Children's Pool - La Jolla

LA JOLLA - in spanish it means "the jewel", and it is. Granted, I am a tad biased - I grew up in the area (all over San Diego) and went from 7th to 12th grade in La Jolla. I've always felt that I needed to be near an ocean, eventually. When I drove to the Children's Pool and exited my car I was reminded of that belief, deep in my soul. The first thing is the smell: very salty but there is also something else, something without words. Then there's the sound: it's never ending and yet never boring. Last but not least is the view: not exactly never ending, of course, but with a little bit of imagination, it is... (Okay, back to reality.)

Ellen Browning Scripps, a staple of La Jolla from early/mid 1900s, paid to have a seawall built in a small section of the beaches of La Jolla many years ago, in order to create a 'break' or a small 'cove' of sorts (not the famous La Jolla Cove, however). The wall helped to create a sort of safe haven for children to enjoy the beach, without worrying about tough waves or dangerous ebbs. I remember the wall from my childhood and we used to jump off of it from the ocean side, although looking at it now, I don't know why or how!

Above is the view to the pool, from the very end of the wall. Below is where we used to jump.

Well, over the last few years, you can see what's been happening: seals are enjoying the respite from the heavy waves and tides, the respite that was meant for children. At first, it was cute! But after awhile, they took over and the break created by the wall keeps their feces in the pool area - not so cute!

Okay, so the little guys are so ugly, they're cute, and that last little guy just coasted in while I was standing there...



There's another, smaller part of the 'pool' area where kids can play, but the seals are still close and their stuff is still polluting the water. There's even a sign at the entrance to the area, but the seals don't read or haven't made it to the entrance to read the sign - or they just don't care. There's also a sign down by the seals, warning stupid people not to get too close.

No matter which side you choose (I'm not taking a stand - they're just too cute), some money would have to be pumped into the area to fix the problem: the area would have to be cleaned out first (giant pooper-scooper, anyone?); the wall would have to be extended to the other side, maybe with an chicken wire-style fence; and the seals would have to be re-located, gently. OR, just take the kiddies somewhere down the beach a way!

I stopped for a late lunch at a place on Prospect called "The Living Room". I sat outside, but it was really cute inside, also. In the back (inside) you may sit on a couple of small sofas and actually see the ocean through some of the condos. I had a hot chocolate and a "pumpkin tower" (I know - not exactly lunch), which was basically a pumpkin cheesecake in the round. The salads on other peoples' plates looked pretty good, too. I'm still thinking about the cheesecake, it was so good - I'm just saying!

I went by a few shops and happened into a dream: a gallery filled with Thomas Mangelsen prints of every shape and size. What first caught my attention were photos of the Tetons where I had just visited. Of course, his were a LOT better than mine (well, duh!). If you are not familiar with his work, I strongly suggest you query him - beautiful scenes of nature from all over the world and the animals that inhabit it.

On the way back to the car, along with taking some last, deep breaths of that air I love so much, I got some photos of the sun getting ready to set and leaving some amazing visions:

Thanks, La Jolla, for the beauty and the memories...

Leaving Dallas

Appreciated staying at Sue's and so did Fletch; he helped himself to some of the cat furniture before we left.

I promised him I would buy him some more of those when we got to SD...

Left Sue's house on Monday morning to have lunch with another old friend, before heading west. I've known Jamie since Miami but we have only seen each other once or twice since then. Still, we keep in touch and are somewhat soul sisters. See, Jamie and I share an ex (of the husband type). I think the new word is "Wasband". We are a lot alike, which is probably why he is a wasband to both of us...

Anyway, Jamie had me meet her at Eatzie's, a place in downtown Dallas with which I was not familiar. At first I thought I was in the wrong place - it's a gourmet grocery store with so many items already made. But I eventually found the cafe in the back. Let me tell you, the food was delicious and options plentiful (too plentiful for a one-time visit) and the gal working the back cafe was wonderful. I almost thought I knew her from somewhere, she was so friendly and warm. I highly recommend this place to anyone in the area, or even not in the area. But beware: it gets busy fast around mealtime and there's little standing or roaming room when that happens. Get there a little early like we did! Jamie and I had a blast talking about our exploits since we last saw each other, and about our kids!

