Ponder: Bookstore on the Beach

Brenda Novak is favorite author of mine but this book, The Bookstore On the Beach ©2021, was a hot mess! Bummer! The title was so inviting, too.

Novak seemed to be undecided about the theme and general plot. There was a woman whose husband had been missing for over 18 months. A romantic interest was thwarted by the potential but improbable return of the missing husband. There was a daughter struggling with her gender identity. There was a pregnant teen. There was a lesbian friend with an abusive, alcoholic father. There was a grown victim who had been kidnapped, raped, and imprisoned as a teen. There was a woman dying of cancer. There was a grown woman longing to know who her father was. There was teenage boy at odds with his teenage sister. 

Sadly, the pleasantries of a book store and a beach were background noise that got lost in the shuffle. Skip this book. I stuck it out due to my false loyalty to the author. It was a free Kindle download and you get what you pay for.

★☆☆☆☆ Awful but I read most or maybe even all of it

Joan's Pumpkin Patch with Alex

On Sunday, October 15th, Frank, Alex and I visited Joan's Farm and Pumpkin Patch, located on the outskirts of Livermore. This is the second time we have gone here. More details from our first time last fall are in my blog post dated 10/20/22. We knew from experience this time what activities would be a big hit and concentrated on those.

First stop, before we started our adventures, was the portable restrooms, but we had to cross a bridge to get there. Underneath the bridge lurked an alligator. 

The alligator did not phase Alex. He just enjoyed tossing in rocks the water and watching them splash regardless of the reptile. He was careful to avoid the ducks swimming about. Alex was so engaged in this activity, that Frank and I had to stop him from gathering and throwing rocks wherever we went during the outing. 

Admission and parking is free at this event but the three of us all got wrist bands for unlimited activities. We rode the hay ride first which circumnavigated the activities which are located up a hill, segregated from the pumpkin picking areas. Here are my two guys sitting on hay bales during the tractor pulled ride. By the way, per Alex's pointing and obvious repeat requests, we rode the hay ride three more times!

Alex's favorite activity by far is the pumpkin bowling. A turn consists of having a bucket full of mini-pumpkins and throwing them down a lane, aiming for a square opening at the far end.

Alex was quite intense with his throwing but he also enjoyed gathering up the mini-pumpkins and placing them in the bucket to go again.

We did pumpkin bowling over and over and over again. I lost count how many times. We pumpkin bowled before a lunch of hot dogs, chips, and pumpkin pie. We pumpkin bowled after lunch. We pumpkin bowled between and after hay rides. Those wrist bands for attractions were definitely a wise choice. Animal visits did not require a ticket and no wrist bracelet was needed. Alex briefly petted a burro before we headed for home. 

On our way out, near the exit, Alex picked a rather large size pumpkin that just barely fit in a grocery store cloth tote bag. Fortunately I had thought ahead to bring a bag. Heavy as it was, Alex insisted on carrying the big pumpkin himself; the bag handles helped make it manageable. Alex also selected a mini-pumpkin, the size used in the pumpkin bowling, to take home with him. I guess in his mind it was a souvenir, a reminder of a fun day.

Pacific Grove Anniversary Trip

For our 48th wedding anniversary, Wednesday September 27th, Frank booked the two of us for two nights at the Seven Gables Inn in Pacific Grove with a scenic view out onto Monterey Bay. We drove down Tuesday, the afternoon before. Within a few blocks, walking distance, is Back Porch Fabrics. Frank knows what keeps me happy. Tuesday evening we strolled to the Beach Hut Restaurant at Lover’s Point where we ate dinner at a table outdoors with a view of the bay and a view of the elaborate Victorian themed house where we were staying.

I had the Beach House Salad with grilled chicken and Frank had the Sand Dabs Almondine. My dressing was a tad too much - I should have ordered it on the side like I normally do, but our waitress said it was very light so I did not. But the salad contents were absolutely delicious and I was able to avoid a smattering of soggy lettuce. The added chicken was so moist and tender it was luscious. Frank questioned our waitress about his choice and asked if it was "goop" on the top and she frankly said that yes, it was "goop", but it was "good goop". Frank ordered the sand dabs anyway and liked them.

Beach House Salad
field greens, grape tomatoes, cucumbers, apples, orange segments, dried cranberries, blackberries, crumbled goat cheese, candied pecans, herb-citrus vinaigrette

Sand Dabs Almondine
panko-dusted sand dab filets, blue lake green beans, rice pilaf, lemon beurre blanc, toasted almonds

While we were waiting, we enjoyed the panoramic view and the scrumptious bread. The bread was served creatively in a cute spiral cone metal basket with interesting reading material.

After dinner we took a slow easy walk back to our China Point room at the Seven Gables Inn.  The room was romantically decorated and we had a multiple-angle bay window view of the water and the garden just below. There was a king size bed, two comfy plush swivel rocker chairs, and even a crystal chandelier.  All the lavish accoutrements were there but the room was small. We were very intimate whenever we squeezed by each other to open a door or drawer. Oh well, we were out and about or napping most of the time, so room size did not matter. We were also very conveniently located across the hall from the breakfast room.

Breakfast had delicious pastries, inventively prepared egg options, and, once again, lovely views while leisurely eating and relaxing.

Afterwards we roamed the grounds starting with an outdoors perspective of our room. Its angled windows overlooked the garden, also giving a great vantage point to see the waves and sea life.

