residual effects and new challenges

The sun has come out a bit in the last few days (could spring really be just around the corner?) and since everyone is leaving, we decided to hit the beach on Tuesday between orphanage visits. We took a cab for the 20 minute ride out there and were so excited to see the ocean, until we saw the sand. Not only was the beach littered with garbage, there was black, sticky everywhere. There must have been an oil spill off the coast somewhere, but I'm news-less here and hadn't heard anything.


I've heard about other oil spills and the pictures are so disheartening, but let me assure you that it is nothing like seeing it in person. Everything that washed ashore was covered in the goop, including metal rods, shoes, birds, crabs and fish. The sheer volume of oil was amazing, it stretched on as far as we could see and, I'm quite sure, for miles more.

We were stuck there though, since the cab had already left, so we made our way through the globs of oil as best we could and settled ourselves out on the clear part of the sand. The ocean was very dirty, and cold(!), so the kids set to work writing in the sand, building sandcastles and digging holes. Stuart managed to dig a hole wide and deep enough to stand in, coming across a crab only once (which he kindly moved to another area of the beach). Audrey molded a mini-home for herself with couch, chair and TV in the living room and a little bathroom to the side, complete with a squat toilet.


The entire time we were watched, from the sidewalk above and, soon enough, surrounding us. The kids surrounded my kids, watching them build and dig, without much comment, save the "one dollar" begs and screaming "hello!" at us. There's no issue with staring and getting right into our business, but we're getting used to it, though it still makes me laugh.
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We got a new baby yesterday; a tiny little thing born just the day before. I had to ask twice to make sure that the baby was that freshly hatched, though she sure does look like it. I'm not sure what the situation was that precipitated giving the baby to the orphanage, but hopefully she'll be adopted soon. Until she gets a mom of her own, I will cuddle and love her like she's mine.