oh these are the sweetest of summery days here in our little beach town. i took some photos around my house (and in too!) partly so i could see all the beauty around me and remind myself that summer is not really passing me by, it's just different this year.
i'm home now since mid June, collecting disability, working with doctors trying to find out what ails me. that's a first, being sick this long, and being home. Also a first, the kids are all gone. Well, almost, the last three are at work and doing summertime things so i never see them except to grab a beach towel, a surfboard and some food. but they are moving soon. one is leaving the first week of august to move two hours south, another is leaving for the east coast to school and my youngest is going off to college, north, in september. she went to her orientation last week and chose all her classes, saw her dorm, got acquainted with her new school and state. all good and exciting stuff.
but it is so quiet here.
and i like quiet.
but not this much.
if i could just get better it wouldn't be so challenging. i'd get busy and do things! i had a dear friend say this to me : maybe god is telling you this is your time to rest and do nothing. He/she is forcing you into a meditative sort of state since you've been doing for others for years and years and years.
i don't know...
well, since i can't get out right now, i arranged a summer spot inside! do you see the last photo? there are some favorite shells and a beach painting (by my mom) surfing photos and a favorite color blue (chipped paint on the table intentional, it came with eyerolls from my husband and sons!)
maybe i'll go make some iced tea and then have another rest...
i hope you are enjoying the season wherever you are!
~ the poetic wisdom of the Italian physicist philosopher and stargazer, Galileo Galilei
Have you seen this movie? It made me laugh and I learned a thing or two so I thought I'd share with you. It starts out with this quote by Galileo spoken by Alan Rickman (Love Actually) as the camera pans over California's Napa Valley. A good beginning for a movie if you like wine and true stories. And wine.
Bottle Shock is a 2008 film that tells the story of the events that led up to the Judgment of Paris in 1976, when California wine beat French wine in a blind taste test. It stars Alan Rickman, Chris Pine and Bill Pullman and is directed by Randall Miller, who wrote the screenplay along with Jody Savin and Ross Schwartz. It premiered at the 2008 Sundance Film Festival.
Sommelier and wine shop owner Steven Spurrier, a British expatriate living in Paris, concocts a plan to hold a blind taste-test intended to introduce Parisians to the quality wines coming from elsewhere in the world (and save his business in the process). He travels to the not-yet-famous Napa Valley in search of contestants for his Judgment of Paris taste test, where a chance meeting introduces him to floundering vintner Jim Barrett of Chateau Montelena. This twist of fate and the resultant oenological epiphany forever change their lives along with that of Barrett's son, Bo, as well as the fortunes of Napa Valley wineries and the global wine industry as a whole. (courtesy of wikipedia.)
"Bottle Shock" is a term that describes what happens when a wine travels from place to place. Although this movie is a true story, according to some of the reviews I've read, it was loosely translated. For more of the facts here is the book that inspired the film:
Judgment of Paris: California vs. France and the Historic 1976 Paris Tasting That Revolutionized Wine (Paperback) by George M Taber
I thought that there was so much to enjoy about this film. It was entertaining, fun and my favorite, a feel good movie! Alan Rickman alone is worth putting it in your Netflix queue, and oh that Napa Valley!
Thursday my husband said he'd like to get one more mountain climb in before he leaves for the Grand Tetons tomorrow. A practice climb, is good idea since we live at sea level and he needed some time at altitude...
...I thought it would be a good change of pace since all I've seen is our couch this past month! I love road trips, even if this was going to be a quick one...
...so Thursday after he was done working we took off for the Eastern Sierras,
and Mt. Whitney...
...the drive is about five hours from our house, I love passing through the Mojave Desert and a beautiful place called Red Rock, we camped there once and climbed and hiked all over. No one was there now, the temperatures in the high 90's...
...we arrived at 11pm. And by 11:15 we were asleep. Our bed was pads and sleeping bags in the back of our open pickup truck. Did I mention that the Whitney Portal car park is an Active Bear Area? yes. There are signs everywhere to empty your car of food so as not to entice the bears. There are pictures on display at the Whitney Store of the damage these hungry bears do. Like peeling off the tops of cars or pushing through windows to get inside. There are bear boxes available to put all your stuff in, even toothpaste, so the bears won't come.
We do this. Plus, I say a little prayer. Don't get me bears.
Amen.
