Dad and the beach

We didn't live far from Hampton Beach, the only coast of New Hampshire. The coast of NH is 17 miles long and unless my sisters correct me, I believe it consists of Hampton Beach and Rye Beach. I have been corrected. The coast consists of Seabrook, Hampton Falls, Hampton, North Hampton, Rye, New Castle and Portsmouth. It is the shortest ocean coastline of any US coastal state. I have to give it to my parents for getting us there so much when we were kids. How I loved the water. You just couldn't keep me out of the water. We spent a lot of our childhood around water. The beach. Massabesic Lake where Dad had his sail boat at the Massabesic Yacht Club. And then there was Pine Island Pond, right in our back yard, up the hill, and down the other side. Two minutes and we were there, swimming in the summer and skating in the winter. I still love the water, but it is very very rare that I get to indulge in its soothing robe. I haven't worn a bathing suit in 45 years? If I go in the water, it is with a swimming dress, and usually when I am alone. Or, when I am with people who don't mind that I am in a dress.

My sister Suzanne and her husband John had a beautiful home in Essex New York that had a beautiful little in-ground pool surrounded by a garden, an apple orchard to the left, and Lake Champlain off in the distance. Occasionally I would travel up to take care of their home and their peaceful creatures while they traveled. I spent a lot of time in their pool. I loved cleaning it. Their little dog, Louis, would just lay there and I would skim for bugs and leaves for what seemed like hours. A beautiful place. Wonderful memories. Then I'd jump in, splashing him. Bark bark bark bark bark....... Louis was always by my side. I would sit for hours and knit or do some handwork and he would sit on the back of the sofa right near my shoulder and sleep, every once in awhile sighing. Then I'd shout out "squirrel!!" and off he'd be, through his doggie door, looking for the damn thing, running around the front lawn, frustrated that he couldn't find it.

I always thought my father was the handsomest man I ever knew~~~~~

And to end, today, pictures are all about color setting, focus, pixels (whatever they are) everything being just so. But we grew up with black and white. And to me---they speak volumes.