Shutter Sisters

oasis

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I could be sleeping. But instead I am sitting cross-legged on the grass listening to the early morning crickets. The sun is just rising over our city, I came here this morning for peace. The type of peace you find at an oasis, at the edge of the water. I came here this morning to swim in the sunrise.

When I was a kid, summer meant swimming purely for the love of it… the freedom of loose limbs in water. Now, where I live in Texas, summer means swimming as a means to escape the brutal heat. It is one of the only ways to be outside during our dog days of summer.  Even though I am now a grownup, buoyancy brings me back to childhood. Floating on my back with my head in the clouds will always make me feel younger than I am.

On this morning I woke specifically to find myself kneeling in a field just as the rays of light spilled forth. And then I walked across the street to the golden child of our city, the oasis of swimmers and divers and fish and turtles.

I am most myself when I am in water. I realize this every single summer. Tell me, do you have an oasis? Whether it be the ocean, lakes, rivers, or pools … where do you swim during the heat of your summer months? And if it is winter where you live, what summer memories do you treasure?

Comments

  4. For me my oasis is being near water, especially the ocean. When I lived in CT I used to be just 20 mins from the beach but after moving to VA it’s over 2 hrs away. I really miss it.

  5. Meredith, your words "I am most myself when I am in water" are what I could say of myself too!!!
    and your photo is amazing, I especially love its depth and that beautiful orange reflection in front of the ducks (I assume they are ducks, are they?).
    I swim in the mediterranean, mostly. this summer the magical moment when I will be in the sea again has not arrived, yet. so, while I countdown to it, I keep photographing water in the city.
    Here is a photo of drops from a sprinkler in a garden:
    http://www.flickr.com/photos/36167691@N03/4802859226/in/photostream/lightbox/

  6. I sincerely live for moments like this one –> http://www.nekphotography.blogspot.com

    The moments when you can sit outside, close enough to nature where you can feel the static in the air, watching an incredible electrical display above your head. The crispness of the air and force of the wind, yet somehow you feel perfectly safe, just far enough away.

    Those are the moments of summer I live for.

  14. My oasis is the beach in Jamaica. Every year my husband and I take a group of people and go to work in an orphange of disabled children. The days are long and hard. There are groups that work on building projects and the rest of us work with the children – pushing wheelchairs and singing songs. In the evening we head back to the hotel and sit on the beach watching the waves come in. We tell stories of the day and laugh at funny things the children did. A perfect end to a wonderful day….(I am so ready to go back – 176 days)
    http://thebeautyofadreamer.blogspot.com/

  15. i can always find something to relate to and some sort of comfort when you post here or on your blog. thanks for this. what a beautiful view you have to behold… i understand that gift of nature and seek it out myself.

    here is my spot… my oasis… my calm. the beach near my husband’s parents’ home in long boat key, florida. i get to go almost yearly, and it is one of the highlights of my year!
    http://itsjusthowiseethings.blogspot.com/2010/07/when-i-need-solitude-and-peace-and.html

  20. Well, mine is definitely not involving any sort of water. I despise water but that’s mostly because I never learned to swim. 🙂 My oasis is when I go on walks in the summer right before the sun sets- right around 7:30. The sunsets in Arizona are beautiful and the sky is vast. I feel like I’m walking into an endless world when I go on these walks. So peaceful.

  23. We spend most of our summer in water – whenever we can. We live 20 mins walk from a beautiful small, warm lake that is restricted to non-motorized use. I have signed up my children children for swimming lessons at the lake and for the too-short two weeks of vacation we head to the lake every morning, then in the afternoons we drive 30 mins to the ocean. http://ceilidhontherun.com/?p=363

    I have been dreaming a lot lately of buying a home on a lake, and a cottage on the ocean. One day.