Photo LinkLove

Mother
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They left you on a shelf
Beneath the bricks and a cloudy sky
As we waited for your date with a field of grass.
The gentleman who dressed you was nice enough
And he rolled you out when I arrived to say “Good-bye”.
You rested in the center of the room
As I recalled the plastic flowers
On our dining room table years ago.
All of us plus Pops and Nana too
Thanking God for all His gifts
And the Sunday meals you made.
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And this as well.
On a beautiful summer day
You put on a white blouse and skirt
And took me to the blueberry fields.
You laughed as I pretended to take a broken drum
Out the door for the berries.
Then you sang a song just for us
As cool breezes charmed my senses
While goodness found mercy
Next to a stream and gave a little boy
A picture that would last until now.
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This morning I went to Starbucks
After watching the river at dawn,
Immersed in making photos with pastel shades of sky
And bushes that seemed blue in the early morning air.
I ordered coffee
To awaken my frozen limbs
And a blueberry scone.
The berries are sweet.
I find them more delicious
Than chocolate
Or wine.

Last evening we went on our second dolphin cruise and things went much better. There are now photos of dolphins but not the perfect dolphin shot. That remains as elusive as ever.

This morning I arose/ awoke/ fell out of bed at five am and half hoped there would be a fog bank outside the window so I could return to the interesting dream I was having but no luck. There were dolphin waiting down by the shore as they ate some of the tons of fish that appeared to want to visit Atlantic Avenue.

So I ran down there and took some more photos. Today I hope Beth will agree to go with me up to Cape Henry. It is the oldest construction project financed by the US Federal Government. George Washington signed the bill. And it’s still standing? They built another one some time ago because they thought it was going to fall down.

But it never did. And it still works.

When we get home I am planning to write another post or two about the historic background of this place. It really does occupy a central point in America’s history and Virginia’s history. Maybe I can increase the value of this blog by doing some of that.

A volunteer from the Virginia Aquarium teaches on our dolphin cruise about dolphins.  I learned that they sleep with half their brain and are aware of any approaching danger with the other half.  They really are amazing creatures.  And if a Genie appeared and asked us if anyone would like to become a dolphin my wife would be overboard in just a few seconds.

, originally uploaded by Davidlind.

Here is what they do at Virginia Beach to combat beach erosion. They suck the sand out of Rudee’s Inlet with a long straw and deposit it on the beach. There it slowly migrates along the beach and (probably) back into Rudee’s Inlet.

“Hi kids. I’m home.”
“Where did you go Dad? You have been gone ten years!”

Oh Sorry. Just listening in on the sands of time having a little conversation. But it seems to work well. I wouldn’t want to be sunbathing near the end of the tube when it starts doing its job. But otherwise we seem to have a nice beach and (hopefully) the next time a really big storm hits the beach will keep the tall buildings from falling over.

Your blogging buddy prays that this will be the case actually.

He’s smiling now. But he won’t be if the beach blower doesn’t perform as expected in the next thirty years.

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Here’s a photo of the other half of the sand management project. If you were having a problem with something stuck in your straw you might want one of these.

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