Where Lovely Mermaids Flow

A few years ago, I read an article about this place in Florida called Weeki Wachee Springs State Park (it's on the Gulf Coast side, not too far north of Tampa) which has a mermaid water park. (Here's the article: http://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/06/fashion/06mermaids.html) I thought it sounded really cool. (The pictures above are of Weeki Wachee mermaids.) The sweetest part of the article for me was that kids who come to the Mermaid park really believe that the mermaids who work there are real. One mermaid said kids often ask her what she eats for lunch and sometimes she answers "seaweed sandwiches." Then just a few weeks ago, I came across a post of a woman who attended mermaid camp for adults at Weeki Wachee: http://thehairpin.com/2011/06/last-weekend-i-went-to-mermaid-camp#more (If interested, you should also check out the same woman's post on five ways to become a mermaid: http://thehairpin.com/2011/03/five-ways-to-become-a-mermaid) The camp sounded like a lot of fun! I doubt I would ever attend it, but I suppose if the opportunity ever presented itself (which is unlikely, but you never know...) I would take it. The fact that both the mermaid theme park and the mermaid camp exist is what makes me happy. If I'm ever in Tampa, or the Gulf coast of Florida (which I would like to visit one day) I will definitely go to Weeki Wachee and watch a mermaid show.

The mermaid water park's location seems perfect given that I've always associated mermaids with warm water, and the Gulf is (at least during the summer) as warm as bathwater. Maybe because all the Caribbean islands are in the Atlantic, but I associate mermaids with the Atlantic, and not the Pacific, ocean. Although I suppose the Pacific is warm in parts of Southern California, Mexico, and Hawaii. However, I still think mermaids go better with the Atlantic ocean. My warm water theory also finds opposition in the Little Mermaid statue in Copenhagen (see picture below), which I hope to see in person one day, because I imagine the water must be cold there. I wonder if Hans Christian Andersen was imagining a warmer sea than around Denmark when he wrote the Little Mermaid. Or maybe he thought mermaids are just fine in cooler waters too.

I remember as a kid both seeing (and really liking) Disney's The Little Mermaid, but also reading (and liking) Hans Christian Andersen's much darker story. My favourite part, which I still remembered all these years later (but googled to check I was right), is how mermaids turn into sea foam when they die. It makes sense to me because then mermaids will always be a part of the sea. I've heard of people who have had their ashes dropped into the sea after they died, and it just seems an extension of the mermaids turning into sea foam thing. I think the idea of mermaids wanting to be human - central to both the Disney and HCA versions - is just an example of the grass is always greener. Or simply makes for a good story that some humans would like. (The kind of humans who think we're the best species ever and of course everyone would want to be like us if they had the chance.) My guess is that most mermaids love being mermaids and would want to remain mermaids for their entire lives. The ocean would be a lovely place to live, and swimming around all day would be fun. Plus, mermaids can come up to the surface when they want, can talk below and above the water, can be friends with fish (like Flounder!) and dolphins, and could go for trips through all the oceans of the world. I think if I were a mermaid, I'd want swim through the Panama Canal and then go explore the Pacific Ocean.

When I went to Playa del Carmen on Mexico's Yucatan peninsula in July 2004, I saw a lot of souvenirs (like matchboxes, purses, t-shirts) with Mexican loteria images. Later, back in California, I found postcards with the same images at Avant Card and bought a whole bunch of them. There are so many cool ones (like La Luna) but La Sirena (see picture below) is one of my favourites. I love her red tail, and how she's half in the ocean/half out. And, I like how she looks very different from Ariel. It'd be interesting to see representations of mermaids from all over the world as I'm sure different countries must see them differently.

Back when I was 19 and first growing my hair long, my goal was to have my hair be long enough to cover my breasts like a mermaid. I can't actually remember if it ever got that long but I do know that if I were a real mermaid I'm sure I would have just above the shoulders hair as I don't think I'd be able to deal with all the seaweed which I know would get tangled into longer hair. Plus, I also like mermaids' sea shell bikini tops, and shorter hair would let me show mine off. :)

Let's go on pretending that the light is never ending...

