I ended up having a relapse of whatever upper respiratory infection I originally had, and doc prescribed different antibiotics so I wouldn’t end up with pneumonia.
This gave me time to go through old photos and share an awesome camping adventure we went on a few years ago to Crescent Beach in Washington. Near Port Angeles, it’s an amazing sandy, private beach with spectacular views of the Strait of Juan de Fuca and Vancouver Island.
It’s fun to take the ferry there and back, such a treat, and not long enough to get seasick, which is a plus!
We camped right across the street from the beach, and there were decent waves for a little surfing, too. The weather was amazing, no one else was there, and the only negative were the mosquitos at night but the magical sunsets made it all worthwhile.
Fun facts:
Salt Creek flows onto the beach and can be tricky to cross earlier in the year when water levels are higher and the tide is in.
Marine Life Sanctuary: Salt Creek’s shoreline is a designated marine sanctuary, so respect the ecosystems you encounter and leave no trace.
Here’s a message to those of you who are planning summer vacations: You might want to ignore all the feel-good ads and PR campaigns that attempt to lure visitors to this no-longer-little OR charming beach town. Find somewhere else to spend your money.
There are more and more incidents of violent crime.
This one occurred early Sunday evening where an alleged career criminal was arrested for a road-rage stabbing and assault following a minor traffic crash on the northbound Interstate 5 off-ramp to Tamarack Avenue, (this is near me!) The perpetrator allegedly flew into a violent rage after rear-ending their vehicle. The victims were in their twenties and hospitalized.
What exactly is going on here? Here’s a few more from The Coast News:
Carlsbad photographer Robert Koester gets 40 years for sex crimes
CARLSBAD — A professional photographer previously sentenced in San Diego County to 25 years in state prison for sexually assaulting teenage girls during modeling sessions..
Suspect charged in March stabbing near Carlsbad train tracks
CARLSBAD — A 21-year-old Oceanside man has been charged in connection with a March stabbing that left a victim with life-threatening injuries, authorities said.
What will it take for city leaders to have a wake-up call? Hello??? They are head in the sand clueless. Here’s some examples of what council meetings look like while violent crime is on the rise:
-Instead of fixing our crappy roads, the city is asking for ideas about how to decorate a couple of traffic circles and a freeway underpass.
-The city spent I don’t know how many millions for a new park, Veteran’s Park, which. no veteran asked for, because if they were queried, I bet they’d say they preferred the money was used for things like safe housing and FOOD.
–Supervisors are giving away helmets to ebiker kids in Carllsbad. Comments on social media are so apt and awesome, and mostly talk about the reckless driving of these pre/teenagers, and observe (rightly so) that if their parents can easily afford a thousand dollar+ ebike, they can absolutely bear the cost of a helmet, which many of the kids don’t even wear.
These are examples of what our friends and neighbors are concerned about: wasted and misspent money, and the rise in crime. I don’t have any personal complaints about our police force; I think they are doing the best job they can, but the city needs to find a better way to keep us safe.
In the midst of all the horrible stories swirling around this country, the talk of the town is the shiniest ray of light, #Jimothy, Seattle’s latest local legend!
I’ve named him Dr. Jimothy Sprinkles, since UW conferred an honorary Ph.D. on this special little guy.
Credit to creator, found on Twitter
Jimothy is a short-spined raccoon spotted thriving in Ballard, a suburb of Seattle, despite a rare congenital condition. He doesn’t seem to be in pain and it looks like he’s living his best life.
The Ferals (formerly Angel Kids) hope they get a glimpse of him because the sightings have been fairly close to their neighborhood.
Filming the creature with her cellphone Monday night, Kiana Hall was certain of only one thing: The tiny beast skittering out from under a car in Seattle’s Ballard neighborhood was definitely not a cat.
“I got very confused at what I was seeing,” Hall said. “I just have never seen any other animal like it.”
She also didn’t know her five-second video clip would turn a teetering trash panda into an overnight internet celebrity.
