Lows and highs on the last day of the year

 There has been a rash of burglaries up the hill lately, and two nights ago, our friends Ferd and Louise were the latest victims. Coming back from dessert at our place, they actually surprised the guy still in their house – pretty scary. He ran to the front, then out the back, and jumped out a window. Ferd, who is 63, tackled him, and tried to hold on, but he was overpowered and the thief ran off down the hill. Luckily he didn’t make off with anything -- they had carried their money with them to town for dinner – but it still must be a horrible feeling to have your home invaded like that. Ferd and Louise have had a bunch of vandalism on their wooden windows and doors over the fall, too, and they are pretty bummed, thinking about selling. They have a beautiful place, just over the top of the hill, very secluded…we are feeling lucky that we bought a place so close to town, with metal doors and bars on the windows.

We wanted to get out of town for the day, so we loaded up the car with our boards and beach stuff, locked all the doors, and headed out to another walk-in surf spot. When we arrived, there were nearly thirty cars in the ‘parking lot’ (a grassy area off the side of the highway). We almost kept going – the most we’d seen there before was five – but decided to stick to the plan. We crossed the road and followed a narrow path through the jungle. It was a long enough walk that I had to stop and switch which arm I was carrying my surfboard with! Getting to the beach made the whole trip worth it, though. It was a beautiful white sand beach, long and clean, and felt almost empty, despite all the cars. People were spread out, finding patches of shade and solitude. We picked a perfect spot and spread out our things under the branches of a low sprawling tree. The surf looked small, so we ate lunch and napped for a while, waiting to see if it improved as the tide dropped. It didn’t, but we went out anyway, ‘just to get wet’, without much success. I came back in and spent a while beach-combing for pretty shells, which I think I will distribute to my students, and green rocks, which Kerry wants for a mosaic. It was just such a pleasure to be on a calm, quiet, clean beach, out of the chaos of town. We stayed until four or so, making the most of the afternoon.

When we got home, Mom made her tortilla casserole / Mexican lasagne dish for a potluck New Year’s party, and we spent twenty minutes trying to figure out how to carry the two hot dishes across town! We improvised some insulated carriers for them and picked up our usual crew. (It reminds me of freshman year sometimes – you just can’t go to the cafeteria, you have to check and see if anyone else wants to go too.) The party was fun – we drank a lot of margaritas and learned how to salsa from a recently engaged couple visiting the hosts. Didn’t quite make it until midnight, although we celebrated both New York’s and Chicago’s New Years!

Happy New Year to you all, with best wishes for a healthy, happy, and peaceful year to come.