Toys and Time: Do You Have Enough?
I’m sitting about 100 feet above the Pacific Ocean in Lincoln City on a sunny morning, following a three-mile walk on the beach to get breakfast at the first place we came across. Jay, the owner of Vivian’s Restaurant & BBQ, greeted us, was our server, and a lot more. His place is named after his in-laws, and the guy truly loves his place on Earth. We didn’t talk much about the food, but we did get a lesson in the behaviors and language of the local birds.
An egret that was on the prowl when we arrived makes way for the heron that is dominant along this small lake that feeds the “world’s shortest river,” a.k.a. D River. Jay told us about this pecking order in addition to his observations of the gulls that keep sentry nearby to announce to the rest of the flock in hearing distance that the ducks are being fed. The ducks don’t get much, but what they do get is unbuttered. They don’t butter the toast here because kids can’t help but feed the birds, nor can Jay, and at least this way, the birds aren’t getting the worst of what we can offer them.
Because we had time to sit awhile and listen to the proprietor, we were able to share something that would have never been known about this little corner of the world had we been in a hurry or simply driven to some fast food joint. Time was the precious commodity that gave this experience to us.
Back in our room at the Pelican Shores Inn, I opened up my computer and checked to see how many people commented on the photo we posted as we started our walk up the beach. On my phone, I play with two people who are battling me in Words with Friends. I open a blank document and look for inspiration to start writing. Before finding it, I make the rounds through my current favorite websites, such as KVRaudio, Pinchplant, Synthtopia, the Reaktor user library, and even AnalogueHaven, as I’m always tempting myself to throw another Eurorack module into a shopping cart.
This is my brief dip into a few of the places that satisfy my need to play with toys. While this very computer I’m writing on is a primary tool in my toy box, there are other gadgets and dreams of new hobbies that are yet to drain my wallet.
Just for your knowledge, this computer is not something I do “chores” with – it is essential to my daily fun. Not only do I scour the world for information or keep abreast of what my friends are eating, but I also play. Sitting on my taskbar are tools for making 3D art, sculpting, painting, photo manipulation, creating audio samples, composing music, editing video, and then a couple of things I don’t even know how to use, but someday I’ll open them up, stream in a tutorial and know as little about it as I do some other things, but I’m happy.
So here on vacation, I have the best of all worlds: toys, time, and things to do, such as walks along the ocean and eating. In other words, I’m creating experiences. I’m not watching television; I’m not at the hookah lounge watching TV and smoking; I’m not asking if you’d like fries with that – this is my time, and I’d venture a wager that not enough of us do that.
But now it’s about to become housekeeping time as our visit to this hotel is coming to a close. In a few minutes, we have to check out so my thoughts will have to continue down the road and from another experience.
View from our room. That was the beach we walked to the left on for breakfast and subsequently returned on.
Someday, I’ll count the number of photos we’ve taken of one or both of us standing under a rainbow, but for now, I’ll just put it out there that it’s probably been thousands. Okay, so I’ll admit right now that this is likely loaded with exaggeration, but that’s the size of the fish, and I’m sticking to it.
In continuing our theme of going slow on this trip, we stopped at Toasted in Depoe Bay for some coffee, knitting, and writing. If you could read the screen, you’d see this next block of text as it was being written:
Caroline’s eating Toe-Jam in the rain while Soft Cell asks Where Has Our Love Gone? That’s our midday on the Oregon coast. I should offer some clarification: we are in a coffee shop out of the rain, and Toe-Jam is this shop’s name for whole-grain bread with apricot jam and feta; the eighties music, sadly, is what it is. This is likely the first time we’ve ever stopped in Depoe Bay for more than staring at the surf that puts on a great display here as a blow-hole shoots water up out of the rocks during certain tidal events.
Today though, is gray, and the sea is relatively calm. We’re not worried about things as the weather is in constant flux and can change every ten minutes.
Her feeding has me feeling like it’s my time to do likewise, and so instead of leaving this to chance, I search for my best options; Sea Hag in Depoe Bay or Local Ocean Seafoods in Newport. The Hag wins for the name, but the fresh fish options down the road look to be the better draw. So I’ll pack up and get going before I ever really got going here in this meager attempt at writing something or other.
Late lunch meets early dinner, or will we throw caution to the wind and overeat? Our first encounter with Local Ocean Seafoods in Newport, Oregon, will not be our last. This dish of whatever it was, must have been yummy because the place impressed both of us.
The sky has opened up to let the sunshine through once more in the time it took us to drive from Depoe Bay to Newport and have lunch.
This is the rest of the day where the ocean, sun, clouds, birds, sand, and other elements command our attention, and we do little else than offer our obeisance.
It was a long walk down the beach to this very short cave and a unique view of the ocean.
Who’s looking at whom?
Just taking it all in and giving things very little thought.
The view from our room in Yachats and the end of my brief writing for this day. Sometimes, you just gotta chill.