Hall, 33, and her partner were strolling near the Ballard Goodwill about 8:30 p.m. Monday when she spotted what she thought was a cat under a car. She took out her phone to film the animal, then watched in disbelief as a decidedly different critter crept from the shadows.
Smaller than a house cat and unusually round, the gray-furred creature loped on long legs across a patch of grass and up a nearby staircase before climbing over a fence and out of sight. Hall guessed it was a raccoon based on its masklike facial markings. She also suspected it had short spine syndrome, a rare congenital disorder she had learned about online.
Hall published the video the next day on her Instagram, naming the creature “Jimothy” because, she said, “he looked like a Jimothy.”
Within hours, Hall’s video started going viral, garnering more than 5 million views and thousands of comments by Thursday afternoon. A Ballard resident who saw the video recognized Jimothy as an oddly shaped raccoon their security cameras had captured last month crawling on their patio. The resident posted their footage Wednesday on Reddit, attracting hundreds of awed comments, including ones comparing Jimothy to mythical creatures like cryptids and chupacabras.
And thus, Seattle’s latest local legend — a belovedly bedraggled raccoon — was born.
Seattleites’ adoption of Jimothy as their scrappy hometown hero has brought Hall “a lot of joy,” she said in a Thursday phone call.
“I think times have been hard for everyone, so I’m really happy to have posted something online that reaches so many people and makes them so happy,” Hall said. “I just hope (Jimothy) continues to live his life freely and I hope he can be healthy.”
Jimothy’s prognosis seems positive, despite his unusual appearance, said Marcie Logsdon, an associate professor at Washington State University’s Veterinary Teaching Hospital.
Logsdon could not diagnose Jimothy based on reviewing the videos of the “kind of crazy little thing.” But she said the raccoon was likely born this year, and that its abnormally shortened neck is likely caused by a congenital deformity of the spine.
Jimothy appears to be functioning well and “very spry,” excellent signs for his survival in the wild, Logsdon said.
“The fact that he’s made it to this age tells me that he’s managing and that he’s adapting,” she said. “I was surprised and honestly a little bit inspired that he’s that resilient.”
Jimothy is likely best off “left to his own devices.” Anyone who spots him and is concerned about his health should call a local wildlife rehabilitator before trying to intervene, she said.
“Raccoons are amazing because they have done an amazing job at adapting to and sharing urban and suburban areas,” she said. “But respectful sharing needs to remain just that.” (Curated from Catalina Gaitán, Seattle Times breaking news reporter.)
This is my personal fave cos Angel Boy (only slightly feral) teaches at UW.
Apparently, the world did not yet end and we’re still here.
Please take a moment to stop doom scrolling and enjoy these gorgeous pics my son snapped of springtime around his ‘hood in the Pacific Northwest.
I asked him to take photos of the famous cherry blossoms at University of Washington but he said it was so packed with tourists that he avoids the area when he teaches, even though his office is near the Quad.
Olympic Mountains
Heavily loaded container ship west of Shilshole Bay Marina in Puget Sound.
There was a mysterious blackout in SoCal Thursday night, from North San Diego County all the way up to Orange County. More than 100,00 people unexpectedly lost power at around 7:40 p.m.
The electric company simply said it was “under investigation” with no reported reason for the outage.
Of course, there are lots of theories floating around on social media, including an attack on our power grid or an EMP (ElectroMagnetic Pulse), which is a sudden burst of energy that disrupts or destroys electronics.
“A high-altitude EMP attack could paralyze the power grid and communications”.
From Reddit: “Most likely someone hacked into the control/management system and brought down the entire system from northern San Diego to South OC.”
State officials, including Governor Gavin Newsom, have not issued any statements regarding the incident, more than 12 hours after two of California's most populous areas lost power - which is home to more than six million people. Moreover, the state's Office of Emergency Services did not even acknowledge a large-scale blackout had taken place, with the agency's website and social media accounts making no mention of the incident as of Friday morning. Despite the complete absence of communication from state officials, residents in the blackout zone captured frightening video of drivers speeding along pitch-black roads with no traffic lights or street lamps working. 'California is having a night straight out of a disaster movie,' one person said on social media. --Daily Mail
It’s a good thing I have so many candles; it was actually quite lovely to sit in silence and flickering candlelight until, suddenly, without warning, the power came back on.
