Ponder: The Life Impossible

The Life Impossible ©2025 is the second book I have read by Matt Haig. In my post for 7/6/21, I reviewed and rated Haig's Midnight Library ©2020 only two stars. But everybody deserves a second chance, right? Wrong! I also rate The Life Impossible only two stars, which for me, translates to, "Ok, not great; some redeeming features; I finished it". So what were those redeeming features?

1. The main character of the story, Grace, is a retired math teacher in her seventies. The novel has several mathematical references and terms such as the Fibonacci sequence, positive and negative numbers, some calculus terms, etc. I could relate to Grace's age, retired status, and technical background.
   
   
2. I learned a new vocabulary term, anhedonia which is defined as the inability to experience pleasure from activities that were once enjoyable.
   
   
3. The premise was interesting and had promise. Grace was left a house on an island by Christina, a previous teaching colleague of hers. She lived alone and had no other ties so why not explore this option, adding an experiment to her now mundane life? And how did Christina die or did she just disappear or perhaps go into hiding?
   
   
4. There were passages that prompted deeper thought. This particular one resonated with me as I ponder my decluttering efforts. Here is one example passage from early on in the book:
   

   The word "era" entered my mind and did not leave. I thought about how you entered a new one [era]. ... How you need to create a distinct break with what has gone before. In geology it is often after an extinction, isn't it? The Mesozoic Era ended with the mass death of the dinosaurs via a meteor. I was wondering if I was starting a new era or if I was taking too much with me. This is the challenge of life, isn't it? Moving forward without annihilating what has gone before.

The novel seemed as if the author was looking for opportunities to insert pithy phrases rahter than tell story. Disco dances, song titles, music groups were often listed throughout an entire paragraph to generate a feeling. Not knowing what many of them were left me bored, missing the sensation I was meant to feel, and merely skimming the paragraphs. The plot was random. I will admit the title was appropriate. Not to reveal any spoilers, but where else but in an impossible life on a unique island can you gather together, ecology rants, species preservation, dishonest politicians, greedy real estate developers, scuba diving, aliens, glowing light, other planets, mind reading, telekinesis, grief, guilt, gambling, goats, lobsters, snakes, cormorants, and flamingos? I will not be seeking out other books by this other, even with his accolade of being a New York Times best seller. For me The Life Impossible was

★★☆☆☆ Ok, not great; some redeeming features; I finished it

SoCal Visit to Friends

Frank and I traveled to Southern California Tuesday, October 28th through Friday, October 31st to visit our friends John & Marita who had downsized about two years ago. They'd relocated from the town of Pleasanton, adjacent to our town of Livermore, to a smaller house in Laguna Niguel. Although we zoom with them every two weeks, we still knew we would enjoy a person-to-person get together. We UBER'd to the Oakland airport, a 28.43 mile trip which took 34 minutes. Security was not backed up and went as well as could be expected — except for a small glitch with me. I set off the metal detecters ...whah, whah, whah... !
 

Metal in your body, asked the agent?     No, that is my husband, not me.

Cell phone in the bin?     Yup, not the culprit. 

Could it be my underwire bra?     Not likely.

Anything in your pockets ma'am? I don't think so... Aha!

I thought these candy wrappers were cellophane, but apparently the foil from three of these little Werther's Original candies was enough to set off the system. Live and learn. Frank with his hip replacement filed through without any fuss. It was me with my candies that upset the apple cart. Of course one of my powder medications had to be pulled side and scanned, lest it be an explosive, but I was expecting that. It happens every time I travel.

After the excitement and once we were at our gate, we learned that our Southwest Airlines flight from OAK (Oakland) to SNA (Orange County) was only 75% full. We had the luxury of an empty seat between us for the 1½ hours of air time. 

Flight #4035 actually took off a bit early and we arrived early. Interesting enough, the UBER pickup point at SNA is on the third floor of the parking garage and into curbside. Within minutes we had a ride, though. Our UBER trip to our hotel from the airport was 21.41 miles and took 35 minutes. So far our trip was smooth sailing. Our timing had been lucky. Our driver told us that there had been a recent fatal motorcycle crash on the southbound 405 Freeway near Irvine Spectrum that very morning, resulted in lane closures and significant traffic delays. He said the route we would have taken earlier in the day had been closed for four hours. We were fortunate to have missed it.

