April 7

Back form the coast. We hiked the Pomo canyon trail named after Dr. David Joseph. I don't know who he is but the trail is great. We started at Shell Beach in the fog. It was a little cold but halfway up the first hill we were shedding the first layer. We walked into sunshine with the fog behind us. We met two cowgirls on horseback who were on the trail to head off cattle they were moving up the hill. They had been hidden in the shrubs along the trail. We never saw the cattle.

There are redwood trees older than I can imagine. There are three places along the trail where the trees form what I feel are sacred places. There is the sound of water, sun filtering through the thick canopies high up toward the sky and the light is soft. One has no water sound and is so quiet you can hear your heart beat and your breath going in and out.

We met a group of about 40 kids hiking towards Shell beach. One of the adults said they had hiked 10 miles already--they were a little less than three miles from the beach when we met them.

We ate lunch at a picnic table near the campground, refilled water bottles and took advantage of the toilets. Then hiked back to the beach. About a mile from the end of the hike the fog rolled back in toward us and the wind picked up. Really glad to be at the end of the six mile hike.

We showered changed, went to dinner at a local restaurant, bought a pint of Ben and Jerrys (Dublin Mudslide) and returned to the house for a quiet evening in front of a gas fireplace with the wind outside and the sound of the waves of the ocean about a quarter of a mile away.

A great birthday.

Thursday

Tomorrow, April 6th, I will turn 66. I wonder what a 666 year will bring. Perhaps I should have planned a trip to Route 66. Instead I'm going to hike Pomo Canyon just North of Bodega Bay with two friends. Then we will sleep at the beach house of a friend and drive back on Saturday through Sonoma and Napa. I know this trail does not have any rocks to climb..no surprises in that area.

Today I am trying to do a weeks worth of sorting and cleaning. I'm not going to finish. However, I did get up early for a day off and walk to Borders for coffee. Then I walked back and did not even think about the order of things or try to make a list. Ipicked up the first stack of stuff and got rid of most of it in one way or another. I then attacked my office and it is so nice and clear and dust free I can sit and think. On the other side of that the hallway is barely passable because of the stuff that is going somewhere else--soon.

April 4, 1007

In the middle of my spring break. Yesterday and today I walked to Borders (It takes me about 25 minutes each way) Bought a Latte, a newspaper, read it and enjoyed the feeling of not having to be anywhere unless I really want to.

I moved into this apartment four months ago today. I am deciding what to put on the walls. Can't decide. Will have to call a friend in to help me. I have lots of choices because I have framed my own photography over the years. I see today that a few of them need to be reframed. Another project.

I did make a spring vegetable soup and it is good and will last me until next tuesday unless I freeze some of it.

I have completed three or four projects today by pretending I'm a stamp that has to stick to it until the job is done. I always think I will have more time than I do when I have a little time off from work. First the regular maintenance, you know cleaning, cooking, laundry, paying bills and so on and on. Then organizing the projects and finding everything I need. Then a trip to the store for womething, it's always something. Of course I take breaks for dance lessons and phone calls and reading blogs. And now writing on my blog.

OK My blogging time is up.

Spring Break

Monday, the first day of spring break for me. No alarm clock and I still woke at 6am. Since it was a holiday for me, my 20+ years walking partner, Jeannette, came to my home for a morning walk. We started 5:30AM walking, five days a week back in 1985 or so and kept it up until last December when I moved to Natomas. Now I stop in Davis on my way home from work on Monday and we walk. Then one Saturday a month we weigh in at Weight Watchers and go for a walk. I sometimes find it hard to believe we kept up the 5:30am walk for so long. I know more about Jeannette than I do my sisters.

Friday, Saturday and Sunday.
San Francisco Open dance competition: Many hours of watching other people dance an d a little dancing myself. I wish they had more general dancing. I did get to dance a Viennese Waltz. I just learned the basic step in March and Paulette said I looked good. I was not in a competition. The Spirit In Motion team took second for their Bond piece. they really looked good.

The smooth dances are a swirling oof many colored gowns winding around the black suits, and tuxes of their leaders. Sometimes they looked like spring flowers floating around the floor. Other gowns were silver, white and sparkley. The rhythm dancers wear many colors and they are usually brighter, shorter, and very revealing...sexy to be exact. I like the ones with long fringe that, to me, does a dance of its own around the body of the woman.

On the way home I drove into Berkeley on the off chance I could find a parking place somewhere near a store I wanted to go to...well that didn't happen. I did find a place to park near a place called Fatapples and had a great portobella mushroom sandwich for and early dinner.

I walked along the Bay Park Trail that skirts the bay across from the International airport. I see planes taking off and landing at the rate of about one a minute form this angle. It appears there wil be a carsh as incoming fly wing to wing to the two runways. AND the outgoing are sitting on yet another runwya that the other two are approaching. All of this drama about a mile across the water from where I am walking. Next to me in the rushes the shore birds are pecking their lunch. They are oblivious to the huge metal birds making loud noise a mile away.