A hammock is a thing of beauty

A hammock is a thing of beauty and a joy forever. When winter passes, and summer once more blesses the land with its heat, who among us does not begin to picture a hammock swaying gently in the back yard? It is a fact that after the monstrous exertions which the season compels, rest is a must. And not just any rest—rest in the shade with a gentle breeze. And here comes the important part. While the ground is ok if there is no alternative, it is hard. Bugs crawl in your ear, and misfortune abounds. Enter the Hammock, a venerable deity of the rites of spring and midsummer dreams.
When Columbus "discovered" America, folks here were already hammocking. Fishermen of days gone by had been sleeping in their nets for a millennium -- a smelly occupation to be sure; but one that at least had the advantage of drawing flies. Wait! That is not necessarily an advantage. But it was the motivational precursor to the mosquito net, which followed the invention of the hammock by only a few hundred years.
In the world of the hammock, the ancient Mayans wove them out of cording formed from the hamac tree. The Amazonians cross wove them; and some poor guy from Carolina tried to improve them with rope and bars. That was not such a good idea as it turns out, because the ropes leave marks on your tender flesh, and the bars make them tippy. But, hey, you can't blame a guy for trying.
This brings us to your back yard, which you may be seeing a lot more of now than in times gone by. How do you pick out a hammock in which to while away part of a lazy day? We consulted with our local hammock expert, a man generally considered to be the original underachiever, a fellow who snoozes his life away, occasionally coming to, for long enough to enlighten the world on the joys of non achievement. This paragon of somnolent virtues took time out of his busy napping schedule to extol the qualities of the Mayan Hammock, a device he claims more than makes up for the misery inflicted on the world by the dismal prophecies believed to be foreshadowed in the Mayan calendar, such as the purported end of the world in 2012. This hammock is woven in looms, by hand, in such a way that there is no warp or weft, only tiny diamond shaped interstices in the flowing seamless web. This web, he claims, infinitely supports and cushions every cell and fiber of ones being in such amazing comfort that….At this point he dropped off to sleep, leaving me hanging in far less comfort than he himself enjoyed.
Sometime later, he went on to explain that he sleeps in this same type of hammock at night, because the lack of pressure points in this type of design allows him to sleep more deeply, less restlessly, and to awaken in the morning absent the usual back pain that he experiences when sleeping in a bed, any bed. He also mentioned an almost mystical sense of being held between Heaven and earth by unseen hands. This all sounded pretty good to me, so I asked him where I could find one. “Ah”, he said, nodding sagely,”When the Chela is ready, the Hammock appears.”
They are appearing now at Seaside Hammocks.