100 Year Old Mermaid Found

This 1919 photo of my grandmother, a self-anointed mermaid, was recently found in her photo album filled with images of she and my grandfather in Rockaway, Oregon in the early 1900's.

She appears to be emerging from the surf and considering life on land.  Our family has never lasted very long on land without the song of the sea luring us back.  The rhythmic sound of the ocean and the salt air blowing through our hair are as vital as breathing.

Proudly, I come from a long line of mermaids.

Poetry Friday

There once was a girl named Nancy

Who was known as a child for her buoyancy

Yes, she loved the water

She swam like an otter

And her sparkly bathing cap was quite fancy!

Note: Bathing cap not pictured.

Mermaid Lessons

I wasn't the first mermaid in the family, that honor goes to my grandmother.  Grandma Mimi loved swimming, floating, wading and pretty much any excuse for being in the water. 

She would wade out in the Columbia River and toes up, start floating downstream.  The huge smile on her face could be seen from the shore.  She waved at me as she drifted away.  I knew right then, I wanted to be just like her.  From time to time, she would worry my grandfather as he would lose sight of her.  She always came swimming back up river though, without a care in the world.  Water makes me feel that way too.

I still have her beach bag, it is packed just as she left it, ready for an outing.  It's funny the things you hang on to, the things that remind you of loved ones, the things you will never part with.  How lucky I am to have a mermaid's bag full of treasure.

 

Bouquet of Barnacles

A mermaid must have dropped her bouquet 

on the shore for me to find.

It's in My Veins

Once a mermaid, always a mermaid!

Pirates vs. Carnies

"There will be no carnival rides during this year's Pirate Festival," it was announced at the Rockaway Beach City Council meeting.

It seems the pirates were booked the weekend that the carnival was available and the carnival was booked when the pirates were available.  After much discussion and consideration, it was decided that there should be pirates at the Pirate Festival and the city would just have to do without the carnival.

Pirates 1-0.

Yo Ho, Yo Ho...

January 1, 2012, Associated Press headline reads (and I am not making this up)....

"Pirate-themed cruise ship runs aground in Fla."

To add insult to injury, the party boat, "Pirate's Ransom" passengers were rescued by a second vessel named, "Island Times" which also ran aground as it attempted to take the festive passengers to shore. No one was hurt in either shipwreck and fog was said to be the culprit.

Wouldn't it have been a surprise to be standing on the beach as over 100 drunk, costumed pirates came swaggering out of the fog just after midnight? 

And, do you think the "Double Shipwreck Package" was more expensive?

Dreams of Mermaids

 

 Every little girl dreams of being a mermaid.  

May all your dreams come true!

A Pirate's Life For Me!

"He sat upon the rolling deck

Half a world away from home,

And smoked a Capstan cigarette

And watched the blue waves tipped with foam.

He had a mermaid on his arm

An anchor on his breast,

And tattooed on his back he had

A blue bird in a nest."

Langston Hughes

And The Finishing Touch

Mother Nature also fashioned this exquisite, colorful necklace to complete her outfit this weekend.  

I'll bet the mermaids were jealous!

The Mermaid Chair

All week long I wait (not so) patiently for Friday afternoon. Glorious Friday afternoon when I switch off my computer and cell phone, grab a good book and head out to the yard to the Mermaid Chair. There she waits, outlandishly pink surrounded by flowers and warm from the sun. Perfect for this mermaid!

Each time I settle in, I take a moment to give thanks for this life and all of those who love me so.

Memories, Old and New

While the full moon made it impossible to view the meteor shower this year, there was still plenty of celebrating this weekend for Bob. You see, the pirate cousins thought it would be an entertaining rite of passage prove their prowess by drinking Old Man Bob under the table. So, working together they proceeded to convince him to take many straight shots of many types of liquor. The revelry continued until one by one, the younger generation hit the deck and the old man was still standing. They were right about one thing, it was quite entertaining. Although I don't believe they anticipated being the entertainment.

Here are some statistics which tell the tale of the rest of the weekend:

• 37 crabs hoisted aboard for the birthday feast
• 5 bags of ice to keep them cold
• 9 of us experiencing the sights and smells of the Tillamook County Fair
• 2 hours to get us all ready to go to the Fair (babies included)
• 3.5 gallons of water to re-hydrate the pirates
• 12 loads of laundry, all socks accounted for
• 1 cribbage tournament with "The Parents" beating their children
• 12 hours a day of amazing sunshine
  

4 generations together sharing stories of good times past and making new memories. Now that is worth celebrating!

Stowaway

This ghostly pirate was waiting in the back seat of the car after we stopped for coffee on Hwy 101. He wanted a ride to his favorite haunt, the Ghost Hole Tavern down in Garibaldi. Although he seemed friendly enough, we thought it prudent to oblige without further discussion.

Ode to Cap'n Dick

There once was a Pirate named Dick,

Whose temper was mean and quick,

When the wench served his beer,

He would grab her and leer,

Until she chased him off with a stick!

(I think I have gotten the "family pirate" theme out of my system now and I will return to my regular posting. That is until I start the tales of my family mermaids!)

Not To Mention The Z Pirate Gang!

Yo ho - yo he he
A Pirate Gang is the life for me
Yo ho - yo he he
Setting sail for the seven seas.

The Pirate Gang hunts for treasure
Gold and silver is our pleasure
Check the map
X marks the spot
Better get digging - what have we got?
Dig - Dig
Dig in the sand
Dig all day with the Pirate band

The pirate gang loves the ocean wide
So turn the wheel as the waves we ride
Round - Round
Give it a spin
Look a storm is coming in
Up and down
We can hardly stand
We just can't wait 'til we reach dry land

Yo ho - yo he he
A Pirate Gang is the life for me!


-cbeebies, BBC

Me Thinks, Pirates Run in the Family

We's pirates in bikinis
singing proper pirate songs,
while wearing scary pirate hats
and teeny-tiny thongs.

We prance around the poop-deck
in our bathing suits because
we plunders much more booty
in our itsy-bitsy bras.

In fact, when we attacks a ship
we needn't lift a sword.
We makes our victims laugh so hard
they tumbles overboard.

And as we takes their treasure
we sings proper pirate songs,
while wearing scary pirate hats
and teeny-tiny thongs.

So if you sees us coming,
bag your swag without no fuss.
We's pirates in bikinis
and your loot belongs to us.

--Kenn Nesbitt

Here's Hoping

"Now and then we had a hope that if we lived and were good,
God would permit us to be pirates."

Life on the Mississippi by Mark Twain