Here’s the meaningless word salad response from the electric company: “Early information indicates the event originated on the regional transmission system, which serves multiple communities across SDG&E’s service area. In response to grid conditions, built-in safety measures briefly interrupted service to help protect the larger electric grid.
We are supporting the California Independent System Operator, which manages the state’s electric grid, in their review of system performance. We know outages are disruptive, and the safety of our customers, employees, and communities remains our top priority.”
None of that really answers any of our questions, and as I wonder what the REAL story is, I suggest that we all stock up on candles and generators and power banks, just to be prepared for any future eventuality.
This all happened quite a while ago, but I realized I hadn’t shared it, so here’s the scary story of my almost brush with death; a cautionary tale of the time I might have starred in a Dateline episode.
I had to be somewhere very early, too early to inconvenience anyone by asking for a ride, so I called a car service. I’ll be vague about which one, but it’s one of the big guys.
It was dark; I waited outside, the driver was on time. The first thing I noticed (red flag number one) is that the car stopped and he started it up again. I thought maybe he was saving gas, so didn’t really think too much about it. We had a few stop signs on the way to the freeway and the engine stalled at every one of them and had to be started back up. (red flag number two). I was a bit concerned and that’s probably when I should have told him to turn around and found another form of transportation but I didn’t.
The driver spoke no English. I mean, ZERO. I managed to learn that he was from Colombia. I could see the Google map on his phone was in Spanish. I spoke a bit of Spanish so we were able to sort of communicate.
Finally on the freeway, his car was going VERY SLOW, well under the speed limit. The engine hadn’t stalled again, though. (another red flag.)
The driver wore very thick glasses and seemed to have a difficult time seeing the road as he was slightly weaving out of his lane. It’s a good thing that it was so early with not many cars on the road. I don’t think he was drunk; I think he couldn’t SEE the road. (red flag!)
The headlights also seemed to be malfunctioning; he’d turn them off and on and the car would sort of slow down and speed up, which was reallyreally freaking me out.
I was beginning to get a little more panicky every second, and even more so when, for some reason, he took the wrong exit on the freeway. We were in a rural area that was heavily wooded- no houses, no stores; nothing.
The very worst case scenarios were running through my head at warp speed. We were on a frontage road with no lights and no people. I thought there was a good possibility that I was going to be the victim of a horrible crime, I really did.
If the worst happened, no one would find me out in the middle of nowhere on a dark, deserted highway. I was petrified, thinking of all the horror stories I had heard about getting in cars with strangers.
Loudly, I commanded, “HEY! This is the wrong exit. GET BACK ON THE FREEWAY NOW!”
I had my hand on the door and 911 ready to be called on my phone. I was ready to bolt and run. I was terrified.
For a brief moment that seemed to last for days, he hesitated, and then, thankfully, turned around. We got back on the freeway, and at which point he was completely lost. I had to direct him the rest of the way to my ultimate destination but not before his car stalled AGAIN at the final stoplight.
I leapt out of his car while it was still slightly moving and RAN into the building. It took forever for my heart rate to subside and the adrenaline to stop pouring through my body. I was as shaky as the time I got an EpiPen for a bee sting. I had to force myself to breathe and slowly regained my calm.
There were so many red flags 🚩🚩🚩🚩🚩🚩 that I ignored. Never again!
Friends have asked me if I reported the driver. I thought about it, but I didn’t. Although it was scary, nothing bad actually happened. I was so grateful to be alive and unharmed that I wanted to forget all about it. However, I don’t think his vehicle was going to last much longer, so maybe he’ll figure out that driving people around isn’t the right career choice.
The lesson is to listen to your gut in all life circumstances. If something doesn’t feel right, it most likely is a warning that should be heeded.
I am 1000% grateful that the universe and all the angels once again protected me from harm.
