I had planned to visit New England to see new granddaughter Alice (separate post to come), so the invitation from Pat and Tom Sugrue to join the Sutherland Road gang of BC classmates (of which I am an auxiliary member) for an extended weekend at their house in Rehoboth Beach was fortuitous indeed. It made for a delightful combination of experiences.
Dinner on the bay. To the left of me: Larry Kenah, Shelia Downey, Dan Downey, Pat Sugrue. To the right of me: Marcy Kenah, Ken Hamberg, Debbie Hamberg, Tom Sugrue. Unable to attend was Ed Hattauer.
The weekend featured wonderful company and food, beer and beach. Larry, Marcy, and I stayed in the “annex,” the nearby condo previously owned by Pat and Tom and now owned by his sister and her husband. We didn’t spend a lot of awake time there, but the setting (above right) was most pleasant.
First on the agenda was beer. We toured and tasted at the Dogfish Head brewery in nearby Milton, Del. Among other things, we learned the origin of the name of the brewery. When the founder received the blessing from his father to put aside the English degree and pursue brewing, they were walking on Dogfish Head in Maine.
Off-centered beer for off-centered people is their motto.
Nice photobomb from the bartender!
Marcy, at least, saw the camera.
Mash
Meant to ask about the cradle (cradle?!) but tour moved on.
Unloading boxes to put bottles on the line to be boxed. ?! Beer had been put in the wrong boxes. Maybe this was the guy who made the mistake. 🙂
Before going on a nature tour on the Lewes and Rehoboth Canal, we spent a little time touring Lewes, Del., site of the first European settlement in Delaware and originally Dutch. A small town, with about 3,000 residents, it’s big in history. Here are a few photos from Lewes.
St. Peter’s Episcopal Church, founded in 1681.
Paynter is a big local name, and this may well be the patriarch.
“Our baby, Hannah”
The canal tour took us past Cape Henlopen State Park and into Rehoboth Bay. Many views of birds and nice houses.
Our craft was much smaller than these.
The yellow “feet,” we were told, act as a deadly attractant to fish.
You may see very small birds skittering along.
Osprey
Some time was actually spent at the beach, and on the famous Rehoboth Beach Boardwalk. One visit was to see the sand castle competition.
Again, Marcy is one of the few to see the camera. 🙂
Caption at left is “Euro the one that I want.”
Doh!
Thanks to Pat and Tom for being such wonderful hosts, and to the Sutherland Road gang (and spouses) for continuing to welcome this interloper.
As mentioned in the previous post, cousin Kathy and I went to the San Diego Zoo during her visit. Below is a gallery of pics from that tour. It’s hard not to get some great shots, considering the variety of animals and one’s access to them at the zoo.
Star of the zoo, and somewhat awake!
Snow leopard
Another tiger is at lower left.
Handy rest position
Big baboon teeth
Meerkat chillin’
Almost an avatar
Pride of our state — condors
Beetles so big they seemed almost hummingbirds when flying.
Cousin Kathy (Dunne Gagne McManamy), from Springfield and now Plum Island, joined me for several days this week and it was a wonderful pleasure to spend time with her and show her some of the sights in sunny San Diego.
She had time to avoid my patented San-Diego-County-in-A-Day Tour, which can be difficult for all but the most hearty. Then again, she saw much more, as we expanded the range of possibilities in three days of serious touring.
Here’s an album of photos from Day One of her visit, which started in La Jolla.
Lunch at Herringbone, featuring 100+-year-old olive trees.
Geisel Library at UC San Diego, named after Theodore Geisel, native of Springfield. Shot also includes house that fell from space, imbedding into the building in rear. Uh, it’s an “art” installation.
Puff fish are another motif at Herringbone.
The design district in Solana Beach
At the end of a busy day in the Larry Kenah commemorative chair at Stone Brewery & Bistro, Escondido.
Day Two was spent at the San Diego Zoo and Balboa Park. There will be another gallery of zoo pics. These include Kathy.
