East Coast Weather

It's cold, windy and rainy on the East Coast. 

Everything is as it should be. 

My father is French Canadian and, from my mother's side, I come from good strong Irish stock.  From the land of sunshine, rain, ocean winds and fog - often occurring one after another in quick succession.  You might leave the house in a t-shirt but bring a warm coat and umbrella just in case.  

This is the weather that I love.  It's so wild and unpredictable.   Fog is my absolute favourite because it cloaks everything in mystery.  That feeling that there could be whales just offshore is quite compelling.

Today was a smorgasbord of experiences.  First stop - laundry.  Clean underwear and socks do wonders for one's ability to enjoy each day to the fullest.  So we popped in a load of laundry and headed out to explore the art galleries of Provincetown... 

...which apparently don't open until the tourists arrive in May.

Coming in the off season means we can enjoy the town without tripping over other tourists but it also means that things might not be open when we'd like them to be.  I'm ok with that tradeoff.  I like the peace and quiet.

Provincetown, for those of you who might not know, is a meca for artists, dog lovers, gay men, lesbian women and transvestites.  Which makes for entertaining people watching and shopping.  We have seen big burly men walking (and talking to) their very well groomed lap dogs.  We have walked into a corner store to find anal douches where the city maps should be.  And we stopped in a chocolate shop to discover an entire wall dedicated to chocolate body parts.  And I'm not talking arms and legs...

...I'm talking about nipple chocolates, penis sculptures and vagina suckers...

We did not buy any but we sure as hell took pictures! 

After lunch, we drove to a nearby beach.  We hadn't even stopped the car when I spotted a whale spout on the horizon.  The rights whales were feeding just offshore!!  

Right whales, for your information, were given that name by whalers centuries ago.  Why?  Because they are very slow moving and, unlike some other whales, they float when they're killed.  So they were considered the right whale to catch.  

That name makes me sad.  

The fact that they are swimming right off the coast makes me happy. At one point, right whales had been driven almost to extinction but they're making a comeback and we got to see them.  I've never seen a right whale before so that made it even more exciting.  I thought I'd have trouble recognizing them from so far away but, after seeing so many humpback and finback whales, I could tell these boys were different.  Wicked! 

It has taken me a grand total of five seconds to readjust to life by the ocean.  I'm sleeping better and feel a sense of peace that I feel nowhere else.  

I'm an ocean girl.  

Period.