The Mysterious Cave

Our landlord was showing the place yesterday, so I took Doolittle out for a walk while Doofus stayed behind with Dad. Oliver (AKA Doolittle) has stubby legs, so I knew we shouldn't go very far. For some reason, I decided to take him into the Secret Woods. In hindsight, this was way too far away for him.

The secret woods is this confounding place at the end of Maryport street.  There's a twisting trail off the roadway and, if you walk far enough, you'll find this strange quarry like place with a graffiti covered ruin of sort and old cars that have been smashed to smithereens. If you go to the right, past the ruins, you'll find this jagged hill. And if you climb that hill you'll find yourself in this wide open area of nothingness. I am guessing there will one day be a housing development here.

Yesterday, I didn't go right, I went left. Because I hadn't explored left before and there were trees there. Past the wrecked car were three paths - one on each side and the last straight ahead. Just before submerging into the super secret forest within the secret woods, I thought to myself how I wished I'd brought Doofus and left Dolittle at home. Here's the thing about the secret woods, no one knows what truly exists there. Unlike Dolittle, Doofus has a big old bark and the legs for running away, if need be.

But I ain't no chicken. So we went into the super secret forest within the secret woods.

The straight trail led up a hill to a little lookout and a makeshift fire pit. So, this territory had obviously been explored before. After all, there was a trail. Then we decided to take the trail on the right and, rather awesomely,  it actually wrapped around and brought us back to where we started. Drenched in rain, covered in mud, we decided to head home.

This is when we found the mysterious cave that looked man made and gave us the creeps.

If we had of seen the mysterious cave in the secret woods before our expedition, would we have ventured forth? Good question.  We aren't sure. I have some pictures of the mysterious cave/fort. What do you think?

Beach Kitty

One of my most favourite things is going out adventuring. Exploring places unknown. Since I didn't grow up on the Island like most of the people around here, every day can be a new experience. I say 'can be' because some days I'm tired and want to warm my weary bones over the fire of lethargy. That gave me a chuckle. It seems oxymoronic, doesn't it? Fires of lethargy. If anything, lethargy would be ice, I'd think. 

There's a sense of wonderment adventuring brings. The discovery of new things is rewarding, feeding your heart, soul and body. It's so simple too, just checking out beaches and picking up rocks, wading in the water. Some might think when you've seen one beach, you've seen them all. Not so. Each beach has new things to be discovered. The other day we went to Rathtrevor beach, and it was a fabulous one for finding funky pieces of drift wood.

Today, we went to Williams Beach. 

Lovely rocky, sandy expanse of land with the mountains standing watch as a backdrop. I even went in the water, it was that warm. Up to my thighs. Maybe a bit higher. I found a couple of sand dollars too! But, as it turns out, they are very fragile and I broke them. Clumsy fingers. Sadness. 

It's been an ongoing search to find one too. Last year, I was out with the Sidekick and found one washed up on shore, but it was a bit chipped and not so fancy looking. He reassured me we'd find out down at Rathtrevor but we didn't. Keep in mind, this was a year ago. And then, on Thursday when we were there, he found one, but it was alive. So, obviously, I didn't take it.

Some of you might be wondering how I knew it was alive since I am, by no means, a sand dollar expert. First, the colour, it was a dark purplish colour and all the ones I'd seen in gift shops had been white and the flower on the skeleton more prominent. After looking at the little guy and flipping it over, I noticed the fuzz on the underside of its body. Those fibres are what catch the microscopic food in the water, feeding the sand dollar and, if you look closely, you will see them moving. Cool, right? Now, if you find one that is bleached a light white colour and, when you turn it over, there are no fuzzy parts and you can see a hole in the middle, that's a dead one. 

And also, today there was a beach kitty. He showed up out of nowhere. Let me pet him and take a picture, then wander off to find another person to get pets from. 

Here I am with the beach kitty:

Anyhow, adventuring proved a success today, though I didn't find one piece of beach glass. What's up with that? Sometimes I wonder if people are ever as amazed by the world around them as I. Today I am sun-kissed, salty legged and blessed.