Dr KO has such nice themes for Mundane Monday. This week’s theme is the beach. I’m back from my trip to Europe, which was not really a beach vacation. But the parts of the trip I will remember the longest involved beaches of a sort.
The last day of our cruise took us to Dover, England, of the famous White Cliffs. When British pilots returned from bombing runs during World War II, it was the sight of these cliffs that let them know they were home, and (relatively) safe, for now.
Our day was warm and sunny, the sky a clear blue with a few white clouds. We hiked along the Cliff Walk and looked out over the beach and the water.
We were high-up enough to see the curvature of the earth and the boats crawling along the watery arc of the globe.
And a lighthouse behind a field of flowers.
The different shades of blue and white were amazing all day. As we sailed away from Dover on the cruise ship, seagulls followed us, drafting off the ship’s movement.
This gull was dive-bombing some leftover food on plates stacked up in the bistro at the back of the boat.
And the cliffs themselves, and the shadows they made, took on a different hue as they receded into the distance.
There’s a song about bluebirds over the White Cliffs of Dover, but as we learned, bluebirds are not native to the area and cannot be found here. It’s white birds all the way. White birds against a deep blue sky.
Hi Karen – this might answer the bluebird question …
“BLUEBIRD is an old country name for swallows and house martins, which have a blue sheen to their plumage. ”
but someone else mentioned: “I have read several theories about this song, such as “bluebirds” being a metaphor for the American air force liberating Britain and Europe. The American writers of the song Nat Burton and Walter Kent simply didn’t know that Bluebirds aren’t native to Dover”
Delighted you enjoyed your brief walk along the cliff top – and lucky you finding it warm!! When I lived on the coast in Eastbourne … I could see 14 container ships plying their trade up and down the deep channel of the English Channel …
Cheers Hilary
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I like the idea of bluebird being an old country name. I also think of the “bluebirds of happiness.”
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Oh, gorgeous. I hope you had wonderful travels, I hope to be traveling some soon…
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Yes, they were wonderful but it’s nice to be back, too! I have enough Mundane Monday and Thursday Doors posts to last the next year!
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Wow!
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And because I really love beaches, I’m going to link here to two other beach blogs I wrote from vastly different times and places.
This one is from Bean Hollow State Beach in California, closer to home:
https://klallendoerfer.wordpress.com/2016/02/13/like-as-the-waves/
And this one describes a beach vacation in North Carolina from my childhood:
https://klallendoerfer.wordpress.com/2015/11/03/sand-circles/
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