Life, Death, and Trash

And then there's this, too.

It's probably about the fourth or fifth time I've seen this in the morning: seagulls eating a dead (I hope!) stingray for breakfast. I've even seen seagulls eating other dead seagulls. Nice. Or not so nice.

That's life. That's death. For some reason all the stupid trash on the beach bothers me much more than this ever does.

Catalina! Catalina!

She's blurry, but she's back!

:)

Carol Burnett was on the Tavis Smiley show last night talking about her daughter Carrie (who died too young - like in her 30's - from cancer). She said that even while sick in the hospital, her daughter kept a positive outlook because in spite of everything she had decided she was going to love her life. I kept her message in my heart & spirit during this morning's walk and I plan to keep it there as much as possible.

:)

Back in the Sand

It's been 2 weeks since my last walk. It's good to be back!

:)

La Laguna de Benjamin Dominguez

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There's a park in Garden Grove, CA called Atlantis. This is not that park. These photos are from La Laguna de San Gabriel at Don Lugo Park in San Gabriel, which is sort of where this story begins and ends.

My son & I were planning to visit Atlantis Park last week, but his friend couldn't go so we didn't go either. I had taken him there once several years ago and we both loved it. He loved it because it was cool and fun; I loved it because it reminded me of the park in San Gabriel that my family used to take me to when I was a kid. I loved that park and went there a lot, including for birthday parties. It was THE fun park to go to as far as I was concerned. I'm not generally a super nostalgic person, but I always remembered this San Gabriel park fondly and as an adult I've gone back to visit several times.

Both Atlantis Park & Don Lugo Park (formerly Wells Park) are full of giant cement sea creature slides and climbing things. As far as I knew this was a sort of common thing for parks of the time. Last week after googling directions to Atlantis Park, I started clicking on links and made the most wonderful discovery. Both parks were designed and created by the same man, Benjamin Dominguez. Both parks are masterful and precious and fairly unique (Legg Lake - also a childhood spot! - still has some of his playful structures) and La Laguna de San Gabriel is his masterpiece. His is a wonderful story which you can read if you like at this link:

http://www.friendsoflalaguna.org/

Anyway, several years ago, La Laguna was in danger of being demolished due to modern safety & accessibility standards. Luckily for all of us, some people got together to stop that from happening, and so La Laguna lives on. The more I read about Benjamin Dominguez and La Laguna and Atlantis, the more I feel like my heart is growing like the Grinch's heart when he hears all the Whos in Whoville singing with no presents yet still with love in their hearts.

What a lucky child I was to get to innocently enjoy this magical park without a clue as to its story, and what a grateful adult I am now to have learned about the artist who created it. Although my prior love for La Laguna was strong, it is deeper now than ever before. As one of his grandkids wrote, now instead of La Laguna being a memory, it is a legacy.

So thanks, Ben! And thanks to the Friends of La Laguna!

(The above pics from La Laguna are from Feb 2013. Very, very soon we will make that short trip to Atlantis and it won't be long until I check out Legg Lake again, too.)

Catalina at last!

Sorry, no picture, but when we were coming home on the freeway this afternoon my son noticed that he could see Catalina, so we drove up to the top of Signal Hill and thar she blows! We said hooray, waved hello, then headed on home.

Summer day trip to Catalina coming soon!

Best shell day ever!

Silly Old Pier!

It's really more sad than silly. The building at the end of the Seal Beach Pier used to be a Ruby's Diner. Burgers, sandwiches, salads, sort of a 50's motif with red booths, black & white checkerboard floors, etc. Bustling. Family friendly. Not a bad place at all.

At the end of 2012, Ruby's and the city of Seal Beach were unable to reach an agreement and so, after 25 years, the Seal Beach Ruby's is no more.

And so now, in the touristy midst of summer, after months of continuing arguments, lawsuits, new proposals (and lack thereof), and legal wrangling, the old building still sits empty at the end of the pier. It sits there like nothing but an eyesore. It's such a sad sight, and so unnecessary. The city claims that Ruby's didn't do some agreed upon repairs & Ruby's claims it did. The city set a deadline for new business proposals & the only company that made a proposal was the company that owns Ruby's. The city extended the deadline & Ruby's withdrew its proposal.

A few months ago, back when I was still walking on the pier, I watched as a construction crew removed all the booths and appliances from inside and basically left nothing but an empty shell. A few weeks ago the city declared the building a public nuisance. The end of the pier - the best part! - which used to be so wonderful, filled with families and friends and lovers and fishermen and walkers, has been closed off by a chain link fence for months. Perhaps most of the happy people enjoying the beach don't really care but to me (and undoubtedly to many others) it just seems like such a shame.

I love you Seal Beach, but you really dropped the ball on this one. No matter the truth of your arguments, you've let your treasure fade because that pier - that beautiful, long wooden pier - is the crown of your city, and the building/restaurant/whatever you like at the end of that pier is the crowning jewel. Or was, I mean.

Get it together folks!