He Restoreth My Soul

I don't think it is any great surprise that "He leadeth me beside still waters" comes before "He restoreth my soul." My entire life I have LOVED the water in general and the ocean in particular. I feel so blessed that God chose me to grow up in Washington state where I had many opportunities to go to the ocean as well as man lakes and rivers. I feel I can only be gone from the ocean so long, before the desire to see and smell it wells up inside of me. The city can be so claustrophobic at times, especially in the summer with the heat and smog. We all find relief from our allergies at the shore. One of our favorite places to travel to for the day is Goat Rock Beach in the Sonoma Coast State Park. At first it seemed like everything was going against us to get there. The night before while getting ready we found a screw in the front tire, so we had to go to the tire center in the morning. This made our departure time two hours later than usual and we hit horrible traffic because of the time and the races at Sears Point.

We stopped first in Bodega, just inland from Bodega Bay. We sometimes stop here and photograph the quaint St. Teresa's Church and the Potter School House which is the schoolhouse used in Alfred Hitchcock's The Birds. We have never been able to go in as it is usually closed when we are there and now I am glad. My friend Shelley saw on a tv show that they hold seances there! Yuck! Across the street from them is a quaint little cottage that is an antique store. Generally it is closed as well but I take photographs there of the English cottage style flower garden in the front and on the side.

This time I went in as it was open. I wanted to thank them for their lovely garden. It was one of the more interesting antique stores I have ever been in. They had very good quality items and no junk. It was very clean and displayed charmingly. One could purchase anything from depression glass to antique pistols, to china tea cups to colonial spoon silver! I love the door knob plate. I think my fascination with antique door plates and knobs came from my Aunt Grace's 100+ year old house. My Grandmother also had clear glass door knobs and less ornate plates. If I am ever blessed one day to live in the appropriately styled house, I would also like to incorporate some antique plates and knobs. Somehow it's just not fitting on a 1973 mobile home! LOL

Does anyone know wha tthis flower is called? The bees were all over it!

Here's another bee, this time on thistle. I was really wishing this weekend I had gotten the micro lens! I am always in the search for the perfect thistle shot, because of my love of Scotland.

Just outside of the town of Bodega is this quaint hillside cemetery. Sometimes you see sheep feeding nearby. Today as I was leaving there was actually a service for a family, but most of the graves are old and interesting. It is part my passion for texture and design in art and part my interest in genealogy that makes me strangely fascinated with old graveyards.

The biggest surprise of the day were these LOVELY Amarylis called "Naked Ladies". I had never seen them before. We don't generally go to the coast in August because we usually travel to family in Washington at that time. They looked so funny because they have a stalk without leaves (thus "naked") and they are so intense pink that they almost look like someone shoved plastic flowers in the ground!

Another bee...I always take bee pictures for my friend Shelley. It is in the throat of the central flower.

I am also intrigued about old barns, farm buildings and houses. I always wonder about their stories and the times they have seen. This one is protected by trees on the hillside overlooking the ocean.

This photo was taken from the bluff looking towards Arched Rock Beach. The lighting wasn't great but it was beautiful.

Then I turned south and saw all these crazy surfers. Some of them did pretty well, but they were all wearing wet suits...this water is COLD! No surfing in bikinis and shorts here!

And these are the first finished object I have made for myself in ages. I call them my "Aurora Borealis" socks because that is what they remind me of. These are the socks I mentioned that are knit from Socks That Rock Azure Malachite.
I have large feet, as evidenced here, so I just made ankle socks without pattern since the yardage is lower. I felt they were closer to sport weight than fingering and it was a very firmly spun yarn which had a tendency to curl back on itself. The yarn almost has a cotton feel to it, but I do like them. Too warm to be wearing them now!!! The color in the pictures is a little off. The darkest color is a royal purple and the lightest is aqua. There is medium blue and a bit of grass green thrown in there. The way the patterning happened was serendipity. I never plan or coordinate my patterned socks to be identical twins. I love the adventure of fraternal twins! :o) (Besides I have enough identical twins in my life now! LOL)

I photographed another lovely sock which I can't show you just yet until my sock partner Charlotte receives it. But this is a sock I am working on for my Aunt Grace, also an ankle sock from a pattern she likes and her yarn. It's a lovely, soft superwash which is about DK weight. It makes a firm but spongey fabric which she really likes. Unfortunately arthritis keeps her from knitting now and so I am making some for her.

