18.03.01 - 4.30 - Off duty time at South Carlsbad State Beach campground

In March I started coming out of my solitary R&R and planning mindset

 in favor of connectivity with others.  

I drove to Palm Desert to visit with nephew Jimmy, Monique and Monique's local family for a couple nights  

We celebrated the life of my brother Jim on the anniversary of his passing in 2011 with good food, good music, and good photos.

I returned to the Monday morning Spanish classes at the Carlsbad Senior Center.  I met other classmates who were interested in meeting on Friday mornings for "cafe y hablando en espanol"

                           
By the end of April, there were six of us in our group and three to five gathered each week for an hour of getting to know each other in Spanish.  Por exemplo.... Hay seis mujeres en nuestro grupo y cada viernes nos reunimos para el cafe y conversacion en espanol.

I continued to enjoy almost daily beach walks

where I sometimes found unusual treasures in the sand.

I bet this mermaid was made by an artistic young girl, 

and it survived the rising tide long enough for me to get a photo

I think this is a dolphin embryo.  

I also found fully grown jellyfish which beach-goers report are not fun to step on.

A Sunday evening in late March highlight was a trip to San Juan Capistrano to The Coach House, a dinner club music venue where Mike and I first saw Martin Sexton perform.  

 I had a short but enjoyable visit with camp host friends from Oregon  Kathy and Rod.  They were down from the Bend area with their kids and granddaughter for a trip to disneyland.  They parked their Airstream trailer along the beach road where we shared lunch after a beach walk.

I went to see the Giants play at Petco Park in San Diego with Christine - she is a fellow baseball fan, and rooted with me for the Giants tonight (they won 7-0) but her team is the Chicago Cubs - thanks to her Michigan roots and her father Fred.

I rode the train with Roger and Jeannie from Carlsbad to downtown San Diego to meet up with Richard and Dollie when they got off their cruise ship for a day of shore leave in San Diego.  Here we are on a walking tour of the San Diego Seaport Village

And me warming up to the WWII statues at the Bob Hope USO display

near the USS Midway docked nearby. 

I got invited to go on a hike with park aid Beth and her sister Andra 

in Andra's neighborhood - inland a short distance in the 

coastal hills where we got sweeping views of neighborhoods, watershed natural areas and the ocean. 

A seven mile loop left me feeling refreshed and tired at the same time - a feeling I used to love after hiking with Mike, but haven't experienced in quite a while.  Great day, ladies!

I took the bus north to Oceanside one evening to meet up with the MEET-UP group "Spanglish" where about 10 people interested in speaking Spanish gathered at the Barrel Republic for get-to-know-you conversation in Spanglish. 

No pictures from the inside, but it was a cool place - they gave me a wrist band and I could choose from dozens of beer, wine and kombucha selections and pour them myself from a bank of taps in the walls. They charges by the ounce.  

Very interesting place, and I enjoyed the Spanglish, but once the Karaoke started, it was hard to hear, so I took the bus home to enjoy yet another sunset at home.  I realized pretty soon into my three months in Carlsbad, that home was my favorite place.