I drove the Big Sur coastline – high winds dying down that grabbed the bago and made her sway – I had to slow down then, pull over to let the little cars go by – absolutely the end of the earth in the most beautiful way. The magnificent crashing smashing Pacific from on high. If you have accomplished work at the Tassarra in S. F. then you could go to the Tassarra hot springs – boo hoo; I’m not a Buddhist. Essalon (sp?) was closed to all but those with reservations. I was hoping for a least a peek as in the old days when you could sit in their hot tubs and look over the ocean. I’m really glad they fought Clint Eastwood from developing Big Sur into a convention center.
We are now out in the dry, oak, shrubby part of CA north of LAX. I like this country – full of snakes and ticks apparently – kind of like home. This country is big enough for cattle, a mens’ prison, a college town, and the national guard. Anna found Lucy hunting in a shrub patch near a gorgeous golf course – pretty area – north of San Luis Obispo. We walked on Morro beach today – that was fun – lots of dogs. I picked up a very pretty sandstone rock with colors on it. I was thinking: someone painted this and threw it into the ocean and it came back, or there is toxic waste attached to this rock – I stuck it in my pocket – it was so unusual. We met three women collecting rocks. Their mother is dying of cancer and they are building her a rock wall. I reached into my pocket and drew out the magic rock. They said, ahhhhh, in unison, so I gave it to them.
I “think” I saw a bristle-thighed curlew in with the whimbrels – my Sibley says it could have been. Some long-billed curlews gracefully hunted by. I saw marbled godwits, black bellied plovers, willets and one juvenile red-shouldered hawk sitting on a house, watching the whole beach.
