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!)