Ocean City Kites

A month ago today, Mike and I were in Ocean City for the last day of its September kite festival.  The kites are now one of my favorite Ocean City memories.  I cried at the beauty of them and at the thought that there's no real reason for them but that instead, this is something enough people wanted to do just to add some beauty and joy and whimsy and fun to other peoples'--completes strangers'--days.  It was just so touching to me.  

'Flying pigs (always my favorite  ♥), rainbows, larger-than-life seagulls,

swordfish or marlin,

soccer players and soccer balls--so charming!--

dragons,

stingrays and seahorses,

giant horses,

Pegasus (!), with a black and white cat under him that looked more than a bit like our own  ♥, more stingrays, and a black and white dog, 

 --I could cry again looking at these pictures.  The creativity and just-for-the-joy-of-it!  ♥  Some of these kites lit up, so even while walking on the beach or boardwalk at night, we could enjoy them.  The wonder!  A huge elephant and whale were about to get off the ground just as we were leaving town, and at some point, I saw in other peoples' photos, there were larger-than-life scuba divers in the air too.  We did see penguins, fish, more rainbows, more dragons, and my beloved flying pigs again, though. 

♥ 

The kites were enchanting even from a distance, 

and I had a favorite photo of them from the weekend turned into postcards after we returned home.  Ohhh, sweet Ocean City!  I love it so.

♥

I Made It Back

Blessed by a return trip to Ocean City this past week, after having made it there last summer for the first time in twenty-three years, I'm now home with my first-ever real sunburn (on my un-sunscreen-ed shoulders, that were obviously more exposed than I'd realized they would be) memories of great fun with Mr. Mike, for whom this was a first-ever visit to Ocean City, and more lovely pictures.  I could live there so contentedly, and it's done my heart such good to have gotten back.  Silver-glitter toenails, chocolate-vanilla twist cones, the smell of the water/sand/air/boardwalk, Dough Roller pizza slices, the sound of the waves, the cries of the seagulls, the muted horn of the boardwalk tram, the pillow-soft dry sand nearer the boardwalk and the grittier sand along the shore, lightning over the ocean, the wonder that is the Chesapeake Bay Bridge,  the fun of the Kite Loft, sand in my capri pants, the silliness of photo booth pictures, and getting to see it all through someone else's eyes for the first time:  Oh, my sweet Ocean City!  LOVE!  ♥

At trip's end, a rainbow greeted us at the Baltimore airport to kick off the last leg of the trip home.  All the years without vacations of any kind have made these past two beach-visits so much sweeter.  I didn't take a moment of them for granted. 

♥

Lake Erie in November

Thanks to my mom, Saturday was a free night at an Erie hotel to enjoy the fall color around the lake.  'Rain and lightning the whole way back to Pittsburgh last night, but Saturday was gorgeous.  The foliage was mostly yellow by the shore but more colorful farther into the woods.  It was all beautiful--and a sweet break from routine after an exhausting week.  

And to marvel at when the world is soon covered in the grays, blues, and whites of winter, a video of the color around some of the swamps and ponds throughout the park:
 
Ah, fall!   ♥  

Shades of Ocean City