Our hotel was the Hampton Inn & Suites by Hilton, chosen for its proximity to John & Marita's home. We had a room with two queen beds. Room 336 was tucked away in inner corner of the hotel and we had an angled view of the pool. John joked that we had a room with an ocean view. I also picked this place because, beside the free breakfast, the lobby had a pantry where we could purchase snacks to take back to our room anytime. Yes, we did cave and get Tate's chocolate chip cookies and Lays potato chips each night.

John picked us up in his new all electric car and drove us to his house 4.5 miles and about 10 minutes away. Their small economy sized car accommodated Frank and me, our luggage, and Frank's rollator with ease. John and Marita had done a lot of updates to the one-story home. One update was a charging station in the garage for their all-electric car. Frank and I had no checked luggage this trip, only carry-ons. This jaunt was our first time traveling this light and it was great. Inside the one-story, three bedroom home was bright and airy with almost an entire wall of sliding doors out to the backyard. Marita had heated a HUGE Costco Chicken Pot Pie; as soon as we entered the house we inhaled the luscious aroma. HUGE is really big. That pot pie fed four adults for both Tuesday and Thursday nights. Marita had steamed a side of fresh broccoli to go with it each time. We sat and relaxed in pleasant conversation with no plan other than to relax and soak in each other's company.

We were to enjoy their home and hospitality Tuesday evening followed by Wednesday/Thursday days. The covered back patio extend about 20 feet or so and then the yard transitioned to a steep incline, beautifully landscaped and extending far up the hill. We basked in the sunny, balmy, temperate weather outside as we sat on that patio. As we were relaxing in quiet conversation and catching up, I spotted a coyote meandering along the ridge line of the neighbor's yard. As he was winding his way downhill, we watched in subdued wonder. We did agree though, that if he got too much closer we would go indoors; but we did not have to. 

One consequence of all those lovely hills was that cellphone reception was tricky. We would need to alter settings on our cell phones to accept calls via Wi-Fi. After a fair amount of Googling, John finally found detailed instructions on setting this configuration for our iPhone 16s. Apparently there was a radio button acknowledging our acceptance of some random "terms"; the button was sufficiently small and camouflaged that we missed clicking it multiple times. That's OK. Solving the problem was part of Wednesday afternoon's "entertainment" for a bunch of nerds. Marita had gone to a knitting class so this cell phone exercise kept us amused in her absence. We also watched a movie.

We purposely chose a movie we'd all seen so that talking during it would not be a problem. I had recalled getting an email noting that The Man from U.N.C.L.E. movie was going away from Prime on October 31st. Afterwards, although you probably could stream it from elsewhere, you would have to pay to rent to watch. Streaming the 2015 movie The Man from U.N.C.L.E., rated 7.2 on IMDb, was every bit as enjoyable to me as the first and second times I have watched it. Snatching a few zzzz's during the movie worked out well for John, Frank, and me at various points throughout. We joked that we thought when Marita returned we should stage a scene with all three of us napping while the TV blared something obnoxious. The proposal was an appealing idea, but we did not deploy it.

Another movie we watched, this time with Marita, was the 2010 movie Knight and Day rated 6.3 on IMDb but really enjoyable. John told us you don't have to follow the plot. The plot is just a vehicle to get you from one action scene to another with no need to understand or anticipate. He was right. Knight and Day, starring Cruise and Cameron Diaz, was a fun, tongue-in-cheek romp, with non-stop action that avoided being gorily violent. Knight and Day was also pleasantly sprinkled with a little risqué sexiness.

Our son, Dan, happened to be in the area for business and he was able to get together with John & Marita and Frank & me for dinner Wednesday night. Since Dan used to live in the area, he suggested a good Mexican restaurant Avila's El Ranchito in Foothill Ranch, CA. The food was very, very good. Dan's personality is such that he was able to fit right in with our group of four; the conversation and laughing were pretty non-stop.

Dan ordered a large margarita not realizing just how LARGE, "large" really was. Seeing it next to his sunglasses for calibration, that margarita was pretty much close to the size of Dan's head! After dinner Dan drove us back to our hotel before going to his. We had the opportunity for a brief visit with him during the half-hour drive to our hotel. Seeing him during this trip was a happy happenstance.