 

First stop of the day was the fabric store, Back Porch Fabrics. I blogged about our visit there in my  9/30/23 post in my DianeLoves2quilt blog.  It was only a 0.3 mile walk from Seven Gables Inn but it was a constant uphill since it was away from the water. We drove because Frank pointed out,  "What if you buy a lot of heavy fabric?" I did not, but it was thoughtful of him. 

We then walked about the area of Lighthouse Avenue first to indulge in a sweet snack, and then to browse a couple antique stores and other shops. The map below shows how close all the points of interest were.

Here is our snack at little curbside cafe on Lighthouse Avenue and just around the corner from Back Porch Fabrics. Frank tried out gelato and I stuck with a standard favorite, cheesecake. The flowers next to our outdoor sidewalk table were so beautiful I though they were artificial. Nope. They were real.

Around the block from Back Porch Fabrics, on Forest Avenue, was Pickings Antiques, a small shop. It did have a quilt and a sewing machine (see orange arrows) so it was not that inconsequential. 

A few blocks away, down Lighthouse Avenue was larger antique store, The Treasure Grove, (no website but a Facebook page presence) which had a lot of wares to peruse but nothing we wanted to buy and cart home. Whew! We dodged a bullet there.

After the antique shop we intended to head back to our room to relax, read, or take a nap. En route we came across the Pacific Grove Museum of Natural History. What a pleasant surprise it was!

At the base of the tile mural an inscription reads

The logo illustrated on this mural represents the various habitats of our region. From the bottom, the blue band represents the deep ocean. The lighter blue is coastal waters blending into the green hills. The band at the top repreents the mountains of the coastal range

Greeting the visitors in the central room downstairs was a life size bear. He had big teeth but seemed to extend a welcome paw.

A smaller bear near one of the doorways was not so sociable.

Then we came across an exhibit called Wonder... and it truly was a wonder! From this poster we realized it was a recently opened attraction.

Upon passing through the entry portal, the senses were bombard with all sorts of exquisitely interesting  wonders to behold and explore. Here are a few photos of the room from several angles. I was overwhelmed with the gnarled and twisted trees, often embedded with sparkly crystals, that sheltered  curiouser and curiouser contents.

Here are some of the closeup details that were curiosity arousing gems: diving helmets, old telephones, gramophones, intricately shaped horns, bell jars, cages, lanterns, fancy mirrors. The sheer cacophony of intricate items was inspiring.

Off in one corner was a large collection of vials. I learned this was Sands of the World, each sample catalogued from where it was collected. I counted just shy of 800 samples. Impressive. Sand is not just sand. Look at the variation in colors!

After leaving Wonder, a small exhibit caught my eye. It was an image of the Monterey Bay Canyon. I found the geological feature astounding and a total surprise to me. The descriptive text associated with image read

The Monterey Bay Submarine Canyon is an underwater canyon just offshore beginning in Moss Landing in the middle of the Monterey Bay coast. This deep-sea canyon's walls are a mile tall, comparable to the Grand Canyon. At its deepest point, the Monterey Bay Submarine Canyon extends over 2.5 miles deep (12000 ft or 4,000 m) going beyond 290 miles off shore (470) km). It is one of the deepest submarine canyons on the west coast and is unique in how close it is to shore.

As we moved on to another part of the museum we entered what can only be referred to as the bird room. I did not realize there were so many birds of all sizes, from tiny to huge; taxidermy specimens of them were collected and displayed within glass cases throughout this room.

There were hands-on displays, too, to teach about birds, their habits, and habitats. This particular teaching activity dealt with the hollow bones of a bird's anatomy.

The avian theme extended outside the bird room. There was a wood sculpture suspended from the ceiling showing signs of great craftsmanship and artistry. Signs for the rest rooms also sported bird images.

After a brief rest back at our room - it had to be brief since we spent so much time at the small but fascinating Pacific Grove Museum of Natural History - we went out for our anniversary dinner to an Italian  restaurant highly recommended to us, La Mia Cucina, translated from Italian to English as my kitchen. We were seated at an intimate table, off to the left in the photo. I pointed out to Frank that it was odd that an Italian restaurant should have large posters in French decorating the walls of the dining area.

I remember having Bruschetta (crisp crostini served with fresh Roma tomato, garlic, basil, and imported olive oil) as an appetizer and Crème Brulee (creamy custard made with Madagascar vanilla) as dessert but I have no recollection of the main entree in between. I must have been distracted by the scintillating conversation.

Unbeknownst to me, Frank had brought along our wedding album and the scrap book from the time we were dating. We spent some special time browsing through them and reminiscing. We had a congratulatory note from the inn and a complimentary bottle of wine. We did not open the wine but brought it home with us instead.

The next morning after breakfast, where we talked at length with an interesting couple, we explored and relaxed a bit in the public parlor areas of the Seven Gables Inn. The plush furniture was comfy and the stained glass windows were a beautiful array of colors. The sunshine streaming in was warming and the surrounding bay water views were mesmerizing. We soaked it all in before returning to our room to pack up. Checkout was at 11:00.

The drive back home on Thursday took about two hours and passed quickly. We were back with plenty of time to take Alex to his Alley Cats bowling league. We took over feeding and medicating the ailing and aging cat and dog from our friends who had filled in during our absence. We certainly enjoyed our excursion and agreeably eased back into our routine.