Riding the aerial tram above San Diego Zoo, with the Museum of Man at Balboa Park in the distance.
Her second visit to the Old Globe. Her first was to the first.
By the reflecting pool, Balboa Park.
Finishing up the evening at In-n-Out.
Day Three, to Anza-Borrego Desert State Park, Borrego Springs, Salton Sea, and Julian.
In the park, above Borrego Springs.
Getting close to one of the prehistoric inhabitants. . . . It’s also an art thing.
Venturing out on the “beach” to reach the sea.
The surface was “tentative.”
Ooops! One leg down to the knee.
She got out relatively easily, but had to work to get her flip-flop.
Mud bath, just like Calistoga!
Finishing the labyrinth at the Borrego Springs Episcopal Church, in 101-degree heat.
Spent the morning at Fallbrook’s Avocado Festival. This year was the 29th annual and it is the biggest event of the year in town, attracting enough folks — around 80,000 — to more than double the population.
Very nice weather. Duh. Here are some pics.
There are many more varieties of avocado than I ever knew.
Nice slogan at MaGee’s. Shades of New Hampshire!
Fountain doesn’t run these days.
As we’re not anything official, we have the county Sheriff.
Miss Fallbrook and two of her “princesses” flank a lucky dude who won an avocado prize.
Performing arts for kids is a big deal in Fallbrook.
Vintage truck from back when Fallbrook had its own fire department. Now we have North County Fire.
She got him.
These are starfish made up to look like human figurines. ? They didn’t have BC.
I joined some folks Wednesday morning for a two-hour walk in Anza-Borrego Desert State Park. We were there to see something that had not been in the desert for a number of years and that would soon be gone — wildflowers. It was a lesson in how briefly some things in nature can be around and in the value of the difference beauty can make in small amounts and often subtle ways.
The day was unusual weatherwise — cloudy and relatively cool (75-80). Great weather for a walk in the desert, and the morning clouds made for a beautiful introduction to Borrego Valley.
The walk was in Little Surprise Canyon, a quite easy and short hike. But we took our time as our guide would stop and point out different flora. At the risk of brevity (something I don’t usually suffer from), here is a gallery of photos of some of the flowers and other vegetation. (Click thumbnails to enlarge. Identification of plants was aided by friends at Anza Borrego Foundation, but any errors are mine alone [and I know nothing about desert plants].)
Little Gold Poppy
Arizona Lupine
Desert Stars
Ghost Flowers
Wild Heliotrope, maybe Phacelia
Ocotillo
Chuparosa — a hummingbird fave
Brittlebush
Brittlebush
Lavender
Little Gold Poppy
Barrel Cactus
Barrel Cactus
According to our guide, the Little Surprise Canyon has the name because it keeps on going, surprisingly long.
Of course, wildflowers are throughout the desert, thanks to a fortunate combination of longer daylight and rain. Some of the more “verdant” spots I saw were on the ride back up the mountains that form a western border to the valley.
Those of you who’ve been to the desert, at least with me, have seen much more muted colors than even these. This is pretty spectacular in desert terms.
Much of the vegetation will succumb to lack of moisture and heat. Many of them are sprouting now from seeds dropped by ancestors years ago in their brief time abloom. In the usual way nature works, however, they also supply food for other life forms, including the very numerous sphinx moth caterpillars.
These guys — voracious and tireless — can wipe out wide areas of plants quickly.
And, as we say farewell to Borrego Valley (I always remember how many of the old Disney nature films would conclude :)), a parting view.
US Naval Institute sponsored a members event last night, coinciding with a three-day conference for military tech types. It was held at a place with the awesome view above. More about that follows, but first I took a stroll. After browsing the conference’s exhibits, I had some time before the USNI event so I decided to walk through a little of downtown San Diego — the Gaslight Quarter (called historic, but seems more nuevo tourista), Petco Park neighborhood, and the new county library (remember, I have librarians among family and friends).
Here’s San Diego’s ball field.
