Visit the Kelpforest (pt. 2)

...and here I am sitting in the office with no one around - it's DPs turn to do docks this morning, but we had some confusion as to whether she could make it in this morning. VT had spoken to her before I left yesterday, then when I got home John told me she had phoned my house and said she couldn't make it. I phoned and left a message for her, but then I took the kids to the park for a bit and completely forgot about it. If she phoned back and talked to Dad or something I might not have gotten it. So I arrived at a little after 6 am and so did she. Ah well, so I'm here two hours early. Quiet and I can get something done. Ha. She brought along her copy of the Batman: The Dark Knight Returns for me to look at. I've seen it before, but that's some good stuff.

Over the weekend, I went to the used bookstore to find a copy of Stranger in a Strange Land, my book group's selection for this month. They didn't have it - you'd think a book that's that old they'd have at least a few copies of, but maybe people hang on to them. They had very little Heinlein at all really. I'm not a huge Heinlein fan actually - I have a hard time with the way he portays women, even though I know most of his books were written in a different era. In some of his later books, I could tell he was really trying to change some of his attitudes, but it wasn't really working very well. I did find a few favorites that I already have copies of, and bought them to release later.

Three of them, I released yesterday. Startide Rising by David Brin, I knew I wanted to release somewhere near the ocean, so after I spent all morning at the docks, I decied to take a little lunch break at Point Fermin Park. The ravens were having a good time chasing each other through the trees and catching the wind rising from the bluff. As I walked over toward the lighthouse, I heard some high pitched screeching from the trees near the little amphitheatre that was distinctly unravenlike. I peered up through the branches and noticed some small parrots perched there. I pulled out my camera and tried to take a picture of them. They did not like having something pointed at them, and the whole flock of them took off, circled around the park screeching madly, and came to rest on the other side of the same tree. I did manage snap them this time, but alas, the zoom on my camera is not very good, and the lighting, backlit through the leaves, was not so great either. They were completely green with purple red on their faces and pale bills - I'm going to have to find a parrot book to look them up. They don't look like the Nanday conures I've seen in my neighborhood or the mitered conures that are colonizing Long Beach.

As I was standing there looking up, I heard several loud cracks and a metallic bang behind me. I turned around to see that a large branch had just broken off the Moreton Bay fig behind me and fallen onto the benches of the amphitheatre. The branch was about 10' long and 4" around the large end. I'm glad I wasn't standing under that tree, staring stupidly up into it.

The historical lighthouse is being refurbished and still has a chainlink fence all around it; however a new garden has been planted around it as well, and it looks just gorgeous now that spring is here. The lighthouse no longer functions, having been replaced by an automatic light on a tower, but it's a pretty building nevertheless. I wanted to leave the book at one of the picnic tables next to the bluff in front of it, but one was occupied by an apparently homeless guy listening to a radio (I felt for him, but I had to hold my breathe as I walked by 15' behind), and the others contained smooching couples. I sat on the grass and ate until one pair moved on. I picked up my remaing lunch (I tried the only lunch place on Terminal Island for the first time in a decade, and for a chicken bowl it was damn greasy), moved to the table, and joined by a white-crowned sparrow and a fluffy black feral cat someone had left food for, finished my food, divested myself of the trash, and got a pic of the book to post before I left the book behind on the table. Hope it finds a new friend soon and no one throws it over the cliff.



The other two I took with us when we went to the park. A larger man had arrived at the same time, and we were both admonishing that we couldn't stay long because it would be dark soon. His daughter immediately ran up and said hi to Avalon, and seemed to expect some reply. I responded that she doesn't talk so much (although she does talk quite a bit more to us - very loudly). I put her is the swing for a bit and chatted with the dad. He noticed I had a few books with me and I mentioned that we were going to leave them in the park - to which he asked "They let you do that?" Huh? Is there some law against leaving books in a park? I asked if he liked science fiction, but he declined, saying he was a single parent and only had time to read the bible. Meanwhile, Angus had taken his sandals off and had not had his feet bare for 30 seconds when he stubbed his toe and knocked a big patch of skin off the end of it. I took him to the drinking fountain to wash it off and put his sandals back on.

We left Gordon Dickson's The Right to Arm Bears on the planter around a tree near the Scout Cabin where my brothers always used to have their meetings. I figured it should be right up the alley of at one least one of the kids arriving for a meeting.

Exile's Song by Marion Zimmer Bradley I left sitting on the burl of a pepper tree that I always used to climb when I was a kid. No particular reason, it's just one of my favorite trees. Unfortunately it's been a while since I looked at it - there's a large hole in the bark on one side and the interior looks rotten. I hope it survives, it's a beautiful tree.

We dragged home and I futiley tried to think of something for dinner. I warmed up some frozen vegetables and the kids got turkey dogs - no bun. I think I fell asleep before the kids did.