Sunday was a quiet beach bum day.  As Selbys, we do everything possible to stay out of the sun, so laying out at the beach is a real exercise of the mind and body. 

It was mid day when we finally arrived. We found a spot near a wall, laid out our ground cloth, reed sand mats, and an ample supply of bread, cheese, and fruit.  To our dismay, our small beach umbrella would not stand up on it’s own.  So we resorted to laying down and I steadied the umbrella with my hand.

When it came time to eat, I came up with the idea of taking the reed mats and laying them over the top of our bodies.  Voila, we had SPF 300, the umbrella on it’s side protected our heads, and one liter water bottles snuggled in our packs became our pillows.

I am fairly certain this did not escape the attention of the French.  Their quizzical looks said, “if they don’t like the sun, why did they come to the beach!”

Antibes

We’ve arrived in our little love nest, in the old town section of Antibes, a vibrant town nuzzled against the azure waters of the Mediterranean. Our room here is thoughtfully equipped with all one might need.  Yesterday Dave and Linda dropped by to check out our apartment and see how we were doing.  After some fun and sad reminiscing about our time at L’eau Vive and St. Remy, we decided to see their apartment on the Cape Antibes, do some shopping, and checkout the wild life at the beach.

Stores, streets, and beaches were packed with tourists and local travelers trying to escape what might be the hottest day on record for this time of the year.  It’s quite pleasant here, which might explain the rush.

The beaches are home to every size, shape, color tone one might expect.  No need to be shy if you are  tall/short, thin/wide, young/old, they are here and oblivious to everything but soaking up the rays and playing in the water.  There is some toplessness but it seems innocent in the greater scheme of purple-blue water of Antibes.

Dave and Linda’s apartment is very cozy, quirky, and a mere ½ block to Antibes best beach.  The kitchen is so small that there is are no U-turns, one way in, one way out, one person only, please.  The room was attractively priced below the market allowing them room for 3 or 4 fantastic meals on the Med (Dave, did you hear that?).

The only item of particular interest was the fact that I had accidentally kept our room key from the retreat center. The best excuse that I can come up with is that we woke up at 6am and without coffee, finished hanging the molding in the room and putting a second coat on the bathroom baseboard.  Between coffee depletion and the emotion of leaving I must have been subconsciously  reluctant to “disconnect” from L’Eau Vive.  So, Monday we are going to go to the post office and reconnect however tenuously with L’Eau Vive again.

In addition, we arrived at the Aix TGV station under the careful driving of Charles the retreat Director.  He stopped right in front of the doors, unloaded our luggage, ushered us to our vois (gate), asked the train agents to be sure we had the right vois, and instructed us on how the digital car assignments worked.  He refused to leave until we were completely safe and secure.  The people at L’Eau Vive never have to preach to show their faith, you know you are close to our Father in their presence.  The light of love, empathy, laughter, humility, and serving, glows from each staff member.