it's beach time!!

I went to the ocean with my hairdresser and his family the other day. They are incredibly sweet and kind people. I don't see them that often, but they always go out of their way for others, and think of fun things to do together.
So, I actually didn't know what to expect, since they just said we were going to the "sea". . . I took my swimsuit. They brought pics for prying shells off of rocks! :-b It was my first experience of hunting for shells, as in, the full kind! Having grown up right along the sea, Misao (right) knows about everything in the sea (well, at least it seemed that way to me). . . what you can eat (which is pretty much everything), what it looks like (from a standing position -- I couldn't even find them half the time squatting down) and how to prepare it (most of them you just dump in a big pot at home and boil). This is me with Marie (another girl who goes to the salon and I met through Misao and her husband) and Misao.
Maybe it's just prairie girls like me, but the ocean is fascinating. Everything is alive!! Everywhere you step and everything you see is like a new adventure of something mysterious and unknown. I feel like I'll see the ocean in a new way next time I go, though! Oh, in addition to shells, we also got one crab and quite a few "clumps" of seaweed. We boiled that up at home as well. . . definitely a new perspective! Anyone for some algae from Killarney Lake?! ;-)

We also stopped at a fresh fish market on the way home. . . and picked up this specimen. It was my second attempt at making fish myself (first was a piece of salmon), and I honestly do not know why it took me so long. Good does not say enough. . . it was delectable!! ;-) (I know you're proud of me mom and dad!)