On Thursday we played some games. Our version of Rummikub has six additional bonus joker tiles beyond the standard version. I brought those tiles with me so we could add them in and use them in our own Chambers-personalized 2-D rules for crossword type Rummikub. This version with the bonus jokers is available exclusively from Target. We played SEQUENCE in person as the game was designed. Every other week we play with John & Marita over a zoom call with a specially marked playing board and double the number of card decks. Frank wants it pointed out that when we played SKYJO, he came in first.

While the chicken pot pie was warming in the oven we put together a 300-piece version of a Charles Wysocki puzzle named Mr. Swallowbark, a broom maker. After dinner we sat around and chatted a bit more before we said our goodbyes and John drove us back to our hotel. Our in-person visit was fantastic. It was an enjoyable cherry on top of the treat of having zoom calls every other Monday with awesome friends.

The next morning, Frank and I took an UBER to the airport. Our UBER driver for our return to the airport on Friday told us that he himself had been stuck in that backup for 1½ hours with a passenger. We learned that the UBER stated fare remains the stated fare, and there is no adjustment for traffic delays no matter how extensive. Our curbside drop off at SNA went smoothly and we got to our gate in plenty of time. I expected there to be lots of costumes since we were traveling on Halloween. There were a fair number of folks dressed in black and orange, but there were very few costumes. Our stewardess wore ghost earrings. One last perk of this trip... our flight had 23 empty seats so once again Frank and I had a vacant seat between us. SWA Flight 4274 also took off early and landed early! The travel gods continued to smile on us, even all the way back to our home in Livermore. The 28 mile, 52 minute UBER ride was also uneventful. Glad we went and also glad to be home!

Some Like It Hot

Saturday, October 25th, Frank and I went to a matinee performance of the musical Some Like It Hot at the Center for Performing Arts in San Jose. Our outing went smoothly without any of the ticket confusion we experienced when we went to & Juliet — twice! We got the theatre early enough to pose at the posters beforehand when the crowds had not yet accumulated.

Once inside, we enjoyed our programs. However, unlike my usual custom, I did not take any photos of the stage. It was gray curtains, nothing exciting.

Since we are season patrons, we had our regular Seats 43 and 45, in Row 12, pretty close but somewhat offset from center. Our only mishap with this show was that at intermission Frank and I went to restrooms in separate locations. Waiting for each other at different locations before joining each other to re-enter the theatre together, we barely got into our seats as the lights were dimming for the second act. Whew! All that rushing around. However our fast- paced scurrying was nothing compared to the antics of the second act. Actors were running back and forth in all directions, in and out of multiple free-standing doors leading who knows where, changing costumes at the wink of an eye, and doing about faces at the drop of a hat.

The show was pretty fast paced with men dressed as women, gangsters disguised in various ways, and the ambiance of a Prohibition era of the 20's/30's. We loved the phenomenal dancing with lots of precision syncopated tap dancing, large portions of it in group unison. The singing was loud and boisterous, but alas, we understood very few of the words. We got the gist however and enjoyed the enthusiasm if not the enunciation. We need to figure out if the sound issue is because of our age and hearing or because of seat location. Never the less, these outings are well worth our effort, time, and money — money only if we buy the tickets just once.

Ponder: The Listeners

The Listeners ©2025 by Maggie Stiefvater was the selection this month for the Good Books club at my local library. It is set in West Virginia in the months following the bombing of Pearl Harbor during WWII. A very luxurious hotel is asked told to house diplomats from enemy countries as a holding type detention camp. Staff must serve the very people who may possibly responsible for the death or maiming of their loved ones. It is a powder keg type situation.

Maintaining the luxuries and handling the tempers is the hotel manager June. Establishing and handling the security of the hotel is Special Agent Tucker with two other G-men. Both June and Agent Tucker  rise from humble beginnings, and yet each is quite capable of navigating the complexities of luxury, wealth, and tact. The cast of characters is large, and many of them have more than one name, so following along requires concentration; it was not an easy read for me. Plus the author's style is one of creating suspense via confusion, rather than via intricacies of plot. The premise was good. The characters were multidimensional. The setting was bizarre. An enjoyable plot twist near the end made me pleased I had stuck with the book. 

