ice cream at mission beach

my school friend (let's just call her "annie") also provided me with a black and white photo of her husband's youth (see previous posts of other snapshots turned paintings). an extended family of toe heads who spent many a day at mission beach. i felt i needed to paint it in pink (sorry about the glare on the right side of the painting)

i just love those elastic fronted swimsuits with the tiny skirts the girls are wearing. i can remember mine - it always had a smell of old elastic, cotton and beach. my swim cap was a matching thick knobby, rubbery thing with a snap-on chin strap that smelled like - well, rubber. that chin snap made a really nice loud "snap" sound that said, "now i'm ready to run and feel the water with my toe" (i was never one to jump right in).
i also remember that i used to try to suck the sea salt out of the knotted end of the neck tie on the long drive home in the back seat of our massive station wagon with no seat belts while feeling kinda squirmy about the sand in my butt crack.

the maddening thing about sand: i never figured out how to get all the sand off my feet before entering the car - under the swearing threat of my mom - i mean, if you showered at the beach, you still had wet feet that touched the sand to get to the car. i would try to walk on only the edges of my feet, or my toes, but it didn't work and it made me lag behind, which earned me a hardy "back-of-the-head" slap for holding people up. to be fair, my mother was always lugging a giant umbrella, straw beach bag with matching straw hat and a wooden fold-up chair which made her "the people" i was holding up!
anyway, i was always on the lookout for a small isolated puddle on the road to the car to rinse my feet,--but my mom would have a conniption (shit-fit) if i waded in it!!!! she said the puddle had dirty water in it. "yeah, sooooo?" i said. then, smack, back-of-the-head again!
i think that is when i began my characteristic arm flailing gesture meaning i don't understand YOU! - heavy sigh- just remembering one of many early frustrations....and missing my mom. (clear throat, ahem) sorry i went there.

anyway, back to the toe heads; they sure look like they are appreciating their ice creams. yummmm, licking melting ice cream while salt is crystallizing on your skin in the sun. that has to be one of the greatest gifts of youth. that kind of enjoyment.

i'm not certain, but i think the woman there is bernice (see last post). she looked innocent and virgin in the last post, right? well, she ended up with 3 kids!!! and a whole load of nieces and nephews. i mean she got married and everything, but back when the car picture was taken, i bet she never dreamed it would happen this way. who ever does?
and guess what? today, she is still a virgin! at least, i think she is.
well bernice, i think you are the purest woman i have ever met. and your purity shows to this day. god bless you.
oh and by the way - the second tallest toe head boy is "annie's" husband, "mike" - he grew up to be a surfer, but then he had to start working to support "annie" and their three pure kids!