Actually, as I’m sure you have surmised, this is not the home of the Padres. This is a kids’ field in Park in the Park, which is a three-acre open area beyond the bleachers of Petco Park, which is accessible each day, though you need a ticket if it’s game time. Here’s Petco Park. (Petco is based in San Diego, FYI.)
Not quite the green swath, but they’re working on it. It is February, after all.
The library is just a block from Petco Park. This is a relatively new central library, opening in September 2013. In the tradition of cash-strapped California, no expense spared! $185 million, and it looks it. It’s like San Diego’s version of London’s pickle, on a reduced scale.
For those interested, such as the aforementioned librarians, here’s a gallery of images from the library.
Main lobby
General shot of second floor
Children’s area
Retro!
Overhead of a reading room
Looking east from that reading room, toward the mountains
View of Coronado Bay Bridge from the open deck near the top
The dome at night
The USNI event was at “The Ultimate Skybox,” a unit on the 15th (top) floor of the “Dreamview Tower.” Nothing like overstatement, but it is nice, and this view is worthy of another look.
At lower right in the picture above is Petco Park and in the distance is the Coronado Bay Bridge. Temps were still in the 70s by sundown so it was very comfortable outside. Below is a more direct view of Petco Park, with Coronado and Naval Air Station North Island on the other side of the harbor and Point Loma in the distance at upper right. Thanks, sun, for making a nice sky.
A slightly more northerly view below. I took some panorama shots as well, but haven’t figured out yet how to retrieve them.
Very pleasant evening. Met some new people, including Christine (last name forgotten), who is lead veterinarian for the Navy’s marine mammal program out on Point Loma. She went to Tufts, of course, and we reminisced about snow. Well, actually, we talked about how much both of us did not miss it. She indicated interest in speaking before the Navy League (and perhaps the BC alumni chapter) about the marine mammal program.
And seeing Petco Park close up convinced me to consider going to a few games this season. The Padres are reportedly considered to be more competitive this season with some recent trades and acquisitions, and there is a Stone Brewery outpost right in the Park in the Park.
The weekend at Torrey Pines was very nice and the tournament, for me, went well. By well, I mean the fog was generally light when it came and I was able to get home in the daytime.
Below are some screen captures, in this case photos of my TV screen. Still trying to figure out how to move what’s on my DVR to my computer. Anybody done that?
Jason Day, eventual winner of the tournament, tees off Sunday on the 11th, my hole. The vertical red line marks my location. I spent the day on the right side of the green.
Day, following his putt for a par, with me at left.
In 2013, the first year I worked at the tournament, I also was at 11 on the weekend, also on the right side of the green. Got to watch Tiger make a great shot out of the trap. I have a wide-brimmed hat on in this pic, kneeling behind him, as he picked up his par.
Here’s an overhead of Torrey Pines, showing both courses, North and South. The vertical red lines show my locations — upper left on 11 North and lower right on 11 South.
Similar view is obscured below, as is occasional and typical this time of year.
On Wednesday, during the pro-am, I was able to get a picture of Phil Mickelson. He’s on the 18th with his caddy.
The LPGA tournament is March 25-29, so look for more, and better-looking, pics late next month.
The tournament began Thursday, Feb. 5, and before the end of his round Tiger withdrew. That wasn’t the big news, though. Bigger was the row between me and Billy Horschel, defending FedEx Cup champion. (In a similar vein, a woman attending the tournament called me a “smart-ass” today. Wonder if this role is right for me.)
See, Horschel was playing with Tiger and Rickie Fowler, one of the mega-groups the PGA likes to put together. The 11th hole, on which I was a marshal, was the second hole in their round, having teed off at the 10th. I was in the landing area on the left side of the hole, to help locate balls in the rough and to show, as best I could, where balls might have crossed the hazard marker near the huge and deep ravine just a few yards from my position. I was immediately behind a tree trunk and below the crown of a pine tree (at far right in picture above).
