discovering an island

we traveled to an island yesterday, passing miles of colonial homes decorated with pumpkins, large and small. only in massachusetts can this many households afford to decorate for every holiday.

we ate at wendy's. i don't mind their salads, and that spicy chicken sandwich was good, but i still can't bring myself to eat the chili, even though i know that lady stuck the finger in herself.

the island is out past the marshlands that protect us from flooding and over the bridge that has what appears to be a guard tower. cold, cloudy october. practically no one on the island. just some couples with dogs and a soap shop and a restaurant that appears to be a shack, painted purple, for rich people to spend exorbitant amounts of money on fish and chips. we turned left, instead, and traveled down the permit-parking-only road until we dead-ended at a parking lot. we stepped out of the car to the welcome of the wind, which could have toned it down a bit since we had to pull our hoods over our foreheads and tighten the strings. my hair kept whipping out and crossing over my eyes and into my mouth. we practically skipped across the boardwalk and under a wooden canopy, but then we were in the sand, blown from behind towards the ocean which seemed to be sucking up everything like a vortex. we stood at the edge of a sandy cliff and stared down at the water being pushed east towards england. we found a shell and we kissed, and then we started back, against the wind, toward the car.

i took two pictures. and i think i ruined my film in the rewind process, so i have to mention them so that they will Exist. in the first one, j. very courageously threw himself sideways into the grasses--both hands up and landing shoulder first--to simulate being blown by the wind. cut the palm of his hand and made me laugh. for this i was eternally grateful. in the second picture, j. stood with his back to the grasses and the wind whipping his hair sideways. the clouds in the background were full of holes and tectured like ripples in the ocean. he didn't smile. he just looked rugged, and beautiful.

last night we stayed up till after one, talking, remembering, chatting.