Whimsical Windows - Sea Gull Motel

Vacations past seems to be a recurring theme for me, and so for Toby's meme Whimsical Windows/Delirious Doors, it is the soft sand and rolling Atlantic waves at Brigantine Beach New Jersey, and a retro look at the Sea Gull Motel, next to the old Sea Gull Cottages (long gone) in two phases - under construction in 1965, with my grandmother getting her pic shot by my namesake grandfather with his German Exa SLR.

The next is in color in its pink stucco with my grandmother, just four years later in 1969. An efficiency motel with a kitchen, it was the only way our brood of seven kids could afford a vacation by avoiding restaurants every day. More time to play on the beach :)

We stayed there for vacation getaways in 1966, Labor Day 1967, 1968, 1969 and 1972. Current reviews of the place now are generally poor - but not in my childhood memories of surf, sand and sun...

Shadow Shot Sunday - Sand, surf, siblings, shadows

Michele

Myself, Sharon

Claudia

Vicki

Shadow Shot Sunday 2 seems a place to showcase shadowy old vacations, and since I have been busy scanning the past, the New Jersey shore, five decades ago in 1961, seems to be a fitting place to secure them. Siblings at low tide on the beach in front of the Sea Gull Cottages. And since my sister Michele is going there today with grandkids in tow, this post seems quite fitting. I can almost feel the briny Atlantic breezes wafting by my computer screen...

Shadow Shot Sunday - Seasonal Antidote

Sisters have fun in the sand by the in Brigantine, NJ July 1969

Shadow Shot Sunday 2 returns amidst a cold winter in Southern New England - I know that there are way colder places to be, although I am tiring of the cold. Using a wheelchair for ambulation means that I cannot move around much to keep warm...however, a bit of applied psychology might change things a bit. Such as looking at a warm day on the New Jersey isle of Brigantine. A strong sun makes for shadows, salt water and sand make for a fun playground for the kids. I don't necessarily feel warmer now, although I think I do...

Shadow Shot Sunday 2 - Sentimental seashore shadows

Shadow Shot Sunday 2 returns near the official end of the heat and humidity of the northern Summer (and the lovely Patti is happy about that :) and as I am in the midst of scanning the family history over the eons, I like this as last look at the beach as Autumn lurks nearby. The year is 1965, the ebbing high tide of the Atlantic Ocean and the great New Jersey shore. The subject here is a cousin at age one who is being introduced to the surf with her mom, and the look of the child is one of a joy of discovery...the soft sand and salty surf are a revelation to the little one who loves  the new sensation...who wouldn't at any age?

Shadow Shot Sunday - Sixties shoreline sibling shadows

Shadow Shot Sunday 2 is back, and as no out-of-state vacations/holidays are planned this year, I refer back five decades ago (alas, I am that old :) to the year 1961 and shoreline shadows on the beach of the sandy Atlantic barrier island, Brigantine New Jersey. Then, it was a family of five children at the time and the four rows of the Sea Gull Cottages was where we stayed. Shadows abound as Grandpa liked to take pictures - and on these sunny days, with shadows falling into the briny surf at low tide. And the briny salt air - as much a treat now as it was way back then...

SOOC - Sun, surf and sand

Surf casters, Atlantic Ocean, Jensen Beach Florida, 1 Jan 1981

SOOC - Straight Out of the Camera - takes me back again to the world of film...and the sunny surf of Florida in the wintertime. The time is New Year's Day 1981 in Jensen Beach. The surf casting fishermen are enjoying the 71ºF (22ºC) southern warmth. This view was a stark contrast to the next morning's flight arrival in Hartford where 2 inches (5 cm) cm of snow had fallen the night before and the temp was a cold 16ºF (-9ºC). Stark indeed, the Canon 50mm rangefinder creating a view of relaxing in the warmth...

Tina's Pic Story - Vacations

Tina's Pic Story is back with its simple rule: she provides the theme, we supply the photos. The theme this week is vacations...I am going back a generation and two, and we see our daughter at the water's edge on Cape Cod, and a sibling of mine quite awhile ago at high tide in Brigantine NJ. For kids, work is play, and on these vacations, the children are very hard at work...

Tina's Pic Story - Wet

She is sitting on the sand and does not need the tube to float.. Both are having fun

Tina's Pic Story is back, and we look for the photos that match up to her weekly theme - which today is nass - wet. For me, it is the beach and includes little kids at high tide.

The year is 1961, the water of the Atantic, the New Jersey beach in the seaside town of Brigantine, the siblings aged 7 and 5. The briny sea water is wet - and certainly fun!