beach going, and the problem with moths

On Sunday we went to the beach to fly a kite. We live fairly close to the beach but spend most of our swimming time in the pool in our backyard. 

Four years ago as residents of New York City, we used to spend every possible weekend at the beach. It started in May; buying our season passes. On Saturday and sometimes even Sunday afternoons, we'd wake early and take the subway to Penn station. Buy iced coffees at Starbucks, sandwiches for lunch at Subway. Take the train from Manhattan past Queens to the last stop on the Long Beach line. We'd drag our bags and our towels to the beach and then walk sometimes for a quarter of a mile over the sand to find the best spot. Spend all morning and part of the afternoon making sand castles. On the way home, we'd have salad pizza at the restaurant not far from the train station. 

I thought when we moved to California that we would spend every possible moment on the beach. That this was like moving to our mecca. 

We found out when we moved here, it's the Atlantic we love. The Atlantic ocean is my darling. It's freezing cold in the early summer, but warms up gradually. By August, it's the perfect temperature. Even so, it's like a different ocean every day. Sometimes calm and smooth, sometimes full of rough waves, dangerous. Terrifying.

The Pacific is a different beast. The waves in the Pacific ocean are rough and frigid all year long. And the beach here is often chilly and windy. 

Still, there is a beach we sometimes go to. It's tucked away in a residential area, surrounded by expensive houses. To reach the beach, you park on the street then climb down a long staircase. It's not a popular beach, so most of the time it feels deserted and magical. Sometimes we see starfish there. Once, we found a cave.

At home, we're having a problem with moths. they're all over the place, particularly in the kitchen. I'm a bad pagan because I'm supposed to love nature and preserve life, but I kill insects I find in my house. We saw a waterbug in the house once last summer, and I killed it. And I've been smashing the moths with my bare hands. The only bugs that I don't kill when I find them in the house are spiders. I believe spiders are Good. 

I'm thinking about doing a banishing ritual, but I'm brand new at this and that sounds a little negative. I don't want to banish the moths and burn down my house, and I don't want to perform negative spells. 

not that killing the moths is really any better. 

I was looking through my practical magic book today and came upon this suggestion for prosperity and change: place seeds (pumpkin, sunflower, etc) in a bowl and place your wish for the future inside. Place it on an alter. 

This sounds like something simple I'd like to try but...I need to make an alter. This is a cart before the horse scenario. There's a dresser at home, in the spare room, I think I can easily make into an alter. There's a cloth draped over the top. It's a tall dresser, the top is just at my shoulders. 

I'd also like to try these Prosperity cakes from Zedral.