How to Live at the Beach
Perhaps it's all about simplicity, serenity, and appreciation. Like a treasure in the sand, How to Live at the Beach lets us discover - and rediscover - that allure.
How to Live at the Beach is a little book with big impact. A gift book that is a true gift to read, enjoy and ponder, it reminds us of the important things we too often forget. And, like the beach itself, it offers us renewal.With each turn of the page, we are charmed by watercolor illustrations that take our memories back to when we walked, played, or lazed on the sandy shore. These enchanting images have the subtle power to transport even the souls of those who have never set foot on a beach to whatever seashore they desire. As in her first book, How to Live on an Island, Sandy Gingras uses limited prose to take us there. Each page contrasts the differences between life at the beach and the complicated, heavily structured everyday lives that most of us have. And, like a day at the beach, when we read this book we are invigorated, and find that the complexities that surround us are not so difficult or even important. With each reading, the beach metaphor awakens us: How we might live our lives, how we could pace ourselves, how we can appreciate, how we can love. Like the perfect seashell, Sandy Gingras leaves the underlying meaning for the reader to find. And just like combing the beach, it is a pleasure to explore.
EXCERPT
"Simplicity is an unbuttoning of what we’ve learned to wear as a self—a looser fit, a softer fabric. It’s like a step we’ve forgetten how to dance, a native language we’ve forgotten how to speak in a rushy complex world. We know that simplicity is within us and within our grasp.?
We want to elongate the days, distill the memories, make them last. At the same time, we know that the beauty is in the evanescence ...
Every wave comes in, then retreats. Every day promises, then turns its back and slips away. Every joy has a little tease in it, a give and a take, and leaves a wake of longing."