When Horschel hit, the marshal behind him swung the paddle to the left, indicating the flight of the ball. I then heard a sound above, a rustle, and waited to hear the sound of the ball hitting the ground. I never did. As the golfers started coming down the fairway, I went out from the tree and started looking around in the rough. One of the PGA officials (among those who accompany Tiger on his rounds) was first out to me and asked if I had seen the ball. I told him I had not seen the ball, but had heard what I assumed to be the ball hit the tree above me and had seen or heard nothing else. We both looked around in the rough.
Horschel, coming up the fairway, saw us looking around in the rough and then asked me the same question, “Did you see the ball?” I repeated the answer I gave the official. Horschel seemed peeved. “You mean, you were right here under this tree, and you didn’t see the ball?” I gave my answer the third time. He asserted he thought the ball hit the trunk of the tree, 3-4 feet above the ground. I said I had heard no such sound. With a mild harrumph, he joined the larger group now looking for the ball.
As Golf Channel was recording me, head down, scouring the area for the missing ball (below), this guy came along and just “took my space.” What some people will do to get in the limelight!
Actually, as a bunch of us were looking into the ravine, I happened to glance up to check the guy next to me. Oh . . . Tiger. He found a ball, and pointed to it several yards away in the bramble. Horschel came to look, peered down, and, seemingly with disdain, said, “Nah, that’s a Topflite.” As there was no determination as to what happened to the ball, he had to return to the tee and hit again. I believe he ended the hole with a triple bogey 7.
At one point, someone looked up at the tree crown and said something like, You know, it looks thick enough up there that maybe it stayed there. What do you think?
One of the other marshals in our group plays this course regularly and said later he’d seen balls numerous times go into trees and never come out. (Wish I had known that earlier.) I’m pretty sure Horschel’s ball (Titleist, I’m guessing) remains among the foliage. Even Tiger seemed to think it might be up there.
Had to put all this excitement aside, of course, and get back to my marshaling duties. Fog had delayed the tournament start for 90 minutes and pushed back our finishing time until about 4:30, which meant terrible traffic coming home. Left the house at 6:45 am, returned at 6:30 pm. After taking care of the dog, fixing dinner, having a beer, I caught some Larry-itis and fell asleep in my chair.
Today went much better, in terms of both weather and timing. I spent all day behind the tee, signaling the direction of each drive. Today, we had Phil Mickelson play the North Course. No problems with his threesome. He missed the cut, so the tournament will be missing its two biggest names over the weekend. (Tournament officials and concession folks are totally crying.)
Okay, so why did this woman get fresh with me? I had a little bit of double duty, monitoring a rope line between the 10th green and 11th tee. People could come up a certain point and no further. She, a woman of a certain age 🙂 and not unattractive, came up to the rope and asked me, “So, can I go beyond here . . . ever?” “Ever?”, I responded. “Not until the tournament’s over.” She took a few steps, turned around, and said, “Smart-ass.” Smiling.
Torrey Pines is under a flight path from Marine Corps Air Station Miramar (as a Naval Air Station, it was the location of “Top Gun.”) The Marines do not take notice of the tournament, nor do they employ noise abatement techniques. It has always struck me as a bit ridiculous to hold up my hands, asking for silence as a golfer putts, for example, as jets scream overhead. Depending on the time of day, they may come, in pairs or one following soon after another, in bunches of three or four flights, separated by a couple of minutes. A day may see 15-20 flyovers. Here’s one, which gives you only a sense of the noise, etc. This is using a wide-angle lens, so the planes appear closer in reality.
We had a much more sedate flyover yesterday.
On to the weekend! Look for me on the 11th hole, a par 3, with glorious background shots of hang-gliders, etc. We’ll see what trouble I can get into now!
It was somewhat of a “routine” year at Casa del Aguila. But even routine can be eclectic and hectic, e.g., a visit from a neighbor’s rogue goat.
