Picnic at the Invisible Seahoose

Katie and I spent some time last Friday, Good Friday in fact, picnicing on the land where the Seahoose once stood. It was wonderful to hear the waves and smell the salt air. The seagulls were particularly friendly, we had a good dozen or so mulling around us the whole time. I guess they are confused as to why there are so few people around now. It was a blustery day, but we did some hunting for treasures anyway. Not much to speak of right now, plenty of small shells and some tile but no glass or interesting driftwood. We did find a rusty chain saw, a broken plaster seashell lamp, parts of something metal with two wheels, and a great piece of blue rope. All was assembled at the edge of the property, the beginning of what I hope will be an on-going sculpture, that is, if the beginnings are still there next time I get back. All in all it was a wonderful day, we saw Tom and Georgia's new house, what a beauty!

The sobering and very clear thing is,  the quaint place with houses for all budgets is forever gone, replaced with beautiful new brightly colored towers that are out of reach for most of us.

Georgia Osten

Georgia is a very special part of our family, she and Tom continue to remind us that family provides life's greatest riches, I love them both very much. Here are the thoughts Georgia shared after Ike.

"Growing up in Port Arthur, I've been 'playing' at Crystal Beach since the mid 60's. My initial experience of actually living in CB was when my first child was 10 days old (mid 70’s) and we moved in with my Mother and Granny on Monkhouse (by the water tower).

Life often takes bends and curves …
Many happenings, many moves later and SO many memories, 2 more children and 3 grand children later, we’ve made a full circle. Going back to our roots, we bought our ‘future’ retirement home. It’s a lovely little house on Olive, it even looks like an olive, it’s green w/ red shutters.
We leave the big city every Friday to return to our little piece of paradise we call Home. Our home is serene and filled with treasures, too numerous to list. The walls and the inside stairs are lined with family pictures. The children’s hand prints in plaster are hanging in the kitchen tied with pretty ribbons. The sea glass we found sit in jars around the kitchen and the sharks teeth on the window sill.
I will miss waking up early to try to catch the sunrise, sitting on my deck, visiting with my neighbors most of whom I know by first name only, Greg, Belinda and Joe, Bob, Rick, Jim, Cheryl, Gary, Hugh and Sally. From the aerial photos, it appears their houses are still there, I hope we will all be together again. From the deck, we would watch the turtles from the slew trek over to our yard to lay their eggs. We’d watch the silly loons swaying in unison on the telephone lines above the slew, the pelicans as they ever so gracefully glide over the water then just as clumsily dive in for their snacks. With the grandkids, we had great intentions of catching crabs with our chicken necks on strings and crab nets, then we’d end up going to Comeaux’s in Bolivar to buy a few dozen. Everyone wanted to know how to clean the crabs, but ironically they were never around when cleaning occurred? The last thing on my agenda at the end of the evening was to look out at the moon and be thankful my children were “seeing the same moon.” My Cup Runneth Over
I will miss having Bop right down the beach from us, his house was taken away. I hope Mama’s dove is keeping an eye on everything for us until we can return.
The reality of our situation hurts. I refuse to believe that we ALL will never rebuild our Paradise. I pray for those who have lost their family members, homes and treasures. I pray our peninsula is not forgotten and abandoned."

HELP, I've Fallen into a Far Side Cartoon and I Can't Get Out

September 12 and 13, 2008

Studio Plus/Inn (not sure now), Winnie, TX


The day itself is a blur, I am sure we were watching the updates on Ike... Bop, Liz, me and the three kitties (when I went back to rescue the kitties I didn't even think about bringing Liz's albino mime frogs - Cheech and Chong - I like to think they made it, have been living in the bay and have grown to be massive in size, so if sometime in the future you see a news report about two freakish white sea creatures with black creepy eyes discovered in the bay - just smile knowingly). We were huddled around the (2' x 2') table in our tiny room (with one double bed and the roll-away from hell).

I seriously can't remember that day, the day part, I'm sure we played domino's and cards and tried to pass the time any way we could. There was no where to go, everything except the few convenience/gas places (which had no gas by now and little merchandise on the shelves, I apparently wasn't the only one who forgot to pack food) was closed. I do remember us debating whether or not to drive to Crowley Lousiana (where Chris lives) or Sugarland (to Tom's) but we still believed we'd be able to go home when the storm had passed and wanted to stay close.

