a day at the tidepools...take two

it was a beautiful morning at the cabrillo aquarium. at first, everything looked the same as last week, but after going around the bend at the top of this last picture, we started to see that the little ecosystems which we had looked at last week (or which had been covered by water, in this first case) were completely dried out. the hermit crabs are going to be very excited about all these new available homes...

i love the rock formations at this beach. they look like you could peel off chunks, like a flaky biscuit. this heron was quietly looking out to sea...i had trouble focusing on it since my camera wanted to focus on all the rocks around it, but i like how it ended up looking ethereal.




what we came for! a starfish, sea anenome, and a sea urchin. i love how the starfish we saw all looked embroidered. they were so beautiful.





and as an extra prize, we looked over and look who was nonchalantly sunning himself on a rock!




what a beautiful day! :)

Bike Commuting

well, it's been three weeks now since i started bike-commuting to work and you know, it isn't really that bad after all. i had all these misconceptions before starting out and more than a fair share of fears, but every day i learn something new and the confidence is growing.

i especially like riding down huntington in the morning when the parrots are squawking and the mockingbirds are joyfully singing. the air is cool and fresh and smells of oak trees and roses. mmm

Eagle Rock bike ride

later in the day (on saturday) another couple of friends and i went on the urban expedition ride that C.I.C.L.E. heads up. we rode through eagle rock and learned about the rivers which used to run through that valley. it was interesting except for the fact that there were no rivers to really speak of. it was kind of sad when we got to the grand finale at the end where the river surfaced and there was just a trickle of water sitting there. one of the speakers told us that we could go and stand near the 'river' and listen to it because it had such a soothing sound. and i thought, 'wow, when we lived in french gulch, the drainage ditch across the street had more water in it...not to mention the roaring creek behind our house.' i can now say 'roaring' because if we're going to call what we saw in eagle rock a river...

anyway, it was still fun and i'm thankful for this group for putting on these rides. my favorite part about this one was how it seemed like no one in eagle rock had ever seen bicyclists. we were cheered for like we were passing through on the tour de france.

nice.

Tidepool Walk

last weekend we went on a hike to the tidepools near the Cabrillo Aquarium. it wasn't really a hike-hike in that the walk was only 30 minutes or so but we were walking and crawling over rocks so that slowed us down. there were so many perfect pebbles and smooth, aqua pieces of sea glass that it nearly drove me crazy. not really, but that's the meredith blood in me. we cannot resist rocks, especially nice ones.


this is where the tidepools were supposed to be. no one had checked whether the tide would be high or low, so err, the ocean (see below) covered the starfish and anenomes. but we still managed to see hundreds of hermit crabs and it was such a beautiful day that it didn't matter anyway. it was just fun to be with friends and to breath in that ocean air. mmm...

Welcome, Alex!

it is much more fun to be a big sister, i think. :)

welcome to the world, alex! can't wait to see this little guy in a few weeks...

Beowulf poem

a a great poem from Beowulf. who knew.

The Almighty making the earth, shaping
These beautiful plains marked off by oceans,
Then proudly setting the sun and moon
To glow across the land and light it;
The corners of the earth were made lovely with trees
And leaves, made quick with life, with each
Of the nations who now move on its face...