Cali

Things that made me happy this weekend:

Once a year or so, I try to go to San Diego to visit my sis. Here are some pics from this year's trip.

Cami at the wonderful Persian restaurant we ate at

This puppy is quite easily the most adorable creature of all time. She is perfect. Perfect size, perfect personality, perfect hunting skills....kind of. Well she tries at least. The above picture is her pouncing on a lizard in the bushes. And below, she is attacking a stuffed hedgehog type thing from the comfort of her bed. Spoiled pup.

Friday morning, I rented a bike and wandered around by the ocean. It took a bit of time to get used to riding a cruiser but I got there eventually. It's been a long time since I had to use my feet to brake. I kept grabbing the handlebars and panicking when there was nothing there to help me stop. Luckily the first place I rode to wasn't very crowded.

After riding around the bay, I wandered down to Mission Beach, up through Pacific Beach and near La Jolla. The ride was lovely. Due to a slightly overcast sky, the area was not overly crowded so I could take in the views while I was riding. The houses along the seafront are beautiful. The owners take great pride in their ocean-front views and have decked out (ha!) their patios appropriately.

After lunch, I returned my bike and made my way to the water. I love wandering along the beach. There aren't many things more soothing than the roar of the ocean. The weather was perfect for me (overcast and a few drops of rain) but these sun-bathing Californians did not agree. A few sprinkles of rain came down and the whole beach emptied in about ten minutes. Bliss. I had the whole beach practically to myself. And because they had left so quickly, I was able to take advantage of the vacated dry spots. So I sat and finished my book, Going Solo, by Roald Dahl.

I hate seaweed. Fiercely. But I thought this was pretty. The beach is loaded with piles of the horrible stuff. But I've never seen it glitter before. Looking up close, there are hundreds of teensy shells parked on this leaf (frond? pod? not sure what its called really). It really did shimmer in the sun.

This link is in no way related to the following pictures, except that it mentions brain surgery. I kept thinking about it the whole time we were at the prehistoric brain surgery exhibition. That's right. Prehistoric. That means rocks. Brain surgery and rocks. It is as bad as you are imagining.

Please note that the area labeled "1" shows a hole being scraped out with the mostly blunt edge of a rock. Through a skull. Awesome.

And now for better uses for the brain...the art market in Balboa Park. The art varied significantly between booths. Everything from clay, to jewelry, to woodwork, to dresses made of board game pieces. We liked this guy a lot though. His materials are free (color cards from the paint section at Home Depot cut into tiny tiny pieces) and he makes beautiful mosaics. He said he had been working on this piece for about a month so far.

Being the fan of dessert that I am, I had to share this with you. I present: The Poached Pear in Caramel Sauce with Pistachios. aMAZing!!! We ate this at the Persian restaurant referred to at the top of this post. Pears are delectable anyway, but put an incredibly light, fragrant caramel sauce on top and you just might die. Now if only i could find a recipe....