Pirate ships and fairy tales.

Route:
Topsail Beach (1) - 4.15 miles
Topsail Beach (4) - 2.37 miles barefoot.
Total Distance: 6.5 miles
Temperature: 71º degrees

Yesterday brought me crashing down, it was a physically overwhelming day, too much light, heat and wind for me. I would have preferred to stay up late - again - listening to what must be the best miniature golfing soundtrack in the country (Sinatra, Dylan, Chuck Berry - as well as Diana Krall, Stereolab and Beth Orton) but instead had to retire early (10 pm) with a headache.

We spent a good part of the day on the beach, in the surf, out of the surf, managing children who cannot get enough of simply being here. We found two large, feisty blue crabs, a few flounder, and a ray in the tide pools. I made a sand castle on a sand bar and watched it wash away. Tonight, like most nights, we have eaten tremendously well -- grilled grouper and swordfish, corn-on-the-cob and red potatoes, and of course beer, wine, rum & coke and daiquiris.

I have been reading Shakespeare's Henry VIII (All Is True) - backwards. I started reading it from the beginning but found it a little dry, so I read the fifth act first, then the fourth, and that has been very exciting. It's an old hardback Arden edition, one of Calvin's. His books that I have include the best margin notes, this one doesn't have as many as, say, Hamlet does (that one has index cards of notes stuffed between the pages) but they are good for a laugh. I'll be reading a stretch of surprisingly tepid prose, glance at the margin and there will be Calvin's cramped hand reading "Fletcher?"

Get it?

Playlist: Gabriel & Dresden - Gabriel & Dresden

Got my final run of the trip in early. (71º? Really?) There's sand in the camera, boo. All in all, a very relaxing (oh yes, don't let me confuse you) vacation. The children have been in heaven. The boy caught a black bass around 5:30 am this morning (the wife took him this time, bless her) and the girl had gorged herself on card games, wave jumping and cable TV.

I will miss this place, but I am also looking forward to normal life. And that's good, too.

Just a drop of water in an endless sea.