I first heard the song the title of this post comes from ("All the Years" by the band Beach House) back in March (thanks to the shuffle function on my itunes) and I immediately thought of the solstice and long summer nights. Something about the line just really struck me as the period from the end of May until June 21st, the whole lead up to the summer solstice, is my favourite time of year. And even though it stays light out all July, and much of August and even a bit into September too, I always feel a tiny bit sad on the morning of June 22nd knowing that the solstice has passed and sooner, rather than later, the days are going to start getting shorter again. It's a nice thought to think I could pretend that the long days will last forever, but I don't think I'd be able to keep up the pretenses for long, probably because I know I wouldn't appreciate the long days as much if winter and dark nights didn't exist.

I have had some really fun summer solstices. On the solstice just before I moved out of my Hilgard apt at the end of June, 2006 I invited a few people over for dinner. Then after we ate we went up on the fabulous roof of my building (see pictures (one above, one below) taken from my roof another night, but you get the idea of what a view it was!) and drank wine, ate raspberries, ate alfajores that L. made, enjoyed the sunset over the Bay, and luxiariated (is that even a word?) in how long the light hung around after the sun dipped out of view.

The summer solstice is a big event in Paris. Every year on June 21st, they have Fete de la Musique and there are events and free live music all over Paris. (I wonder if they do anything similar for the winter solstice?) The sun sets around 10 pm in June in Paris, and it doesn't get fully dark until after 11 pm. On the solstice in 2007, I went with S. and C. to this cafe/bar on the Canal St Martin (the same canal that Amelie visits in the movie!) that we went to sometimes during the daytime too. I liked it because you could take your beverage and drink it sitting on the edge of the canal. It was super crowded on the solstice, and oddly enough we were inside for most of the night as they had set up the bands in there. But it was a lot of fun.

The next year, I happily found myself in Paris again, this time with C. who was visiting me/travelling around Europe. We had a very relaxed but still so fun solstice. We walked down my street - rue des Batignolles - a bit where they had lots of music going on. And then we walked over to Place St Georges (see picture below) around 10:30 pm, which is one of my favourite little spots in Paris. I like it because it's small and quiet but so pretty. I also discovered it by accident, which I liked. I had a friend who had a friend who lived near it, but I'd never seen it. Then one night I was walking home and decided to take a different route and somehow ended up in it and thought it was really charming. It's also in the 9th arrondissement which is totally underrated in my opinion. The 9th has lots of cool cafes and streets but it doesn't get as many visitors as some of the other parts of Paris. C. and I just sat in Place St Georges for a long time that solstice talking and talking, while people walked by and music played in the background, and the light slowly entirely faded. I have a few pictures of us that we (of course) took ourselves that night and I actually put them away and rarely look at them because while they make me a bit happy, they make me more sad. Happy because that was a really great night and our conversation was really wonderful, and sad because a lot of the things we talked about that night played out in ways we maybe suspected deep down they would but really hoped wouldn't.

Another thing I love about this time of year is how early it gets bright in the morning. I don't think I was actually cognizant of the fact that June means longer brighter mornings (and not just evenings) until last early June when I got back from Japan and had the worst jet lag I've ever had. I would wake up around 2:30 am (after going to sleep around 10) and be unable to get back to sleep until around 6:30 or 7 am. From about 2:30 to 3:15 I would try to get back to sleep (I read an article on the Huffington Post that recommended counting backwards from a 1000 in 3s, so I tried that... but didn't have much success); then at 3:30 am I'd accept sleep wasn't coming and would just turn my light on and read for a while. Although one night I woke up craving chocolate chip banana bread so at 3:20 in the morning I found myself baking. Around 4:30 it would start to get light out and then the birds would start chirping and it was really nice. I would eventually get back to sleep when it was already bright out. Interesting side note: Japan doesn't have daylight savings time so during the summer the sun rises there at 4:30 am, meaning it gets bright even before 4. When trying to adjust to their time zone when I first got there, I woke up around 4:15 unable to sleep anymore. I went to the window and looked out to see the sun rising. It was a big orange ball in the center of the sky which made the Japanese flag, and Japan being known as "the land of the rising sun", make a lot of sense.

The lyrics right after the title of this post go "so we still have the summers, let's be good to one another..." On that note, I wish all of you a happy solstice, and a lovely light filled summer! (And I really recommend Beach House!)