T Stands For A Day At The Beach Edition + ICADS

Happy Tuesday Friends!

I am writing this on Tuesday morning.  I was too tired last night to do anything and ended up falling asleep on the couch watching Bosch (again).  I do love Titus Welliver as Harry Bosch, talk about perfect casting.  After he started in the show, they even changed the narrator of the audiobooks and got Titus to narrate them, how cool is that.  BTW someone asked about audiobooks in a previous post – I get a lot of mine from the library, or I buy second hand books on tape or CD and convert them to digital, or there is always Audible which costs £7.99 for one audiobook a month.  They also have awesome sales several times a year where you can pick up really cheap audiobooks in bulk.

I’ve been playing with my Chromebook in between outings, and have a new favourite app – it’s called Duolingo and it’s a language learning app. It was on a list of best apps to add to your Chromebook so I thought I’d give it a try.  Like most of these things, there is of course a paid version and a free version.  I don’t buy apps so I am of course using the free version.  Languages include Spanish, French, German, Italian, Portuguese, Dutch, Arabic, Danish, Welsh, Scottish Gaelic, Irish, Japanese and many more. I am brushing up my dusty French to start off with, but I plan to move on to Spanish (I only know the bad words from watching Narcos lol – if you need me to swear at a Colombian drug lord, then let me know.) and maybe Dutch so I can talk to my Dutch friends in their own language next time I visit and of course I will try the Gaelic.  I did a Gaelic language class about 10 years ago but I’ve forgotten a lot of it.  There are reading, writing, listening and speaking components if you have a microphone in your device, so it’s pretty good and I’m enjoying about 15 mins a day, progressing through the levels.

So, I mentioned outings… we have been having unseasonably warm weather, yes it is June and yes it is “summer” but we don’t usually get such nice weather (mid to high 20s Celsius – 72-80F) and so I had to take advantage, get some vitamin D, and go to the beach! I’ve been three times since last Wednesday and I’m going back again tomorrow!  I love the sea!

Technically I live close to the beach already, there are beaches all up and down the coast here and I live about 10 mins away from one, but the one I like is a little further up and about 30 mins away, so that’s the one I went to. From this beach there is an uninterrupted view of the Isle of Arran which you can see in the photo below. It is often referred to as “Scotland in miniature” and has a bit of everything, lots of unspoilt wilderness and mountains and very few people live there. There’s a ferry service that runs from the next town over, multiple times a day, and takes about 55 mins.

Here’s a look back at the town from the beach, the tide was out…

There are some pretty expensive houses there and one hotel which you can see in the middle.  It’s a spa hotel, one of the old Victorian hydro hotels where people used to come and “take the waters” for their health a hundred years or so ago.  As you can see, there is nothing built up here, no high rises etc, and it’s pretty quiet.

I went for a walk along the beach, paddling in the water which was lovely and warm at ankle depth and got a lot colder as it got up to my knees.

The schools don’t break till the end of June, and then it will get a lot busier here, but on a weekday afternoon, it was just a few people walking their dogs, swimming in the sea and enjoying the sunshine. The dogs were having a great time diving into the sea and chasing balls.  There is a small river that runs into the sea from here and so there was fresh water available for them to drink if they got thirsty.  Below is a short video (18 seconds) just to give you the panorama view.

eotc seamill beach 140623 by EOTC

Today’s Art . . .

Today’s art is a sketch I did on my second beach visit on Friday, when I sat outside with my lunch (again) but this time I brought my sketchbook, and did some sketching.

It was such a lovely way to spend an afternoon, and it was so quiet. I watched the ferry go back and forth from Arran.
In my drink photos below, you will see this view.

ICAD 2023

I followed the week three prompt of “typography” for my next seven ICADs, but then I also added some drawing and collage from weeks 1 and 2.  I’ve enjoyed combining all three weekly prompts for each of my weekly sets but with a different emphasis on each.

Here’s a look at the seven week 3 ICADs – days 15-21.

And here’s a closer look at them individually, they tell a little story…

eotc icad 2023 week 3 800×600 slideshow by EOTC

Currently Reading . . .

Kitties . . .

Then I ordered some food.  There is something about being at the seaside that makes you want to eat fish and chips, or seafood, or something salty.  I don’t eat fish any more but I kept thinking about chips all day so I ordered some to go with my house salad (vegan version).  Unfortunately my “vegan” house salad turned up with a boiled egg on the top and I had to tell them it wasn’t a plant haha. (Actually they had just sent the regular house salad).  The second vegan house salad turned up looking like this and was delicious.  It was just exactly what I wanted to eat and was very refreshing.  Those are pea shoots on the top, some sliced apple, pickled radishes, and all the usual salady things, like lettuces, cherry tomatoes, red onion, peppers, cucumber etc.  It was a very good day at the seaside for me.