So, you’ve moved to the beach? You’re going to need an Oracle. What is an Oracle, I hear you ask? It is the God of the Ocean. It is the one thing you must consult before heading off to the beach. It is vital and important, not just for beach walkers but for boaters and for fishermen..
I do not believe in any One God, but I do believe in the Oracle. And now I am going to show you the Oracle. Are you sitting down? Paying full attention? ;) This is *important*!!!
My Oracle is a simple piece of paper with important things printed on it. Some people have an Oracle that comes in book form. Some people who are highly advanced creatures consult the Online Oracle.
As always, I hear your thoughts. Why is an Oracle necessary? Why is this important to someone who wants to walk on the beach? You see the above photo. That is a local creek. There is no bridge over this creek, and at certain times of the day where I am standing to take this photo I would be about neck deep in water. So the Oracle can help me work out when is the best time to take my beach walk and be able to cross this creek.
What the Oracle cannot tell me is what I will see when I get to the beach, if there will be any dolphins there, if the weather will be ok, and a multitude of other things. It simply tells me when the tides will be high or low. Someone tells me this has something to do with the Moon, but I am not sure about this.
As you see there are a couple of creeks on my beach walk paths. If the Oracle has not lied to me, I am able to walk a very long way on the beach. If I go when the Oracle has said “Don’t Go” I cannot walk very far at all.
All beach photos in this post were taken by me earlier today – I saw two different pods of Dolphins today. I walked a long way but managed to lose my pedometer sometime after 4,256 steps. :( and I still had a long way to walk when I last checked the meter! I walked for over an hour and a half on top of my 20 minute short walk this morning when I foolishly did not listen to The Oracle and could not cross either of the creeks.
This post has been a Hump Day Hmmm. Feel free to write your own Hump Day Hmmm, it is simple and easy to join in! The topic this week was –
Take a topic, any topic, something that is weighing on you, bothering you, troubling you…and find the humor in it. Write about it from a humorous angle. It can be general or personal, just take a troubling topic and bring out the humor. FWIW, sarcasm counts. Letter style, onion style, Shakespeare style, prose, any style you want.
I suppose The Oracle is not a troubling topic for everyone, but it has become a new troubling topic for me this week. I am now joined at the hip to a piece of paper because someone could not simply say – High tide is at midday and midnight, and low tide is at 6am and 6pm! No, they have to make it *complicated* and *ever changing* just to confuse poor little me. :( As much as I love the moon, I believe Juliet was right when she said –
O, swear not by the moon, the inconstant moon, that monthly changes in her circled orb, lest that thy love prove likewise variable.
I don’t think you’ll get much sympathy, with that beautiful scenery so readily available. Congratulations, again, on moving to the beach.
However, I do confess that the hows of tide charts and moon charts, etc. escape me…Once we were going on vacation to a place that has skylights in the bedroom, and I was very anxious to know what the moon phase was going to be because I need to sleep in the dark…I thought I was going to be fine, but…it was pretty darn bright.
You know, there are a few places in the world that actually have DOUBLE tides.
I live by the Oracle, too. Our spit of neighborhood beach is either There or Not There by the tides. And storms. I think our Oracle is a meteorologist.
So this is really funny for me.
Julie
Using My Words
When you mentioned an oracle, I wasn’t sure what you were going to talk about. About halfway through your post, I realized you were talking about a tide chart. I’m always surprised at the different terms that people in various countries have for the same things.
Ha! So now I know why I could never figure out why the water was where on my most recent beach vacation! I needed an Oracle.
Beautiful pictures! But I understand. I don’t consult the tide oracle but the weather oracle. It changes so quickly on the coast.
No, not a lot of sympathy from me either since I’m dead jealous of you for being near the beach. In my growing up days, the tides schedule was always printed in the morning paper. That’s all we had. And it worked.
Lovely photos, glad to hear you are able to begin to enjoy the beach.
Regarding tides, I had no idea they could make such a difference in water heights.
Hope the weather remains fair..so you are able to continue to make your first year in your home wonderful…
Regards, Dorothy from grammology
When you’ve lived on the beach long enough you may find that there is a pattern to the tides that your subconscious will work out and one day without realising it you’ll know when the time is right for beachwalking without consultation with your oracle. You will be free to come and go on instinct alone.
Very fun and creative post. I really wanted to join the Hmmm this week, but the muse did not come to me…
SB – Yeah but there are snakes and sharks, too. :) hehe The moon can be really bright here, too. And the stars are so much brighter down here away from the big lights of the bigger towns.
Emily – I have heard this, too! That would freak me out I think.
Julie – I thought it would hit home with a few people at least.. ;) Fisherman in particular.. they tend to love The Oracle more than their boats.. and sometimes their wives!
Kirsten – I gave it the name The Oracle, they just call it a tide times chart here. But I think it deserves a bigger and better name!
Gwen – that would be why. Lucky for me the local tourist magazine prints them in their monthly free mags, so I just cut out the recent one. :)
Lawyer Mama – I am scared of the weather oracle. You are right about the weather changing fast – I am scared of lightnings.
Liv – our local paper is only 3 days a week.. ;) It may be in there but I never have spotted it.
Dorothy – some places the tides don’t matter so much but here they do, because the creeks rely on them to wash out the system, or something complex like that. ;)
River – I am hopeful this will happen. Fingers crossed!
Catherine – It was really inspired by the sudden knowledge that I was now reliant on this piece of paper. ;)
Thanks for the comments all! ;)
Snoskred