Just Beachy Hodgepodge

Three generations at the beach in Southern California in the early 70’s.

It’s time for another summertime Wednesday Hodgepodge. Thank you, Joyce!

1. When does time pass slowly for you?

When waiting on news from a loved one. When flying from Seattle to the U.K.

When does time pass quickly for you? 

When spending time with loved ones and watching how fast our grandchildren grow from stage to stage.

2. Do you have a favorite beach? What’s your favorite ‘beach’ activity? Tell us what we’d find in your beach bag.

Laguna Beach in the early 70’s.

Over the years favorite beaches included, Newport, Huntington, Laguna, Emma Wood (Ventura), San Clemente, and Refugio (campground on the beach above Santa Barbara).

In my 74 years of life, over half of those years were lived close enough to a beach to spend a day there or just a few miles from a beach. Our sons were born while we lived in Huntington Beach and our daughter was born in Ventura which is also a ‘beach’ town. In my younger years I loved to be in the waves or do a little body surfing. In high school, I enjoyed playing ‘Hearts’ on a beach towel with friends slathering on the cocoa butter to get a tan (I know…dumb). With small children, I didn’t like the beach because of all the sand I had to clean off everyone, the sand in the food and the panic I’d feel about them being swept away in the waves. In my older days we lived temporarily in Camarillo a short distance to the beach. I loved to have a walk on the beach before dawn and watch the waves and the sea birds. Currently, I’m not a fan of being on the beach on a hot day. If I’m going to spend any amount of time on the beach it will be in the Winter, at sunrise or sunset.

My bag is most likely in the car and I would be hands free except for my camera or my cell phone. I would be taking photos of the birds and the surfers and the waves. I’d have sunblock on and a hat. I would be walking along the shore and not sitting. 🙂

Cousins camping at Refugio State Beach in California, 1984.

3. Your favorite book or movie with a beach setting? 

Flipper and Voyage of the Dawn Treader

4. What’s a food you love, but find it’s a pain to eat? Is it worth it? 

Love is a strong word. I enjoy mussels and they aren’t the easiest to eat. Caramels are delicious but they might pull out a crown. Peanut brittle is another thing that can be dangerous for teeth but is delicious.

5.  Do you like roller coasters? What’s the best (or worst) roller coaster you’ve been on? 

Big Thunder Mountain January of 2023.

I enjoy the Disney rides that are roller coasterish like, Thunder Mountain, Splash Mountain, or Space Mountain. I’m not a fan of carnival rides.

6. Insert your own random thought here.

Addy and JJ below the Huntington Beach Pier in the town where their Dad and Uncle were born.

Do You Measure Up?

We thought we had measured the inside of our closet well before I headed to Ikea to buy some new storage pieces for our T.V. and a 2nd closet in the guest room.

before and afters 001

The T.V. stand is working perfectly and just how we planned. The storage units for the closet were another matter. I picked up this large square piece and another section that was narrower and taller to put on one end.

more after 015

Seems our measurements were 3/4 of an inch off. I knew my handy dandy Dear would figure something out or we’d just stick the tall unit in the basement. The figuring someway to squeeze it in was the more favorable option because I wanted to maximize the storage in this closet. The solution was to take the support for the upper shelf completely out. See that white upper board at the end of the closet with the hole in it that was a hanger bar?  Of course that also meant we had to take the entire upper shelf out during the process, too. We still had to partially disassemble the tall unit to get it in and then to lift the unit while it was in it’s place to tighten the screws. Are you confused yet? Too bad I didn’t YouTube the process.

Ikea storage 002It’s quite the feeling of accomplishment when you can enjoy the fruits of your labor and know you conquered assemble yourself furniture! That is one snug fit let me tell you. Oh my aching back…

I’m also quite pleased that I have some empty cubbies to add things to in the future. Have you had fun projects go south on you?

My mom and pop are doing well being left alone at night. My mom has had some tough days with her heart feeling very heavy. When I talked to my pop this past week one day he told me my brother had made homilets for them for breakfast. On Tuesday he said my sister Kathy had made something Mexican for them with beans… saucekitos or something. My family loves to document what we call “Moisiisms”.

mom pei wei

My mother and father have never had lobster, scallops or shrimp so my brother Steve made lobster and scallops for them last week and my sister Lana made a shrimp dish for them to try on another evening. My mother really enjoyed the lobster and left the scallops for my brother to enjoy.  I forgot to ask how she liked the shrimp. I really can’t remember having much fish growing up. Maybe once when my pop went deep sea fishing and caught Yellowtail. I do remember camping at San Clemente Beach in California when the Grunion were running and catching some and running up to the campsite to cook them fresh. The Grunion running experience was a great one for me. “The grunion are running, the grunion are running, was chanted down the beach after waiting in the dark for them to appear. You could see little silvery fish emerge from the waves onto the beach and they would start digging into the sand to lay eggs. Wow this post has really gotten away from me.

Here’s a short explanation from Cabrillo Marine Aquarium, “Spend a night sitting on Southern California’s sandy shore waiting for the “grunion run.” Grunion are small sardine-size fish of the silversides family, which are among the few species of fish that actually come ashore to lay their eggs on sandy beaches. They are found from Southern California south to Baja California and arrive at night after the high tide around the new moon and full moon. Cabrillo Beach is one of the better places to observe the fish.”

So you see if you don’t measure properly you will find your mind being random and scattered and full of fond memories of carefree days…

Here’s that Yellowtail I mentioned earlier. This was taken in our backyard in Montebello Gardens (Pico Rivera). That’s me and my brother Tim watching my pop clean the fish.

028_28-001Hope you have a perfectly random day!