This is my hubby! I don't really have any reason to put him here except that I love to see his face! :o) Love you hon! He is eating a scrumptious cookie I found for him at Whole Foods Market. It's basically a brownie cooked as a cookie. Yummers!

This is me with J. She really had fun having family time. I think it is hardest for her when we have busy weeks and our time is not centered around the kids.

The girls really had fun playing with the seaweed, which is pretty hilarious since their Daddy was terrified of it when he saw it at the ocean when he was 3! (it wrapped around his feet) His sister always teases him about that.

J is in the pink and A in the yellow. J always loves looking back to see if she is being chased.

Our happy girl J, running around with the seaweed.

Blowing bubbles with Dad was a big treat. The kids all had their own bottles, but the bubbles were coming mainly from Daddy, who was the only one who didn't spill his bubble solution! :o)

A perches herself on Daddy's lap any chance she gets!

In this small version you cannot really see it but the bubble solution is being sprayed out into the air. She gave it her best shot!

Hubby and the kids took a walk down the beach and I took pictures with my zoom lens. See the waves crashing on the rock behind Hubby?

Hubby shares my love of photography and has been learning more recently. It is so nice that we share our art and creativity, some together and some separately, but we each understand the need to create.

The girls loved the waves. The surf at this beach is wild which is why I like it. It's very dangerous to be in the water because of rip tides and sleeper waves. But, it is beautiful to watch.

I didn't even knit a stitch while at the beach. I usually do. It's a three hour drive and it was a long week of lots of activity and I was tired and lazy. I sat down here and this is the view I had. I did read my book for Sunday School class and I just enjoyed people watching and smelling the wonderful fresh sea air.

And this is what I watched when I looked up from my book!

I shouldn't have been so lazy because I probably would have gotten good shots if I had gotten up and gone over there but I didn't want to pack up all the stuff and move by myself, so I enjoyed the Zoom and just soaking it all in. He restoreth my soul...sometimes there is a time to just sit.

This little guy was about the size of a kitten and it was his first trip to the beach....he wasn't sure about the water!

When the kids came back they said, "Guess what Mommy?! We watched the tide come in. It was cooooool!" :o)

Hubby got a little sketching done on his small water color pad, so that he can paint it later. I'll have to do a post of his art some time.

J had so much fun playing with Daddy and the seaweed. She would come up close as if to sneak up to him and then he would jump out with a roar, making her jump and giggle hysterically!

Here's J and Daddy The Sea Monster...You can see her startled delight in her body language.

More giggles and delight!

Then I turned to see this...no telling what was going through "the Diva's" mind! A has had a flare for drama from birth. We have called her princess so many times, I am afraid she is beginning to take it seriously! LOL

Watch out Indiana Jones! A is coming after you with her sea whip!

D, who is also a budding artist, enjoyed watching Daddy drawing with his mechanical pen.

A few more shots before leaving the beach...do you see that green in the water?!

And look at this. The lighting is not great but maybe you can see the bottle green color in the wave.

And this was magnificent to watch as we drove away. These birds are pelicans! We always see them at this beach but this was the first time we had seen so many of them flying together.

A closer shot of the pelicans flying against the sun and overcast clouds.

Then I looked down and saw these seagalls and the lovely glass green hue of the sea.

As we drove up the hill, I stopped to take this eery looking photo. It was about 7 PM, but the clouds got dark with sun shining silvery through onto the water.

This is looking down where we were. The largest rock is Goat Rock. That is where the waves were crashing. I was sitting at a rock (small spot on photo) between the seastack on the left and the waterline.

Up the hill and around the corner, more incredible views in every direction.

The lighting wasn't best but I love the view here and some time when the kids are older I would love to go on the trail that you see winding on the right. At the moment having three young adventurers on the cliff side...I think I would probably end up with a heart attack!

Thanks if you made it this far! I'll leave you with this parting shot!