Morro Bay kite festival

Last Saturday we met Kelly, Brian and Bixby on the beach in Morro  Bay for the annual kite festival. The precision and kite dancing teams were amazing.

Sad but interesting

Last week we went a few miles north to see a dead whale that had washed up on the beach. They don't know why it died but it was a young, 2 year old female. After relating with the gray whales in Baja we feel a special affinity for them. This was sad but also interesting.

A visit from Jo

Jo, my teaching partner from Van Nuys in the '80s and longtime friend came to visit for a few days. Of course we talked non stop and enjoyed our walks and conversations.





The wildlife was bountiful, including birds, sea otters, seals, squirrels, poppies, lupines and this native cobweb thistle.

Wonderful grandchildren

It has been "shorts" weather here in Cambria and that allowed for more paddling in the tidepools this week for Bixby.

 We fed our left over sandwich to the seagull then noticed a seal on a nearby rock. Bixby is a real observer and we enjoy some good conversations together.

 He is also developing a sense of humor. He had fun pretending the rocks were his ears and funny nose. He thought the nose was like the elephant seals nose.

 We lay on our backs and watched the pelicans fly over several times.These are such precious times.

We ended the day with "The Marvelous Toy" song from Grandad and a drum accompaniment.

We are excited that Arlo and Jack will come out this August. We always ask them what they would like to do when in California. Arlo said that he would like to drive over the Golden Gate bridge and see the Redwood trees and we will enjoy doing that. A few weeks later when we asked Jack about coming to California he said that he was excited to see "The yellow bridge and the red trees", a precious simplification. We think that he is the creative thinker.
Here is a picture from Emily of Jack when he had just woken up in church. Also a family picture from their recent trip to the Smokey Mountains. Arlo bought a hat like Grandads.

Easter Sunday onThe Bluffs

It was wonderful weather today and many people were out enjoying a stroll on the bluffs. We also spotted sea otters, seals, birds and the prize, the elusive long tail ferret bouncing happily away from us. Someone had also put eggs along the path. We also noticed the native thistle, as opposed to the none native kind that we remove. Above is a previous picture of a large Chiton like the ones we saw washed up a few days ago.

Friday hike

On Friday we hiked the Washburn loop out of the San Simeon campground. There were butterflies, wild flowers and green pastures.

Another great Bixby day.

Today we had Bixby over for the day. We began with breakfast inside then cinnamon toast with grandad on the deck. Then on to play in the garden, feeding the birds, painting rocks, washing the chair and finally washing his shirt !!!!. After bath, lunch and an hour at the tide pools it was time for a nap on "Nana's leaf bed". I didn't take the camera to the tide pools but we found great stuff washed up because of the rough surf. Many huge (9ins long) chitons and a dead 2ft long eel being eaten by the vultures and gulls.