Hello everyone! I’ve missed you!

You may have noticed I have been absent from blogging – and almost everything else that is not daily routine. I expect you know what it’s like to simply need to pull back for awhile.

Before I go any further, I want to say a huge THANK YOU to the talented Sue Harrison for continuing her helpful posts here for writers. Writing The Third Dimension is excellent teaching, I’m sure you agree. So, again, thank you so much, Sue, for sharing your insights and knowledge with us.

Are any of you are finding what Sue is teaching to be of help to you in your writing? Are you applying any of her suggestions? I plan to when I get back into writing my novel, especially the editing and rewrites where I believe Sue’s teachings will make a huge difference.

Life certainly has its challenges, doesn’t it? One can become quite weary when caring for a stricken loved one even if not always being the one on site. The fact of living one’s life between two households, and trying to keep so many things straight and in order, becomes wearying and stressful – even on the good days. Stress levels go up and down, and – unfortunately for me – with that can come the depression. That has been – and continues to be – one of my underlying challenges to keep managed. Most people can’t tell but it’s always there. It is a sadness, a disappointment with the turns and twists in life, but I am now trying to access ways to relax and find balance for myself.

Our daughter who lives in Alberta came for a visit in August. She was home for ten days, planned so most of it covered a week I am home, which was wonderful. The last time she was here was for an uncle’s funeral in February 2012, so it was so good to get my arms around her again.

We picnicked, eight of us went whale watching – which was completely THRILLING!, and we had family dinners and a time at the cottage. She went fishing with her dad and she and I enjoyed a play day together.

We all should have a day to play! My daughter and I beachcombed on three different beaches, nearly getting stranded in one place which was quite funny although it could have been a real problem. The tides of the Atlantic here in Nova Scotia are the highest in the world – for more information on that refer to this post.

I had just explained to my daughter how it was when I was a kid and we would go to Mum’s relatives’ home for summer vacations. They lived very close to the bay, in fact, it was a short few minutes’ walk to the shore. (What a marvellous place for a child to spend a week or two of one’s summer!)  My daughter parked the car, we walked up over a little bridge and onto a pebbly raised beach to start more beachcombing. After walking a few minutes I looked back and commented to my daughter, “Look how much the water has risen!” When she looked where I was indicating, she exclaimed, “Oh my gosh! Look how high the water is! We have to move the car!” Laughing as we went, we hurried back and waded through water where it had been dry only minutes before. We warned other people there, but the tide was coming in so quickly some may not have been as fortunate as we were. We hoped their engines weren’t under water by the time they could get to their cars, but we couldn’t stay to find out as we had to be elsewhere by a certain time. They weren’t left alone, though, as there were a few other people still there. I told my daughter most people don’t understand how quickly the tide comes in there; years before Mum’s cousin occasionally would have to go out in his boat and rescue people who had been caught off guard.

The above shows low tide, and when the tide comes in you can step right out onto that boat.

Oh, how I love the ocean! I have a short, fun video clip of our little adventure but I’m disappointed that I can’t open it to put here to share with you.

Now please tell me: What fun – unexpected or planned – adventures did you enjoy this summer?

Thanks for reading, and … Creative Musings!  🙂