Beach Bunnies...now and then...

 I've been looking for this picture! one of my all time faves; Me and Dee circa 1968. I decided to put the pictures in the blog first and then add the words around it. Why? because it is such a big deal to "insert" a photo. This Blog thing was much easier when I first started a few years ago. Facebook is the same way. They have added so much that it has lost it's simplicity and the charm that goes with that, especially for older chics, like me... Why can't things just be simple? Like finding pictures in the first place. I should be able to search pictures and then find them all in one neat little file where they just "flew" into every time I added any kind of picture anywhere like Facebook, like a blog, like an email. It's my stuff! it should all go flying into my file on my computer, right? I am such  a simplistic dreamer sometimes. I always say "If computers are so smart, then why aren't they smarter or simpler?"  Beats me...So anyway this picture should be in my Beach pictures file or make it Beach Bunny file. No, it is  nothing like a Playboy Bunny...Beach Bunnies were "invented" in the 60s and I was an original and so was Dee. All you had to do was put on a Bikini and pose and take pictures and go to the beach and be tan and cute

and have fun...that's it! They made a bunch of movies then too that had Beach Bunnies everywhere! And believe it or not: Annette Funicello was an original all her own and she wore a one-piece. And don't forget Gidget! I found that picture because that was Dee 100 % through and through.

And so it was in the 70s, my life revolved around the beach and the sun. My hubby and I hung out at Temple Beth El Sea Cove and it was our church back in the day...We worshiped the Sun and the Son. We used baby oil and iodine to Bless ourselves and we used Vaseline too. I was the lucky one. No skin cancer for me but my hubby was not so lucky; he had already spent many years in the sun as a surfer and our Dermatologist removed this and biopsied that and made him look like Frankenstein with all the stitching she did. And so to this day, he stays out of the sun and wears ball caps and long sleeve shirts. I just 'stopped' going in the sun when I was 25 yrs old. Something told me it was just not a good idea and my skin is not perfect and beautiful and awesome, but it really is okay compared to the wrinkled, leathered skin of some of my counterparts who continued their undeserved worship of the Sun God. I was obsessed though, for sure. I made my own bathing suits, the kind that had no straps so I could tan to the max and I even made matching suits for my little girl, who had her first sunburn when she was not even two.
 I was 19 then and my head was up in the (sunny) clouds. I wanted to be at the beach, no matter the cost. In those days, going to the beach was free! No parking fees. It was great and we lived only a few miles from the beach in the first place. My hubby used to "jog" to the beach when people actually I had two girls who grew up and had two girls, one each and they were all raised as Beach Bunnies too. Although as I got older, I was much like a reformed smoker and preached against being in the sun and nagged about putting on sunblock...all that annoying stuff that your kids won't listen to in the first place. Hey! We are Florida natives, this is our birthright. We are "supposed' to be obsessed with the sun and they came by it quite naturally. From tiny tots to little girls to mommies themselves, it just always felt good to be in the water and in the sun... And although I don't go as often as I would like because I do not  want to be mistaken for some other kind of sea creature due to unwanted, unnecessary and undeserved weight gain. I do love the water and the sun and I dream about having a pool in my backyard someday. I think almost every single one of my friends has a pool and I am so very envious of them all. I would love nothing more than to come home from work and put on a bathing suit (no matter what the size) and jump right into a sparkling blue cement pond! Instead I come home and put on my P.J.s and jump into bed as soon as I can. My bones would feel so much better in that pool, I just know they would...



And so another generation of Beach bunnies is growing up and instead of surfing on a board they paddle on a board...

All sunshine and lollipops  aside, I feel compelled to warn against the sun and the dangers of too much exposure:  "Skin cancer is the most common of all cancers.

The number of skin cancer patients is growing steadily. Estimates of Americans diagnosed with skin cancer each year range from 700,000 to one million.
Half of all Americans will experience skin cancer at least once before the age of 65. The average age of patients diagnosed with skin cancer is dropping, from 50 to 40 years old.
Approximately 75 percent of damage to your skin from the sun happens by the time you are 20 years old.
More than 90 percent of all skin cancer cases are due to overexposure to sunlight. Skin cancer is believed to result from overexposure to ultraviolet radiation.
Nearly 90 percent of skin cancers are preventable, and if detected early, are highly curable. There are two types of skin cancer: melanoma and non-melanoma. More than 80 percent of skin cancer deaths are from melanoma.
In the United States, the number of new cases of melanoma (a type of malignant skin cancer) has more than doubled in the past 20 years. Florida has the second highest rate of melanoma cases in the nation. The top four states are (1) California, (2) Florida, (3) Texas and (4) New York.
Genetics are considered one of the greatest known risk factors for skin cancer, including a genetic predisposition for melanoma and bearing numerous moles."


No matter what the pros and cons of being a Beach Bunny are or were, there is one thing that will remain true. As long as we live in Florida, where the sun shines and the water is crystal blue, we will continue to live as Beach Bunnies live... And no matter how young, how old, how plump or how skinny we are we will pass on this tradition to our little bunnies of the future.

Crystal Blue Persuasion, oh yeah, it's the new vibration...