Hiking About

When last I wrote, I was busy trying to hold things together while under a lot of stress. Happily, the main source of my stress resolved itself about as I had hoped, which is a very good thing. I'm still plenty busy, but less stressed and worried overall. Thank goodness.

This past weekend my friend Karen came to visit, escaping the nasty weather in her part of the country. She picked a fine time to visit, as we were in the middle of over a week of highs around 70 degrees, with mostly sunny skies.

She visited some other friends in the area on Friday and got to my house on Saturday early afternoon. After lunch at Brother's Deli we drove over the hills to hike around at the Fitzgerald Marine Reserve. There's a nice trail which heads up along the bluffs and down to the far end of the beach. (Someday I want to cross the rocky section beyond and hike down the beach to as close as I can get to Pillar Point. Someday.) We arrived at the lowest tide I'd seen here in quite a while, so we walked around a bit among the tide pools. Unfortunately at this time of year there wasn't a lot to see - no starfish, very few anemones. But there were many harbor seals lying in the sun on the outer rocks, which we could see from a distance since their areas were cordoned off as they are a protected species.

After that we drove up to the city to hit Ghirardelli Square, which was surprisingly quiet, though we did arrive a bit early. We also stopped to see the Pier 39 sea lions, which Karen thought were pretty neat (almost everyone does!).

Sunday we hit the farmer's market and then had lunch at Britannia Arms. Then we drove up to Coyote Hills park to hike around. It was a lovely day, warm but not too warm, which is good since we hiked up three steep hills and down again (along the Red Hill Trail which you can see on the map), and then along the creek. Probably about 4-5 miles in total - a pretty good workout. We even saw some goats who we think were there to contribute to weed control.

In the evening I had my book discussion group, and then Karen and Debbi joined me and a few others for dinner at Su Hong, which went over all.

Karen left early Monday morning and got home safely. It was a good visit. Nice to get out and about. I was pretty bushed by Sunday night, though!

One reason Karen picked a fine time to visit is that last night it got down below freezing. I played Ultimate last night and although my blood is pretty thick for a Californian, when it got down towards 40 degrees I was pretty darned chilly! It was below 40 when I got up this morning. Brrr. So she managed to fit her trip in between cold spells.

Twice a month at work we have a "listening club", where people gather over lunch in a conference room to listen to music. Usually someone brings a playlist they've put together, and sometimes we do a session where everyone brings a song. It's fun, and relaxing.

This past Tuesday my friend Cliff observed that the two surviving members of The Beatles are their bassist and drummer, whereas The Who are missing their bassist and drummer. Cliff suggested maybe they should join forces and go on tour. To which I responded that they should name the combined band The Whootles.

We also wondered what a Paul McCartney and Roger Daltrey duet would sound like, and whether McCartney would smash his guitar.

Much laughter ensued!

A final bit of frivolity: If you're so inclined you can help fill out my Johari window.