Time and Tide in Surfside Beach, Texas
It is winter well and good here in Surfside Beach, though spring is not far away. The dunes have gone rustic and withered. Shorebirds limit their activity and gather in large groups of one-legged figurines, beaks into the wind. The sea oats have been stripped bare and are nodding sleepily at the calm water in... Continue Reading →
A dense, soaking fog. A burst of camphor from the dunes as winter takes an intermission and allows a misty, warm morning: this is the lead-in to a cold front, but as warm as it is, high 70s, one would be forgiven for thinking it is spring if not for the faded grasses and flowers.Winter in... Continue Reading →
Fall has officially begun according to the calendar. To most observers, in Southeast Texas that only means it is late September. Our little piece of the planet is drying out from Tropical Storm Imelda. She popped up suddenly off our coast and made landfall about four miles away from our home. For my husband and... Continue Reading →
Time has both stood still and rushed by and generally lost meaning here. My face is raw despite my efforts to protect it. My suit is like so much sagging skin. My legs are drunk-weak. I am ready to simply swim on my back and look up at the deep blue Texas sky.
When I was a child, the Brown Pelican was listed as endangered. I recall, in the late 70s, seeing perhaps one or two Brown pelicans at most on trips to Galveston. In recent decades the bird has bounced back and is now listed as “least concern.” On any given summer day in Surfside Beach, one... Continue Reading →
It’s early spring—wildflower season in Texas. This is our answer to the autumn leaf season in the Northeast United States. This spring has been especially colorful. We had a mild winter that has lingered with cool March days and no blistering heat spikes. The result is a bounty of wildflowers in both the drier climes... Continue Reading →
The big blind dog, the husband, and I sit in the vaulted den, windows open to the dry northwest wind on a clear day. The surf has been blown flat and the slightest shore break caresses the sand. Now and then, waves kicked up by a distant boat or breeze wander in, slap the first... Continue Reading →
Nature does nothing uselessly. -- Aristotle Southeast Texas Salt Marsh Barrier islands in the United States are typically backed by marshland. The marshes have their own magic and sometimes standing on the edge and looking out over the wide stretch of grass and calm, shallow water is as mesmerizing as staring at the sea. Unfortunately,... Continue Reading →
How it began.
When my husband and I bought our first home, it was with the conviction that it was our last home. “This is where I will grow old with him and die,” I told myself.
When the economic growth of the area accelerated and he decided he wanted to sell and move, I was devastated. After a childhood of upheaval, I sought stability and needed to believe my home could remain an island of such in the madness growing around me. In time, I realized it could not and accepted the move.
Our new home, twenty miles south and three hundred square feet smaller, was just as house: nice enough, comfortable, but not that space that said, “Forever.” It was, however, an island. It sat on one of the highest lots in the neighborhood and when Hurricane Harvey struck last fall, the water crept up to the curb but never truly…
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