Mobile indeed
The holiday weekend involved far too many people.
We spent Friday morning packing up *S*T*U*F*F* for three nights of sleeping on the beach north of Fort Bragg, surrounded by the extended family of MoMD’s daughter’s boyfriend. It ended up being about 23 people for dinner by the last night, which is way over my comfort level for a relaxing weekend.
The good part was on Saturday when after a very leisurely breakfast a subset of the group loaded up about 8 ocean going kayaks and a dozen or so folks to drive down to Van Damm State beach where the hardy few started diving for abalone and the rest of us either watched from the beach or suited up in wet suits and went out to paddle around. The bay was positively glassy, which was very restful, and in my borrowed wet suit I was quite comfortable for the first time ever in the ocean kayak (you sit in water from the minute you get into the boat, so it’s nice to be waterproofed). After admiring the energy of the divers, MoMD and I took the two man kayak farther around the bay to check out the rocks/islets carpeted with an impressive collection of pelicans (various patterns and colors), plus several gatherings of striped and spotted seals lolling about at water level and eyeing us with some trepidation. Mostly we managed to get close enough for a good view but not so close as to make them skitter off into the water.
Most interesting though (even ahead of the marine caves) was ending up in a bed of jelly fish, all sizes, transparent and fluttery. I’ve never been so close when I could just examine them with no fear of contact. Quite gorgeous in their way.
The rest of the weekend was about coordinating food for the mob and watching the younger generation surf, boogie-board and play in the waves. The weather was typically Northern California foggy, so although it was incredibly hot and sticky driving east and west, as soon as we got to the limits of Fort Bragg, the ocean fog was all settled in. No sun from Friday at 6 until Monday around 2.
Me, I spent most of Sunday afternoon napping in the tent after listening to Tim’s podcast about getting the designers to Paris. Finished the third volume of Richard Hannay’s adventures (”Mr. Standfast”) and a good chunk of Bill Bryson’s “A Walk in the Woods.” And no computer for the whole time!
We got home on Monday, just in time to start madly packing boxes of books for an antiquarian fair down in LA this weekend. I should be doing that now, but more than half the boxes are packed and I needed a short break, so...babbling.
Now for the walk down the hill to get the mail.
We spent Friday morning packing up *S*T*U*F*F* for three nights of sleeping on the beach north of Fort Bragg, surrounded by the extended family of MoMD’s daughter’s boyfriend. It ended up being about 23 people for dinner by the last night, which is way over my comfort level for a relaxing weekend.
The good part was on Saturday when after a very leisurely breakfast a subset of the group loaded up about 8 ocean going kayaks and a dozen or so folks to drive down to Van Damm State beach where the hardy few started diving for abalone and the rest of us either watched from the beach or suited up in wet suits and went out to paddle around. The bay was positively glassy, which was very restful, and in my borrowed wet suit I was quite comfortable for the first time ever in the ocean kayak (you sit in water from the minute you get into the boat, so it’s nice to be waterproofed). After admiring the energy of the divers, MoMD and I took the two man kayak farther around the bay to check out the rocks/islets carpeted with an impressive collection of pelicans (various patterns and colors), plus several gatherings of striped and spotted seals lolling about at water level and eyeing us with some trepidation. Mostly we managed to get close enough for a good view but not so close as to make them skitter off into the water.
Most interesting though (even ahead of the marine caves) was ending up in a bed of jelly fish, all sizes, transparent and fluttery. I’ve never been so close when I could just examine them with no fear of contact. Quite gorgeous in their way.
The rest of the weekend was about coordinating food for the mob and watching the younger generation surf, boogie-board and play in the waves. The weather was typically Northern California foggy, so although it was incredibly hot and sticky driving east and west, as soon as we got to the limits of Fort Bragg, the ocean fog was all settled in. No sun from Friday at 6 until Monday around 2.
Me, I spent most of Sunday afternoon napping in the tent after listening to Tim’s podcast about getting the designers to Paris. Finished the third volume of Richard Hannay’s adventures (”Mr. Standfast”) and a good chunk of Bill Bryson’s “A Walk in the Woods.” And no computer for the whole time!
We got home on Monday, just in time to start madly packing boxes of books for an antiquarian fair down in LA this weekend. I should be doing that now, but more than half the boxes are packed and I needed a short break, so...babbling.
Now for the walk down the hill to get the mail.