California Dreamin'

We just returned from some R & R in northern California along the Pacific Ocean. I wrote a note home..."Message in a Bottle" to friends and family. It says it all about the wonderful little bit of heaven.

Message In A Bottle ~Lynne Averett~ We are north of San Francisco in an area below Mendocino called Sea Ranch. Here the houses are built to age to an ash gray to blend with the dry grasses. The teak furniture on the porches ages to ash gray, also. We are in a house right at the ocean cliff by a path where people walk, take their dogs, and ride their horses by the window. A vulture is high atop the Cyprus outside the window as I write drying and warming his wings. He and I are having a brief conversation as his wings are spread at their full length. Because there are no predators, the deer and raccoons come to the house...not afraid of anything. Each night we put fish, cheese, chicken outside and in the morning, it is gone. However, last night the raccoons ate the fish and left the asparagus. Guess they are tired of vegetables! The seals lie on the rocks near us enjoying the afternoon warmth before the night on the Pacific. The young ones like to stare at us, and I wave and say hello to them. I try to entertain them because it can get a little boring swimming, basking and fishing all day. We walk the trail and take pictures of the native flowers and grasses along the way. We saw a group of wild turkeys yesterday along the path. It is very quiet here...technology has not spoiled the area yet, and it is very treacherous to drive here winding around the cliffs from San Francisco so the area is quiet. The nearby town is Gualala, population 265. There are two grocery stores, a drug store, a couple galleries, and a restaurant which serves the best mussels I have ever had. Incidentally, the starfish (we visit the tide pools) also love mussels and the empty shells are scattered on the sea rocks. Yesterday we drove to Mendocino....around cliffs and over ocean bridges. We ate at the old Mendocino Hotel and visited the galleries. Fewer stores now with the economy but still very nice. However, after a while, I longed to leave the "metropolitan" area of 712 and get back to Sea Ranch. We sleep when we are tired. We get up when we are rested. We listened to classical music and read and listen to the waves hit the rocks. We think. We absorb the quiet. Today I will try to paint a little with watercolors and finish my book. At night the stars are scattered across the sky, and because it is totally dark here, we see the Milky Way and Jupiter and numerous star destinations. We take out binoculars and scan the sky by night and the land and sea by day.

So that is life by the Pacific in a place I have visited for 45 years.