AstroGypsies

Did I mention we have hummingbirds as well? A female sat guarding the feeder for a few days, then a guy showed up, doing his wild dance of love which involves flying back and forth in giant swooping moves until she says, Yeah, you’re alright, we’re good!:) Ha! If only life were so easy!

The female has a bit of fluff, or cat hair or something stuck to her bill, I didn’t feel so bad about my cat hair covered sweater, or OK, like all my clothes, truck seat, bath towels, you name it, it has variety of different coloured cat hairs to match, some orange from Rocket, some beige from Gamora, throw in a few white from Groot and we have a lovely mix of well, hair. Even my computer screen seems to be a magnet for it so I don’t mind seeing a small bird with beak fluff! I know how you feel girl!

I set out my feeder as soon as we came and voilà, she owned it. We went out looking for our own food. San Diego has a wonderful selection of niche and ethnic grocery stores. Our favourite is Vine Ripe Foods in La Mesa. If you want the strange and wonderful of what Europe and the far east has to offer, this is your place! Head soup, Fish head soup was the 2nd thing that caught my eye after the dates, I love dates. Mike grabbed a loaf of real German bread, real bread, no dough conditioner. I have never seen that listed on ingredients of Canadian bread so I had to look it up. Avoid it, stable shelf life, more chemicals, more crap…WTF. Trader Joe’s bread is full of it, don’t think we’ll actually be going back there after we wandered around one. Too much packaging and Oh so fucking perky, Vegan Meatless Meat Lovers pizza? Isn’t that an oxymoron? I’ll stick with Sprouts. Then there is Mitsuwa Marketplace in Kearny Mesa, Japan and the Far East. I love their little gift/china store and man, I had no idea how weird toothbrushes can be…I bought some for fun gifts, everyone needs a really weird toothbrush, so if you get one as a gift, I’m not implying you need to brush your teeth more, it’s for a smile and giggle! Ha! Pasta, made with yam and tofu, those were different. I just like to wander the aisles to Mike’s chagrin, he grabbed his sushi, rolls and sashimi and was ready to go. The cats were impressed with lunch that day!

Now, let’s talk coffee…all I wanted was a nice dark roast, Italian, whatever! “Dried cherries, cedar, sandalwood, tar, treacle tart, cinnamon and vanilla. Medium body, fine-grained, bright and transparent acidity and a long, very spicy finish. Like going back in time and touching an ornate tapestry. The texture is mesmerizing”…coffee description or wine? Hahahahaha! Oh dear California! Terroir? Touching an ornate tapestry? OK, that is actually from a bad wine review but what’s up? Star fruit, lemon zest, herbal, buttery and clean? These guys must be smoking WAY too much pot! Ha!

We had the chance to spend a wonderful evening with my cousin, the talented artist Bronle Crosby and her husband Daniel at Costa Brava, a Spanish/Basque Tapas restaurant, I would highly recommend it. We were too busy eating and drinking for pictures, definitely a sign of something good! Bacon wrapped dates…to die for…Fire roasted piquillo peppers stuffed with seafood…I’m drooling thinking of them, so much delicious food and equally amazing company. I am a lucky cousin to have one like her! We also had a fabulous family get together with my brother Shea and his wife Tracey and lovely daughters, and their extended family and siblings! They are contemplating a move to Texas I was told…0_0….Ok, I get that California is crazy expensive, younger family can’t afford homes here, and if you want to retire maybe it’s something you have to do. This from the person that moved from Florida to San Diego, then to Ontario, then to Baja, then back to Ontario, ha! I’ll shut up! I will help with any moving advice I can! Love you Shea! Looking forward to a few more meals before we head back to Ontario again! I confiscated all his photos albums so I could scan some more of our wild and wacky childhood ones and put them all in an album, or four, in order, NO I am not OCD! Ha! I love my younger brother:)

Back at the campground, we’d about had enough of the gray birds…and “Let’s go Brandon” bumper stickers and faded Trump 2020 flags. While spot 137 was spacious and great for walking the cats around, we were flanked by traffic, a busy main road behind, a circular drive past the front and abysmal internet service #Ihatetengointernet…no more to say. I even paid for a higher rate of service, which turned out to be crap as well and cellular service is so weak we had little to choose from. The Tengo internet tech said I was probably too far from the booster…”I’m looking at it out my back window” I told him “Very close!”…oh….My brother keeps suggesting the portable starlink, he has one, but it feels like you are giving into the dark side…Elon Musk as Darth Vader;) Ha! We also couldn’t get another camping spot over Christmas, fully booked that weekend, so it was time to move…South!

I did thoroughly enjoy the birds at the beach, I have always thought of the Egrets as marsh/estuary birds so fun to watch them in the surf fishing, and a few less than friendly interactions by the beach Snowy Egret bully! They darted about in the surf as the waves broke around them, running here and there! Very amusing.

The waves were crest and smash, it’s what I call them anyway! No lingering curl or face to ride if you are a surfer! They wasn’t much surf, just a few beginners on boards and guys goofing around:) The sand felt nice to walk on. A Western Gull juvenile was begging from Mom, Like kids do…”Just one Christmas candy ma! Please!”

But it was time to move on, two weeks in the city was enough! Time to head South, vamos! But that’s another story! It’s Baja time! Stay tuned for Mexico…I’ll give you a quick idea;) ha! Salud amigos!