Back to the Past

 Back to the past...in more than one sense...we had gone back to the Central Coast of California where we had been in the past...for our fourth time...and now we are back to the past...to where we started a few weeks ago, otherwise known as "home". 

Hubby and I just celebrated 35 years together and we had two wonderful weeks of summer vacation by the ocean. That, to me, was/is being in heaven. Being by the ocean. Hearing the waves crashing on the shore...knowing that the waves are endless. 

I cannot describe the feeling of total disengagement from all the quotidian routine and worries. Il dolce di far niente. The Sweetness of Doing Nothing. Sun, salt water, sand, warm breezes, Astrud Gilberto singing Corcovado. Walking barefoot along the shore. Sunning our buns at Pirates Cove. Going for a dip in the cool waters of the cove. Makes this 75 year old feel like 14 again. Trying to hang on to that feeling for as long as I can. I am truly fortunate.

But it's not like we did nothing, just nothing like we would do at home. At home I cannot seem to read a book. I might take me months to get through a book, sometimes I never finish one. I've had the nine book compendium of Armistead Maupin's "Tales of the City" series for years. I'd read the first six some years ago but just never able to pick it up again to read the last three. I read the last three (Michael Tolliver Lives,  Mary Ann in Autumn and The Days of Anna Madrigal), all 822 pages, in three weeks! Enjoyed them immensely.

But I do have questions. Could someone please explain the ending of The Days of Anna Madrigal? She's on the mechanical butterfly at Burning Man. Then I'm lost.

Just a few words about California and our sojourn.

California is expensive. At least to live there - anywhere along the coast. Multi-million dollar homes. Taxes. Landscaping. Insurance...etc. 

But I will say that California goes out of its way to provide amenities for all: lots of free parking, public access to the the beaches and lots of state and county and town parks and beaches. Rest rooms. Yes, Clean and numerous. Tables, benches, fishing piers, trails, walkways, bike trails, etc.

Eating lots of seafood was one of my favorite pastimes.

Our Air B&B

Walking at Pismo can through you off balance

The path to Pirates Cove (down to the beach, up to the parking lot)

Linguini Beach

Great attention to decor - even the concrete has real sea shells embeded

Pirates Cove from the trail

Pirates Cove trail

I love the waves

 

We watched wales breaching for hours...and putting on a great show

Whale breaching in the distance

Another one

Central Coast of California has to be totally void of LGBTQ people

Pismo Beach and surrounding area is the straightest place. Virtually no gay people - at least not openly. I think we may have zeroed in on two couples, total.

So...while we were away in California getting an "ocean fix" and cure for desert fever, we returned to find that one of our kind and generous neighbors had gifted us with a new (and very large) Rainbow Flag which has replaced a smaller, rather faded one. We thank you for the lovely gesture and while the size of the flag makes more of a statement than we might otherwise, we fully embrace the sentiment so aptly expressed by Gloria Gaynor so many years ago, "I Am What I Am" or in the case of Frank and Leon, "We Are What We Are" - so thank you neighbor!