open water?

Today, during lunch, Elaine and I went for our usual Tuesday swim. It was my longest one yet- 38 minutes! I found myself daydreaming while I was swimming about whether I would ever want to swim in open water, like Elaine has done for triathlons. I imagine that swimming for a long time without having to turn at each length of the pool would be a little exciting and freeing. Today the pool was more crowded than usual, so the water was not as calm as it usually is. The guy swimming in the lane next to me made a huge wake, and I found myself taking an unexpected gush of water to the nose a couple of times. This is what I imagine swimming in open water might be like...a little less tranquil and a little more water in the nose. And I think that northern California water might be a little too frigid for me. Even in a wet suit. But I think I would be easily convinced to try it in warmer waters...in Fiji, for instance.

saltwater

The ocean is less than a half an hour away, but for some reason we don't make it there very often. This weekend we had a reason to go- John was working on a project of seascapes. So we went to a beach off highway 1 about 12 miles north of Santa Cruz. There are huge cliffs, and it's usually pretty deserted. We had a great time- there was hardly any of the usual wind, and we saw tons of wildlife. We even saw 5 whales! and probably as many dolphins. One of the whales was absolutely huge- I tried to get a picture of it, but it seemed to be camera shy.

We had to cross some railroad tracks to get to the cliffs.

A little bunny rabbit we saw on the trail to the beach.

The view of the beach to the left of our cliff.

Some sort of plantlife growing in a field near the cliffs- we couldn't identify exaclty what it was.

John relaxing after his work was done.

Behind us is where all the whales and dolphins were frolicking.

the san francisco quake

Today is the 100th anniversary of the big earthquake in San Francisco. For the last month or so there's been a lot of press about it...museum exhibits, NPR...etc. Everyone is speculating the percentages of when and how big the next one will hit.

Today the San Francisco Chronicle reprinted the paper from the day of the earthquake. It was interesting to see the formality of the language, the archaic spellings, the talk of horses and "automobiles". The last sentence of the front page describes the burning city, "Men worked like fiends to combat the laughing, roaring, onrushing fire demon."



1906 seems like so long ago- it's strange to see pictures of the aftermath and recognize buildings and neighborhoods. It makes it seem more real. I'm fascinated with looking at the clothing and faces of the people.

Happy Easter...

This morning we went to St. Andrew's Episcopal Church in Saratoga. They have an amazing choir that sang classical music (mostly Mozart), with stringed instruments. The church has a huge ceiling with flying buttresses and exposed timbers that expand into the shape of a cross. They also have some unique stained glass windows that tell the story of "The Drama of Human Redemption." The one above is entitled "The Gift of the Savior". Their website has pictures of the other 5 windows in the series.


And here's a little Easter funny, courtesy of Elaine.

world's smartest dog

*For some reason, this doesn't seem to work in Safari. Also- Heather, you will love this.

family and friends

Last week we took Thursday and Friday off to go down to Chino, in honor of my Mom's birthday. Here she is exhibiting her birthday present from us (she loves all things beach-related).
It was the first time staying in my parents' new house, one they are renting near the old dairy. So we ended up driving by the old place. It was weird to see it with the grass overgrown, windows broken out, and a tall fence around the front. Pictured below is a neighbor's barn that happens to face the road. Every bit of machinery and scrap metal is salvaged from the dairies that are sold, including the milk tanks. The tanks are so big that they have to tear down the front of the barn to get to them, and we saw several mean-looking barns like this. I guess they have to make room for the expansion of the giant that is LA- for suburban homes, strip malls, and freakishly huge warehouses to house our nation's plastic goods.


I also got to have lunch and catch up with Reba- we went to Flo's Cafe at the Chino Airport.


On the way out of town we stopped to visit Noah and Audrey, friends John first met at college. Noah and John have a telecoffee break every Friday, because they both work from home. Noah's an animator and Audrey's a fashion designer (you can see some of the clothes she's made on John's website), so it was a treat to see the stuff they've been working on since we last saw them. They also recently got a new puppy, Oscar.


John wanted to take Oscar home with us. Tonight at the library he got a "Dogs for Dummies" dvd.

the view from my balcony

It was the second rainiest March on record, and it rained something like 20 days. And it's supposed to keep going for at least 2 weeks. I suppose I should join in on the complaining, but I haven't had my fill of rain yet. Sunshine can get so monotonous.