Some days it's malachite and sapphire; some days it's silver and graphite and slate. Some days it's emerald and turquoise and other days it's peridot and aquamarine. Some days, like today, it's milky opal and pearl. But in eleven and a half years it has never, ever looked the same way twice.
My aunty lives on the beachfront at Paekakariki. She has fabulous views across to the South Island, and over to Kapiti Island. I have spend hours and hours at her place, sitting in the big picture windows, and just looking.
ReplyDeletePaekakariki Beach at sunset. You can see the South Island in the distance.
Gorgeous.
ReplyDeleteDon't you love the way perspective does its thing with tide and horizon lines off into the distance?
was just thinking the very same thing today, since there are walls of water which resemble cliffs of white marble
ReplyDeleteThere's something very soothing about the still repetition of the waves at ebb tide. Soul restoring places, beaches.
ReplyDeleteAlso places for thinking, and long conversations. Whenever any of us had misbehaved, Aunty would take us for a walk along the beach, and have a little chat to us. I never actually got to have a "walk along the beach," but a couple of my brothers did. She's moved onto her grandchildren now... Lest you think she's a terrible harridan - she is not! But she has a lovely gentle way about her that makes you able to see what has gone wrong, and why, and helps you to resolve to do a bit better in the future.
You're very homesick, aren't you.
ReplyDeleteIt's not that far away. Not really.
I lived beside Henley Beach, once. I remember the pink nights most clearly.
ReplyDeleteWonderful to see a photo where the sun sets correctly - in the west, over the ocean. Surprisingly few Australians appreciate that this is The Way Things Are Meant To Be.
ReplyDeleteBrings to mind a winter visit several years ago when - travelling north along Port Wakefield Road - I was accompanied by the gulf's extensive mudflats reflecting the late afternoon sun glimmering through thin high cloud.
That has to be something special, glancing over your left shoulder on a long drive and being able to see nothing but mother of pearl.
Like Deborah, homesick.
TFA
You're very homesick, aren't you.Yes, but it's exacerbated at the moment by a general sense of missingness; my partner is away at a conference for a while. I might take the girls for a walk along a beach to cheer us all up.
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