I had planned to stop twice before we got to SD, but ended up stopping only once, in Van Horn, TX. We stayed at a very cheap ($33 for room, taxes, etc) motel that was the crappiest we've seen yet: different sections of (not matching) carpeting and linoleum; a section of empty space in the bathroom where God-only-knows use to be set up there; an odor that was quite undecypherable; and a wayward roach that apparently wanted to make a call on my cell phone! Did I mention it was cheap? And the older gal who ran the place was a peach! As Rex used to say, "Oh comma well."

We got an (relatively) early start on Tuesday morning and I was going to gain 2 hours during the day, so we ended up driving straight through to SD and my mom's house. We did stop a few times of course for gas, potty breaks, DP & sunflower seed purchases, and a walk for Fletch. The rest of the day, he pretty much looked like this:

I'm always amazed how they can start out rolled up in a tight ball, in a very small space, and eventually end up taking most of the front seat of the car, in a position that would leave you or me in traction for the next week!

We arrived at mom's around 7pm that night and surprised her, but it had been almost 12 hours in the car for us, so I was beat and wired (from the DP) and Fletch was his usual I-have-to-check-this-entire-place-out-now self. My mother's dog (and I use that term loosely) does not get why the cat won't play with him EVERY TIME she wants to PLAY with him. The fact that Fletch is at least twice the size of Brandy doesn't seem to bother the dog, until that Ewok face gets a Fletch bitch-slap across the snout! And the fact that the dog is annoying does not seem to bother Fletch at all. He still climbs up to whereever he wishes even if it's practically right next to the dog. Hey boys and girls, can we say the word "taunting" today? Hahahaha.

(And yes, that is a pink dress on the dog...)

We will be staying here through Christmas, but I promised to go see things around SoCal and share them with you all. Now, I think I'm going to sleep for about 3 days in my old room!

Ft. Worth!

Big day in Ft. Worth with several stops. First, Sue took me to the Stockyards, which were originally (large scale) stables later turned into a touristy, yet cool, shopping area. You still get the feel of the old west/cattle thing, and they have a "stampede" twice a day when they actually close off a street and herd the longhorns along for all to see.

Can you believe the horns on that sucker?!

This shows the make-up of an actual well-planned cattle drive. It was just as well that I didn't have much spending money - the turquoise jewelry was crazy!

Next, we went to the water gardens in downtown Ft. Worth. I didn't know exactly what to expect but I really enjoyed it. There are 3 different "gardens" with 3 different styles of water flowing over landscaped walls, rocks & sprinklers. 2 and 3 were cool, but the first one was my favorite.

You could actually walk on stones that were strategically placed among the other stones with water cascading over them. I almost felt like the flow of the water would take me down with it, but I was about 2" above it. It was loud, but very soothing - loved it!



This one was just multiple sprinklers, but the rainbow came through in the photo (if you look carefully)!

This one is sunken into the ground like the first one; you must walk down a flight of stairs and all of the walls around you are flowing. The walls are straight and in one piece, so there is no noise and wake like the first one.

All of this is in a city block in the middle of the busy business district of Ft. Worth, yet it is below the street level and not even noticeable if you're driving down the street. If I worked downtown, I would have lunch down here AT LEAST once a week - loved it!

We had a killer healthy lunch at Sweet Tomatoes. Of course, the healthy lunch was completely off-set by the brownie thing with the frozen yogurt and chocolate sauce on top, but gee whiz...

Our next stop was the Ft. Worth Botanical Gardens. This is not, of course, the best time of year for roses but there were some still blooming. Couldn't resist the beautiful archway in the middle of the rose garden - perfect place for a wedding.

I decided to try the close-up button on my new camera (yes, I know there's probably a much more technical name for it - back off). You get the benefits of my trying that button on some of the roses in the garden:

There were plenty of other plants, trees and flowers in the gardens, and we smelled some beautiful, giant sage bushes, but the roses are always the best!

