Misadventure

I heard that "Joy of Cooking" celebrated 75 years as 'the' cookbook used and loved, and the fact is I did own one at one time and used it often. There was a special birthday cake recipe that was easy to make with no sink hole in the center. Betty Crocker cook books have been around for a very long time, not sure how long, but there are many different ones out and if I am not mistaken, a new one almost every year. I have one I wouldn't part with as it has my favorite molasses cookie recipe and a lot of other wonderful easy recipes. I remember being highly insulted when, as a new bride, someone asked if I needed a cook book. The fact was I probably really truly did as I came up with directions from a pinch and snip cook and I couldn't boil water, so my first cook book became my friend indeed, or should I say in need. Both of my daughters are cook book collectors, a hobby taken up most likely to ward off all of those casserole dishes they had to eat and which they now classify as 'comfort foods'. There are some beautiful cook books out there and some wonderful reading within.

Maxine is right on the money this morning. I can rise, thank God, and have a new day to enjoy. Yesterday, my friend Marge and I had a date to go for a walk on the beach and collect flat beach stones. The weather was beautiful and the ocean was wild with four or five huge waves thundering in with hardly breathing space between them. We were not sure for a minute if the tide was coming in or going out but we soon learned it was coming in. We went down a cement ramp onto the sand and hiked over to the water's edge. The stones were too big in the softer sand so we went to where there were hundreds shining from their place when the water recedes and leaves fancy patterns on the hard sand. I had plastic bags to fill and my camera and watched as Marge seem to challenge the waves as she looked for special stones. I thought she was not paying enough attention as the waves were coming in closer to where she was standing and I thought of that sneaker wave that could catch her unawares. I moved down closer to where she was and was about to tell her of my concern. I wasn't more than ten feet away from her and I had looked at the ocean but did not see any wave cresting close in. They seemed to be moving in slowly as they built and crested heading to the shore. I bent to pick up a stone and without warning I am covered by a sneaker wave which brought me down. I have never felt such strength in waves. Marge was knee deep in the water and saw me go down so rushed over to help me get up. Not an easy task as I am trying to find my camera. My poor ruined camera with those lovely pictures of the big waves was ruined, soaked through, just wouldn't work. How sad as I love my camera and all the pictures I get to take with it. It was not easy to get up out of the water and the muscles were strained and I am hobbling but I am here. I have heard of sneaker waves. I have worried about the little children playing near the breaking waves. I have heard about the people who were caught in one and drowned. Now I truly know what a sneaker wave can do and my future hunt for the treasures of the sea will be done a lot closer to the softer sands. The Oregon beaches are nothing like the beaches on the East Coast. They are different in that we have so many rivers running to the sea and the forests above sending down huge trees creating beaches of drift wood. The currents are strong and the rip tides waiting, and as I understand it, about every thirteenth wave is a sneaker, the one with tremendous power and one to be very wary of.

Here's Marge, who didn't know whether to laugh or cry as she saw me down and very wet from my chin to my feet. My shoes are filled with newspaper to absorb the wetness and my clothing in the wash ready to be made new again. What a mess and the water didn't even feel cold. Our lunch date was called off so we could get home and dry out, but she worried and came over to make sure I was okay. In the picture she is wearing one of her creations so you can see why we go hunting for flat beach stones. We did get some beauties yesterday so I can hardly wait to see what she does with them. I know she said she had the tumbler going so you know they will be glowing as they make up into lovely necklaces. So Marge, if you are reading my blog this morning, thanks for the use of your arm . . . I hope it isn't pulled out of the socket. I am 'stiff as a board' but up and moving and still cannot believe that a sneaker wave came in that fast and furious. So we live to go 'agate' hunting again. The storms are moving in for a few days and then the sun will come out and show us where the pretty stones are at the edge of the water, just don't go without me.

So today, keep in mind things happen in seconds and your life can change. Make today a good one and go carefully about your business. Stop and think about those seconds in your life and make good use of them. Hugs to all.