Travel Journal - Carmel, California

Friday, September 13th -

I'm sitting in my favorite room in Ellen's house, the "garden room." The light is pouring in the French doors and big window. The room is full of books, a comfortable sofa, and chairs. It is a newly added room that juts out into the back garden so when you look out you see all the beautiful greenery and flowers in the back yard. You feel as if you are actually sitting out in a garden. When I first came down here this afternoon and sat down to read Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, I was joined by the two resident kitties, Peaches and Cream, a cute little orange and white female and Zack the Black, the resident male who is much shyer. They are both about three months old and were rescued from the local SPCA. Both are fairly small and have adopted us. Zack was black when Ellen first got him but his coat is now streaked with white hairs as if he is turning gray early. Both curled up on my lap each vying for space and we three were soon fast asleep with them purring deeply.

Today is our first totally lazy day. I did laundry and Jim is busy trying to write on the backs of all his pictures. Of course it will take a while with seven rolls of developed film but the pictures are fantastic and looking at them allows us to relive our visit to those beautiful parks again. I'll have to wait until we get home to really view mine as the laptop does not have a USB port to download them. I'm going to try and put together a slide show using PowerPoint when we get home just for the fun of it.

We took a long walk in to the downtown area of Carmel and then down to the beach. The walk coming back was like walking up our hill. The air was really cool coming in off the water and you could see the fog rolling in off the water. It has clouded over now so I guess a picnic on the beach will be out for tonight. As I write, I am looking out the window at a beautiful brilliant pink bougainvillea. The little village of Carmel if full of people wandering around looking in the shop windows and just enjoying being alive. There are lots of beautiful colorful flowers in pots and flowerbeds everywhere.

Yesterday we had lunch with Anne and Roberto (Jim's oldest daughter and her partner) in their beautifully landscaped yard among the flowers and bushes. They too live in Carmel. We were joined by the resident jay, Crooked Toe, who visits frequently. He comes for lunch and you don't dare leave food outside without someone to watch it or he will snatch it away. He will take food from your hand if you hold it between your thumb and finger, wiggle it around and whistle. I have not had much success as I don't do whistle's very well. They have a door that is usually left open in to the living room and an abalone shell full of peanuts for Crooked Toe. He flies in, gets his peanut and flies off. If they shell is empty, he is quick to let them know. He also gets a special treat on Sundays, shelled pecans lined up on the top of the Dutch door. He again will let them know if the pecans are missing. There is also a family of woodpeckers living in the trees nearby.

We had a wonderful dinner the first night with Anne and Ellen, Roberto and Charlie and Sherry and David. Nice to have everyone together. We'll drive up Sunday to visit with Les and Liz and the boys and they will be coming here for dinner tonight.

Back to Harry Potter and the lovely garden room. Love to all.

Pat