Intertwined throughout there was an air of fantasy flowing waters from springs at the hotel that seem to have healing or hurting powers. The water made me think of the plant Audrey II from musical Little Shop of Horrors and its insistence to "Feed me." Another idiosyncracy of the hotel was the abundance of live snails that abounded. The hotel had turned the (gross?) presence of the snails into a namesake signature, incorporating carvings of snails into pillars, on fountains, and along railings throughout. After reading the book I was curious about this snail oddity. Apparently, snails are very prevalent in West Virginia due to its climate and eco system. I even found a book published on this very snail topic. 

There are currently 168 native land snail species confirmed from West Virginia, 11 of which are endemic (more than any neighboring state). Eighteen species are restricted to the borders of West Virginia and Virginia along the Ridge and Valley region.

If you would like a slow, closeup visual of snail activity, in addition to the book, check out this YouTube video.

There are more than 150 kinds of land snails in the “Wild and Wonderful” state, ranging from the size of a quarter to the size of a pinhead.

This book was an odd combination of characters, nature, and fantasy, making it a truly creative novel to explore, but one that may not be to the taste of some readers. I do not regret reading it, but I will not be seeking out other works by Maggie Stiefvater. On Amazon, The Listeners was rated 4 stars, with only 50% of the readers giving it 5 stars. Although it got high literary ratings, per the book club discussion, I rate The Listeners three stars.

★★★☆☆ Better than average; not a waste of time

& Juliet

Frank and I are season ticket holders to the Broadway San Jose musical season. I had heard & Juliet was good but, since I thought it was outside the selections in our ticket package, I would need to buy us two seats as a separate purchase, which I did. We went to the Saturday, October 11th matinee performance. 

At the entry, as the usher scanned the tickets on my iPhone for Frank and me, he said "Only two?" Yikes? I had four tickets on my phone. They are not cheap. He pointed me toward the information desk to figure out what had happened. Apparently, Broadway San Jose sends out a reminder email to sell more ticket packages later in the season. As the season continues, there are fewer shows in the package. I possibly read a later email in which & Juliet was missing and bought us two tickets. There are no refunds. Perhaps they could exchange those two tickets for another performance of the show? While staff was looking into that, Frank and I went in to the show. We had our customary seats in row 12, which have a fairly close but not quite straight on view of the stage.

We enjoyed the show a great deal. The actors were energetic; the bickering exchanges between Ann Hathaway and her husband William Shakespeare were humorous. It was fun to see Juliet in the what-if context of today's attitudes where women strive to be independent and seek out their own dreams, rather than feeling obligated to follow the desires of their husband. The staging was colorful and surprisingly not what one would expect in the Shakespearean times or the Globe theatre. The music was upbeat throughout, the harmonies tight and pleasing. According to Wikipedia

& Juliet is a 2019 jukebox musical. ... In the plot, Anne Hathaway negotiates with her husband, William Shakespeare, to change the ending to Romeo and Juliet so that Juliet does not kill herself. (A jukebox musical is a stage musical or musical film in which a majority of the songs are well-known, pre-existing popular music songs, rather than original music composed for the musical.)

The music was parodies or re-sung melodies of the Boy Bands or other artists of that era. The boy band names that came back to me from the era were *NSYNC, Boyz II Men, The Backstreet Boys, and New Kids on the Block, all popular when my kids were in middle school and high school, a little before and after the 1990's. An entertainment article in Good Housekeeping names twenty boy bands and where they are now. The musical spoofed the familiar sounds and dress of that time and brought back pleasant memories to me. I may not have known the specific songs but the gist of the overall tone was undeniable.

So what about those two extra, non-refundable tickets? We were allowed to exchange them for two tickets the next afternoon. Our Sunday, Oct 12th tickets were in the balcony. As soon as we got home we dialed a list of friends offering to give away two tickets. There were no takers. The notice was too short (the next day) and the number of candidates to phone was depressingly few.

 
The next day I decided to take Alex. I did not have parking pre-arranged, and I did not want to chance where I could get a space and how far away it might be for Alex and me to walk. Frank's suggestion, which I took, was to drive to Alex's home and take an Uber to the theatre. Alex seemed a bit befuddled getting into a strange car with me but I played iPhone music for him during the ride and he was content, even happy. The driver dropped us right at the entrance door. It was so easy peasy.

