Hey, would ya look at that? This week Sunday Snapshots is only ONE day late. Who knows, maybe by next Sunday I might actually have gotten my act together enough to post on Sunday itself!
Once a week we pack up Gabzilla (she really is being rather beastly of late!) and a camera or two and head out to a nearby beach and hike around the rocks, sit and talk and just try and decompress from the past week. This past Sunday was typical - we were running late because of our propensity to be layabouts on the day that The Big Guy designated as a day of rest. Or something like that.
Matt stayed home this time and did whatever is is that 19 year old males who don't feel the need to spend time with the 'rents, do. Please don't fill me in on what those activities might be as I'd really rather remain ignorant. Although, when we got home, the back deck was cleared up of all the leaves and other assorted debris from Meg's last shindig before she left for BMT. His room was also cleaned up and he had a load of laundry going. If that's typical 19 year old male behavior I am more than happy to support that kind of thing...if it's not, then don't blow my little bliss-bubble by telling me what they really get up to!
We got out to Land's End just as the sun was beginning to sink into the western horizon so the light wasn't exactly wonderful. Gaby was absolutely mesmerized by the noise that a large metal deck that was attached to a small island, with a single home perched on it, was making in the wind. She was certain there was a sea monster trying to swim for the shore at Land's End and stalked around the beach trying to keep a wary eye out for the approaching monster.
Whilst Gaby and the hubby kept a mindful watch for the sea monster, I tracked the incoming fog from the ocean...
click to enlarge all photos
I decided that the shots of whatever the heck that pointy thing out in the distance, (I've been shooting that thing for nearly three years now and I have no earthly clue as to what it is) is, was beginning to get boring so I thought I'd head up over the western slope of the cliffs at Land's End and see if I could get some shots of the fog rolling in and ascending the cliff. Gareth and Gaby had no desire to come with me as they were far to engrossed in the sounds the sea monster was making and Gaby was bound and determined to catch said sea monster and protect the beach at Land's End by throwing rocks into the frothy surf in an attempt to keep the beast from landing ashore!
Did any of you happen to notice the most important part of that last run-on sentence masquerading as a paragraph? Come on, take another look...did you catch it yet? Here, I'll help you. "...head up over the western slope of the cliffs..."
Cliffs. Slopes with cliffs. Sharp pointy cliffs with brown craggy rocks...slippery rocks from a Saturday spent being deluged by nearly 5 inches of rain. Moss covered nooks and crannies filled with salty sea water. Cliffs.
I wasn't planning on scaling to the top, but I didn't think trying to get a better vantage point along the lower side of the cliffs, where a path was still visible and other intrepid photographers had gone, was going to be such a big deal...so why couldn't I inch my way along the cliff's side?
Ha! Using the word "intrepid" as any sort of adjective in regards to me is a joke!
I spent more time navigating those nooks and crannies and trying to balance myself, rather precariously I might add, while futilely trying to hold my telephoto lens still while I tried to pop off a moody shot of the fog edging it's way in from the water and up the cliff-side. The damned camera lens threw me off balance more than once. Well it was either that or my fat ass. I tried to compensate by sticking all the junk in my trunk out a little bit as the lens and the camera pulled me forward. Then my massive camera bag swung forward and nearly toppled me over. I must have looked like Madea doing the Electric Slide as I tried to regain my balance!
This is my totally non-awesome shot of that cliff from my very precarious perch...
But hey...I tried. I came, I saw, I just didn't do so much of the conquering. Although, had I slipped and fell, it would have made for pretty good blog fodder...well, that is, had my brains not ended up splattered all over the cliff side at Land's End.
By the time I turned around and was making my way back towards Gareth and Gaby, Gareth was actually not too far away and that big vein on the side of his head was bulging which told me he'd seen my endeavors to get the shot I wanted and it was making him very nervous. He just looked at me and said, "Bloody Hell woman, thank God you're not a wild life photographer!" Give me time dearest...give me time!
With the last of the day's light rapidly fading I decided to get a couple shots of the statue that looks out over the bay at Land's End, and of course, some of the sea monster hunter herself.
Gaby wanted in on the action with the big greenish-rusty guy, so we sat her up there, where she promptly held onto her sea shell and would not move her hand from that position or let anyone hold her shell for her, no matter what we said! And what is up with the crossed legs? *lol* The more I think I have her figured out, the more she confounds me...and makes me laugh!
After a few more shots it was time to head home and put dinner together, but not without one final stop to try and get a shot of the fog rolling into an inlet that I have been dying to get for years. I hadn't taken into consideration all the trees that lined this inlet and there is no way in hell I would have gotten down the slope and back up again without seriously maiming myself! How I wish those trees didn't line that slope! I couldn't quite capture how spooky and eerie the Maine-coastal-ghost-story-vibe it was giving off, was.
One of these days I'm going to actually get the shot I want. We have hundreds of these inlets, if not thousands of them. And when I do finally get it, I'm probably going to have a massive cardiac event out of sheer shock and no one will ever know I got it because I'll either be dead or comatose. So hubby dearest, let that be a lesson to you to always check my flash cards in the event that I have a heartastroke whilst out shooting!
OK so I fibbed. We made one more impromptu stop along the way home when I noticed the fog rolling in across the marsh. One last click before the light was gone altogether and my chances for the day, gone with it. One last photo before my family took my camera strap and strangled me with it!
**********
I've gotten a couple of really touching emails over the last two weeks, since we announced that Gareth had lost his job. I am not sure how to answer them. A few really lovely people wanted to know how we were doing. At this point we're OK. Things are tight and we have no clue when Gareth's unemployment benefits will come through but we're holding tight to the fact that another job will come along in due time. Realistically we know that we're probably looking at 3-6 months and that scares me.
My mental health care provider is willing to work with me on my bill which is a huge blessing seeing as how we only have coverage through December and can't afford COBRA after that, even with the reductions that were put into place by the government.
As far as the house? To be honest, we don't know. It might be futile to try and hang onto it and just hope that we have enough time before the foreclosure proceedings force us out, for Gareth to get another job. That's a horrible thing to admit. But the plain truth of the matter is, there is not enough money to make the mortgage payment and take care of our basic needs.
And as far as work out there? There just isn't any. I hate to talk about it though because there have been some rather unfeeling people that have said to us, "Well isn't it great that Obama's plans are working and look at all the jobs he's saved and is creating!" No, I don't think it's great. We are surrounded by people losing their jobs and their homes and everything that means anything to them and now we're in the same boat. I don't know a single person who is reaping the rewards of the stimulus plans.
I know I might sound bitter, and I'm not. Just feeling a little weather-worn and beaten. Despite all of that, we might be down, but we are not defeated. We'll get through this. It may come to the point where we have to ask for help, and we'll deal with it when the time comes. The thing is, we'll survive and we'll be stronger and better for it in the end...of that, I've never been more sure.
