Ocean City, Maryland is a place people like to go when it's warm and sunny. Last week I was there during what must be the off-season for the town, and it was windy, foggy, rainy, and almost deserted. Perfect. I had a condo overlooking a very wild and dramatic beach, and got some good pics. See the view down the beach from the balcony, above.
Unfortunately I had to cancel the last day of the workshop for the Art League of Ocean City, due to an illness. Yes, an illness called Worst ****ing Migraine Headache I've Ever Had Thanks To MSG. Ever gotten that one? I had dinner the night before at Outback steakhouse. Chicken. Ever wonder why everything tastes exactly the same at that restaurant? Because they bury it all in their "seasonings." Most of which are obviously loaded with MSG in one or more of its disguised or undisguised forms. Doesn't matter what you order - steak, chicken, pork, it all tastes the same. Anyway, aside from that I really enjoyed the place and the welcome fall atmosphere. Thanks to ALOC for inviting me, the great accomodations, and sorry especially to those who traveled far!
Unfortunately I had to cancel the last day of the workshop for the Art League of Ocean City, due to an illness. Yes, an illness called Worst ****ing Migraine Headache I've Ever Had Thanks To MSG. Ever gotten that one? I had dinner the night before at Outback steakhouse. Chicken. Ever wonder why everything tastes exactly the same at that restaurant? Because they bury it all in their "seasonings." Most of which are obviously loaded with MSG in one or more of its disguised or undisguised forms. Doesn't matter what you order - steak, chicken, pork, it all tastes the same. Anyway, aside from that I really enjoyed the place and the welcome fall atmosphere. Thanks to ALOC for inviting me, the great accomodations, and sorry especially to those who traveled far!
14 comments:
Looks like the perfect set-up, walking on the foggy beach, dreaming up new paintings. Sorry about the migraine - I share your pain, brother, you know that! Must have been the puking your guts out kind to make you cancel a day's workshop - and I know everyone missed one more day with THE Nicholas Simmons. Take it nice and slow, don't eat at Outback anymore (just have the drinks and desserts).
Nick,
Sorry to hear about the MSG migraine:0(! I get ocular migraines out of the blue and they can really put a cramp on the fun. I've found that ginger the spice not Ginger from Gilligans Island brings it on sometimes.
My wife has severe allergies to certain seasonings and my mother-in-law almost died from MSG she had to be rushed to the hospital after having a anaphylaxis shock to her system.
The Ocean City,Rehobeth beach areas are kind of dead after mid-september or so. The wife and I go there to visit her parents off-season for that reason:0)!
Nice atmoshere this time of year also pretty cool to visit during Christmas reminds me of a ghost town during that time.
Good photos:0)!
Sincerely
Paul
Sounds awful! I get them from too much chocolate or white sugar.... I lived in Rehoboth Beach for a while.... not OC, I know, but I just loved RB, Bethany and the Eastern Seaboard. Best part of the year for me was the fall and winter when the place was deserted, the ocean thick with wet weather, an angry sea spray long brisk walks on the boardwalk and hot coffee on the avenue.
Nick, I didn't know that pain from MSG(Is it Glutamato?)and I'm sorry because you've had to pass that...
The place looks nice, very nice, as the best one to go there for one month to take skteches, to work in watercolour..Mmmmm, nice, very nice.
I would like to have been one of those who were there learning from you.
Very big hug,
Enrique.
Nicholas - nice prints here to gaze at and admire. I remember MD being exceptionally beautiful, even charming. You've been lucky this year with most of your assignments in terms of location and cool vistas. Keep it going amigo!
Rhonda - THE Nicholas Simmons was probably driving around Beverly Hills in a new Maserati smoking a Cohiba. THIS Nicholas Simmons was indeed at the wheel himself, "driving the porcelain bus." Not pleasant. Imitrex doesn't work for the MSG migraines, so you just have to tough it out. My comments re Outback go for pretty much all of those places - Texas Roadhouse, Lonestar, etc. Avoid.
