To Lifelong Friends...

(Dedicated to my "trail-talk" gals - you know who you are).

Almost every day on my way to work I see three older Asian men either walking along the avenue or sitting on a bench and chatting together. They never seem to be in a hurry, and everything about them seems gentle and calming.

When I first started noticing them, all three were ambling along the sidewalk, hands gesturing in easy conversation. This was probably six months ago, the first time I noticed them, and after days of seeing them walking along the same sidewalk, just like clockwork, I found myself looking for them every morning.

Then one morning, a couple months later, one of the men was leaning on a cane as he walked, but still they strolled together along the sidewalk, though the pace had slowed. They seemed to spend more time sitting on the bench to accommodate their friend with the cane, watching the morning go by, sometimes conversing, sometimes just quietly enjoying one another's company.

At the beginning of the summer, only two of the men walked the sidewalk, never missing a day despite missing their companion. It saddened me to think one of them might be gone. I never hear what they are saying as I drive by, I only see their faces and gestures, but I recognize the bond of close friendship, and I feel a connection with them. I have two friends from Minnesota who are my best walking friends, and when together, we share everything from the trivial to the traumatic. We only get to walk together about once a year now, but as soon as we start out we instantly slip back to the easy companionship that we've always known. I imagine these three men are similar in their friendship, and it just isn't quite the same if one of the three is gone.

I smile whenever I drive by them. I enjoy their easy friendship and I think about the important friends in my life. So the day that I saw the two men walking slowly up the sidewalk toward their bench pushing the wheelchair of their third friend, I got a bit teary! 

Photo taken as I drove by, so not the quality I would like it to be...

The three men are an important part of my morning routine, now. I wonder about them when I don't see them, and I feel contented when I do - two of them sitting on the bench and one in the wheelchair, enjoying each other's company.

Dog Beaches...

I have no doubt that the toughest part of the move to California from Minnesota for Laird is the constant requirement that he be on a leash, and the lack of wide open space to just be a dog. So today, we went to a dog friendly ocean side city. 

Del Mar is a quaint, picturesque city on the coast with beautiful beaches, great restaurants, and upscale shops; but it's a town with a twist - it's VERY dog friendly!  More than just friendly, they actually cater to dogs. Dogs are allowed on the streets, on the beaches (couple exceptions, but not many), and at the sidewalk sitting areas for restaurants. 

We started the day at the Dog Beach at Del Mar. During the months of July and August, dogs have to be leashed and are restricted from some areas of the beach, but for the other 10 months of the year dogs are allowed on almost all the beaches and can be off the leash and under voice command. (Dog heaven!) Even on the leash, Laird was sold on Del Mar. He was happy to be included in the day, but he really perked up when we hit the beach and he saw other dogs every where.

Waiting for his burger to arrive.

He immediately headed toward the water, but wasn't too happy when his first big gulp of cool water was salty. As soon as another dog came frolicking up to him, though, he forgot about the salty water and tried to play. Several tiny dogs tried to take him on, and he had some in depth sniffing sessions with a few other German Shepherds. For the first time ever, we saw some Shepherds nearly as tall as Laird, but when measured shoulder to shoulder, he still reigned as king. 

The highlight of Laird's day was splitting a burger with Braden at Smash Burger, where dogs are welcome on the patio. And not only did Smash Burger have a full water dish next to their front door, but Banana Republic did, too! Every where in Del Mar it was apparent that the city truly welcomes dogs. They even have a bakery for dogs (luckily, Laird didn't realize what it was when we passed it).

Laird collapsed on his bed as soon as we got home and has hardly moved since. 

Another good day...

Shark Hunting

Eight hundred leopard sharks descended upon the beach in La Jolla last weekend. Apparently this happens every year. The sharks, mostly pregnant females and pups, come into the shallows to feed on shrimp and other little invertebrates. 

To a Minnesota native, this seems like good reason to stay the heck away from the beach! But news videos and pictures of people wading in the waves among the sharks got me curious about this strange phenomenon. Turns out that leopard sharks are harmless.

Leopard Sharks at beach in La Jolla on August 10, 2012
 (internet photo, not mine)

It took time to convince Braden and Fritz that the sharks don't bite and that we should go see them, but since  the videos were on the news Friday evening, and we couldn't go until Saturday I wasn't sure if the sharks would still be there. 

My shadow as I miss yet another pup swimming by...

Lucky for us, there were still leopard sharks at the beach, but, unlucky for us, there were only about eight left instead of eight hundred. Braden and I did manage to see four leopard shark pups darting around in the water. They would ride in on the tide and swim right by our legs in the shallows, then swim back out with the tide before returning a few minutes later on the tide again. The pups were only about twelve to eighteen inches long, and though there weren't any adult sharks and definitely not eight hundred sharks, it was still exciting to have the little shark pups swim around us. 

