Since last Thursday the 3rd of April I have had many adventures. In 5 days I have had a 5 star dinner with two 5 star women, enjoyed two nights in the distinguished visitor suite on Naval Air Base North Island, continued to refine my knowledge of tenting with the Eureka Timberline 2, increased my walking distance by at least 4 fold, got a $30 haircut for $20, and took the SAAB to Paul Vail in Ramona for a look-see and repair. To top it all off I am munching on the pistachios that I got a part of the welcome package as a distinguished visitor. Beat that if you can.
Kristin Roberts and Anthea Knapper joined me for dinner at Nunzi’s on University Avenue near Vermont Street. We met Saturday night and did we put on the feed bag! We ate and talked and laughed from 7 to almost 10 P.M. What nice people Kristin and Annie are. I am proud to be with them and they keep me entertained continuously. I am going to repeat the event with 3 other lovely women soon. This is a continuation of meeting and getting to know my 5 new friends whom I met on Facebook.
I needed to stay at the base until my tent spot opened up at Fiddlers Cove Marina and RV Park. The camp ground is located on the bay side a couple of miles down the silver strand from Coronado. The winds that were blustery last week have moderated and the weather report has warmer air and winds out of the west for most of the week. That means tenting will be easy and quiet for a change. I like quiet and the distinguished visitor suite filled the bill for two days before I had to pitch the tent. I had a suite of two rooms plus a full kitchen, two t.v.s, and quiet. I did a bag of laundry which will last me for a month the way I live. I had a chance to open and begin a book I’ve checked out of the Temecula library. “The Kid” by Ben Bradlee, Jr. is about Ted Williams. I’ve read many pages in books about Ted Williams and never read such a complete and documented piece of his Mexican heritage. I never knew his mother May Williams was full Mexican. He hid the fact for fear of being discriminated against in the racist era of baseball that kept black men from playing. Ted would meet with his family members on his mother’s side but not in public. He avoided them at all cost.
Since pitching the tent at Fiddlers Cove I have been researching tents and I figure I can get at least this season out of the old Timberline 2. I’ll give it a good workout before I head north. I’m not sure how it will handle wet weather when I get up past Santa Barbara. We’ll just have to wait and see. I have discovered though how to add guys to it in the event I get into another blow. Plus I’ve refined the connector technique so things will be more shipshape. I’d like to add a floor protection system that would double as a sleeping pad. Over the next few days I’ll be visiting camping supply places and hardware stores to see what I can find. This morning I made coffee over the sterno stove with a paper coffee filter. It leaked but so what. I’ve made camp coffee before. Just wait and the grounds all settle to the bottom anyway. Just don’t stir them up. I’m enjoying the experience. I am slowly getting better at getting down on the ground and standing back up. That is a real challenge. I’m hoping it improves with the walking and losing weight.
Speaking of walking. Yesterday, Monday, I went for a stroll with my GPS tracker going on the smaht phone. I took a detour to cruise through the Silver Strand State Beach area about a half-mile up the road from the camp ground. Well that little job ended up taking me for a 4 and a half-mile walk before I found my way out of the Beach area back onto the main road. Now that is adventure. I noticed the battery was getting low on the phone and I didn’t want to lose the information on the workout so I picked up the pace a bit and hustles along as I was looking to find a way pas the fence I was stuck behind. I ended walking all the way to the Cays housing community before getting out from behind the fence and then I really had to hustle to get back to Fiddlers Cove. The workout was extreme believe me! I did get back in time to save the workout though. Now I have to wonder how to justify walking shorter distances and going slower in the future.
Luckily I got the workout done in time for me to go into town to find Diane Plank, the woman who cuts my hair while I’m in California. Diane has been a high-end hair cutter for a long, long time. 40 years in Coronado to my knowledge. I get my hair cut in Boothbay by Jamie for $13. Diane charges $30 but I’ve never had the money to pay that much so she only charges me $20. She wanted me to pay $25 this time but I only had two twenty dollar bills and she had no change so I ended up only paying her $20 again. Poor Diane. Well maybe I’ll see her next year again and make it up to her.
I forgot to mention a poetry reading on Sunday night in North Park. My new friend Adam Stutz has helped organize this event and it will be a regular thing. I won’t be around next month but I really like what I saw and heard. There were three poets who read from their published works. One reader really inspired me to try something more with a piece I wrote during the past year. It is a sort of collaboration of two artists from different disciplines. It came about when I was reading Oscar Wilde and listening to Ricki Lee Jones. Here it is.
OSCAR AND RICKIE
AT DAWN
Wilde words spill from between
Bindings, pages wafting,
The print playing tunes upon
My ears,
Senses waking, hungry for
Attention.
See and hear at once,
The tongue tracing vowel and
Consonant,
The ear surrendering to chord
And cry of ecstasy from
Waif of tone and street smart
Fairy.
Genius Oscar filling the mind with
Images off the page,
Rickie harmonizing with
Voice sweetly,
Yearning.
I am filled with
Feeling – heart, chest, throat
Flooded with the thrill
Of seeing and hearing, the
Opal sky over nacre-coloured air
Blanket my present – I
Feel alive and loved!
G. M. Goodwin
2-03-2013
I took the SAAB to Paul Vail in Ramona today. I like Paul. He is a perfectionist to a fault. He fixed my front port side fog light with a kluge of sorts that will work forever. One of the mechanics replaced vacuum hoses that were old and cracked. The car was put on the lift and all was inspected and questioned. I left knowing the heap is in great shape and ready for whatever I can throw its way. I learned a few things about tires (a date stamp is on each one) and what brand to buy next time. I already have that brand on the car now. $150.00 for the service and it is worth every penny in my case. It was 93 F. in Ramona when I left and when I returned to Coronado it was 83 F. Nice.
The pistachios are all gone. Take care.
Playing Fair and Being Kind 