I ran across these photos (here, here and here [boston.com]) via Boston.com’s The Big Picture [boston.com] article from June 11th. See the blue umbrellas and beach chairs in photo #12 [boston.com]? Yea? Well:
![IMG_1806](https://live.staticflickr.com/11/13275830_5554cc4a83_z.jpg)
I used to spend every other summer vacation on that beach. My grandfather had a house on the lagoon at Gulf Shores… that is until Hurricane Ivan destroyed it in 2004 [confusion.cc].
I haven’t been back in some time. I guess it’s a good thing I got some photos of the clean Gulf water.
![IMG_1814](https://live.staticflickr.com/9/13275865_9c24c19659_z.jpg)
And the beautiful beaches at sunset.
![IMG_2083](https://live.staticflickr.com/10/13275922_249f7a11ab_z.jpg)
It’s hard to appreciate the scope and devastation of the Deepwater Horizon oil catastrophe from halfway around the world. Though the news talks about it everyday, there is no 24-by-7 discussion of it. Even though Singapore had a smaller oil spill just a short time ago [nytimes.com]. Seeing pictures of birds and turtles covered in oil make me feel bad. But seeing photos of the beaches I played on as a kid covered in oil bring it home in a much more personal way.