We had a weekend away last weekend - one of those that doesn't exactly turn out as planned. It was Mark's birthday weekend so we wanted it to be special, but expecting 'special' in February in the Northwest is already pushing one's luck. We had some great weather, but we had some lousy weather too, and some great food and some lousy food, and some great times but, well, some not-so-great times too. Mark got sick. We were worried, being so far from a decent medical facility and without the sort of home medical aids - thermometer, ice pack, heating pad, over-the-counter meds - that you would otherwise count on for evaluating just HOW sick and getting through it. He rallied enough for some fantastic walks on the beach though.
Anyway, good stuff and bad, excitement and disappointment... Sort of the summary of Life. It makes me wonder why, after all these years, I can't adjust to 'less-than expected' with more grace.
So - to accentuate the positive, pictures and factoids about the beach - Cannon Beach, Oregon, actually:
Low tide around Haystack Rock reveals tide pools full of starfish and sea anemones (I always manage to reverse the 'm' and the last 'n' but maybe now that I've had to spell it I can get it right!) According to the 'Naturalist' there at the beach, neither species breathes exactly - so they aren't in danger of dying while exposed to the air through the tide change - they just absorb enough water to hold them over. (Makes me wonder how they got classified as 'animal' instead of 'plant.') And they live upwards of 80 years!
Starfish may not breathe but they excrete nitrogen waste through their feet. Handy. Since they are mostly feet and all. They can regenerate those feet too. And they eat mussels. I just have no idea how or with what.
And here's an interesting thing about Sand Dollars - a whole shell of which I actually found on the beach: Their larvae can clone themselves as means of self-defense. (And they actually have a soft skin of sorts, so the live ones are greenish, bluish or purple and their 'podia' give them a velvet-like appearance. Who knew?)
Anyway - more pictures of Cannon Beach - already seen here many times before:
