REDONDOWRITER'S SACRED ORDINARY

Postcards From Paradise: Redondo Beach, California

I had a wonderful day with all my family who lives locally, but of posting my paradisical (a word I just made up) mother's day photos, I decided to share some photos of Redondo Beach, California--my hometown, where every day is mother's day. I am so grateful to live where I do. To me it is paradise. 

The weather turned foggy and cold again, so we moved our picnic lunch into my home in Redondo Beach for mom's day. While the family was visiting, the sun wasn't. The sun came out about 4 p.m. and stayed through sunset. These sunsets below, however, are from summer 2004, on a walk with my beloved rainbow bridge dog Cookie. Remember her?

What a great 14 years Cookie and I had together, my rescue dog from the Hollywood area, who came to me from living on the street with her homeless owner Johnnie. Cookie got hit by a car and my son's then girlfriend coaxed me into taking her. 

 

Sometimes we all take places we live for granted, including me, but if I'm feeling yukky, I can be down to the beach in five minutes. 

This is a small breakwater a few blocks south of Redondo Beach Pier which often has fishermen on it when the weather is good. There's a good stiff wind tonight so it wouldn't be safe to be on there. 

And here's a full-blown Redondo Beach sunset. My artist's group has a photography category for the fall art show called hidden Redondo Beach. Our sunsets are never hidden, however. 

And here's my sweet rescue dog Mollie who I got when she was about a year old. I've had her for about 1 1/2 years and she has the most wonderful disposition of any dog I've ever had. She and I now walk the Esplanade in Redondo Beach and look forward to some great summer sunsets, our paradise. 

More versions of paradise can be seen at Rebecca's Recuerda mi Corazon. 

 

Millions Upon Millions of Sardines Die in Redondo Beach Marina

The news is filled with the "fish kill" that happened during the night in King Harbor's Marina by the Redondo Beach pier. I live only a two blocks from the marina so I was startled to hear on NPR today that millions upon millions of sardines somehow got trapped and died. Since then I've seen it on local news stations and on CNN.

This excerpts below in red are from an online story from the South Bay Daily Breeze tonight and the photo is by Brad Graverson of the Breeze. I had a dinner to attend after work and it's dark now so I don't want to walk down and see it for myself until tomorrow.

The sardines are floating wall to wall on top of the marina's water. The story is worth clicking on, but here are a few excerpts:

"Twelve to 18 inches of dead sardines blanketed the water's bottom in Basin 1 off Marina Way. Another thick layer of dead fish coated the surface from the breakwall to the inner docks, surrounding boats and walkways.

Authorities with the California Department of Fish and Game, along with other ocean biologists at the scene, declared the mass death a natural event. The fish, they said, sucked every drop of oxygen from

Billions of sardines suffocated Tuesday night during windy storm that altered currents trapping them in King Harbor Marina where there was not enough oxygen in the water to sustain them. Redondo Beach city workers and lifeguards all gathered to scoop up the dead fish. (Brad Graverson/Staff Photographer)
the water and couldn't breathe.

"They are in every slip and every dock," said Fish and Game spokesman Andrew Hughan. "It's a whole lot of fish."

Hughan said authorities believe the huge school of sardines, perhaps blown in by the night's 40-mph winds and crashing waves, swam into King Harbor and became disoriented."

It seems remarkable to me that I could see this myself if I walked 10 minutes from home, but I guess I'll catch wind of it eventually, or so we are told.

Have any of you experienced anything like this? It is really sad.

Mollie's and My One Year Anniversary

On December 18, 2009, I picked up Mollie sight-unseen from the vet where she had just been spayed, microchipped and gotten all her shots. It was my intent at that point to foster her, but within just a few days I fell in love with her. Thank you, Rover Rescue, for bringing her to me. My 14-year-old dog Cookie had died in October and though not having a dog brought me a lot more freedom, it also left me very, very alone in my home. Mollie was thought to be about 18 months old when I got her last year, although it was probably closer to a year. 

Supposedly house-trained, she definitely was not. The house took a beating until she "got it," and even now, when she gets overly stimulated by little kids, she'll have an accident. 

The rain has been relentless for the last days and does not like the rain, but fingers crossed. So far she hasn't had an accident. I was born a dog person and so I will remain. She gives me the incentive to get out and walk and a reason to come home when I work and wander. She's a great cuddle-mate at bedtime. I've had many dogs in my long lifetime and each one has had a unique personality. She definitely does, but she puts up with my angst, my laziness sometimes, and she actually seems to like when I chat with her. I love her. 

The Oh So Naughty Discovery of Dinosaur Poop

All of us know how much little kids love potty humor--and they are brought to spasms of fall-down laughter when they tell any story or joke that has something to do with bodily functions or private body parts.

Today Ray and Diana (my ex and his wife), one of Zach and Arlo's four sets of grandparents, went to the Discovery Center in Orange, CA. I went to work but Ray and Diana worked much harder, I'm sure.

Imagine their utter delight to actually crawl through a model of a dinosaur's insides--and come out on a synthetic pile of dinosaur poop. They talked about it all evening.

Mollie and Me, and Grandsons Make Four: A Haiku

So, what’s going on with woman’s best friend these days, some of you might have been thinking? Well, here's an update on my current best friend, my dog Mollie, the Corgi mix rescue that came into my life on Dec. 18 last year. My 14-year-old cattle dog mix, Cookie, had died in October and it was very, very hard those last weeks of her life. It had been my intent to be foot loose and dog free while I mourned Cookie.