...so at one am my husband got up to leave. He was climbing the mountaineer's route, at one am, by himself, in the middle of the night. And...there isn't really a trail. Most of the way anyway.
But he said "There is a full moon".
I think my husband is very brave. And a little kookoo...
...so, when he left and it was pitch dark (you definitely could not see the moon where we were parked, so many pine trees). I got a little nervous. So into the cab I went with the sleeping bags and rolled up the windows, locked the doors, put the keys in the ignition, just in case,
and fell back asleep...
...in the morning, climbing out of the truck at around 6am, it was time to go have a look around! I was alone, everyone else was already up the trail, save for a few late starters...
...here is a map of Mt. Whitney. It used to be the tallest mountain in the United States, until Alaska joined the union and then Mount McKinley took that distinction. Now Whitney is tallest mountain in the contiguous U.S. Still pretty smart heh?
Most people go up the yellow trail. My husband did it with me once because I didn't want to go up the crazy way. The way he likes to go. That would be off to the right of the yellow...
...I was so happy to be here, but the altitude was affecting me,
maybe since I still feel out of sorts...but how could I just sit in the car when there was so much to see? I compromised and walked really really slowwww...
...to this tiny little lake across from the Whitney store. I saw two fishermen and smiled. Good, I thought, now the bears have a choice. No, not that the fishermen would get eaten! The fish! Bears love fish right?
...then continuing on to this waterfall. It is so loud it sounded like a freight train, but it's good to see all the streams full. Doesn't this look like a good place to sit and think? or just sit and drink your morning tea?
...or pray? I sent out many little prayers for everyone I could think of, a friend who is sad after losing a best(four legged) friend, another who is in pain from a horrendous accident, a friend who wishes for a job that'll give her the life she dreams of, a friend bonding with the newest member of her family,a friend struggling to find out what ails them (no, not me!) my kids, all five who are stepping off into new adventures,
my husband up on that mountain, oh dear!
...then, I took myself back to our truck to rest and wait for husband. It wasn't long, at exactly 10am, he was back. We lay in the back of the truck looking up at the trees and told each other about each of our adventures. His was much more exciting, I'll admit. But the time we shared in that morning, looking up, talking, listening and just being silent,
that was the best of all...
...heading back home, waving good bye to the mountain...
...and the bears...
... sorry Val, Smokey is the only one we saw!...
...passing thorough the Alabama Hills, the list of movies made here is a mile long ...
... to the town of Lone Pine. There is a Museum of film history, and a
Lone Pine Film Festival, also here in Inyo County is the home of the Paiute and Shoshone Indian Reservations ...
...one quick detour to the Owens river...
...cool heh? my husband and one of my sons paddled this for miles...
...leaving Lone Pine now...
...just as soon as we stop for a yummy lunch, see the cowboy hats hanging over the bar? This quick trip takes us through the mountains, to the country,
to the desert and finally back to the sea..
...I searched through every sugar packet for my favourite saying (while my husband rolled his eyes), do you like this one? for more lovely sayings go to http://www.sugarforthesoul.com/ ...
Some of you said you'd like to hear more of Africa, in that case I hope you like what I have planned now... are you ready for the next adventure? Great! Because today we are going to be dodging Hippo's and Croc's down the Zambezi River....in a canoe...!
Today's a beautiful day for a paddle, the sun's shining and the wind's died down now that it's 3 o'clock in the afternoon. We are here on the bank of the Zambezi with five others, 2 guides and 3 Australian's and we're all about to get our safety talk before we embark...
Our excellent guide, Tendai, tells us the five dangers. #1 ~ the sun. yes, it is dangerous out here. You will get burned without protection, so sunscreen and a hat are a must. #2 ~ stumps. Hit one and you'll spill your canoe, so they are to be avoided at all costs. #3 ~ Hippo's. yeah. no explanation needed. #4 ~ Crocodiles. Same as Hippo's. and #5 ~ dehydration! it's very important to drink water. The Aussie's asked if Gin & Tonic's were OK. ;)
Here are our guides now, Tendai on the left and trainee Graham on the right. Now if you look very carefully to the left of Grahams shoulder you will see two very large Elephants on the bank opposite us. Ahem. Hello Ellie's! They seemed alot closer now that were not in a vehicle..