I recall happy hour started early, we had a routine at the Seahoose, when the day's work was done we would gather 'round the glass table to play a game while partaking in a cocktail (or two) as dinner cooked, so the oddity of playing games all day made it somewhat awkward not to also partake. The motel was full of fellow Crystalbeachers, we couldn't leave the door open 'cause of the kitties, but we visited when we went out to smoke. Everyone was supposing.....suppose this happens, suppose that...

Our next door neighbor was a friend of Liz's, a very strong, animated woman (with very large breasts) who was accustomed to being in charge. I'll call her Sally.

The power went out around 10pm and the fury began. Bop and Liz settled into bed and fell fast asleep, I, on the other hand, felt the adrenaline rush through my veins erasing any "partaking" from the day's games and was on full alert. We had mini lanterns in strategic places so I could see well enough should I have to act quickly. I took the bed spread off the bed, it's inhabitants mildly groaning, and put it over the drapery rod to shield them from the glass should the window blow in and then propped myself up on the roll-away in the middle of the room and just listened. There are no words to accurately describe the sound of a hurricane, the moments when you anticipate the walls coming down around you, and moments later just the sound of rain. I nearly jumped outta my skin when Liz's phone rang around 11, it was Sally, I told her Liz was asleep. Ten minutes later, the phone rang again, Sally was telling me we had to pray, Liz is ASLEEP I told her. Eight phone calls and an hour later, there's a knock on the door. By this time I am more than annoyed, with every nerve in my body having been startled every time the phone rang I wasn't in the mood to humor a neighbor whose adrenaline hadn't erased the day's "partaking"!


I (reluctantly) open the door and in whisks Sally with a flashlight in her hand, wearing nothing but her nightie (no undergarments, mind you, so the girls where beaming) followed by a woman in a wheelchair. Sally rushes to the bed..."Earl, Liz" she announces, "we HAVE to pray" and she immediately begins singing at the top of her lungs "How Great Thou Art"....I kid you not, it is after midnight, a hurricane is raging outside and this half naked lady is standing in our room singing a hymn (how did I get into this Far Side cartoon?). Liz sits up in bed, smiles at her friend, Bop stirs, opens his eyes and yells "Are you f**king crazy?"

I smile, feeling justified in my frustration, the lady in the wheelchair says "if it were my Dad he would have hit her by now"! Liz is patting Bop's chest to calm him down when suddenly Bop realizes he LIKES this song and starts to sing along, although without his teeth it was more like "How Grey Thou Are", but at least he wasn't pissed anymore. I am not believing this, I walk out into the hallway to stop myself from cussing her out during prayer time, Mama wouldn't like that.


Sally and the wheelchair lady did finally leave, it was likely only minutes but seemed like hours, there was, after all, a horrendous storm raging on the other side of a pane of glass. I resumed the position, constantly shifting my butt off the metal pole that ran through the middle of my "bed". The wind stripped the lock on the exit door to the building so the alarm sounded constantly and the door opened and slammed closed all night. Water was running down the walls, as if it were simply driven through the structure, it was wierd, by morning the carpet was completely soaked.


At daylight I ventured out, it was raining but the hell had passed. The destruction was everywhere. People were milling about, dazed and exhausted, exchanging stories of the night and hoping someone had some news about the beach. I knew we had to get Bop to Tom's as soon as possible, there was no running water and he had already gotten too many skin tears from getting him in and out of the car.


Sally was holding court from her open window, I suspect she had spent the night praying and partaking, she was trying to rally the people into believing we would all be back at the beach in a few days. I was packing the car and told her we were heading to Houston, so she came to the room to see Bop, still in her nightie, and sat on the edge of the bed near his face. Bop, hypnotized like a deer in headlights, listened intently as she told him she would be taking care of him and returning him to the beach, she had a RV outside, Bop and Liz would stay with her. She tried to overrule me by reassuring Bop that they were going home, oblivious to the news that was trickling out that Bolivar was submerged, and the highway from Winnie to High Island was flooded for miles. I let Bop enjoy the view, let her talk her fantasy and continued to pack the cars. I felt it best to keep busy or I might shake her til the girls beat her to death.

People are amazing in a crisis, someone made coffee on a camp stove, it was the best coffee I have ever tasted. Later they cooked breakfast for anyone who was hungry. We just wanted to get on the road. There was a woman in the parking lot who had spent the night in her car in the woods, she was hoping to find a vacancy, I told her our room was soggy with no clean linens, but available and paid for, she was thrilled. I wonder how things turned out for her.

