I’m surrounded by and related to numerous people who love the ocean.  Me, not so much.

I’m a cold weather, jeans and sweatshirt kind of person.  I prefer the smell of simmering pumpkin to the scent of coconut oil in suntan lotion.  I like russet, gold, deep oranges, and warm browns over ocean blues and cool greens.  The promise of a cool quick gust in October quickens my soul as opposed to one of August’s sultry breezes.  I love the sound of crunching leaves under my boots instead of the feel of sand beneath my feet.

I’ve been landlocked here in Louisiana for the past four years.  Strangely enough, I did get to set my feet in the sand this past weekend,  just in time for this week’s photo challenge.  It was brief, no more than fifteen minutes, on the Texas coast.

And what did I enjoy most?  What most people complain about…the seagulls.  They’re so tenacious and so present.  They’re everywhere and so very vocal in their complaining.  I find their cries haunting.  They remain on the beach long after all the tourists have gone, claiming ownership of the beach and the water.

In this family my “issues” with the sea are causing some consternation.  We’re closer to retirement that we’d like to admit and my husband would love to retire in the south, with the sea close by.   I’m lobbying hard for mountains and fall leaves and snow.

We just might be at an impasse.

My husband is smiling though because our next military assignment takes us to Nebraska. He’s figuring after a few winters in Omaha I’ll be begging for retirement in a southern climate!

He thinks he might just turn me into an ocean person yet.