Talk about making lemonade out of lemons... Alex LOVED the show. He took great joy in thumbing through a program. Our seats had a great view from the balcony and the seats had a steep enough angle that we saw clearly over the heads of other theatre goers. Upbeat and peppy, the music also had a lot of harmonizing which almost alway causes Alex to clap.

Alex and I were there early enough to see some of the pre-show on stage antics of setting up. Photos were allowed then but not during the show. Alex stayed intently engaged the entire first act. We took a walk break at intermission and Alex got enough wigglies out, he was a polite theatre goer for the second act, as well. I had to intervene and tone down his clapping and exuberant fist pumping occcasionally, but overall I was so glad I'd brought him.

An Uber came quickly, picking us up right outside the theatre, taking us back to Alex's home. I drove myself back to Livermore. I was tired. After all, the day before had also been an energetic outing for me. Ignoring the cost for the Uber, offset somewhat by no parking fees, my mistake with those two extra tickets turned out to be a happy happenstance.

Capitola for 50th Anniversary

Friday 9/26/25
Frank and I rose leisurely and, with me driving, we left Livermore about 11:30 am for a roughly 1½ hour drive south to the beach town of Capitola. We were celebrating a weekend away for Frank's and my 50th wedding anniversary.  The weather was gorgeous and the drive went smoothly with only one tense portion.  An AI overview informs 

The Santa Cruz Mountains lie between San Jose and Capitola. A drive from San Jose to Capitola on Highway 17 goes directly through this mountain range. The range is home to dense redwood forests and features winding roads.

"Winding roads" puts it mildly. There was a roughly 23 mile white-knuckle, steering-wheel-gripping portion down Route 17 through the mountains to get to the shore. We were in no hurry. I took my time and diligently followed the speed limit and road curve signs guidance. The dappled road coloration due to the sunlight filtering through the trees added a bit of a challenge, but it was beautiful. The large screen display in my Toyota Avalon was fantastic for helping me anticipate when those tight and recurring curves were upcoming. Traffic was well behaved and no one pushed or rushed me. Even so, Frank and I were happy when we arrived at the Inn at Depot Hill and so could relax. The B&B was in a restored train depot. The staff was friendly and allowed us to check in early.  We stayed in the Cote d'Azur room. Per the Inn's website:

Book a stay in our Cote d’Azur guest room to soak up the ambiance of sun-drenched St. Tropez. The room features soft cool colors of the French Riviera: seafoam green and white-washed terracotta. Sleep well on a handmade iron bed with a queen-sized feather mattress and fabric and verdigris metal vines. Romanesque columns are hand-painted with bay leaf vines and separate the carpeted bed area from the cozy sitting area. A bathroom is equipped with a walk in shower, complimentary toiletries, and fresh towels. This room’s patio looks out onto our beautiful main garden area.

The Cote d'Azur room did not disappoint. It was spacious and opened up onto an adjacent patio with a pretty water feature.

We relaxed in our room a bit and then, shortly after 3:10 pm or so, we started a short 0.3 mile stroll up to Gayle's, a bakery that many had emphatically told us we could not miss. We'd planned to get a pastry type snack and then go out later for dinner.

Frank and I passed some interesting sites along the short walk. There was tile work along the wall from a student project. Later at the beach we would see more of this art. 

There was a blunt, interesting statement mailbox en route. I particularly could relate to the label "Make Politics Boring Again". 

We passed a park with a huge tree and a sign stating Noble Gulch Park. The title struck me as funny. When I think of the word gulch my mind pictures the dry dusty terrain of shoot-em-up western movies. Nobel is not the adjective that immediately comes to mind. Perhaps noble refers to the tree and not the gulch.

When we arrived at Gayle's we learned its full name is Gayle's Bakery and Roticceria. A rosticceria is a type of Italian shop, similar to a fast-food establishment or deli, that specializes in ready-to-eat, hot, prepared foods, particularly roasted and grilled meats. Gayle's was much more than a bakery. I had a chicken parmigiana breast that was super tender and juicy along with a side of steamed pleasantly crisp vegetables. Frank had a grilled Reuben and side of fruit. We decided that these selections would be our early dinner and we would stay in for the evening. We got our pastries to go: a chocolate eclair for me and a slice of pumpkin pie for Frank. Also to go, I bought two raisin oatmeal cookies (thick, plump, and moist) and two brookies (chocolate chip cookies laced with brownie chunks - unique and good, but they could not compete with those scrumptious oatmeal cookies). On our first day here we had dinner for lunch and dessert for dinner. Life is short... eat dessert first, right?

At Gayle's there were four massive displays cases of pastries and other yummy selections along one side. Around the bend of the L-shaped cafe were other hot and more main meal type food items. When you entered you took a number and waited until it was called. The cafe was very, very busy but the wait was only a few minutes. Seats were readily available to eat there, which we did.

Before leaving Gayle's I took note of the decor. The place had a broken dishes type theme. There were plates along the soffit area; the fabric print of the curtains also had a variety of dish themes and the valence style assumed the circular shape of half plates. A mosaic mural along one wall had dishes inset among the smaller tiles.

After our walk back from Gayle's we took a few photos by the front of the Inn. It really was very close to the railroad tracks as seen by the aerial view and the railway signal near Frank (@ yellow star). No trains are presently operational along that line, though. The lack of trains is either a relief or a bummer depending on your point of view.

Once back in our room I did some unpacking. Frank claims I was doing my typical nesting. Then we relaxed on the patio, enjoying the weather and the water feature, while digesting our delicious meal. Once back indoors we watched a bit of TV and called it a day.

Saturday 9/27/25 — 50 YEAR ANNIVERSARY TODAY!
We opted for a 9:00 am breakfast. It was Eggs Benedict which I have never had. It was good but I ate only half of it because it was a bit too heavy for my taste. Our Eggs Benedict had no bacon but it did have sliced avocado. It did remind me of a scene from the 1999 movie Runaway Bride with Julia Roberts, where Richard Gere challenges her to learn what her favorite way to eat eggs is. I Googled the history behind Eggs Benedict. One story per Wikipedia is that

Lemuel Benedict, a retired Wall Street stock broker, said that he had wandered into the Waldorf Hotel in 1894 and, hoping to find a cure for his morning hangover, ordered "buttered toast, poached eggs, crisp bacon, and a hooker of hollandaise". The chef named the dish after him.

At breakfast, in a conversation with another hotel guest, we learned that this weekend was the Capitola Beach Festival. Had we known that, we probably would have avoided coming at that time to bypass any crowds. There were road closures and parking was limited due to activities, but we certainly were not impacted by any overbearing crowds. We Uber'd or walked anywhere we went, so parking was a non-issue for us.

After breakfast, our Uber dropped us at the edge of Capitola Village that was near Capitola Beach. I had been unable to find any online merchant map for Capitola Village and our inn had no such maps in the communal area. Everything was for the neighboring Santa Cruz. Frank and I had no set plans, so we just wandered the general area. This lack of a plan was a struggle for my generally anal nature, but we made it work. We came across a seal sculpture. Per the Santa Cruz Sentintal 

A pair of bronze sea lions snuggling brightens the scene at Esplanade Park at the end of the Capitola Esplanade. According to the City of Capitola website, the sculpture created by Oregon-based Kim Chavez Bronze Works is “intended not only to be viewed, but to be touched and climbed upon.” The work was installed in October 2018. (Shmuel Thaler – Santa Cruz Sentinel)

The artist intended for her sculpture to be "touched and climbed upon", but did she realize kissing would also be involved? Frank claims the seal slipped him the tongue. Huh. A likely story. And to think... this act of indiscretion was on our 50th wedding anniversary! See https://kimchavez.com/ for other creations of Kim Chavez; her sculptures have a beautiful patina on their surface.

The seating benches along the beach had more of the school children tile artwork, which really brightened up the area. We enjoyed looking at those cheery tiles while watching the cornhole tournament. I have watched corn hole competitions on TV and it is rare for someone to miss getting a bag in a hole. In fact most competitors are adept at knocking an opponent's bag away from its hole should it not go in all the way. Here, with the version on the beach, Frank applauded any time anyone got a bag in a hole, it was so rare. We play a modified version of this game with our son Alex, but of course we never play with the 30 ft regulation distance between the boards. It is harder than it looks.

