Beach Combing....

Pippin and I drove to Cannon Beach yesterday so that she could spend a two week visit with our friends before school starts. We always love going to the beach. It was a cloudy typical NW coastal day with spots of sun, regular clouds, and a slight breeze. This time for our entertainment and hanging out time, we opted to go to the neighboring town of Seaside to do a bit of exploring. Normally when I think of beach exploring and combing, a vision comes to my mind of something like this....

Our discoveries proved to be quite different though this time around. In the parking lot of a hotel we found that this "man" seemed to be radiant as he pondered his hard day of work.

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I could tell he felt the pull of being in two places at the same time as he rested in his truck.

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All of our walking around and window shopping gave us the munchies so we decided to grab some appetizers at a shoreline restaurant. While sitting there, a man pulled up outside our window along the sidewalk. Dressed in a Sturgis cut off t-shirt and shorts and riding a three wheeled pedal bike made for a not quite ordinary every day site. I heard the man at the table next to us tell his wife that he resembled a summertime Santa Claus with his big white beard and Mrs. Claus must have demoted him to this grown up tricycle for summer use.

The waitress came over and happily answered questions about the man as we all watched him set up his supplies of giant homemade bubble wands and a huge dish of liquid while he mumbled to himself. He's a war veteran and a regular part of the Seaside happenings. He routinely goes out to the boardwalk to share his bubbles with the families that come to the beach. No, he is not a threat, just a bit unusual. She also offered up the fact that he makes his own special bubble recipe by using Joy dish liquid and Karo Syrup.

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We headed outside to try and get a view of what all was happening. We found that this gentleman had a radio in the basket of his bike cranked up to a classic hard rock medley. Around him were 4-6 children eager to learn his skill in the art of making the biggest soap bubble imaginable.

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Their were bubbles of all sizes floating up and down the boardwalk as the children giggled and moms smiled. My friend and I both smiled and agreed to the thought and amazing fact of how bubbles changed a scene. Had this man simply been riding his bike down the sidewalk and mumbled to himself, those moms would have probably wanted to protect their children from potential harm and steer them far away from the unknowns. But the bubbles changed everything. He became a source of delight to child and parent alike.

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He enjoyed the scene until the dish of bubbles emptied. Then he thanked the children for playing, loaded up his supplies, and headed off down the boardwalk. Every few feet he would greet another passerby and wave his wand around as he rode, leaving a trail of magic floating behind him.

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Now to share one more thing....
Before the evening ended and I headed back over the mountain pass, we rented a video to giggle to. Have you ever seen the movie Shall We Dance with Jennifer Lopez and Richard Gere? It was the only one I had been familiar with and wasn't completely impressed. I felt like there was something missing. So, my friend recommended to me that the Japanese version was much better....and she was completely right. I can always count on her for a thrilling and enlightening out of the box experience. We watched the movie with English subtitles and had so much fun with it. The missing element from the Hollywood version was completely there in the Japanese version. There was comedy (lots of comedy) and drama, the conflict of heart and culture was very evident in all of the characters. I highly recommend it. If you would like an out of the box experience....give this movie a try. Here is the movie trailer. Remember that you can watch it with English sub titles.