Jasmine's Place Issue No. 19 - September/October 2017 | Page 41

It is a watered down lemonade kind of sunshine day, where the sun tries to break through the clouds but doesn’t do a really good job of it. There is no fog, just gray clouds. There is a wind, but not enough to whip your words away. You can smell the wonderful saltiness in the air. We are finally back at the Oregon coast. Mick and I are glove in glove with our hooded jackets zipped up. I turn to him and say, “Hey, we haven’t been to the Oregon coast since our honeymoon.” down to the sandy area below us with remnants of old bonfires, seaweed, various shells and pretty rocks. There are some huge tree trunk sized logs also. “Hey, those would be great to sit on if we’d brought a picnic. It's too bad we didn’t, huh, Mick?” We walk the sandy beach for quite some time. There are no seagulls today, but winter at the beach is pretty, in its own way. We continue walking parallel to the cliffs. Mick pockets a really pretty shell. “Yep, and I think it was a bit warmer that July than it is in this December. At least we have this whole beach area to ourselves.” I am lagging behind looking for a shell of my own. We have walked to the edge of a twenty foot drop off and noticed writing on the rock walls. “In remembrance of Jake, RIP," I read aloud. "What do you think that means?” I look down to see about an inch of water lapping at my new leather hikers and take off towards my husband. “Ah, probably just kids messing around, let’s see if we can find a way down closer to the water,” says Mick We can see the waves about one hundred yards out from us and a lazy tanker on the horizon. It is a great day to walk and chat. “Jo, RUN, RUN!” I sure don’t want to ruin these! WHAP! I am hit from behind. My head is under icy water. I am trying to push up but my legs will not move as they are weighted down. By this time I am coughing, spluttering and terrified. We finally find a little trail going JASMINE'S PLACE 41 41