Last night I was listening to music, going through old photos, deleting duplicates and the ones that you take ‘cos you think they’re really artistic and when you look at them later, you think, “WTF is that?”.
At exactly the same time I clicked on this pic of Mt. Rainier taken from an airplane, Andra Day began to sing Rise Up and it was just so perfect as the mountain rose up and up out of the clouds. Breathtaking from 30,000 feet.
Timing is everything.
The eagle was sitting on that branch waiting for everyone to stop pointing at him so he could swoop down and take a better look at a huge dead fish that washed up on the shoreline.
My neck hurt because I couldn’t believe that I was actually in the presence of an eagle, my very first ever sighting, and I wouldn’t look away until he was gone.
Now I can cross that off my mental list….I’ve seen wolves and mountain lions and bears and of course, my favorite: coyotes.
Not all at the same time, but these are the special pearls in my necklace of life experiences, memories strung together since most of them happened so fast and were such brief encounters that I didn’t have time to take photos.
I wish I had brought my big lens in addition to my iPhone, but it’s good enough as it captured the special moment.
These are admittedly crappy photos, but it’s most definitely a Bald Eagle. I know they’re considered a nuisance in parts of Alaska, but this wasn’t a common occurrence at this location. I didn’t even try to look for an eagle feather because I’m aware that under the current language of the Eagle Feather Law, “unauthorized persons found with an eagle or its parts in their possession can be fined up to $250,000.”
“There’s a raccoon. Look at that!”
I thought he was joking because it was the middle of the day and we were on a sandy beach so I continued to keep my head down to look for seashells.
“LOOK!”
When I finally looked up, there he was.
He scampered up the bluff and was gone.
What an amazing day! An eagle and a raccoon.
Random.
#wordlesswednesday
Not necessarily true in all scenarios, but it’s a lovely thought–especially when it’s a text from the original Angel Boy.
Here’s the backstory:
I didn’t want to go the gym ‘cos it seems like everyone is sniffing, sneezing, or coughing, and I don’t want to get sick.
It was a beautiful sunny SoCal morning, so I thought it’d be fun to try out my new hiking boots, spend a few hours out in nature and soak up the new growth sage-y fragrance blooming after our recent rains.
It is a fact that I have hiked this hill at least a hundred times. It is also a fact that when I go solo, I get lost 100% of the time. I don’t know why or how it happens, but I start out with a solid plan and by the time a couple hours has passed, I’m all turned around and can’t figure out where I am, how I got there, or how to get out.
One time I was lost until dark. I wouldn’t call for help and stubbornly walked until civilization emerged. However, I was fully prepared to sleep with my coyote family if necessary.
I don’t panic anymore. In my head, I say, “Well, Princess, it looks like we’re lost again. Let’s just enjoy the journey.” And then I laugh crazily to myself.
True to form, I got lost. Knowing that my DIL added me to the tracking GPS on her phone, she could be counted on for support if I was in real danger.
I texted my son, “Guess what, I’m lost again.”
He texts back, “All roads lead to home.”
Which wasn’t really helpful in my current dilemma, but it was awfully prosaic of him. (And snarky.)
After a couple of hours wandering around in an aimless pattern, I spotted two young boys riding their bikes. I asked them if they could point me in the right direction to get back where I started. They very kindly did (super nice that they didn’t start laughing at me) and I proceeded to follow their accurate directions.
Love my new hiking shoes, loved the hike, but glad to be back at Casa de Enchanted Seashells.
Apparently, all of MY roads DO lead home. My Angel Boy is a genius.
Who can guess where I was? It’s embarrassing to admit how often I’m clueless up here.
I can see snow! It was hazy today but that’s definitely snow.
Bright red toyon berries.
Coyote scat and my awesome new hikers!
Power plant off in the distance.
New cairns have arisen.
I bet a lot of locals know where this is. Do YOU?
On a recent flight back home, I was sitting in my usual choice of an aisle seat mostly because I don’t like to crawl over strange legs when I need to use the restroom.
An older (older than me) woman crawled over me to take the window seat.
A young man was escorted to his seat directly across from me by a flight attendant who commented on his height and asked him how old he was as he was flying as an unaccompanied minor.
He was nine-years-old and about six feet tall.
Just a little boy in a man sized body.
I could feel his embarrassment as he was singled out for his height and I’m sure has had to endure a zillion comments about it.
He was very quiet, but seemed a little scared, so I chatted with him a bit, and he was very sweet. His dad was picking him up and he would be starting school in San Diego. He began to open up and just as I suspected, he was a little boy who didn’t really know how to deal with the fact that he looked like he was in high school.
The older woman next to me said, in a very heavy southern accent, “I should get his autograph now, he’s going to be famous.”
I didn’t respond to her right away because I wanted to give her the benefit of the doubt or maybe I had misinterpreted what she was alluding to, but she repeated herself loud enough for the young man to hear, and I felt that I needed to do something.
I said, “What are you saying? That because he’s tall, his only life path is basketball?”
She looked at me and said, “Well, he’s tall…” and then her voice and thought faded.
