Beauty in neglect

 

Our neglected fish pond - the water lily still thrives. And so do the fish.

Happy Labor Day

Have a good weekend, everyone. Anybody doing something fun?

We might be going to a festival. More later.

Girls

I just received an email addressed to myself and a woman colleague my age, with the salutation "Hi, girls."

This is in a business context - the sender is a woman younger than we are, part of a non-profit charity, but she is also a lawyer by profession.

We had met previously in the day to discuss matters of public safety connected to a business endeavor of hers. It was the first time she had met the two of us.

"Girls?" How odd. What say you?

Updates

Flowers in the dunes at San Buenaventura beach

Sorry for the diminished postings. I've found my current day-to-day life uninspiring, while at the same time being riveted to current affairs. What's been happening in Ferguson, MO is polarizing, and this isn't the blog to discuss it.

Here's what's happening in my life:

1. Our son's summer is coming to an end and he will be moving to the Bay area soon, for his PhD. work. He's looking for a place to live. He'll be couch-surfing for a little while, but I know he'll get settled soon. And then we can visit!
2. The drought continues, and now, in August, heat. We're trying to stay cool
3. [The Man I Love] has made a big step toward healthy living. He's got a regular exercise routine going now. I, on the other hand, am still lazy.
4. At work, back in February, our Division Manager took a new job in our organization. They began a search for her replacement, hiring an Interim Manager during the, well, interim. Apparently, the search was unsuccessful; no one has been hired. They've asked the Interim Manager to stay on, but for a finite period. So what that means, I suspect, is a re-organization. Having been through one already, I am hunkering down, and scheduling a meeting with Calpers, our retirement agency.
5. I've decided for sure that I am going to try to go back to graduate school and get an MFA degree in Creative Writing. I've got four or five schools picked out. I'm reviewing their application procedures, and starting to contact people who can write me letters of reference. If I get accepted, it will be to start in Autumn, 2015. Application deadline is January, 2015. 

What's up with you guys?

Opulent banality

The Hearst Castle Visitor Center is some 1500 feet below the hilltop where William Randolph Hearst's monumental self-indulgence is built. The parking lot is huge, and on the Saturday we visited, completely full of cars. We cruised the rows before giving up and parking, along with other visitors, in the dirt off the access road.

Inside the center, shops and restaurants lined a vast glass-arched central atrium, teeming with people. The ticket line doubled back on itself four rows deep. When we finally reached the front and received our wristbands, there was still a half hour before we could board the bus that would take us on the five-mile ride to the castle.

Dockside by the rockside

 

 It was a bright and breezy sunny day when we stopped off for lunch in the little coastal town of Morro Bay, California.

As we approached the town from the north, as Pacific Coast Highway curves around the coastline, Morro Rock loomed like a great battleship in the mist, or a huge craggy castle.

Central Coast summer scene

A hayfield and a solitary oak near Paso Robles, CA.

One eyed cat

Last night, in our lovely bed&breakfast here on California's central coast, befuddled by a glass of lovely Sangiovese, I washed my left contact lens down the bathroom drain.

The world will look different now , until I make it home to LA, where there's a spare lens.

Fiesta time!

The Cat of Topanga is in a celebration mood!!

We're going on a weekend adventure!

Sister Delicious

Monkish Brewing Co.'s "Feminist" Tripel-style Belgian beer. Spiced with hibiscus flavor, it's pretty, pinkish, and it'll kick your ass. Their brewery is open for touring and tasting, in the city of Torrance.

Visitors

The deer come down from the mountains because they want green leaves to eat.

We've had visitors at our house for the last couple weeks. It's been great to have them, but now everyone's gone and it's just the three of us.

In little less than a month, it will be just two of us, since our son will be at Berkeley.