State of the State of Margaritaville

Yesterday it was  a day of bureaucratic malfunction: Three hours on the phone with 4 different IRS departments (to no avail), a postcard claiming I ignored my jury service (nope, never got the summons), and a mysterious email from the HOA about an emergency executive board meeting with the association's attorney (uh-oh, please no--not another HOA embezzlement!) And no, the HOA can't give out any more information at this time. I asked myself if  it is really true that for much of the last decade I have been engaged in some kind of battle. That's how I felt.  I think we all feel like that, right?

Then there are the rippling days where there's enough happening, but it's good stuff.

 

And days when at first you think that something's caught on fire again, but really it's just the sunset.

Or days when there's plenty of wind to soar, but not enough to blow you away.

There's so much that's horrible and wrong with so many things in our country right now. I feel the ache of it at the first glimpse of the morning's newspapers every single day.

Still, I'm happy for the good things. If you think this is a wonderful place, text Y for yes.

Things that Happened this Weekend

There was a party on the beach. I wasn't invited to this party thrown by people I don't know.
But despite this, the world turned to silver.

Even the birds turned silver. And when I came home and looked in the mirror, my hair was silver too.

Beach Report: Yesterday and Today

According to the Washington Post and other sources, the Innuit language has at least 50 words for snow. There ought to be that many words to describe the grays, blues, greens, and silvers that color the ocean. Probably we need a dozen words for pink and lavender too. Maybe a few words for gold while we're at it. It never looks the same to me.

And there's the human component. People can't help making things.

Pygmy mammoths contemplating a return to the Channel Islands

Pygmy mammoths are a real thing--in case you don't already know. 

"In 1994, paleontologists made the remarkable discovery of a pygmy mammoth on Santa Rosa Island, the most complete collection of its kind in the world. Found only on the California Channel Islandsand nowhere else in the world, the pygmy mammothwas probably a small form of the Columbian mammothfound on the mainland."

And sometimes nature imitates nature.

Driftwood sealions frolic on the sand