Paul - oh yeah, I'm an old pro with the eye headaches, too. Ginger can often be trouble, but I imagine Tina Louise could have been a handful herself. (btw, she is in my Top 10 Alltime Glamour Girls of the Screen. #1 you ask? Nancy Kovack) MSG is poison, but like a lot of other crazy stuff in this country, almost impossible to avoid. I hope your wife and her mother know that MSG masquerades under about 20 different names - worth googling that one.
Maggie - yes, that's the time to hit the boardwalk, and I love your description. :)
Refined sugar is trouble all the way around, but not being able to eat chocolate is one of the worst aspects of life for the migraine sufferer. However, I often cheat!
Enrique - again! Monosodium glutamate. For years I thought it was a man-made chemical, but it actually comes from seaweed. Much of American society has been raised on it, and apparently don't suffer any obvious physical effects. Then there are others of us who react to it violently. Sometimes it doesn't bother me, and once in a while I can head off an MSG migraine with a shot of caffeine - cup of coffee, for example. But it's a dangerous practice, not a 100% cure, and can be like throwing gasoline on a fire.
I cannot wait to see the beach at Donostia, the photos you sent are incredible. What a magical place!
Bill - Maryland has a lot to offer, I'm sorry we won't be able to show you around later this month. :( The next round table convenes in the big Windy, and it will be an adventure to uncover the treasures that magnificent city offers. Just that cat down on State will be enough for me, I can't resist a committed street preacher. Esp when he looks like Little Richard....in white polyester.
terrific pics Nick, I love isolated beaches, I´ll have mines next weekend!!!
This is the best time to visit OC! I love wild weather, wind and crashing surf..although it doesn't look like it's crashing in your pix. Guess the hurricane by-passed us. :) Awful time hanging onto the porcelain bus - I'd rather almost any pain than acute nausea...
Great beach photos Nick. I especially love the sea mist around that post. Reminds me of Albatross [you know... the Eagles] Listen to that and you'll be transported to any misty windswept beach on the planet! [grin]
Sorry to hear about the migraine [and the necessary cancellation]. Though anyone whose ever had one understands. Rest up.
I have Eagles on the brain... I meant Fleetwood Mac. Oops! LOL
Alex - but a busy hot day of tangas on the mar del plata isn't so bad either, is it?!
Nancy - the surf was crashing, but you have to take a zillion pics to get it right. I like the one of the silver/mercury surf and the gingerbread cookie sand.
Jean - Eagles, Mac...right in there. I saw Fleetwood Mac as a kid at the zenith of their popularity, a few feet from the stage as Stevie Nicks sang Rhiannon. I could almost grab one of her veils. Remember it like yesterday!
"windy, foggy, rainy, and almost deserted....I had a condo overlooking a very wild and dramatic beach..."
Perfect alright.
Love the photography NNG...stunning!
I'm so sorry about the MSG migraine you suffered. Regardless the trigger, migraines are just excruciatingly bad to endure - Buddy, I've had one lasting a number of days over this past week..
My only thoughts at the time...
"give me a gun!"
Take care
Yeah Nick, never had a migraine, unless i've got some weird tollerance for pain, but I've ate stuff with MSG in it and can tell it just doesn't make you feel very good.
To bad there weren't any beachers in Ocean City. I'm doing a contest for the Girls on the Beach series I've been doing. Best photo wins a free painting of it. Free to anyone to enter. I'm planning on doing it monthly until the series reaches 100 paintings which shouldn't take too long.
I see you have some workshops coming to Texas. If I'm lucky enough to get there that be a blast.
Later,
Kirby
Patricia - I hate to hear that, I sure know how bad a migraine can be. I hope to see you more active on the blog soon, though I seem to have less and less time to cruise the internet myself. Life is getting complicated, especially as my parents age and responsibilities pile on. Hope you're feeling better these days.
Kirby - nice to see you, and I recall those beach babes! Now that's a location painting gig I could get interested in, ha. I'll be over to check it all out soon, totally swamped right now with family matters.
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