We've all got our p.d.f.'s on and we're ready to go! We were three in our canoe, Tendai in the rear, Chuck in the middle, and me up front! The boat behind us had Graham and Mia, and finally the last one was powered by the Australian's Nickolas and Jeff. Now here is something interesting, neither had paddled a canoe before. No wonder they kept talking about G & T's...
The temperature was in the 80's or 90's. Sweat was dripping off us, oh and here is one more rule I forgot to mention. We were to keep our hands in the canoe (and anything else you wanted to keep), no matter how refreshing the water seemed. Oh. okay.
...here comes our camp up on the right. I was looking for my sister, I wanted to wave and smile and show her I'm alright, she was so worried about me. See, it's okay Lindy, here we are in this little tiny canoe with Crocodiles and Hippos lurking right under the water. And on the banks. Just about everywhere. But it's fun! hahaheehee, oh dear. But now LOOK how gorgeous this is. You can see even by these standard photos the incredible beauty that is Zimbabwe. Canoeing is a perfect way to see this area, drifting quietly sometimes so close to the river bank I could almost touch it. The only sounds are the snorting and grumping of the nearby hippos...
...she wasn't there, she's already left on a game drive...
...you will feel like your really there... :)
...heh there, hello hippo, don't mind us...
... i drape my scarf over my head and pretend I'm an African queen, with my own personal paddler and photographer, haha!...
....you never know what lies on these grassy banks, until you come right up to it!...
SPLASH. I said oh! there's a crocodile. Tendai said there's one approximately every few metres. OH.
So, we were drifting along taking it all in, the water,the sky, the wildlife when we hear a shout!
WHAT THE HELL IS THIS??
We turned to see the Australian, Nickolas thrashing around in his boat. A fish, a tilapia, had jumped into the canoe, hit him on the chest and fell to the bottom of the boat where it was flipping and flopping madly. Jeff was laughing so hard he was shaking the boat further. Poor Nickolas was yelling what do i do? Tendai called " Throw it out".
And he did, but while they were doing this their canoe turned all the way around and now they were going backward. We went to the rescue and got them sorted. For the moment.
After their canoe went backwards, it also went sideways and then got altogether stuck. They had to get out of the boat, all the guys, and help push them off. I was doing my best to keep watch.
And not laugh.
...as we were nearing this small sandbar in the middle of the river, Tendai guided our boat to it and said " We are stopping here" and we did.
And then we all climbed out of our boats to this temporary little sandbar and had Gin & Tonic's, wine and beer and toasted our good fortune and amazing adventure.
..."Be careful where you step" I was warned as I stood back for a photo...
Sundowners on the Zambezi
Thank you honey for this...My husband truly gives me the world
Hippo were here, notice their four very cute toes...
...time to continue down the river, see how casually Tendai strolls through the water to push us off? Every time I gasped, he laughed. Lord have mercy.
...if you don't care for crocodiles you may not like this canoeing activity so much...
"at the end of our paddle all of us came close together, three boats side by side. Paddles were put down and we drifted in silence ~ taking it all in. One big collective sigh...
SUDDENLY...we noticed one large solitary male hippo take notice of us. The rest happened so quickly it's all a blur, but the hippo got angry, then snorted loudly and then began
CHARGING TOWARDS US!! Tendai shouted GO NOW!!
And all three of our boats shot forward. Chuck said he shoved one boat away from us so we could paddle quickly. Well, luckily it was a mock charge and the big grump went away. We all laughed so hard again, the image of how funny we looked playing through our heads. And then the nerves racing through us, makes you giddy."
It was the perfect ending.
...hi hippo's we still see you :)...
we paddled our boats up to the waiting Land Rover and now we were going on a night game drive. It had been so hot on the river, so hot, but now the temps dropped and even my down jacket was not enough to keep warm...
No matter, we were out in the beautiful evening and we saw three hyenas, a civet, a genet, two giant Eagle owls !! ellies, antelope, waterbuck...
and a group of lights?
We were driving along in the pitch dark when in the distance we saw all these twinkly lights hanging from trees, on poles, and tables...
Tendai turned around and smiled "Welcome to dinner!"
The camp had made a special bush dinner for all of us, my sister was already there
and there was Clia, Caro and Nikita, the lovely girls who work at Ruckomechi,
oh these are the sweetest of summery days here in our little beach town. i took some photos around my house (and in too!) partly so i could see all the beauty around me and remind myself that summer is not really passing me by, it's just different this year.
