Wednesday we chose to relax and not try to do anything. It was greatly needed and appreciated. Early that morning I took my breakfast down to the beach and walked about 2 km along the shoreline, thinking about some church-calling related things that will have to be done when we get home. It was very peaceful and beautiful.
Because the beach and the ocean are still such novel experiences for me, I have way too many pictures! But I love the roar and the splash and sea breeze and the sand and the cliffs. I don’t necessarily like to swim in the ocean, but I sure love to hang out by it!
Breakfast on my walk–a bowl of watermelon and a pita bread. Delicious.The waves Wednesday morning were high. You could tell they had been wild the night before; there was flotsam and jetsam everywhere.Still beautiful. Odd little painted rock. I wanted to pick it up, but was pretty sure I’d never get it out of the country. Could be modern, could be really old…I have literally no idea. The sea is endlessly fascinating to me. Probably because it is so unfamiliar. Cthulhu the jellyfish. I saw at least 20 washed ashore. They are so creepy and awesome. Ewwwww. And also awesome.Jellyfish are some of the world’s more improbable creatures. So bizarre, but so beautiful.In case of tsunami, go UP.View from the hotel area of Netanya.It takes a long time to feed 9 people when you have a small frying pan.
After laundry, naps, food, blogging, we headed down to the water for some swim time.
Headed to the beach, carrying chairs for the Grandmas.LaDonna, Eva, Bradley walking down the street to the beach entrance.My Em hates water she can’t see the bottom of, so she chose to stay out. But she came to the beach anyway.LaDonna and Eva in the Med!It was a perfect day for them to get their feet wet–breezy and sunny but not too warm. And I love the arches of the Greek restaurant (abandoned) behind them. Very appropriate, somehow. Making sure the waves don’t knock Eva right off her feet.LaDonna and Eva!Yummy daring the waves. We got a little more daring this day, going out past the beach breakers (not the far breakers, where the surfers were). It’s fun, but man you can feel the pull back out to the ocean. And then you look up and you are meters down the beach from where you started, because of the longshore drift. Hebs rolling in the surf. He really, really loves the ocean.Yummy, Bradley, HebsWe walked the beach a bit and found another stranded jellyfish.After enjoying the water (a little), the beach (much more), LaDonna, Eva, Bradley, Zee, and Em walked back up to the house. I stayed with Yummy and Hebs. (Gee chose not to come down to the beach that evening.)Hebs in the ocean.Let’s talk about this Yummy-girl. She is SO incredibly dramatic, but funny about it–she knows she’s being silly, and owns it. That makes it fun for everyone else. Tossing sand into the air at sunset, because why not?Playing a little more in the surf.A few more dramatic poses before dark.…and then minor tragedy strikes. A sneaker wave tumbled me from my perch on the beach, and my glasses were snatched from my face and lost in the churning sand and water. Here Hebs is searching for them. (Bless my kiddos’ hearts. They were SO incredibly concerned. I was totally frustrated and angry at myself for not being more careful, but after about a minute I realized that was not a helpful attitude, and was stressing my kids out. So I found my equanimity pretty fast–a real blessing from heaven.
While we were looking, the surfers came in and told us we shouldn’t be in the water anymore; it was getting far too rough. I explained we were looking for my glasses, and one of them said, kindly, that anything lost out here went straight out to sea. Nonetheless, Bradley and Zee came back down–Zee to help us home and Bradley to stay with Heber to look along the edge of the water for a while,Goodbye eyesight, at least for a while. Sadly, I’m super blind (I can’t read the big “E” on the chart, can’t even really see that it is there), so this is kinda a big deal. But no worries–I’ll leave you on a cliffhanger, but do remember Israel is a modern country with many, many services.