Major event of the year was the visit in February of the Andersons — Meredith, Winter, and Adeline. Good time to visit. Throughout their time here, as we would be at the beach or just sitting in the sun, I would comment, “It’s February.” No pressure, just friendly reminders. 🙂
Disneyland was on the itinerary, of course. Adeline is big on Mickey Mouse, though I did like her somewhat skeptical look at the ersatz rodent.
We also visited San Diego Zoo and Balboa Park, Anza-Borrego Desert State Park, San Luis Rey Mission, San Onofre and Trestles (iconic locations in surfing), Coronado, La Jolla, the beach towns.
At Hotel del Coronado
We didn’t get a photo with all of the family this year. When we had the chance in February, we didn’t take it, figuring other opportunities would likely come. But we’ve become geographically challenged. Dillon is still in the area, living and working in Carlsbad, but Julia succumbed to the attractions of southeast Ohio (i.e., Sam) and ran off in late July. The Andersons are in Rye, New Hampshire.
This photo was taken in October on the front porch of sister Ann’s new cottage built close by her and Gordon’s home in Edgartown, Martha’s Vineyard. I went to New England to attend the reunion of my high school class, “celebrating” our graduation 50 years earlier, and to visit family and friends. The reunion was a blast. It was great to see and catch up with so many classmates, and sad to realize how many had died. It was also a bummer to see what had happened to much of the old hometown of Springfield, Mass. It’s in tough straits with what seems extensive urban decay.
I put just under 600 miles on the rental car in 12 days, traipsing east-west, north-south to visit. Thanks to friends and family for putting up, and putting up with, this vagabond. Joined college classmates for the BC-Clemson football game. More exciting than anticipated and therefore more frustrating as a close loss.
This is a picture of “the rest of the family” — a Dillon “selfie” taken on a trip in July to Kings Canyon and Sequoia national parks, a day’s drive north.
The writer Wallace Stegner said California is just like the rest of the United States . . . only more so. We do seem to contain some extremes and these parks, adjacent to each other, are good examples. The giant Sequoia are the world’s largest trees. Not the tallest, which is another variation of the sequoia, the coast redwood, but of the greatest volume. Julia is standing in front of the biggest of the bunch — the General Sherman tree, 275 feet tall and 2,300-2,700 years old.
Another example of California “more so” came in May when high temperatures and strong, dry winds created conditions for nine fires hitting San Diego county at the same time. Two of the larger fires were on Camp Pendleton and the Naval Weapons Station, both adjacent to me.
Hundreds of thousands of acres, mostly scrub, were charred. The scene above is looking northwest from my house and shows an early stage of the NWS fire. While that was contained after a couple of days, it reignited and forced evacuation of neighbors across the valley from me. I started packing, but the fire was put down the same day.
I was a marshal again at the PGA and LPGA tournaments that happen here early in the year. You may have seen this view of Tiger and me on the Golf Channel. BC home base has given our local alumni chapter a real boost in support. In addition to rooting on the Eagles in football and hockey by watching the games on TV and quaffing local craft beers, we’ve also had several service activities and twice got out as a group to the horse races at Del Mar.
Not to exclude the others who live in my home, here are Boo (cat) and Baxter caught in synchronous repose.
And at left is Baxter anticipating something from Dillon’s patriotic-color dessert on Independence Day.
Adeline turns three next month. She is growing up too fast, though seeing her grow physically and mentally, having the chance to talk with her, is such a pleasure. Here’s hoping the Andersons come back soon!
I continue to have some of the same plans for the coming year — golf, horses, sailing. At what point do plans not implemented become wishful thoughts? And I continue toplan . . . and wish . . . to see or host you!
Wishing you a very merry Christmas and that twenty-fifteen is just really good.
The weekend featured wonderful company and food, beer and beach. Larry, Marcy, and I stayed in the “annex,” the nearby condo previously owned by Pat and Tom and now owned by his sister and her husband. We didn’t spend a lot of awake time there, but the setting (above right) was most pleasant.
At one point, someone looked up at the tree crown and said something like, You know, it looks thick enough up there that maybe it stayed there. What do you think?