By early December I realized how much I missed having a dog. I wasn’t taking my twice daily walks, there wasn’t dog hair everywhere, and not only wasn’t I sleeping with a man in my bed anymore, I didn’t even have a dog for company. I began to cyber search the local rescue organizations thinking maybe I could foster an older dog who wouldn’t require much care.

On Dec. 18, Kathy and James from Rover Rescue, pointed me to a dog named Miranda thought to be about age two—house trained, etc., and currently in the Carson pound. I agreed to foster her based only the website's photo and when I picked her up from the vet, she immediately threw up. It seems she had just been spayed a few hours before. She was very thin and lethargic and it was obvious she had been pregnant. When James brought her into my house, she immediately peed on the carpet.

I officially adopted Mollie on Dec. 28, 2010 and brought her to my own vet. She was actually only about a year old, as it turned out. I had my work cut out for me.

I keep thinking she is housetrained and it was really hard to accomplish, but with my two and four year old grandsons visiting this week, Mollie has turned into a six month old whirlwind. If she gets too wound up, she pees on the carpet. She chases the boys endlessly and goes absolutely everywhere they go, including licking food off their faces, snot out of their noses, vacuuming under the table, chewing toys--and alerting us to poo-poo diapers. But, when the lights are finally turned off at night and the whole house snoozes, she lays hypervigilant on her dog bed, or on mine, dozes, but perks up her ears at the slightest sound. She is obviously guarding us. 

Unleashed: Poems by Writer’s Dogs is a favorite book given to me ages ago by my eldest son, who loves dogs even more than I do. Cookie actually chewed off part of the back page.

The muse hit Mollie. This is what she wrote. 

Fran kept crazy hours

Until two boys came with toys.

Can they stay forever?

 

 

Gratitude for a Wonderful Week

Mollie and I thoroughly enjoyed our last day together in Idyllwild now that I'm out of classes and she is not going to Mountain High Pet Grooming for doggie day care. We slept in, had coffee and breakfast on a deck overlooking Strawberry Creek right where I'm staying, and then we had a few hours of shopping in real stores. The two thrifts by the Arts Academy were closed today. The town is incredibly dog friendly and most stores allow dogs in. There's a water bowl in front of every store. 

I read in Jodi Picoult's latest book "House Rules" this afternoon and then was invited to spend time in local artist Karla Leopold's art studio. She will have a website up in a few weeks and I'll refer you to her work; you'll be blown away, I promise. Then Mollie, Karla and I had dinner on the patio at The Greek Place. 

Here are the happy couple in front of a photo op mural in Idyllwild. Hmm. I didn't realize I was that pleasantly plump, but I do admit to being a happy plump.  

Mother, Daughter, Granddaughter Reunion

My classes with Michael deMeng are absolutely beyond any expectations I had. And now the frosting on the cake. My daughter Christy and my granddaughter Whitney have come to stay in my Old Idyllwild cabin at Silver Pines for the weekend. I'll keep going to classes but they have a few days of hiking, shopping and relaxing while I go get my creative fix. Ben at the doggie day care said that Mollie ran with the pack today; she is adapting. 

Tonight the four of us ate on the patio at Arriba where Mollie even got her own water bowl--and a wonderful guitarist played the two hours we spent there. It doesn't get better than this!

One World, Many Dogs and Cats

Two and a half years ago I took a pilgrimage trip to Turkey and Greece and in addition to all the sacred ruins and wonderful sites, I took pictures of domesticated animals. I have not really shared many of the wonderful photos that I took; I find I am still really trying to assimilate all that I saw and will finally make a scrapbook this summer.

Here is dog #1, resting in front of one of the many stall shops in Santorini, which I believe is probably one of the most beautiful places I have ever been. Like my own dog Mollie, she is obviously an interesting mixed breed. Want to name her? What do you think she is thinking about as all the tourists pass by? What would it be like for a dog to live on a romantic island on the Aegean Sea? Double click and you can really get a close up of this magnificent Grecian animal. 

 

The Transformation of a Turtle to a Pig

On May 5 I wrote an entry about how I had made a turtle canvas for a collaborative art project for the Redondo Beach Art Group called The International House of -- I thought turtles. But, it was pigs. Our artistic director Daryl said he would give me a little more time to make my rendition of a pig. And, here she is.  I bought a new canvas so the "Tuvulu Turtle" will hang on my office wall. 

I'm still using the colors in the flag of Tuvulu only this mixed media rendition of "Lulu From Tuvulu" is a lot different from May 5's turtle. This was a fun project! Daryl will build a frame and all 40 pigs will be displayed at the Art Group's Power of Art at the Redondo Beach Power of Art weekend show August 13, 14, 15 at the Redondo Beach Performing Arts Center.

This reminds me of a funny teenage story from long, long ago. I was on a date with someone I didn't know very well and we had gone with another couple to Knotts Berry Farm. I even remember what I was wearing--a circle skirt I had made in our home arts class, a white sleeveless blouse, and knock-off Capezio ballet slippers. Only I didn't know the word knock-off back then. I thought I was so cool. We went into the area of Knotts where there was a petting zoo and I walked up to a pig. She peed right on my shoes. Being a teenager, I was mortified. How the years change. If a pig peed on me now I'd shrug and say, "Oh, well," and crack up laughing. 

PhotoHunter: Black

This week's theme for Photo Hunt is black. Mollie is black.