Party @ the Padre Island National Seashore

I have always been a family-oriented, outdoor-adventure-lovin’ gal.

But in the Year of the ‘VID, I’ve developed a whole new appreciation for seeing the people I love best, and for the freedom offered by the wide open spaces of the great outdoors. As mask orders accumulate across the country, it becomes an unspeakable gift to run around outside without something plastered to your face.

So when a recent trip home to Texas provided a chance for a family excursion to the Padre Island National Seashore, I was all for it.

The Seashore, affectionately known as PINS, is a 70-mile stretch of coastline consisting of sand and saltwater, dunes and prairie, complete with turtle nesting grounds and an obscene number of seagulls and pelicans. Armed with surfboards, snacks, and a well-stocked cooler, the husband, my dad, my brothers, and I ventured out on a broiling-hot day in search of sunshine and surf.

Short Stories & Texas Salt

So here’s some exciting news: I’ve just had a short story accepted for publication in an upcoming literary anthology.

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This isn’t my first short story rodeo. But this one is particularly fun, since my tale, “Moonshine,” will be appearing in the inaugural edition of Keep Texas Salty. The debut publication for new Texas press Quartermarch, Salty is to be a collection of poetry and short fiction paying tribute to the Texas Gulf Coast.

And as anybody who reads my blog will tell you, that sort of theme is right up my Texas-surfer-girl alley. As they say, you can take the girl outta Texas, but you can’t take Texas outta the girl. You can, however, distill it into a work of fiction or two.

A magical realism, gothic noir (many thanks to the husband for helping me quantify this strange little story set in Prohibition-era Texas), “Moonshine” isn’t what you’d call a polite tale. But it should fit in just fine given Quartermarch’s aim for the anthology:

Family & Fun in the Sun

You learn a lot about yourself living the Foreign Service lifestyle. There’s nothing like moving every 1-3 years, finding yourself constantly dropped in new situations and new countries, to speed the process of learning who you are (good and bad).

I, for example, have learned this: though I love me an adventure, I’m a rooted person at heart. Living in China and Suriname were irreplaceable experiences… but when all is said and done, I could be happy settling in my hometown, among the family and friends of my childhood. I’ve been to beaches in Hawaii, Mexico, Thailand, Ireland, Curaçao, Aruba, and Costa Rica. Every one of those places has stunningly beautiful coastlines, and I feel so blessed to have been able to visit.

But my favorite beach is still the slice of the Gulf of Mexico I call home.

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  North Packery Beach & Channel

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  Family Favorite Surf Shop

Luckily, I have a husband who takes/sends me home whenever he can. And my recent Texas adventures didn’t disappoint. Of my 11 days back, I made it oceanside on 8 of them. That tallied up to:

• 6 surf sessions with my dad and/or brothers.
• 1 offshore boat trip to snorkel around an oil rig reef
• 1 line-caught fish (though it was just a feisty hardhead we were happy to send back to the sea)
• 1 jellyfish sting across the mouth (weirdest.sensation.ever.)
• 1 stalking of a sea turtle through the waves
• 1 very satisfying bout of “ocean-gazing”

Perhaps only my fellow ocean-lovers will get this, but for me, the sea truly is a balm for my soul. That’s where I’m my happiest, most whole self.

Summertime & Society6 Style

2019 has been the year of launching new projects. In February, I opened the Etsy shop I’d been contemplating for months. In March, I re-started the first draft of NIGHT GARDEN, a novel I hadn’t touched since 2015.

And this summer, I kicked my Society6 shop into gear.

Society6 is, in my (slightly-biased) opinion, one of the coolest online shopping venues around. Artists can upload their original work, then see it transformed into all manner of lifestyle goods ranging from blankets to bar stools, cellphone cases to coffee mugs, shower curtains to stationary.

I was super excited to see what I could do with my paintings. But I was nervous, too. What if my work didn’t showcase well?

But thanks to my most faithful patroness (merci, Mom!), I recently got to road-test some products. The trio of beach towels she’d ordered accompanied me on a father/son/daughter surf session at one of my favorite beaches in the world–North Packery, in my hometown of Corpus Christi, Texas.

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  Packery Channel Jetties

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  A Trio of Towels for the Thassalophile

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  DEVIL DOWN BELOW, painting & towel

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  WATERMAN’S FOLLY, painting & towel

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  ADRIFT, painting & towel

I can now report that the towels held up valiantly to the abuse of sand, sun, and saltwater. And Society6 did an excellent job ensuring every color was vibrant, every detail crisp. A pretty impressive feat, considering that it involved converting 11″ x 14″ paintings into 74” x 37” towels.

Waves & Whimsy

One of my favorite things in the whole, wide world is surfing. My skills are nowhere near that of my dad (who’s literally been surfing for decades) or my brother Hunter. But very few things make my heart as thoroughly, joyfully content as getting out in the waves. It’s therapeutic for my soul, in a way not even writing can touch.

And the fact that surfing’s a family affair is the very sweet cherry atop my wave-catching sundae.

During this trip home to Texas, the weather on the Gulf Coast was consistently misty, adding a cool, eerie cast to my dad and my cold-water surf sessions.

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The low visibility certainly didn’t keep us from saddling up and riding out to catch some waves with the last slivers of “daylight.”

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  Wetsuit donned

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  Dad waxing up the boards

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  My faithful steed, Ol’ Blue

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  Family portrait

Now that’s what I call a good family portrait: me, my dad, our boards, and even my dad’s indestructible-beach-and-hunting-lease-tacklin’-carry-it-all van. The only thing missing was Hunter, who’s busy kickin’ butt at college.

For My Husband on Valentine’s Day

Unfortunately, the husband and I had to spend Valentine’s Day apart this year. Nevertheless, he still managed to spoil me from afar with chocolates and TWO bouquets. And knowing his Texas girl is a fanatic for her home state, he even managed to track down a Lone-Star Living bouquet:

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True to disorganized form, I wasn’t as good at getting a timely gift into his hands. But for my husband, I offer this Sara Groves song (one of my favorites):

Baby can you help me get undone
The party is over and their hearts were won
There’s a zipper in the back
But I can’t reach it on my own
And I am dying to get out of this so

Baby will you help me get undone

I don’t even remember how I got this on
I started out pretending
Now I don’t recognize myself
And I could use a little help

You have no pretenses
All your walls are fences I can see right through
You have no two faces
You know where our place is and that’s why I need you
Oh baby

Baby will you help me get undone
I don’t even remember how I got this on
I started out pretending
Now I don’t recognize myself
And I could use a little help

Cause I started out pretending
Now I don’t recognize myself
And I could use a little help
Oh baby, oh baby, oh baby
Will you help me get undone

Mist & Menace

Loving the eerie, misty look washing in along the Texas Gulf Coast as my dad and I stroll our home beaches.

Feeling slightly less in love with the invasion of the beautiful-but-ever-so-painful Portuguese Man o’ War jellyfish.

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I think I’m glad I’ll be wearing a full-body wetsuit when I go surfing. 😬

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