"Cowabunga" Our Waves Are Breaking

"Cowabunga" from Cow Parade (Houston, Texas, 2001) is here to show off the waves of Fay!

The picture on the left was taken back at the beginning of the summer, on a bright sunny morning. The waves were just right to play in. The one on the right was taken an hour ago. When you look out at the end of the pier, you can see how much rougher the waves are today. There is a red flag on the beach, which means the water is not good for ordinary swimmers. While I was out there I saw three surfers, and only one of them was in the water.

Here it is, one parting shot of Grandma, the way she was back in the summer of 1967. This is the only picture I have of me pretending to be a surfer girl. My brother let me carry his board around so I could be cool. I wasn't usually content at the beach for very long. It was too hot, too sandy, too sunny. I liked to swim, but I didn't like to sunbathe, too boring. There weren't good sunscreens back then, and I hated to get burned. Fair skinned people have to be careful. We can't be sitting around in the gulf waiting for a good wave. Now that I'm old, I'm glad I didn't spend anymore time in the sun than I did. I'm enough of a raisin as it is.