits of visual art.
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Florida Ice…or, Who Left The Sprinkler On?

February 5, 2009 By 3 Comments
It’s Thursday, February 5, 2009 and another fool left the house with the irrigation set to ‘on’ this morning creating these lovely pictorials for our viewing pleasure.

Remember, in these parts, icy vignettes are not the norm.

We might have to seriously consider moving south (again).



(lastly, another iPhone app discovered and installed: Quad Camera)
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