I tried to get photos with my iPhone by standing in the water, but I ended up with lots of photos of the sand under the water and nothing else. Out of all the pictures I took, only one captured a leopard shark pup in it, but you have too look really, really hard to see it. It's in the middle of the photo near the top...

I'll admit it's not a very good photo, but I swear I was really that close to a shark! (Ok, a harmless shark, but it was still a shark!)

One year down and many more to go...

In honor of completing our first year in California I decided to do Top 10 Lists...

Top 10 Things I Love About California

1. Pearl Drive - It would have been a very tough year without the great friends and neighbors we have on Pearl Drive.

2. Mountains - I love looking in any direction and seeing mountains in the distance (I understand why Fritz misses the mountains so much when he's not here.)

3. Grapes, Avocados, Citrus Orchards & Roses - My commute to work feels more like a drive through a European countryside when the hillsides are in full bloom with orchard colors. And the roses grow so easily here that even I have a beautiful rose bush. 

4. Wineries - But I don't recommend trying to visit more than three in one day. (I can explain more in person, but I won't put it in writing...)

5. Ocean Sunsets - There is something so captivating about the ocean waves extending as far as you can see, especially when the sun is setting.

6. Cool Ocean Breezes - The days are definitely hot in Murrieta, but the nights cool of beautifully from the ocean breezes.

7. Palm Trees with Christmas Lights - I couldn't wait to get out running in the evenings after work last November and December to see all the Christmas decorations. They were surprisingly festive despite the lack of snow, and I am amazed at how good palm trees look wrapped in lights! (Still don't care for Santa in surf shorts - something about that is just wrong.)

8. Farmers' Markets and Roadside Produce Stands - Cheap, fresh, delicious. 

9. Old Town Temecula - Quaint, touristy, eclectic and it reminds me of my hometown in MN. 

10. Gin & Tonic While Floating In the Pool - Need I say more?

Top 10 Things I Miss About Minnesota

1. Family & Friends - They are what makes a place feel like home.

2. Horses - Especially on a frosty morning when everything is crystallized and their breath is white puffs.

3. Lakes - Water everywhere and in abundance is easy to take for granted.

4. Lots of Green Trees - It's wonderful to be surrounded by trees and green, knowing overpopulation and urban sprawl are problems somewhere else. 

5. Paved Trails - We are really spoiled in northern MN by the paved trails that make biking, running, and horseback riding so great. Miles and miles of trails through the woods, by lakes, with no stoplights or traffic jams. 

6. Lunch at Village Square - Nothing better than spending an hour with Fritz and Joel (and sometimes MB, or Joe), sitting on the patio mulling over the menu, even though each of us know we are going to order the same thing we always do. 

7. Small Town Hospitality - I love that the local deli will make up a salad to order, put it in a nice bowl instead of a plastic container and trust you to just leave it by the back door next time you pass through town. (Thanks, Green Scene!)

8. Five Minute Commutes - And that's if you get behind someone pulling a boat, otherwise it's four minutes to town.

9. Crisp Fall Days - The colors of the trees and the crisp air is absolutely exhilarating. Best time of the year to run, ride, and just be outside. 

10. Snow!!! - Late night snowshoeing while the snow is falling by the light of the moon. It's like being in a beautiful dream.

`

"Home" to California?

"You're on your way home, then," the security officer at the Minnesota airport said to me as he looked at my California driver's license. I nodded, but my heart was in my throat because that is exactly what I was feeling - that I was a visitor in Minnesota on my way home to somewhere else.
I love traveling - new adventures, cultures, experiences - but for 42 year, Minnesota was always my home base. Fritz and I spent two years in Germany, but even then, I always knew that it was just for a finite amount of time, and then we'd be going back home to Minnesota.

For this first year of living in California, each time we went to Minnesota, then returned to CA, it felt more like we were off on an adventure for a while, and it would be just a matter of time before we touched down in MN again.

But this time the trip back to MN was filled with squeezing in visits to family and friends, spending as much time as I could with my parents, and trying to soak in as much MN nature as possible. The valley where we live in CA is beautiful, but when I sat in my back yard in MN with the lush green trees, chirping birds, and the crisp smell of the lake in the distance, I felt like a weight had been lifted and that I could truly breathe again.

But, as usual, the trip was much too short and before I knew it, I was waving goodbye to the little town in northern Minnesota that had been my hometown for 15 years in order to return "home" to California. I worried that it would be different returning to CA now that I was feeling a bit displaced because of seeming like a visitor in what used to be my home state, but a surprising familiar feeling settled in my limbs as I crested the hill above the valley where Temecula and Murrieta lay nestled among the Southern California wineries, and there was some comfort in being home again.

I still consider Minnesota to be the home state where I'm from, but when I go home now, it's to California (even if it still feels a little strange to say it).