See Worthy

Thursday, March 4. The skies are brilliantly blue and everything below sparkles in the sun, still glistening from yesterday's rain. We don't have much planned today, which means there's plenty of time to catch up on blogs and take stock of what we haven't done and what we just have to do before we leave on March 9 (five days). I'd like a hike in the woods and a visit to Tor House, Phil would like to visit San Francisco again and to visit Pebble Beach Club House. Four locations in five days definitely sounds doable, even on top of the requisite house cleaning and grocery restocking chores.

After breakfast, I took Dixie for a little neighborhood walk. Every day, she seems a little more relaxed walking with us. I was unpleasantly surprised at how chilly it was even with the brilliant sunshine. I've become a real coddled Southern Californian who thinks sunny automatically means warm. Back at the house, I got a call that I might get my proofreading job at CSULB thesis department in April. It would be nice to get some money coming in even though I will have to take a pay cut. Phil and I talked about things to do to get out of the house. Phil suggested a quick shopping trip to Trader Joe's (weren't we just there yesterday?) so I surfed the net for nearby restaurants and came up with two possibilities: Fresh Choice and Gayle's Bakery.

We chose Fresh Choice because it was close to Trader's, but when we got there we found out it was a cafeteria style restaurant and since we had Dixie with us, it seemed too complicated. We walked over to Trader's and I shopped for stuff while Phil stood outside and got compliments from ladies on his cute little dog. I got a sandwich and a salad and we drove to Seacliff Drive and parked at Seacliff Mini Park, which is a minimally landscaped area with a few benches on the palisade overlooking the Pacific Ocean. Visibility was incredible and the sparkling water stretched for miles in every direction but east. We ate our takeout lunch in the sun-warmed front seat with a million dollar view. Dixie seemed to enjoy just being near us. She sat still and pricked up her ears every time either one of us talked.

Back home, we unpacked the groceries and made some coffee. Phil did some work and then headed out for nine holes at Seascape. He got me and Dixie started on another walk down to Hidden Beach. She did very well, prancing ahead and sniffing, sniffing, sniffing. The beach was lovely in the sunshine even though the surf wasn't as wild as yesterday. I got back home before Phil and did some reading. He came home chilled through so we had a beer and chips sitting next to the stove after he built a fire.

We talked to Tony as we ate supper, leftover burritos and soup. We spent the evening close to the stove, reading, chatting and Sudoku-ing. It's starting to feel a lot like home.