I replied loud enough for anyone to hear, “Maybe he’s going to be a doctor. Or a professor. Or an artist or a writer. Just because someone has a physical trait doesn’t mean it’s a life sentence. He can and should do whatever touches his heart.”
The woman had so much ingrained covert racism built into her that she didn’t really know what to say, but a few minutes later she told me that she thought about it and agreed with me, so then we had a pleasant rest of the flight.
Did I change her?
Probably not, but the grateful smile I received from a nine-year-old made my day.
(And did I really need to mention that he was a six foot tall African American nine-year-old child or did you figure that out for yourselves?)
And then I saw this photo of Trump serving fast food to the Clemson team.
More covert or not so covert racism. Love Reggie Bush’s tweet.
I know other parts of the country are freezing, buried under a mountain of snow, but here in SoCal, it was about seventy-five degrees and sunny (don’t hate).
It was the perfect day for a hike in the back country to inhale sandy, dirty trails and think about setting positive intentions for 2018.
We drove for a couple of hours (to a secret spot) and started walking. As the sun rose to its celestial meridian, I started shedding layers.
Does this look like it could be a Native American bedrock metate?
Beautiful fruiting manzanita; well, I think it’s manzanita…
We know it’s a going to be a great day when the trails are heavily strewn with coyote scat!
And this remnant of a coyote or bobcat’s meal. Upon close inspection, it looks like part of a tail but I’m not too sure how it ended up perched on the dried grass.
Steep and rocky.
Stopping for a snack and water, the perfect time to touch up dry lips with a little Chanel. I’m always prepared!
Who says leaves don’t change color in Southern California?
There’s really nothing more soul satisfying than exerting oneself physically until you’re bone tired and then eating a huge late lunch (with french fries) and feeling zero guilt about the amount of calories consumed!
#gratitude #nature #hiking #backcountry
Son, daughter-in-law, and Theo are in San Fran for the summer, so I flew up to spend a week basking in the joy of a three-month-old baby boy.
Today we took Theo on his first beach outing at Ocean Beach to attend the Nor Cal Corgi Con 2016 Summer Event. DIL is from the UK and her love for corgis is to be expected since Queen Elizabeth is a Corgi mum.
Personally, I’m more of a Border Collie girl, but all dogs are wonderful, so I knew it would be fun.
It was untypically hot and sunny; the sand was a BIT too hot for the poor dogs’ paws I thought, but all in all, it was a fun outing!
Disabled Corgi with a dedicated mom!
GoPro Corgi!
I can’t really believe they bred a Border Collie with a Corgi but here’s the proof…a Borgi??
Rescue Corgi
I’ve been following the journey of John and his mules for about a year; it’s a fascinating story of a man and his life’s mission to walk up and down the state of California.
How lucky for me that I happened to be in Carlsbad at El Camino Real near the 78 and was able to chat for a few minutes with John and take photos of his mules and offer him a little money for his journey to Pasadena.
From the 3mules.com website:
Who are we? Where are we from? We are mules. We are from the outside. We live outside all day, every day. Where are we going? Nowhere. We’re here: the outside, the web of life, the beautiful earth, a place like no other. We have come to this place, a place of golden sparkling light, a place for anybody and everybody. Give your faith, hope and energy to this place at which time you connect to it and receive the magic and endless possibility of infinity. As you walk in this place with these mules you spread the awareness that this beautiful earth, like no other, can only be protected by the way we live one day at a time.
It’s not often that one meets an absolutely unique human — what an awesome way to celebrate the day before the day before Christmas 2015.
Learn more about John Sears and his 3 mules:
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCPmVkUv1Y56MWM5yNyuyYPQ/videos
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/3Mules
Spent the last few days with my preggy DIL and the original Angel Boy.
Today we went to Golden Gate Park and the Botanical Gardens.
It was a glorious blue sky day!
These might not be the best photos; I was rushed and didn’t have time to focus!
The Laguna Mountains are only about an hour away east from the ocean in San Diego.
Most people go there when we have snow — at 6000 feet, it’s the highest point in the county.
It’s possible to surf in the morning, cross-country ski (or hike) in the afternoon, and drop down into the shimmering desert to experience the best of everything SoCal has to offer.
Late May to mid-June is the time of year when color explodes in the mountains and it’s not too hot to enjoy a strenuous hike while the air cools down comfortably at night.
It’s easy to get here: east on Highway 8 to Sunrise Highway.
We went mid-week before schools were out for summer vacation and we had the mountain pretty much entirely to ourselves.
Fragrant pines, Engelmenn oaks, wildflowers; deep blue sky with a few white puffy clouds.
Amazing…gorgeous…magnificent…breathtaking…
There aren’t enough adjectives to describe the spectacular views.
We hiked Desert View Trail and Big Laguna Trail, about ten miles or so.
It was truly heaven on earth, one of those experiences where whispering was the only way to communicate-we didn’t want to mar the ultimate reverence for nature.
These are only a sampling of the hundred-plus pics I snapped and none of them do justice to this paradise.
Enchanted Seashells | Princess Rosebud 