Aristo! Aristo! A la lanterne!: Images from a beach weekend getaway...

Tuesday, November 17, 2009

Images from a beach weekend getaway...

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Wildwood, New Jersey..... an off season shore getaway during the worst storm in a decade. The city was effectively closed down right after we got there, with all the bridges blocked and the Guard ferrying people out. Our hotel was at the high point, which in Wildwood means an inch or two in elevation.

We never lost power, but our choices of activity were limited. The rain was falling in sheets and sideways in a 50 mph wind. The streets were closed a few blocks in any direction and there was no place to go, and nothing to do.

Nothing but...... go up a few floors from our suite and get massages at the spa. Lounge in the hot tub and steam room. Swim in the indoor pool while watching the storm rage through the glass roof. Go down to the bar and drink cold beer, while eating crab stuffed mushrooms and blackened scallops for dinner. Nothing to do... but take long afternoon naps....

Yup, it was pretty rough, but we made it through in one piece.

(g)

4 comments:

Sparrow said...: My parents honeymooned in Wildwood New Jersey 61 years ago. They are still together, the place must have good mojo!; November 18, 2009 at 11:14 PM
Bob said...: Must have been the remnants of Hurricane Ida; the same storm interfered with my vacation at the NC Outer Banks and Virginia Beach, VA.; November 22, 2009 at 8:58 PM
Carteach said...: Yup, sure was. Worked out well for us though.....; November 22, 2009 at 9:09 PM
Anonymous said...: Your blog keeps getting better and better! Your older articles are not as good as newer ones you have a lot more creativity and originality now keep it up!; January 8, 2010 at 2:04 PM

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I have this philosophy.... All humans are faced with a choice.

They can become students of human nature, trying to recognize the good and bad within themselves... or they can choose to ignore human nature, and act simply on drives, desires, and instincts. The former is what sets mankind aside from animals, and the latter is to act as an animal.

Making the first choice is harder, more complicated, and creates a difficult path to follow... for it's the basis of knowing right from wrong. There are those who study human nature, and themselves, and actively try to better themselves and do what is right. There are others... people who study human nature, note the flaws inherent to the unthinking herd, and use them as a means to control.

There is no danger greater than the refusal to see, and to think. Doing so leaves one a pawn to anyone awake, aware, and driven to power over others.

Robert Heinlein

"Do not confuse "duty" with what other people expect of you; they are utterly different. Duty is a debt you owe to yourself to fulfill obligations you have assumed voluntarily. Paying that debt can entail anything from years of patient work to instant willingness to die. Difficult it may be, but the reward is self-respect.

But there is no reward at all for doing what other people expect of you, and to do so is not merely difficult, but impossible. It is easier to deal with a footpad than it is with the leech who wants "just a few minutes of your time, please — this won't take long." Time is your total capital, and the minutes of your life are painfully few. If you allow yourself to fall into the vice of agreeing to such requests, they quickly snowball to the point where these parasites will use up 100 percent of your time — and squawk for more!
So learn to say No — and to be rude about it when necessary.
Otherwise you will not have time to carry out your duty, or to do your own work, and certainly no time for love and happiness. The termites will nibble away your life and leave none of it for you.

(This rule does not mean that you must not do a favor for a friend, or even a stranger. But let the choice be yours. Don't do it because it is "expected" of you.)"

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. — That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, — That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness.