Prime Time at Pajaro – May 12 – 15

2014 cast (Don’t forget to click on the photos to enlarge)

Above, you see the cast of characters for the 2014 Prime Time at Pajaro.  No, Pat is not asleep. I think she was beginning to blink. But I think this is still a good picture with good smiles all around. We missed those of you who were not able to attend and hope that you all be able to come either next year or in 2016.

Trish’s place is the one that looks like a light is on in the second story

Diana and I were the first to arrive and haul all our stuff up to Pelican 10. We had the first night’s dinner with us, so we had a bit more than usual. Dot and Sherry arrived next with essentials that they picked up at the grocery store…essentials like TP. It was unusually HOT at Pajaro. I can’t ever remember it being so warm…low 80s or high 70s.   Diana and I thought it felt a bit like a Santa Ana wind even so close to the beach. Of course, this is the first time that we’ve been there in May. Pat, Lynda and Shoo were to arrive the next day.

It was so warm that we were able to walk on the beach without the usual heavy jackets.  Part of the beach close to the berm was roped off so that the snowy plovers can nest in peace.  The little plovers nest in depressions in the sand, perhaps one that a footprint created. I guess it works for them, but it seems rather unprotected to me. Plovers are a type of shorebird that scurry along the water line looking for tasty morsels. I always get a kick out of how quickly their little legs seem to turn. It’s almost like cartoon legs.

A little snowy plover on a nesting site

After Pat, Lynda and Shoo arrived, we walked again, thus adding more miles to our tally (not that we were keeping track). It’s such a flat beach that we can walk a long way without pooping out. You can see that by the picture that it’s flat and one can walk literally for miles.

We love it this beach!

In the next picture, you’ll see the view of the beach from Pelican 10. However, it is somewhat marred by some passing seagulls’ deposits. Trish decided that it should be washed, but if you’ll notice in the picture of the condo with the “light”, that one needs a VERY TALL ladder in order to get to it. Trish had a solution, using a hose and squeegee with Dot’s able assistance. Those of us inside took great delight in pointing out missed smudges. They really did a good job, though, and the view was greatly improved.

Bird deposits on the window marring the view

Trish and Dot with the hose

The Whole Enchilada in Moss Landing was on the agenda for that night’s dinner.   It’s tradition to have at least one meal there while at Pajaro and get our picture taken there. I think we look darn good in this one.

Having fun at the Whole Enchilada

The Enchilada owner came by the table and gave Lynda a Lotto ticket after she agreed to be his partner with the winnings.  It was for the Mega Lotto that was worth $136 million. We were all thinking about how we would spend our portion of the winnings. Alas! We had only one matching number.

Lynda and her Lotto partner

A full moon was so pretty shining through the trees.

A ghostly sight

At Diana’s and my suggestion, several of us brought some pictures of us as youngsters and we all got to reminiscing about past times. Angel, we were all happy to receive your picture of you with that bag of candy. You were/are so cute! Thank you, too, for sharing some of your childhood story. It had never occurred to me that you and your family suffered after the War.  I guess, because I didn’t know you then and I don’t think you and I ever talked about the war. Thank you for making me more aware of that part of post-war history.

I think if I had to choose a theme for this year, it would be dealing with life changes and challenges. All of us have had some challenges, but Pat is dealing with some health issues that have yet to be identified. She told us that it is NOT Alzheimer’s or Parkinson’s and that is good news. She will be learning more in future doctors’ appointments. We all wish you well, Pat, and please know that if any one of us could help you in any way, we’ll be there.   I’ll tell you one thing, though. Pat has not lost her wicked sense of humor. She had some good lines this year.

Being at Pajaro in May for the first time showed us some differences in nature that were fun to see.  The sun set behind the Santa Cruz peninsula (or whatever that land is called) instead of sort of in the middle of the ocean as we usually see in February or March. I already mentioned the plovers nesting, but there was also a starling nesting in the eave of Pelican 10. I just happened to catch her leaving the nest as I was taking a picture of brown pelicans.

Sunset behind Santa Cruz

Starling in flight with pelicans in the background

The bees were visiting ice plants and we saw some folks riding their horses on the beach at sunset. I thought they made great silhouettes.

The bee is at about 11 o’clock

Horses on the beach at sunset

The surf was calm and almost good for surfing if one wanted to do that. Seagulls were on the shore, but we didn’t see many little birds. Perhaps they will return soon when their babies hatch and they need to be fed.

Seagulls taking a break at water’s edge

It has become Diana and Trish’s job to add new captions to our album documenting our Pajaro and Cambria adventures. They have a really good time doing this task but I don’t think they began imbibing soon enough as they didn’t get very many done this year. They had fun doing what they did though.

This caption is the best!

Now, as all know in our Pajaro group, the majority of us are turning 70 this year (three of you will do that next year). Diana ordered a beautiful, tasty cake from Gayle’s in Capitola. Oh my goodness! I loved all 3 layers of hazelnut and chocolate cake iced with chocolate ganache (I’m not sure about spelling. Spell check isn’t helping and my dictionary doesn’t have the word. Whatever, it is, it is really good!), whipped cream and regular icing. We celebrated with candles, party hats, ice cream and later, some Bailey’s.

Lighting the lights

Happy birthday to us!!!

It was great!

Trish loved it!

As I told you, it was hot and the sand was also. Pat went barefooted during one of the walks and in crossing the hot sand from the shore to the stairs to get back to the condo, her feet got too hot. She began to hurry across the sand and ran into some wood in her path. She really banged up two toes (one of which I feel sure was broken) and shortly had very bruised toes. The first aid committee got together and fashioned an ice pack for her and bound it with what Pat called an Arafat kerchief. I hope she was able to board the plane to go home without any problems.

First Responders

Pat and her Arafat foot cover

Prime time always has to end and parting consists of many hugs. Our friendship means so much to all of us.  I’d like to include some comments from Diana and Dot about our friendship as I think they are much more eloquent about US than I am.

Dot said, “I loved visiting with each of you. We are all different in many ways and yet meld together into a great group.”

Diana’s comment was, “How blessed we are to have each other! I think it’s remarkable that over and over year after year, we have fun together, discuss serious subjects and yet never ‘bump into each other.’ That was Schwab talk for have a squabble in the olden days. Let’s squeeze every drop of togetherness we can out of the years to come.”

I liked this shot and would like to close with it.  We’ve been making tracks together for more than 50 years!  Yea!!!

Best friends making tracks together.