Are you on Spring Break this week? My daughter is. Only when you’re five and your parents don’t usually go anywhere during school breaks, you’re stuck at home. She’s too young to hold it against us this year.
Anyway, if you need to go on Spring Break without leaving your desk, try these photos on for size, all from Flickr.com.
Indonesia… I can’t decide if I like these umbrellas better as a sun shade or as a mini version keeping my drink shaded :
photo by Jeeheo
Check out the sands here in South America:
photo by esSos.de
Have you ever seen a seaside so crystal clear? South Africa, my friends:
photo by ryk neething
It’s no Top Gun Volleyball scene, but then again, it’s Europe :
photo by Neo_II
A stateside beach fence, from somewhere coastal in New Hampshire: 
photo by bucklava
And an interesting frame around a beach in Perth:
photo by Vandelizer
I hope you’ve enjoyed this beach-themed around the world tour… you may get back to your regularly-scheduled Monday night open thread now!
25 replies on “Monday’s Open Thread: Sand Around the World”
Hello everyone! I’m throwing this out here in the off chance that y’all can help make my thesis research 100x easier…
Does anyone know of a site (or sites) that consolidates either book or album sales by year (with a particular interest in books)? I’m specifically interested in seeing if the 2010 earthquake in Haiti has had a positive effect on the marketability of ‘cultural products’ from or with ties to Haiti. Ideally, I’d like to be able to enter in either the name of an author/artist or the name of the book/album and compare the sales numbers in the years before 2010 and after 2010.
If such a thing exists, it would be a godsend!
I know it’s the end of Tuesday by now, but I’m simply too tired to focus on more recent posts and commenting on them.
This is a terrible day: our cat is missing! He goes outside every night to prowl around, but always barges back in around 7:30 a.m. for breakfast and some cuddles, then sacks out all day. But he didn’t come back today. It’s almost dusk and he still isn’t back. He is a scrappy little thing, but skittish and so he normally doesn’t stray far from our apartment block. Mostly, he just snoozes in the bushes.
I looked all over for him this afternoon and couldn’t find him, not even on the streets around us. I am afraid the worst has happened but I’d at least like to find him, just to know.
I’m so upset.
Oh no! I hope you find your cat. I grew up out in the country and we always had cats around to keep the mouse population down. We had one that was indoor/outdooor. He disappeared for two weeks one time. We figured he was a goner and it was super sad. THEN! He came back! It was like a miracle. He was missing a claw from each front foot but other than that he was just fine, like nothing ever happened.
Cats can surprise you sometimes. I hope yours comes back home quickly and safely. :)
Aw, thanks for the story! I really, really hope he makes it back. He’s such a homebody that we can’t imagine where on earth he’s gotten to. I hope you are right!
hi OMG Mambo just sauntered into the house like nothing happened, just like your cat, just now. He’s completely fine, just chowing his food and looking annoyed when we distract him from eating with our pets and happy noises. Sigh. Why do we love creatures that don’t care about us?! It’s like having a teenager. Covered in fur.
YAY!!!! I’m so glad your kitteh came home! Cats totally are like teenagers. They expect you to hand everything in life to them and then they go sit in the corner by themselves. At least he’s not going to ask you to borrow the car anytime soon :)
Glad to hear your cat made it home safe! When I was little we had a cat who used to disappear for days at a time. One day, taking a walk around our village, we caught him napping on someone else’s front porch. He was like one of those traveling salesmen who have parallel families in different parts of the country. The teenager covered in fur analogy is spot-on.
How’s your research going?
We had a taste of summer here in central Michigan. I think it got up to 81° F Sunday. I didn’t get a chance to really enjoy it because I had to have lunch with my mom and then I had derby skills testing.
Skills testing was physically and emotionally exhausting. I broke down after my endurance test (did my personal best, yay!) and again after my leg wouldn’t stop shaking and my foot started to swell. I haven’t cried like that in a long time. Good times.
Morning, GMTers! I know it sounds stupid to get up at 7am just to watch last night’s TV, but I don’t care: I’m starting my day with The United States of Tara and coffee. What’s Tuesday looking like? I have a long day ahead of me and I’m not sure where I’m gonna get the motivation to face it. In other words: being an adult sucks sometimes.
My spring break was 2 weeks ago, and its definitely time for another one.
I would love a vacation but I just spent money taking the guinea pig to the vet so it will be even longer before I can take a day off.
noooo! I hope he (or she) is ok! I know all about guinea pigs and vet bills. But it’s worth it.
Thanks. I found a huge sore on his back and was worried he had mites (he’s been scratching and chewing himself). The vet thinks that he either scraped himself (not likely) or a cyst came to surface. I also got mite treatments as a precaution.
Well, I’m glad the doctor was able to do something at least- scratching and chewing does sound like mites :(
Oooh, those umbrellas!
I really dislike Persephone right now. I love the beach, but my “beach vacation” has always been Pentwater, Michigan (on lake MI). Don’t get me wrong, I LOVE IT THERE, but, I wish I lived somewhere where it was warm and I could go to the beach every.damn.day.
I tease my parents that I was born in the wrong part of the world; I was really meant to be born in the Caribbean (Barbados to be exact, even thought I’ve never been there).
Anyway, my spring break consisted of a trip to Mexico City (warm, yay!) and my ipod getting stolen by my niece (not so yay).
But at least it was better than my childhood spring breaks- either stuck at home in Illinois, or visiting relatives in Tennessee.
/end really long, personal post with lots of parentheses
Well we still love you. : )
Well now I feel bad for complaining.
I forgive you Persephone, for making me want warm weather and a beach within walking distance of my house.
I’m less than a mile from the beach, but won’t be able to go anywhere near it for another two months, at least, for fear of freezing to death.
See! That’s the problem about northern beaches, they’re cold!
(And I’m not going to write anymore for fear of a critique on my use of parentheses, :))
I don’t critique anyone’s writing unless I’m asked to. And I’m too far into this box of wine to give a damn about parentheses. :P
But, yes, northern beaches are beautiful but too freaking cold.
I live in the North, I mean, not the arctic, but north of the 49th parallel. 10 minutes from the beach, and yes, it’s two months shy from lazing on the beach, but come summer, it’s blistering hot here. We go to the movies every damn day in the summer just to get some a/c.
oh Michigan beaches are the best, come July or so. They are well worth the wait, IMO, as someone who grew up with NW Ind/ SW Mich beaches.
I wish I were on Spring Break right now. My job doesn’t really support the “week off just because” thing, although it would be awesome if it did. I am taking some vacation time next month but I’m going from the very cold ocean to the very warm desert.