Into the Deep: Love of the Ocean & Water

[gotoseagrl]

A space for those who have an affinity with all things ocean, sea and nautical, and want to share (poems, movies, books, pictures, studies, art, music, memories - everything!). This can include a love for water, in general, but the focus here is the ocean, which I find to be many things: beautiful, mysterious, romantic, spooky, powerful, healing, inspiring, enlightening and dear to my soul. Mermaids, pirates and sailors especially welcome.

One of my favorite poems:

Sea Longing ~ Sara Teasdale

A thousand miles beyond this sun-steeped wall
Somewhere the waves creep cool along the sand,
The ebbing tide forsakes the listless land
With the old murmur, long and musical;
The windy waves mount up and curve and fall,
And round the rocks the foam blows up like snow,--
Tho' I am inland far, I hear and know,
For I was born the sea's eternal thrall.
I would that I were there and over me
The cold insistence of the tide would roll,
Quenching this burning thing men call the soul,--
Then with the ebbing I should drift and be
Less than the smallest shell along the shoal,
Less than the sea-gulls calling to the sea.




Seascape by Alfred Richard Gurrey, Sr., 1920

[*Anya*]

What a lovely idea for a thread.

I have loved the ocean since I was a kid.

When we lived in New Jersey, every summer my parents would rent a beach house at the "shore". We called it the shore back east.

You may picture a fancy beach house but it was always a little more than a shack a couple of blocks to the beach and my mother would weigh us down like pack mules to carry everything for the day, since we never went back until after the sun started to go down.

One summer, I was so excited to go but my brother and I had a fight washing the car and I kicked him in the shin and fractured one toe and sprained the other four. I was taped up in the ER and my punishment was that I couldn't go in the water and get it wet the whole week that we were there.

Then, we moved to Maryland and we would go to Ocean City, MD each summer. I loved it! Loved the ocean and walking on the boardwalk with my girl-friends. We would lay on the sand for hours and cover ourselves in baby oil ( ). To this day, if I smell baby oil, I can see myself at Ocean City.

I moved to California in my early 20's. I absolutely love that I am so close to the ocean. Whenever I need a pick-me-up, I jump in the car and take my pick of beaches. Out here, no one calls it the shore. We go to the beach here.

There are even a couple of campgrounds right on the beach in CA. It was one of my favorite things to do with my recent ex: reserve one of the ocean-front sites, take her RV, park it and look at the ocean for hours. I love the sound of the ocean, too. It is mesmerizing and so peaceful.

There is nothing else like the ocean.

If I ever won the lottery (if I actually ever bought tickets, for starters) I would buy an ocean-front house so I could sit on my balcony and watch the ocean all day long.

[gotoseagrl]

Thank you Anya, these are very sweet memories. I also grew up going to my aunt's beach house every summer down at Newport. I loved when she would take me into the gift shops on Balboa Island and I kept my seahorse and shell souvenirs as long as I could before they fell apart.

I grew up and have lived most of my life near the same beaches, and what a treat. There is no sanctuary for me like being by the ocean, all the sounds, sights and smells. And personal reflection.

Originally Posted by *Anya*

What a lovely idea for a thread.

I have loved the ocean since I was a kid.

When we lived in New Jersey, every summer my parents would rent a beach house at the "shore". We called it the shore back east.

You may picture a fancy beach house but it was always a little more than a shack a couple of blocks to the beach and my mother would weigh us down like pack mules to carry everything for the day, since we never went back until after the sun started to go down.

One summer, I was so excited to go but my brother and I had a fight washing the car and I kicked him in the shin and fractured one toe and sprained the other four. I was taped up in the ER and my punishment was that I couldn't go in the water and get it wet the whole week that we were there.

Then, we moved to Maryland and we would go to Ocean City, MD each summer. I loved it! Loved the ocean and walking on the boardwalk with my girl-friends. We would lay on the sand for hours and cover ourselves in baby oil ( ). To this day, if I smell baby oil, I can see myself at Ocean City.

I moved to California in my early 20's. I absolutely love that I am so close to the ocean. Whenever I need a pick-me-up, I jump in the car and take my pick of beaches. Out here, no one calls it the shore. We go to the beach here.

There are even a couple of campgrounds right on the beach in CA. It was one of my favorite things to do with my recent ex: reserve one of the ocean-front sites, take her RV, park it and look at the ocean for hours. I love the sound of the ocean, too. It is mesmerizing and so peaceful.

There is nothing else like the ocean.

If I ever won the lottery (if I actually ever bought tickets, for starters) I would buy an ocean-front house so I could sit on my balcony and watch the ocean all day long.

[cathexis]

The ocean has always had a calming influence for me. Each year, when the Christmas break started for school, my parents waited outside the school for me to get out for the day, car with camper in tow.

It's one of the only times this short, fat, freckled, carrot topped grrl was the envy of everyone. We were off to Florida for the break!

My Daddy had a very strong love for the Florida Keys.

Imagine a place where you can wake to the sunrise up from the Atlantic, then eat dinner as it set over the Gulf of Mexico. No wonder Daddy retired to the Keys.

I later moved there to care for him in his twilight years. Lived in Miami, but Daddy wouldn't leave his beloved Keys.

Ended up buying a home in the area so went to the beaches quite often. Few things are more calming than sitting on the beach at night just staring out at the lapping water.

Miss the beach. Wish we could be back near it's tranquility.

Thank you for this memory inspiring thread. We all need a peaceful memory to relax us especially at this time of uncertainty.

[gotoseagrl]

One of my favorite movies with the cutest little cottage by the sea.

[Cin]

Years ago I saw this painting at the MFA in Boston. They had a Winslow Homer collection there for a couple of months. I was mesmerized by it. It wasn't just that it looked like the rocks at Fogland Beach in Little Compton RI or rocks on the 12 mile drive (I've seen it called the 10 mile drive, but I grew up calling it 12) in Newport RI, nor was it only that there were 2 women dancing on a beautiful moonlit summer's night while a bunch of women sat on the rocks and stared out at the ocean, although that many women hanging out together and dancing in the moonlight in 1890 seemed way cool to me, it was the way Homer somehow made the moonlight look like it was actually sparkling off the water. It was a fabulous painting to my decidedly untrained eye and literally took my breath away. It also taught me that I needn't care that I knew jack shit about art or painting and it didn't matter how other people felt about the painting. All that is really important is how a piece of art speaks to you.

I grew up surrounded by ocean. I lived between Massachusetts' North shore with its amazing beaches, Cape Cod with its breathtaking sandy beaches that are a part of the National Seashore, and the rocky coastline of Newport, Tiverton, Little Compton etc. I was pretty lucky. I miss the ocean more than I can say.

[Chad]

Originally Posted by gotoseagrl

One of my favorite movies with the cutest little cottage by the sea.

That is one of my favorite movies!
Thank you for high lighting it.