Taking advantage of a cheap hotel rate, I did a 24 hour run to Ocean City, MD and back, in search of clarity.

Unfortunately, I don’t know that I found clarity. I found a less-than-clean hotel room, but a pleasant pool and a nice view of Assawoman Bay. I enjoyed sitting in the sunny breeze in a bathing suit, and receiving a mild sunburn (really – it was fine), but as I stood with a few others, watching the sun set across the bay, I wondered if the photos I’d just shot would just take up GB on my hard drive, never to be looked at. I’d only brought my tiny cheap point ‘n shoot Canon with me. Somehow it didn’t seem wise dragging the DSLR with me on a solo trip.

Traffic was non-existent. Bay Bridge, Rt 50 — hell, even rolling into Ocean City it was quiet. North Baltimore Street had some light traffic, but nothing like I’d expected. Apparently with school systems starting before Labor Day, the weekdays ahead of the holiday are kind of quiet. I even managed to drive up the coast a bit, cruising through Dewey Beach and onto Rehoboth. Again, a very easy trip. Very pretty too. Bike lanes the entire stretch of the way, with several folks making use of them. I’m not sure I’d want to bike along a 55 mph road, but it’s available if I want to.

I wish that here at home I had a decent view of the sun rising in the morning. In the above photo, that’s the ocean at sunrise, with a cloud bank blocking the sun. I’ve seen that a handful of times and I still love the look of it when I see it. The clouds look like distant mountains – or at least I can make my brain think that. The colors, the quiet, and the sense that I’m seeing something alone. This is mine. I always enjoy the view. I’d hope that if I lived by the ocean, I wouldn’t eventually take it for granted.

So I’m home now. I’ve started cleaning up while my husband is still away at a trade show. The hard cleaning – pulling down the drapes, thorough vacuuming, taking inventory and purging a few items ahead of tomorrow’s trash collection. Part of this is procrastination. I should be writing. I should be neck deep in story and putting to paper all the things I learned reading Larry Brooks”Story Engineering’. Instead I’m wearing the grungiest clothes I could find and contemplating the next load of laundry while a thunderstorm begins outside.