I had a wonderful day and am very grateful to Sue for taking me all over and for inviting me and my Fletch into her home again...

Continuing to head west!

Birmingham to Dallas (again)

After leaving Julie & Baby, we drove into B'ham to visit our old friends at the RAC/BI and go to lunch. Can it have been only 6 weeks ago that we left??? Only Susan was available, so I put Fletch in the Ops room to stretch and rest. When I got back from lunch, the boss had discovered Fletch in the Ops room - Oops! Fletch and I went over to the storage unit to get some things out and drop some other things off that we no longer needed. I did pick up a few more Christmas presents out of storage to take to SD, but that were too big to be carried around in the meantime (and very breakable). We headed towards Valdosta to see the kids but it was getting late, so we stopped into a little motel I had seen many times on my way to GA on previous occasions. I was always curious about it because it is called the Key West Inn and I LOVE Key West. Alas, the motel had NOTHING in common with the island. We drove into Valdosta the next morning in time to have lunch with the kids and then go to the sonogram appt in town.  I had really wanted to take some more photos of the sonogram, but this visit was only for sound. A little disappointed but so happy that everything was fine and that I got to be there to hear my little grandbaby's hearbeat, which made up for no photos. I did get one of our little entourage in the check-up room though:

That's doctor, new daddy, new Godmother, and new mommy.

Later, we relaxed a little around the townhouse and discussed names - I don't think any of my choices are high on the list with mom & dad; what's up with that? I did get some photos of Fletch (of course) lounging.

We slept on the couch and headed out the next day after a little sleeping in. Driving through Mobile, I saw some awesome clouds:

It reminded me of something my dad used to say: "Red skies at night, sailor's delight. Red skies at morning, sailors take warning."

The next morning, Fletch and I stopped at a Sonic for a snack. He always gets the top scoop of plain ice cream off of my Dr. Pepper float!

The next day we arrived in Natchez, MS. I'm finally crossing the mighty Mississippi in the daylight. I don't know why it always happens that I cross it at night. Anyway, for today's history lesson: Natchez was originally settled by the French around 1720 and was big in the cotton trade. After awhile it developed into a commercial and cultural capital of the old south. In 1779, the Spanish acquired the area and made Natchez the capitol of that area in 1790, where it sits in a typical Spanish grid plan overlooking the Mississippi River. There are also Indian ruins and other historical sites regarding the Indians but they were closed when I attempted to tour them.



The town seemed almost abandoned - very few people wandering around.

I did get a quick shot of the bridge just before we went over it. This is the same bridge in the previous photo, on the bluff of the river.



On the other side, (Louisiana), we caught sight of the road workers who were obviously jail help because they all had the (stereo)typical black & white striped 'pajamas' on while they were working! I didn't realize anyone even wore those things anymore. I guess the Cajun law-dogs didnt' want anyone to doubt who these guys were...

Due to finances, we ended up driving straight through to Dallas to see Sue again (remember, I went to the sanctuary with Sue last month where I met Fletch). Someone was easily snoozing in the back seat. Not sure, but I may have actually heard snoring. Why is it that he wouldn't sleep on the cool cat beds I bought for him, but he doesn't mind sleeping on the upended suitcase with all the zippers and handles? It's beyond me, I tell you!


We arrived in Dallas on Friday night, exhausted from driving w/o much sleep yet wired on DP. I got a nice, hot shower and Fletch got spoiled by Sue. He even slept in one of HER cat condos she has sitting by a nice window.

Go figure... Anyway, we are going to relax here for a couple of days and see a couple of sights before we finally head for the West Coast.

Car Trouble

I was driving through Nashville on my way to Chattanooga Sunday evening when I went over a bump in the road - literally - and I heard a thunk/crunch (if you can imagine those two sounds at the same time. I drove over to a little oil change place to have them check it out. I asked for an oil change while I was there, so they would be making a few bucks at the same time. BTW, it was the only place open around there and it was time for a change.

