little treasures

I found these shells at the beach at Asilomar a couple of years ago. They're called Janthina-Janthina and they travel through the oceans in mucous bubbles attached to the Velella-Velellas (bluish jelly fish) that land on shore. The shells are so delicate and small. I have kept them in a little plastic jewelery box and rediscovered them a few days ago hidden at the back of the glove compartment of my car (which I rarely go into these days because I usually bicycle everywhere!).

Another interesting Janthina fact: the little animals inside the shells start out as males and later transform into females!



When I first saw the shells laying on the beach in a little group, I thought they had to be plastic with that rich periwinkle color. How could such a bright color appear out of the grey fog and how could those perfect little delicate shells just be there for me to find on the brown grainy wet sand? Why didn't anyone else see them? When I got home that day, I called the education department of the Monterey Bay Aquarium to find out more about them and was asked to bring them in. The education director there told me they were a rare find of a rather common pelagic sea snail that they had not seen on the Monterey Peninsula for over 40 years.

teapots 47, 48, 49 & 50 plus summer thrills

One of my favorite geeky computer things to do is to compare and contrast the summer temperatures here in Tucson to those of Monterey, where I lived from July 2003-May 2005 and then again from October 2005-May 2006 (as well as from 1988-1990).

On my desktop, I have two temperature widgets for comparison that show sun, cloud, snow, rain, and fog icons with the temperature in numbers underneath. I usually keep the widgets on farenheit, but take a look at the celsius temperatures now and then for fun.

Right now, my Tucson widget tells me it is 99° at 9pm with the almost full moon visible in a clear dark sky. Meanwhile, in Monterey, there are clouds or fog (can't tell from the widget which it is--maybe both!) and the temperature is 69°!

Who knows why I enjoy doing this as much as I do, but I do. It makes me smile and laugh. Maybe it's heat delirium.

The six-day forecast in the Tucson widget shows six bright yellow sun icons for each of the next five days (plus today) with the temperatures of 108°, 106°, 107°, 109°, 108°, and 108° through Tuesday. In contrast, the Monterey widget shows a sun icon with a cloud on top of it for four out of the six days with temperatures of 86°, 74°, 77°, 73°, 75°, and 74°.

Of course, I don't need to see the Tucson widget at all to know when it is bright and hot outside. My body senses the heat. The heat changes my appetite. I eat less in the morning, almost nothing in the day, drink mostly water and tea until late afternoon when I finally feel a little hungry for a salad or a bowl of beans & rice. At night, I eat very little or nothing and I am up at dawn. It feels cool now in the dark of night. I sip water and listen to Yuki panting.

Dittadhammasukhavihari

I have arrived ~
and am here in Monterey ~ dittadhammasukhavihari.
Dittadhammasukhavihari means 'dwelling happily in the present moment' in Pali.














A ponderosa pine outside of Flagstaff, AZ.

















Elyse is my friend from junior high, highschool, and Flagstaff. We've known each other since we were 11 years old.

















The Chapel of the Holy Dove is a non-demoninational interfaith chapel on Hwy 180, the route North to the Grand Canyon from Flagstaff. The chapel is just outside of Flag. People reserve the chapel for weddings by pinning a handwritten note to the inside log walls. You can also place your handwritten prayers into a little box and the chapel people (I don't know who they are) will pray for you/recite your prayer.











































We camped at Mather campground--Yuki, Jesse, and I. The sky was clear at night with zillions of stars; the temperature fell to around 32ºF (0ºC). We were toasty in my tent--too warm even--because I slept in my flannel pajamas, inside a sleeping bag, and with a down comforter over me, next to a furry black cat and a furry white dog.














I enjoyed walking along the rim trail and revisiting places I'd been many times before. I never get bored of being at the Canyon, not even at the heavily touristy South Rim. Though I've been down on the river camping and walking for many days at a time, I can enjoy what the rim area has to offer. At the Kolb photography studio, built on the edge of the Canyon, there was a magnificent gallery exhibit of paintings and sculptures of the Grand Canyon created by various artists in many different mediums. In the Bright Angel Lodge area I visited an exhibit showing the history of Fred Harvey and the Harvey Girls, Grand Canyon tourism, and the visionary architect who created many of the structures at the Grand Canyon, Mary Colter.






























I asked Yuki to pose--this is what I got.













Nice to enjoy tea while travelling...and while not travelling.













I took this photo of Jesse with one hand, shooting backwards while driving on the highway through the Mohave Desert.













On our way to The Channel Islands National Park Visitors Center in Ventura County, I saw all these orange pumpkins in a field. At the Visitors Center I looked at exhibits about the islands. I learned about the Channel Islands' flora, fauna, sea life, and the Chumash Indians, the former inhabitants of the islands. One day I'd like to visit the Channel Islands when I don't have Yuki and Jesse in the car with me.













Morro Bay is one of my favorite stops going up the coast.
I like the look of that big rock in the water. It looms large from wherever you are on the bay. I took a walk with Yuki on a trail near our campground. The trail went past an area of many tall eucalyptus trees with hundreds of birds high up in the branches. There was a sign nearby that said this was a protected area, the only blue heron rookery left on the coast of California. I went back to the car to get my binoculars. Besides the blue herons, there were what looked to be turkey vultures perched among them. And in the background, that big rock in the bay. I don't know why, but I love that rock in the water like that.















Big Sur













What else can I say--this is one view, at one moment in time, from a digital camera, under that particular lighting as framed by my eyes. The Big Sur coastline.

















This is at Asilomar in Pacific Grove.













I met this painter at Asilomar on my first day back. She told me that she comes every year for a week just to paint.













I saw these birds one morning on Monterey State Beach.













Outside, I was eating breakfast in the cool morning air while Yuki and Jesse were taking in the scene. We are on the porch looking out on the courtyard of the apartment complex of a MIIS friend we stayed with for a while.

* * * * * * * *

One of the highlights I didn't photograph occurred at a vista point between San Simeon and Big Sur. I saw three whales on the horizon blowing water from their blow holes. I saw their bodies lift up into the air from the water followed by their flukes. I watched them do this several times. My first night's sleep in Monterey brought a dream in which I saw a dolphin face smiling at me and at the same time it felt like I was the smiling dolphin.

In LA, I stayed the night with my cousin in West Hollywood. Carol has lived in the same apartment for nearly 30 years! In the morning, I left in the dark, as Carol leaves for work at 5 am. Driving through the Hollywood Hills I saw the still full moon in front of me, hiding behind the clouds, and turning with me as we drove. There was a light misty rain. In the dark clear spaces between the clouds, stars were shining in the sky. As the road curved around the hills, lights from houses built into the hills sparkled brightly.