Friday, March 21, 2008

Minor Waterfront Living Inconveniences

Okay, okay, I had lots of work to catch up on, but back by popular demand, the Boomer Chick is back to provide you with endless dribble and fascinating stories of my boomer chick life living in a waterfront condo on the south end of an island with the only access off this island being a causeway that sometimes is easy to get off of, sometimes not, depending on whether it's too windy for the road workers to delay us from leaving their wonderful community. This picture I'm showing you is the only picture I have of this causeway which doesn't show you too much of the bridgework itself, but it does show you the lovely views out the car window.

I promise, promise I'll download my pictures soon...this one I had on my hard drive before the move.

Anyway, let me tell you how this all began...

My daughter rented us this waterfront condo on an island, right? I was working offline and online and I just said, "If it feels right, get it." For the first time in thirty years, my daughter has shown me what an adult she really is.

The place is beautiful beyond words, but to a Boomer Chick, I do have a few minor inconveniences. I don't mean to complain at all, but I thought I'd share with you three minor inconveniences for now and save you the agony of reading more later.

Minor Inconvenience #1:

I have a Stair Master on each floor. Okay, not the real thing but who needs the real thing when you have 14 steps going up to the main floor and another 14 steps going to the second floor which is where your bedrooms are. Wouldn't be a terrible thing if you weren't a 2-pack smoker. I'm happy to say when I first saw this place and first made my trek up the two flights of stairs, I vowed to cut back (I'll quit totally one day) to one pack and not only that in order to help me cut back my smoking intake by half, I would not smoke inside the house. I'm happy to say that we have been here almost a month and I have kept those promises. I'm saving money, saving my life and I am now the proud owner of a smoke-free living environment.

Minor Inconvenience #2:

If you hate wind, you'll hate it here. We live yards from the water. Oh, sure, it's the most beautiful thing in the world to see boats float by your front yard and listen to the gulls and watch the different bird species land on your own dock, but there is a minor inconvenience with this I hadn't counted on. Have you ever lived through a hurricane where your breath was sucked right outta you once you stepped out the door? Well, that's the way it is here almost every day. I'm hoping because it's the windiest month of the year, it will calm down soon, but I'm not seeing any let up.

Yesterday, in fact, I had to take my daughter to the emergency room for an eye ailment that won't go away (more on that later) and we come back and you would think Katrina came back for an encore appearance. The beautiful hutch I had gotten for a steal was on its back, the glass in the doors broken. The lawn mower had been blown from one end of the carport to the other, my wind chimes are nowhere to be found and the siding has come up and is lying in the thrush across the street.

Now, I'm thinking...if this is what happens during a March wind, what's going to happen during a hurricane? I was talking to one of my co-workers who lives over here on the island and she says, "Oh, you'll be fine because you're on stilts, but your cars won't be. Main Street (which is the street that separates the water from us) will be under water and you can watch ducks float by." So encouraging that woman.

Minor Inconvenience #3:

I'll keep it to three minor inconveniences because frankly this place is paradise despite these inconveniences but I'm sure I'll find more as time goes on. My third minor inconvenience is closely related to #2. If there was a hurricane, and the causeway gets closed off (which is the only connection we have to the rest of civilization), we're here for good. I was thinking about buying a blow-up boat and three life preservers. Just in case you know.

Living on the water is some people's dream. I'm sure I'll have quite a few stories that will help them see that some dreams just aren't what they're cracked up to be. I still say give me the mountains anytime, but I will say this. You haven't lived until you've seen the sunset over the water out your balcony. And...when the wind isn't blowing, the area has got to be as close to paradise as you can get. I'll let you know as time goes on.

Island Girl

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11 comments:

  1. Wow, living on an island is a huge fantasy of mine! Of course I'm not sure where that would be, but I live in Florida which is close. Great blog!

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  2. Sounds nice, Dorothy. Hope your daughter is OK.

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  3. Thanks, Jodi! Fantasy sounds great, reality is a whole 'nuther story!

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  4. Thanks, Connie. We're not sure yet. I'll blog about that next. It's a scary situation.

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  5. Hey, FFG! Change is a good thing, and who knows where your new Feng Shui and writing business will take you with this new location. I know only too well how hard it is to move from a place you both love/hate with so many memories. But think of all the new possibilities you will have in this new place.

    Blessings to you and your family in your new home.

    Much love,

    Laura :)

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  6. My hubby was telling me about the horrible wind he was having in Salisbury so Chincateague wasn't the only place on the shore getting blown away. Although it sounds like ya'll certainly got the brunt of it.

    As for me, I am still here in Indy trying to sell our house. :-( Friday we had spring temps and I went out with a short sleeved shirt on outside. Today I woke up to a damned snowstorm. Snow and here it is almost April. It's not fair I tell you, not fair at all.

    Interestingly enough the hubby has been running glass down to chincateague and Accomac this past week. He broke my heart when he told me about his seafood lunch in Chincateague. :-(

    BTW, congrats on the new digs. Even with the wind it sounds like an awesome place! We are looking at Millpond Village which is by the Centre in Salisbury. I would settle for a chicken coop as long as I cuold be reunited with my hubby again.

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  7. Awww...Oopsie. Hope you sell your house real soon and once you move in and get settled, let's go shopping at the mall!!!!

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  8. Laura!!! So good to hear from you!

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  9. Dorothy it is good to hear from you again. Your place sounds very nice and I am sure you will learn to love it there. When I lived on an island (over 12 years) we had to ride a ferry boat to get back and forth and that was the main thorn in our sides. It was fun, for awhile. Then it just became an expensive nuisance that made it slow to leave or get back home. And on summer weekends it was very slooooow unless you didn't have your car and just walked on!

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  10. Dorothy - I tried to e-mail you at your "off the group" e-mail addy but it keeps coming back to me. Been having a lot of issues the past week or two with yahoo e-mail and I don't know diddly about how to find out what is wrong. If you have another "off the board" addy you use, e-mail me so I can send the note I have for you. Use the e-mail addy on my blog, ok?
    Jeni -from the group.

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  11. Oh Jeni, I just got this. Try thewriterslife(at)gmail.com.

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