Well, the 2 kids there acted like they were proud to have found the engine in the first place! They apparently didn't look at anything else, or they would have noticed that my back light was broken and I had damage to my rear brakes. They were completely useless. So, I drove on to Chattanooga, but I noticed a problem with the brakes. I had brakes, but not until my foot was almost on the floor. I arrived in Chattanooga (one of my favorite towns) and got a room near the waterfront. Had a night cap a the bar attached to the Days Inn. I also had breakfast at the little cafe attached to the Inn the next morning, which was fabulous - french toast the size of a small car.

Monday morning, after breakfast, I drove to a place suggested to me by the guy (Paul) who checked me in at the Days Inn the night before. The mechanic place didn't have a guy who did brakes until after 2pm and he might be booked up anyway. The old man in the shop was reaching for the phone book to find me another place when another customer walked in. This guy was familiar to them. Instantly, the first mechanic stopped giving a crap about my problem or calling the brake-guy to see what he thought, the old guy put the phone book away, and both of them took up a conversation with the new customer. I suddenly became invisible. I stood there for a few seconds and then headed for the door. I waved as I walked out the door and said, "thanks for apparently nothing!"

I looked up a Midas shop on my GPS and drove there. I couldn't help but notice I was driving further and further away from the waterfront, which was my original goal. I found the Midas, took Fletch into the waiting area and sat for the next 4 hours or so, while the Midas guys took good care of me. It seems a "shoe" crumbled like a graham cracker and took several items along with it. ; - O  Brake fluid was leaving my car like a bad marriage and I would have destroyed my whole back brakes if I had continued on the road. About $450 later, we were back on the road, but it was too late to be able to enjoy the waterfront at all and I needed to get to AL that evening. (Sad, but we shall return.)

We drove to Julie's house, around Huntsville and visited and spent the night. Julie (and Sue) worked with me in GA for 5 years. Baby, the fabulous dog, put up with the interloper by staying down the street at Julie's Momma's house. Fletch got to stretch his legs and wander to his heart's content. Baby will have an absolute hayday when she comes back and gets to sniff everything Fletch touched.

We drove to my old office in B'ham and said "hi" to anyone who was there, and had lunch with Susan while Fletch hung out at the office. Long day and need to get back on the road early so I can see the sonagram tomorrow! YAY.
Many thanks to Julie, Baby, the Midas guys and HIM.

Lafayette!

I don't know why I keep saying "Fayetteville", but I apologize to all the folks in LAFAYETTE, IN!

Had a BLAST with Linda. To catch you all up, Linda and I went to Jr. High and High School together, and yes, with Cynthia too (some of you are quick!). The crazy thing is, I haven't seen Linda since Cynthia's & Don's wedding - 28 years ago (and no, that was not a typo). The visit was amazing.

Thursday night, just after I arrived, we went to the Bluefin restaurant in Lafayette. Beautiful interior, yet simple, and quiet enough that we could really enjoy each other's company. The steak was very good and the giant scallops were killer. I tried something new (to me) called eel sauce. It was like teriaki, but thicker - very good on the surf AND the turf.

Friday night, Linda took me to scrapbooking class. Lord, I don't need another crafty hobby, but I think I'm hooked.  ; - O  That very night, I made a small album for my grandchild (to be) from a kit that was provided to me by Linda and the gal who runs the class. A lot of very nice gals sit around the house which is completely outfitted for scrapbooking. It was wild. Didn't have a lot of photos of baby yet, but I was able to create a book into which more photos could be easily loaded. And holy cow, there are a lot of toys that go along with scrapbooking...

Saturday, we drove around town a bit and saw a few things, like the vet school at Purdue University - there's a cool metal sculpture arrangement there:

The close-up of the cat shows how each of the animals was 'disectect' of sorts to show more about the animal. Kind of cool, but not just a little creepy, too.

Linda took me to a glass gallery where they had not only fused glass art & jewelry items, but also a lot of blown glass items, which were gorgeous! They also had a glass blowing 'classroom' which looked like a small kitchen. There was a student working on a piece at the time and it was fascinating to watch. Linda and I decided to take that class next time I came through for a visit. I told her that she should try the glass fusing sometime before I get back... I also introduced her to the website for John C Campbell Folk School and we promised that, when I return from Africa, we will meet there for one of their writing classes. Linda and I always had that in common - passion for reading and writing/creating, so a writing class together out in the beautiful boonies would be perfect.

