Friday Five - Beach Trip

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So in honor of summer, please share your own beachy memories, plans, and dreams with a "Beach Trip" Friday Five.

1. Ocean rocks, lake limps? Vice versa? Or "it's all beautiful in its own way"?
I think it's all beautiful, but for swimming it has to be the ocean. There's something icky about fresh water that reminds me of swimming in blood. And those snapping turtles of my camp youth...

2. Year round beach living: Heaven...or the Other Place?
I love the beach all year. No place is more beautiful than the beach in November. I'm not sure I'd want it for eternity. However, Heaven surely includes insta-maid service, so beach tar and sand wouldn't be a source of irritation...

3. Any beach plans for this summer?
Most beaches here are shingle, no sand castles. So, the Lido perhaps (that's the Italian version where beach chairs are lined up with precision and you pay a few euro to rent your chair for the day). I haven't really thought about the beach much, here. Perhaps I should plan? Mmmm....Greece....

4. Best beach memory ever?
We spent the summers at the beach when I was growing up. When I was a tiny thing we lived in a double house (two ancient houses that had been smooshed together in the kitchen) with an older couple in Yarmouth, Mass, my mom's hometown. We took swim lessons every day, but the beach was special. The beach involved chairs and buckets and a stop at Village DoNut. It was a short drive and a long walk over the dunes. They had a clam shack that always smelled deliciously of forbidden french fries, although occasionally we bought a Chunky bar. While I have vivid memories of the hot sand and the smells and the sharp sounds of gulls, I don't remember being in the water at all.

5. Fantasy beach trip?
I think Greece qualifies. I'd like a house/apartment across the street from the beach, with a little restaurant. Like the town in His Dark Materials where all the adults' souls have been eaten (not that I want that, I just like the way the town is imagined). Best part of the fantasy: everyone speaks English.

Bonus: Share a piece of music/poetry/film/book that expresses something about what the beach means to you.