I don’t talk much about the part of Southern California where I live; other than my beach, lagoon, and the stupid local government. I’m about thirty or forty miles or so from the city, and while I don’t often get down there, I do love old pictures that chronicle the history of San Diego far more accurately than words.
Here’s a photo of San Diego Bay taken in 1892 from the vantage point of State Street and Broadway. It all looks calm and free of tourists, exactly how we locals like our life here in SoCal.
San Diego Bay / Photo from Reddit
I always thought the oldest bar in San Diego was the Waterfront, but it’s not, because the Waterfront opened in 1933 when prohibition was repealed,
The oldest bar in San Diego is the Tivoli Bar, opened as a saloon in 1885. It’s located on a lot originally owned by Alonzo Horton who helped develop most of downtown San Diego.
Tivoli Bar/Curated from SFGate
Built in 1864, the building was first called the Walker House and functioned as a boarding house, feed store, and blacksmith shop. The Walker House was converted into a saloon and kitchen in 1885. The original bar (still there) was built in Boston and brought to San Diego by ship around Cape Horn at the southern tip of South America, a journey which took three to four months.
The original cash register from the turn of the 20th century and the old safe are still displayed in the bar.
The Tivoli Bar has hosted many famous characters including Wyatt Earp and his wife Josephine, whose photos are prominently displayed over the entrance to the bar, along with Frank Sinatra and Sophia Loren.
The bar flourished during a time when San Diego was a boomtown and the Gaslamp was the city’s red light district, an area then known as the Stingaree. A warning sign from the time reads: “This area is known to be populated by anarchists, confidence men, cut throats, shady ladies, hop heads, perverts and thieves.”
Here’s an 1882 crime report from a local newspaper: “About 8 o’clock on Friday evening, a fracas occurred in the Tivoli Saloon between Gus Young and one Ballantine, in which the former was struck over the head with a chair in such a forcible manner that the latter is of no further service, and will have to be sent to a furniture store for repairs.”
I bet there were some wild times inside the Tivoli–if only the walls could talk! It’s a certified dive bar and I can’t believe I’ve never been there. I think it’d be fun to take the train downtown and check it out.
Have you heard of reporter and author Max Miller?
Max Miller was a reporter for the San Diego Sun and author of twenty eight books. In 1932, he wrote I Cover the Waterfront, an interesting account of San Diego’s port community that inspired Hollywood movies and became the title of a jazz standard sung by Billie Holliday, Frank Sinatra, and Sarah Vaughan, but sadly, NOT Leon Russell.
The book’s characters include true-life sea captains, Portuguese fishermen, flying squid, sparkling Garibaldi fish, movie stars, Charles Lindbergh, Babe Ruth, and a beautiful young woman who got away.
Miller also drew from his experiences living in Everett, Washington and when he attended the University of Washington. He also wrote Harbor of the Sun: The Story of the Port of San Diego, which is a fairly difficult book to locate. He died in La Jolla.
Here’s Sarah Vaughan with her 1946 version of I Cover The Waterfront (I couldn’t find a Leon Russell connection this time at all…LOL).
FYI: This is not a post written with the intention to extol any vacation virtues of San Diego. We REALLY have far too many visitors here but I’m sure there are other lovely places to choose for a holiday…
There is no drop of water in the ocean, not even in the deepest parts of the abyss, that does not know and respond to the mysterious forces that create the tide. — Rachel Carson
This particular beach is a favorite for locals to surf and tidepool, so we are always a bit vague as to the specific location to protect it from being overrun by ill-mannered tourists who trash our beaches.
This sounds like so much fun! I guess it’s where you can find me when Mom and Dad are here and I’m with the Angel Kids while they’re out surfing.
Oceanside Harbor staff created a Rock Garden for free family fun. It’s located in the far northeast area of the Harbor near the “A” Dock.
All are welcome to leave a painted rock, take one home to create rock art, or work on one at the nearby picnic table to leave with the others. Spread positivity! Kids can stack rocks, too–make a cairn for others to admire.
(I’m not sure who took this photo because someone shared it with me, but credit to whoever it was.)
Enchanted Seashells | Princess Rosebud 