We went to Ian's memorial gathering on Sunday. In our own wacky preparation for such things, we stopped on the way down to watch the sea otters and shorebirds, to delight in the vibrant and essentially basic things of life. It's the only balance we know. Luckily, there were several sea otters lounging about (don't they always lounge? what a life!) quite close to the bluff that overlooks Moss Landing harbor. They were so relaxed, we watched them engaging in their own sea otter playfulness. I just had to shoot a short video of it:
The memorial service was incredibly touching. Ian's friends spoke of a young man full of integrity and honesty, of deep decency and political insight, and an ardent consumer of very good highs! He was a wild man DJ who was respected and dearly loved. What a good thing it was to hear such constancy of integrity in a young man's life. Ian's brother said how relieved he was to know that Ian had found his tribe. And yes, this tribe had gathered to say their farewells. On the way home I kept my eye out for the golden eagle we had seen on one of our earlier trips down to see Ian. I remembered the cow pasture and the far fencing where it had landed. Sure enough, that magnificent creature was there again perched on a fence post. Roger pulled over and stopped so we could take a better look. Oh it was far away, but that didn't stop me from trying. The cows were rather intrigued and kept their inquisitive eyes on us. Shortly before we drove off, they came down to the fence to see if maybe we might have something delicious for them. We had to apologize and move on. Such is life.
A lot has been happening in the bay lately. We've been watching from the side lines-- our windows-- binoculars and camera always ready on the sill. Mostly we see it all from this distance and know that running down to the wharf won't ever get the intended results. By the time we get there the action is over-- no otters, sea lions, terns, pelicans, or dolphins. So a chance close encounter when we are actually down there at the shoreline is just that-- sheer good fortune, luck, and timing. We headed out for our daily walk Thursday. It's been warm and sunny, perfect spring weather. We always start our little local walk by heading down to the end of the wharf. Typically there are people fishing from both sides with a little crowd at the end. Thursday was no exception, except the usual fishing quiet was interrupted by a barking ruckus coming from the bay. Two sea lions were cavorting with wild exuberance on this sunny afternoon. It was the kind of stuff we always see from our window. But here they were, close to the wharf and carrying on like our presence didn't matter at all. It was grand to be utterly ignored. We hoped their enthusiastic displays meant that there was plenty of food around for everyone. There have been hundreds of cormorants and grebes hunting madly for food lately, but to no avail. We'd like to think that the sea lions' presence bodes well for all these hungry creatures. Surprisingly, at the same time we saw this sea otter lunching on some crab. When we see pelicans, cormorants, grebes, and terns diving and fishing, the sea otters are typically not around. This seemed unusual. While I photographed the otter, Roger and I both noticed that we could hear it cracking hard shells with its powerful jaws and teeth. It was a sound we had never heard before. Between the barking and the cracking, we were in the midst of a wild sea mammal duet.
After the wharf, we walked up the hundred steps stairway to Depot Hill. Breathless at the top, we walk along the cliff, then down to the railroad trestle, across the creek, and back home. There I downloaded these photos and noticed that it looked like the sea otter had a crab in hand and one on its belly. We wonder, is it a sign the sea is producing riches for everyone? We really do hope so.
Can we agree that there is an objective reality? That an otter is an otter, and a butterfly is a butterfly, whether you are a Democrat or a Republican. Can we agree that a vice-presidential candidate should be able to take follow-up questions and answer them with some degree of coherence and logical syntax, whether you're a Democrat or a Republican?
Perhaps not.
We were just wondering.
The two otters were photographed late Saturday afternoon in Monterey Bay. The Common Buckeye butterfly was photographed Friday. Although, since reality is defined by our own predilections, we can decide what these are whenever we want to. In fact maybe they'd like to be vice president someday. They could you know.
It's still raining. We've had enough rain to bring us up to average rainfall totals for winter here. But it is still not enough yet to prevent water conservation measures this summer. If things continue as they seem to be going now, though, Santa Cruz may finally see its water supply full. It is interesting to have so much rain falling in such a short amount of time. We try to get out and walk when there is a windy lull, which there happened to be on Saturday. We headed out to the wharf, where we noticed this little sea otter riding in the waves. We said to each other that it seemed small and young. So I started to snap a few photos when it started to make plaintive cries. I turned on the video to see if I could capture that sound, but you'll notice all we got was the sound of the wind. I think if you watch the video closely, and I apologize for the lousy quality, you'll see the otter raise its head several times out of the water. That's when it was crying. What a sound it was, as high as a gull's cry. Then, we noticed a larger otter off in the distance dive down under the waves. Maybe we're making this story up. But it looked to us that the larger otter came over and brought the smaller one some food. A very kind and motherly gesture. We watched for a while. The smaller otter stopped crying, and the larger one stayed a while beside it. We think that face has a very satisfied smile on it. But that could easily be an anthropomorphic assumption. Still, it's a story that works for us.
A few updates: We are fairly certain that the large fossil we found is whale bone. It was much too large and heavy for us to move. The beach is only accessible at minus tides, and the fossils are only sporadically uncovered and visible, as the sands shift often with storms.
The sunset photos were slightly (ever so slightly) enhanced by saturation, but that was only to recreate the sky as we saw it. Photos hardly ever represent what our eyes perceive. I tried to show what we saw. It was truly magnificent, and yes, almost psychedelic.
Finally, could anyone out there tell us succinctly what Barack Obama's platform is? He won a very great victory in South Carolina on Saturday, and we are glad for him. He's getting a lot of endorsements, and a lot of people talk about how he makes them feel, that he's inspirational, shows leadership, and who he reminds them of. But we're not sure he is a progressive liberal Democrat. Does anyone out there know for certain that he in fact is?
Sometimes we feel just like a little otter, out in a stormy sea.
I wish we had more than this question, but we're tired and it's been a long day. We drove 75 miles up the coast to San Francisco on Sunday, had lunch with Elena (Roger's youngest) and her partner Jimmy. We walked through Golden Gate Park and the panhandle. Saw people that were like flashbacks to an earlier era, pierced and tattooed, painted and preened. We drove home with the sun setting on the edge of a magnificent continent. We remembered why love this part of the world.
But the question remains, do sea otters have bellybuttons? I photographed this sea otter on Saturday and had an opportunity to be fairly close to it. When I looked at this photograph, I thought I saw something that looked very bellybutton-like (click on the pic and take a look). What do you think? What we've been really intrigued by, though, is the presence of a gull hanging out very close to the otters. They seem to be waiting around for some inadvertently dropped food, or maybe they clean up whatever morsels have been left behind. We just don't know, and it's only been the past few days that we've noticed this interaction. I guess today we have more questions than answers.
On the way home I kept my eye out for the golden eagle we had seen on one of our earlier trips down to see Ian. I remembered the cow pasture and the far fencing where it had landed. Sure enough, that magnificent creature was there again perched on a fence post. Roger pulled over and stopped so we could take a better look. Oh it was far away, but that didn't stop me from trying.
The cows were rather intrigued and kept their inquisitive eyes on us. Shortly before we drove off, they came down to the fence to see if maybe we might have something delicious for them. We had to apologize and move on. Such is life.