We then set off to explore the stores of Capitola Village. Hard as I looked, I found no online source for a map of the famous area of Capitola nor were there any printed ones in the communal area of the inn. Most flyers were for Santa Cruz and we were not heading there. A Welcome to Capitola Village By-the Sea brochure listed stores by name categorized as apparel/accessories, jewelry, recreation, gifts/specialty, wine/beer tasting, salon/spa, gallery, dining, deli/ice cream/coffee/ snacks, lodging, real estate, and professional services all intermingled throughout the area. The most useful map I found was a Capitola Village Parking Map which enabled us to figure out the best streets to browse. We were out of the season for the shuttle but since we did not have a designated point A or point B between which to travel, we went on foot with Frank using his rollator and resting as needed. We probably spent about four hours roaming among the streets and the esplanade along the beach.

The Esplanade and surrounding streets: This area is the heart of Capitola Village and is home to most of the shops, restaurants, and cafés. You can explore the merchants listed below by walking along the Esplanade, Capitola Avenue, and San Jose Avenue.

Many of the shops had signs on their windows showing support for immigrants and their families. The shops were welcoming and their signs showed warmth and a sense of humor. Here are a few of my favorite signs we saw in our travels, both outside and in.

I recently finished the book West with Giraffes and reviewed it in my post for 9/26/25 so perhaps giraffes were fresh on my mind. I saw this giraffe lamp in a window in one store and was drawn to it. I showed it to Frank and he too thought it was unique. We both agreed, however, that I am trying to reduce clutter and we definitely did not need another lamp. I took a photo anyway and we moved on.

Curious enough, only a few doors down and around a corner we saw this perky critter peeking out one of the openings. Was it a sign? Or was it merely the Baader-Meinhof phenomenon or frequency illusion? 

We stopped for lunch at the Sandcastle Cafe for two reasons — well, maybe three. 1) The name was so cute. 2) The picture of croissants on the front window was so large and enticing. 3) We were hungry. We each had a ham and melted cheese sandwich on a croissant that was warm, soft, and utterly delicious.  We sat a bit and people watched.

One of the nearby views we enjoyed was this building on 107 Stockton Avenue that looked like it had a lighthouse on its roof. I googled its history but found nothing significant, only its curious architecture and an estimated Zillow price of $1,595,700 for 455 square feet.  From the upper level, there was an oblique view of those vibrantly colored houses along Capitola Beach called the Venetian Court.

Frank and I did intend to walk closer to that colorful neighborhood along the Capitola Lagoon. We found that if we  explored down a few narrow alleys between restaurants we could get some pretty decent vantage points. A friendly passerby offered to take a picture of the two of us with those houses in the background. I think he took pity on me trying to contort and position the two of us to a take a selfie.

Per a Santa Cruz County press release for those colorful homes

Capitola Village’s signature landmark, the colorful Venetian Court is celebrating 100 years in 2024. Constructed in 1924, the plans included a three-tiered, five-structure complex with 46 individually owned bungalows designed in the popular Spanish Colonial Revival/ Mediterranean style, featuring textured stucco siding, decorative relief work, and a flat red tile roof with a parapet and small pyramidal caps. The original plan also included eight small gardens, with a central garden at the front of the complex. Situated along Capitola Lagoon, the development was originally named “Venetian Villa.” Today, the Venetian Court boasts 24 townhouses and a 17-unit hotel. Some research suggests that the Venetian Court Motel may be the oldest continuously operating motel of its kind in California.

As we walked closer I was a little bummed that my potentially pretty picture was sullied by a commercially posted For Sale sign. Once back home and writing this blog post I did a little online research and learned per Lookout, a Santa Cruz newsletter

One of the brightly colored beachside homes in Capitola’s Venetian Court is officially on the market, as the complex celebrates its 100th year as one of Santa Cruz County’s most recognizable landmarks as well as “California’s first vacation home complex.” The two-level, 1,926-square-foot property, currently divided into two units, is listed as a single-family home and asking $5.45 million.[...] Listed as a single-family house, it is 1,926 square feet in total, and operates as two units — one on top of the other. The top unit has two bedrooms and one bathroom, and the bottom unit has three bedrooms and one bathroom. Each has its own kitchen. With that square footage, the asking price amounts to about $2,830 per foot.

