Hodgepodge

Mom, Janice, John M., Diego, Kharim and John Z.

I will have to upload an audio file at some point. After living downtown for years the cars, buses and construction have become regular background noise. It's not until I relax at night and hear ocean that I realize how stressful regular city noise can be.

I came to this realization around 10pm on Saturday night after Diego had been asleep for about an hour. I was alternating between reading, doing the dishes and writing this entry. Elton John was playing in the background and Kharim was studying different types of poo on some type of iPhone medical text application. It's such a peaceful sound.

So to do the dishes I’ve just been heating up water in the kettle. But I’m hoping that’ll change in the near future. We had John and Janice—the previous owners of the camper—over for supper tonight. To round out the dinner party were John Zareski and Mom. We ate my first attempt at hodgepodge (successful) and John Z.’s loubeigh (check spelling) and a few beer to wash it down. It was a pretty basic set-up, plastic chairs in a circle on the lawn. But the day was so beautiful it didn’t really matter. Even the mosquitoes cooperated and were barely noticeable.

Kharim and John M. tackling the pilot light

Once bellies were full talk turned to camp operations. First up: How do you get the hot water working? John M. got to work showing Kharim where the pilot light is and how to work it. When they were working on it I was testing the taps and could tell the difference between the cold water and the lukewarm water but it didn’t get much further than that. The pilot light kept going out so we didn’t hit hot on the dial. So we’re hoping a good cleaning will fix it up good as new. A hot shower and hot water for dishes for next weekend would be dreamy.

Tim, Rosa, Jill and friendly dog

The dinner party wasn’t our only excitement for the day. We had early visitors too. Ten minutes after I planted my new garden (lilies, hosta and decorative grass. I forgot to take a photo) in the post-Juan fire pit, Jill, Tim and Rosa showed up. They made the trip all the way from Hubbards! Diego was very excited to see his girlfriend, especially since she has a cute new haircut. We had a great walk to the beach, and both of the little ones checked out the taste of sand. Mmmm, gritty.

Rosa and Jill

There were quite a few people at the beach today.  The water was warm, the wind was mild and the air was hot. And the tide was out so there was lots of sand to walk on.

The perfect mix: lots of visitors and perfect weather.

Sunday we ventured back to the market for coffee and treats and then drove out to Martinique. It was hot and sunny again. We walked along the water's edge with Diego and he loved the water and the crazy amounts of seaweed in the water. 

Kharim, Mom and Super Nanny

Back at ranch, er, camp, we had yet more visitors. Mom and Super Nanny made the trek down. I think Super Nanny got a kick out of the camper.

To round out the weekend we got in another beach walk, ate some leftover hodgepodge and packed up and came home.