Wishing For Salt And Sand

January in Seattle can be brutal.  Gray, chilly, and damp for days on end.  We still try to get outside as much as possible, but as I'm bracing against a cold, wet wind, I can't help but long for the sunny days of summer.

Today I'm linking up with Joyce From This Side Of The Pond for Wednesday Hodgepodge (as per usual, I'm a few days late), and it's all about salt and sand.  Which is the perfect escape from the weather going on outside my window.  I also realized that I never shared the beautiful pictures my cousin Beth took this summer during our family reunion in Manzanita, and they fit right in with the theme!

The cure for anything is salt water - tears, sweat, or the sea (Isak Dinesan).  Would you agree?  Of the 3, which has 'cured' you most recently?

I've shed a lot of tears the last few months, and sweat my way through plenty of workouts. But the sea has always been my healing place.  I feel connected to everything when I'm on the beach, and worries fall into perspective.  It's perfection.

What's something you can't eat without salt?  Do you normally salt your food a lot, a little, or not at all?

Eggs.  Hard boiled, fried, scrambled.  I love them all, but only if there's salt on top. Unless it's an egg, I don't use a lot of salt.

Sands of time, bury your head in the sand, built on sand, or draw a line in the sand...which sandy phrase could best be applied to something in your life right now?

Oh boy, the sands of time are really getting to me these days.  As I head toward 50, it's dawned on me that I've probably lived more years than I have left (although Grandpa Ed might disagree), which is a very sobering thought. The worst part of getting older is that everyone else is getting older with you.  Inevitably, you start to lose the ones that you love. The only answer?  Enjoy each day, love hard, and look for happiness.

A favorite book, movie or song with an island setting or theme?

Jonathan Livingston Seagull is one of my favorite books of all time.  50 First Dates is a favorite movie, set in Hawaii. And who doesn't love any song by The Beach Boys?

Yesterday - did you run your day, or did it run you?  How so?

One of my goals for 2017 is to get better organized with my days, because most of the time, they run me.  Between working in our business, spending time on my blog, and keeping the family chugging along, there aren't enough hours. I'm terrible at focusing on one thing at a time, and then I get distracted by all the interesting things on the Internet. Focus, I need to focus.

You're on an island holiday.  Will I most likely find you parked in a beach chair, shopping in town, on the back of a jet ski, or snorkeling off the back of a catamaran?

Well, how many days do I have for this holiday?  You could find me doing all those things, if I had enough time.  But if I have to pick one, I'd be sitting on the beach with a good book or two, preferably with kids playing frisbee nearby.

What do you think we humans most take for granted?

Time.  It feels like we have so much of it, until we don't.  "We have so much time, and so little to do.  Strike that, reverse it".  -Roald Dahl

Happy weekend, everyone.  I hope you can take some time to look for happiness!