Shannon Larratt is Zentastic

We went to the beach for a couple hours this afternoon. I like the drive because it involves some shooting over dunes and off-road paths which almost certainly void the rental agreement on our Jeep. Want to hear the kicker? We can rent a monthly car here for about the same as my insurance alone cost in Toronto. Anyway, here are a couple big panorama photos of the beach:

The tide was extremely low today, which has the effect of making the beach kind of stinky, but also creates tons of tidal pools full of sea urchins, starfish, baby puffer fish, and so on. Part of the reason that we moved out here is to get Nefarious out of the city; it's just not where I want her to grow up. I don't talk about my family here a lot, let alone post pictures, because of the psychopath stalkers and anti-fans that read this blog, but I really believe that it's important for kids to grow up in the country.

I know that you can get nature in the city — Toronto has wonderful parks and a nice zoo, as do most cities, but it's not the same. Conceptually I think if you grow up in the city, you perceive nature as something that we make a place for, whereas in the country you see the truth — that we're a part of nature and have to find our place within it, not the other way around. I also think this is like learning a language — if you don't clue into it as a child, you never really get it (whereas figuring out how a city works is childsplay — it's not like rumspringa country boys lose it when they go away to university).

At the end of the afternoon we ate on the beach at a fairly gringo-oriented place (so I think the prices were a little higher than usual). Our meals and drinks (for all of us added up) came to a bit under $20. I know I mention prices here a lot, and it's not a “holy crap it's cheap” sort of message I'm trying to spread. The reason I mention them is that I want every indie web designer, every contract programmer, every author-for-hire to know that this is the kind of place they could easily relocate to.

If the Baja doesn't strike you, there are a thousand other beautiful places to live. I hear India is rolling out two megabit connections to even small villages for $2.50 US a month. What's stopping you?

Anyway, I've got another interview and another update to prep for later tonight!