Beach Blanket Bingo

So the other day I was watching The View - umm, you know, as you do - and they were talking to Frankie Avalon, the very former teen idol who popularized the beach party movie with Anette Funicello, about something or other...

If I were in a beach party movie the soundtrack would most definitely be Santo and Johnny's Sleep Walk, circa 1959.

But back to beach blankets. 

I had the opportunity to roll out my very own not long after my View viewing at St-Zotique Beach, located a mere 45 minutes outside of Montreal.

Complete with sun, sand and water, the beach is "the ideal place to spend quality time with your family" according to the website. It's also the ideal place to enjoy the most multicultural, and delicious, barbeque ever. And that's according to me.    

But the proof, as they say, is in the pudding...

Aside from barbequing, the beach was also a great opportunity for some people to get some baptizing in. Apparently.

But above everything, the beach, and beach party vibe, provided me and my pals with some good, clean fun on an otherwise... very hot day. There's nothing a little Banana Boat and a frolic in the ocean (or in this case, Lac Tabar...) won't cure.  

 

And to end, a song from another day, another beach and another couple...

Part deux

I overheard myself telling the following story to my mother the other night and literally thought to myself "whose life am I leading?" 

The answer, incredibly, is mine.

To recap, it was time to come home after spending a few remarkable days in Cochrane visiting my beau at work. You-know-who thought it would be a great time for me to "feel the fear and do it anyway," or something similar, and so the decision was made (ahem) that we would fly back... by helicopter.

While this may sound slightly out of this world to many (including me) the beau is actually a helicopter pilot so it is not completely so. But still...

As we slowly separated from the earth, literally lifting and gliding up and off the ground, I closed my eyes (to recap: i am afraid of flying) and tightened up for a long, three hour ride. 

But then out of nowhere, and rather rapidly, the most amazing thing happened: I started to enjoy myself. Really enjoy myself. 

What wasn't there to enjoy?

The view was beautiful. The feeling was incredible - so light and free. As Lou Reed sang, it was "just a perfect day." And the fear, incredibly, was gone. I wondered if it was really possible to overcome a fear so quickly and apparently it was because the next time we took off, I actually kept my eyes open. For the first time in a very long time.

And it's a good thing I did too. Or else look what I would have missed: 

Not bad for a citycountry bumpkin.

Maine memories

I've never been to Maine, but I have very fond memories of it, along with Coney Island, the New Jersey shore and California. Beach movies like Stealing Home, A Summer Place, Annie Hall ("My analyst says I exaggerate my childhood memories, but I swear I was brought up underneath the roller-coaster in the Coney Island section of Brooklyn. Maybe that accounts for my personality, which is a little nervous, I think," recounts Woody Allen as Alvy Singer) and even Jaws are likely most responsible for the image I have of quintessential American beaches.

Hot dogs, amusement parks and family resorts are definitely part of the image and since I've had the very good fortune of living "the beach life" the past few weeks in Aylmer, I decided to up the ante and make the ultimate Maine treat: lobster rolls. 

To make the crustacean delights, I used freshly cooked (and painstakingly de-shelled by my wonderful beau) lobster meat, some mayonnaise, lemon juice, salt and pepper. I also used a few small pickles, finely cubed for crunch and flavour. The pièce de résistance is of course the grilled hot dog rolls which provide the perfect culinary combination of high-class cuisine and down-home food truck grub. My favourite.

By the way, just in case you were curious, the beach life involves sleeping in, packing a cooler full of good food (and drinks), stuffing a bathing suit and towel in my beach bag and heading to the beach for a nice read in the sun (so far, I’ve gotten through A Clash of Kings, the second in the A Song of Ice and Fire series, Secret Daughter by Shilpi Somaya Gowda, This Will Be Difficult to Explain by Johanna Skibsrud and Anatomy of a Disappearance by Hisham Matar).

The lake life, which I’m also living, means doing pretty much the same but going to the lake—Meech Lake, to be specific but totally non-political—and cooling off with a swim. Maine memories. Now that’s the life. 

Next time it’s going to be a delicious, chilled gazpacho soup that’s the perfect antidote to a hot, summer day but before that I can’t wait to tell you about my crazy weekend, Daughters of Anarchy styles...