Gee. If we had known while we were there, maybe we would have put in an offer ...? Yeah. Right.

By then Frank and I had been roaming the area for a little over four hours. We'd seen a few shops, soaked in some beach ambiance, had some good food, and decided were were tired enough to go back to the inn. "What do you remember most about this stroll?" Frank asked me. I thought for a bit and said, "Believe it or not, that giraffe lamp." Frank said, "Me, too. Should we go back and look at it again?". I replied, "I'd love to, but I do not remember which store it was or where the shop was located." "Bummer," Frank echoed. Then I said, "But I took a picture. We can look at it again that way". And in that picture, taken from within the store looking out through the window, was a crossroads sign designating where the store was... corner of San Jose Ave and Capitola Ave. But where were we now? Aha! As kismet would have it, we were right across the street. So back we went to Clementine & Co., for a second look. 

Can you guess where this is leading? Yes, we did buy the lamp as a souvenir of our 50th. The clerk was very nice and remembered us. I had told her the story within the book I'd just read. She said she got the lamp for the store on an impulse, thinking it would take just the right person to to be drawn to it and appreciate it. She seemed happy for the sale, not just for her business but that this giraffe would be going to a good home where it would be loved. Frank played the anniversary and senior citizen cards, (much to my chagrin), but she willingly gave us 10% off, even when I suspect she knew we were going to buy it anyway. When she found out we had Uber'd to the Village from our stay at the Inn on Depot Hill, she offered to bring the  lamp there for us when she got off work in about 45 minutes. We gratefully agreed. The purchase was a satisfying conclusion to our outing and we called an Uber to head back. The following diagram gives a rough idea of where all we'd been, though our journey did extend up to Capitola Avenue. Our tour was more of a random meandering and not a straight shot like the dotted path, which does not include meandering and lingering along the esplanade by the beach.

After afternoon naps at the inn, we rode an Uber out to a dinner at the Olive Garden, 1.6 miles away, not far from the Capitola/Santa Cruz border. We were not up for some unknown fancy restaurant within Capitola Village. Plus I have always liked the endless salad bowl and bread sticks at the Olive Garden and the one close to Livermore closed. Frank enjoyed Pasta Fagioli, a classic, hearty Italian soup made with pasta and beans. Spaghetti & Meatballs and Lasagna were fancy enough fare for us.

Sunday 9/28/25
Checkout time was 11:00 am. Our plans were to leave Capitola with no other activities and take our time heading home. It had rained the night before and there was a slight drizzle but that was not the cause for our unambitious plans for the day. We ate a pancake breakfast at 9:00 am. Again we consumed only half, the portions being so large. Each morning though, the juice and had been super delicious and our fresh fruit cups were delectable. We each ate 100% of those! We packed up and were ready to  go home, continuing our relaxation there. But there was one more challenge.

One of the perks of our particular room was that we had our own designated parking place. It was directly outside our window. The only downside was that the spot was at right angles to the entrance corridor. Backing out without hitting a pylon at the rear left, or grazing the brick on our right where the front of our car would swing. Deceptively camouflaged behind that greenery, that brick wall could severely dent the front right fender or bumper. Reversing straight back would put us into a shed, and we still would need to re-orient the car to exit. Frank helped me negotiate the procedure with my car unscathed by standing outside, directing me like the aircraft marshallers who guide the airplanes into the gate. Back and forth, back and forth, like easing out of a too small parallel parking place while trying to turn 90° ...  that was the slow but eventually successful step-by-step process. 

Once out, we were on our way. The stretch on route 17 was not nearly as nerve racking heading home as it had been on the way down. The day was cloudy and there was a slight drizzle, enough to moderate the distracting dappling effect on the roadway. We got home and relaxed with a bit of football and some other TV. It had been a successful, low key trip. Capitola was not an earthshaking experience but we are glad we got off our duffs to commemorate in some way our 50 years of marriage. And we have a giraffe lamp to show for it! The lady at the store asked me what I was going to name the giraffe and I tentatively said perhaps Jerome. She asked me to let her know when I decided. Once home, I noticed that on the giraffe's head there was wreath of flowers, wound around her ossicones, indicating she needed a girl name. I decided to name her Jolene of Dolly Parton fame.