We had decided to move the Trailblazer to the back of the building the day before so we could keep an eye on it with all our stuff inside, that must have been a Mama intervention, the next morning the huge hotel sign occupied the space where it had been! I was nearly finished packing before noticing the windshield was a spiderweb of cracks, but that was not gonna stop me, thank God for duct tape. I put Bop and Liz in my car, the kitties with me in the Trailblazer and off we went, those dam cats crawled all over me the entire way, if I hadn't risked so much to go back and get em I would've pitched them out the window! There were power lines and debris everywhere, but we made it to I10. Driving along, when we got to the area where the bridges cross the bay, I looked to the left and saw earth, not asphalt, up to the top of the concrete barrier, I thought for a second, are they re-routing the east bound lanes, til I came across a car with only the roof showing and realized the dirt had been stopped by the concrete barrier when the storm surge came through, what an unbelievable sight. Further down the road were a dozen or so tractors scooping up dirt and moving it to the side of the road while a line of cars waited. Everywhere we encountered a dangerous situation the Police were there to route us safely.

We made it to Tom's by the grace of God with Mama as co-pilot. We were blessed and comforted to be near family, and believe it or not, within a few hours the power came on. Coming full circle, we were once again glued to the news.

Mama

Mama typed this and put it in a photo album....

May 15, 1984
It doesn't matter how old one gets,  there are new lessons to be learned every day. It was just yesterday that I finally realized that other people DO NOT perceive me as I see myself. At our EMT class last night, we were all scattered around practicing while Chris (Osten) tested our "skills" (bandaging, CPR, etc). One of the young mothers from Port Bolivar had brought her first grade son for the first time. I was sitting with him looking at his fine coloring books about WWII fighter planes, and the Mom came up. "Matthew", she said, "Do you see that great big hunk of a man over there?", pointing at Chris. "Well", she said, "can you believe that this LITTLE OLD LADY you are talking to is the mother of that GREAT BIG MAN?" I want you to know that I sashayed into the meeting thinking that I was super "cool" with my "alligator" (Izod) shorts, my Bass sandals, my healthy non-smoking body well toned from riding my bike, and what happens? I am utterly deflated and resoundingly settled in my true place in the scheme of things: A LITTLE OLD LADY! So I have reached another plateau in life! Phooey!

Daily Picture of Crystal Beach, TX

The daily picture is back on http://www.crystalbeach.com/, it is wonderful to escape for a moment from my no view office and imagine the smell of the salt air and the sound of the waves and birds. Here are a few of Bop's last posts to spark your hankerin for more.......

I want

It is my desire for this blog to tell the stories of The Seahoose, the happy, the touching, the wonderful stories, nurture the memories so the stories thrive, for ours and all the Seahooses that sprinkled Crystal Beach.


It is my desire... but some days I am just pissed. And although a year later I think I should be far enough along in the grieving process to be comforted by the memory stories.... I am dealing with the child in me who wants what I had, stupid hurricane Ike or not.

I want to see my Mama's face in the sunlight on the deck.

I want to get frustrated when Bop and company kick my butt at hearts, exchanging looks that only cut-throat hearts players understand.

I want to wake up early and go into Mama and Bop's room, them still in bed, the news channel blaring from the tv that hung from the ceiling over the bed, crawl up between them with my coffee and have Mama turn the TV sound down when she asks me to tell her and Bop "everything that happened the night before after they went to sleep".

I want to go out on the deck to smoke a cigarette and discover there are planckton (sp?) in the water making the waves glow like they were lit by a blacklight and smoke three cause it's so cool to see.

I want to get the kids to bed and sit on the deck with my brothers and sisters, brothers and sisters in-law, friends and neighbors, laughing til the wee hours of the morning (and recount it all over coffee with Mama and Bop).

I want Bop to ask me to put rosy cheeks on the concrete statue of the blessed Mother Mary cause we put flower wreaths on her head and "It would look so pretty if She had rosy cheeks like Mama".

I want to walk on the beach with my sisters, rarely speaking, together yet alone in our quest, when the only words spoken are "Look what I found" and we are completely together in our wonder (one of those times it was The Rock Man's face).

I want to be annoyed cause my siblings+ show up and no one brought towels or thought about what the heck we were gonna feed all these people (and not be annoyed this time).

I want an early morning pelican fly-over so I can say "Hello Mama".

I want ...I want...I want...


I want....I want...


I want....


As I climb into bed in my apartment in Houston, I don't want to punch a button on the sound machine that makes ocean sounds so can sleep at night. Some days I am just pissed.

Sky Canvas

God's amazing work takes your breath away sometimes.