Life's a beach

"The cure for everything is salt water - sweat, tears, or the sea." 

~ Isak Dinesen (Karen Blixen)

For a glorious weekend my life was very much a beach. Or several beaches.

I went for a quiet early-morning swim on Saturday (a serious contender for best swim of my 29 years, but that award still goes to the naked swim on Inishbofin). I could have stayed in the water all day, but after half an hour I started feeling the cold, and when I got home I realised I was frozen to the bones and shaking and ended up blow-drying my knees. It was worth it. That swim restored all the energy that had been draining out of me.

Later there was an afternoon swim and a rather crowded beach (by Irish standards). My usual panic reflex at the sight of crowds was miraculously turned off and I enjoyed it and even braved town afterwards.

Sunday morning started with a run on the prom, and I would have jumped straight into the water, but I didn't have the car with me and didn't want to run with a bag attached to my body, so it was 9.30am by the time we made it to the beach. We moved to the pebbled area, as the sandy part was filling up with people, and I swam and we had a plein air breakfast.

By last night I was feeling drunk on sun and salt water (ok, and wine).

My usual neat freak tendencies surrender easily when it comes to sand in the house and in my car - it makes me very happy. A rotation of bikinis and towels on the clothes line and salt in my tangled hair - these are the times when my house feels even more like a holiday cottage and I am constantly reminded that I live where I would go for a vacation.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The perfect sea scents for at home are two drops each of rosemary, lavender and cypress essential oils in the oil burner (a blend from this book, which I cannot recommend enough, and I know I keep mentioning it - it has opened up the world of scents for me and the endless possibilities for mixing them). These days I have the windows open all day, and then at night I burn oils, and the scents from outside and inside all mingle, and it is such a nice ritual before bed, accompanying the transition to sleep.