We did the Hobby Lobby thing again, where I picked up some more supplies to start a FLETCH album. I made some salmon for dinner (well, duh) while Linda made the rest of dinner (killer baked tomatoes) and we enjoyed that with her husband, Rob. I met Rob once before (at Cynthia's wedding). After dinner, we took over the table and did some more scrapbooking and I made Fletch's album, again with few if any photos, but now I know how to gage the space I need for the photos. I'll have to do the on-line Walgreen's thing when I'm in a town long enough and have my Fletch photos printed. I now have a Walgreen's account - WooHoo!

Before I go I must introduce you to Libby:

This photo is truly amazing because it was the only time I ever saw her NOT MOVING. She has this Tigger-type hop that's hysterical and her butt has its own dance that seldom rests. Libby wanted to play with Fletch but of course, that didn't pan out for her too well. There was also Linus the cat, who was just about as mellow as a cat could be, but I don't have a photo of him. Linus and Fletch traded off periods of time to be able to wander around the house. Thanks Linus...

On Sunday morning, I headed southbound. I am very grateful to Linda and Rob for taking me into their beautiful home and putting up with Fletch and me. I had a wonderful time!

Field of Dreams!

Well, today started out a lot better than yesterday ended! Got packed in the car again, but the car has still not recovered from my destroying it last night looking for my card and neither have my broken fingernails...

We drove over to the property from the movie Field of Dreams, which was really cool. The diamond is actually smaller than it looks in the movie (in my opinion) but it was still awesome to be sitting there in the bleachers, watching the field, hoping to get a 'glimpse' of someone or something. I tried to take Fletch for a walk but the wind was so bad (and cold) he did not like it at all. And then I was wearing shorts ; - 0.  I bought some postcards and a t-shirt for Sammy. This movie was a big thing for us when he was small. We used to lie on the floor in front of the TV, cuddled together with pillows and a blanket and watch this movie endlessly, along with Angels in the Outfield. We know almost every scene and line from AitO by heart. Ryan wasn't really into baseball or the movie as much, so it ended up being a Sam&Mom thing. The only thing missing this morning was Sam...

That's me sitting in the stands, watching a game!

I enjoyed the trip today; there were a lot of the 'Americana' neighborhoods and farm houses along the way - the ones that remind you of John Mellencamp songs or "heartland" commercials. The kinds of scenes that make you smile a little because of happy memories from your childhood, even if you've never actually been on a farm before. It also reminded of Bill Bryson trying to find the "amalgam" small town & farm land scene that people dream of and imagine themselves in a movie from the 50s or 60s. My favorite old movie memory like that is The Music Man, from Gary, Indiana. There were several places like that from yesterday and today, like Dubuque, that I tried to picture myself living in...

We left Dyersville for Indiana to see another high school buddy, Linda. We haven't seen each other in 28 years! I love that moment when you really see each other for the first time - it's so cool.

When I was entering Fayetteville, there was this incredible double rainbow that looked like it held the entire town in its arms. I don't think I have ever seen a double rainbow before today. See for yourself:

This was the start of noticing something approaching.

That's when I realized that it was a double!

This was the other end of it (but something funky happened with the photo because the car was moving).

Later, Linda and I went to this fabulous restaurant in downtown Fayetteville, called the Bluefin. Linda had NEVER eaten a raw oyster, so I got her to try a couple:

We talked and talked, shared photos & stories, solved the worlds' problems; you know, the usual! Dinner was incredible and I tried this 'eel sauce' on my steak and giant scallops which were grilled perfectly. Thank you Linda for a wonderful dinner and a perfect ending to a really good day of traveling!

Fletch is REALLY happy to be out of the car, too, and has made himself comfortable among the fru-fru pillows on the fluffy bed we get in a pretty, fru-fru room of our own for the next few days. Tough life, I tell you...