And The Living Is Easy

A real "in the summertime, when the weather is high" kind of day:

Friday night--quite late--we got a surprise call from David's cousin Kath, who was passing through SoCal on the way back from her honeymoon in Columbia (I sort of loved her instantly for honeymooning in Columbia) and hoped we could get together before they headed back to Oz...in like 24 hours. We made a plan for them to come to the house for breakfast about 9:00 and were up with the birds preparing. But that, um, didn't happen. Not sure why. They called about 10:15 and said they were on their way to Kobey's Swap Meet, and we decided to meet them there. Now we have a lot of bagels, but really, can you ever have too many?

Kobey's was surprisingly not like the seventh circle of hell, and when we finally found Kath and her husband, Lior, I found them instantly delightful. (They were staying with some guys in Mission Beach through the Couchsurfing website--a wonderful resource for...young people.) Together, we rooted through some trash for other people's treasures, (Jarrah could hardly believe her luck that grown-ups were setting the precedent for this) tried on heart sunglasses, and introduced our new friends to their first Hawaiian Shave Ice, which they loved and took lots of photos of. Kath also achieved her goal of purchasing a bagful of Mexican wrestling masks, which she said were "an amazing deal" at $7.00 each. David and I looked at each other and shrugged, not sure how one would know that was a deal.

As we chatted, we found out that Kath and Lior were already so smitten with SD that they hoped to come live here...and this was after seeing only Mission Beach and Kobey's Swap Meet. My resident pride compelled me to amend the narrowness of this impression, and I suggested we go to La Jolla for lunch. We all crammed into David's car and off we went.

La Jolla was gorgeous as ever, but crowded and hot. Kath was thrilled to learn about the Dr. Seuss trees, and literally began stripping down with the intent to join the snorkelers in the cove (she had to be restrained.) Then we had lunch at Brockton Villa, which is always a hit--who doesn't want to eat eggs steamed in an espresso machine while gazing over cliffs and ocean and wheeling pelicans and black cormorants? It's the best restaurant view in San Diego, and one of the cheapest, too.

I was determined to show them the famous Children's Pool/Seal Beach, so of course it was the first day in history without a SINGLE seal on the sand. We did get an exciting show when two older gentleman stormed the orange barriers, donned snorkeling equipment, and dove in with three perplexed and playful seals treading water at the edge of the barrier--the five of them seemed perfectly happy swimming together, though I hated thinking about the water quality.

Alas, we had to rush back to the car so we could return Kath and Lior and still have time to meet my parents for dinner in Vista. Why must Vista be so far away? Jarrah slept a bit in the car, which was good since it was such a late night for her. We rushed into the nearly-deserted Italian restaurant fifteen minutes late, but no parents. There was a "who's on first?" routine during which the waitress tried to seat us with the Bush party, then invited us to someone else's wedding, but finally my parents showed up and all was well. After a lovely meal (shouted over off-key karaoke from the bar) we headed down the road to the Moonlight Ampitheater for 42nd St., which somehow--mind-bogglingly--I have never seen before.

We were all transfixed from the first glimpse of those tapping feet under the curtain at half-mast, and I couldn't believe how many of the songs I recognized. Also, the theme of youth and aging in the theater world is one that's been very much on my mind, so while the numbers were light and lively, I was a little verklempt as well.

Not sure what I was thinking, but I'd worn a skirt and heels, meaning that I was freezing and also had to hike up a rocky, dirty road between our car and the theater, trying not to break an ankle like Dorothy Brock. I'd also dressed Jarrah in a dress and heels, so I was a bad mom in addition to being uncomfortable myself. Luckily, she seems to function like her own little space heater, so she didn't mind at all. She was asleep before we hit the highway, and we didn't get home until close to midnight. Vista, could you come a little closer next time? And there will be a next time--the space is gorgeous and a new renovation gave us glorious acoustics, too. Nothing like a little theater under the stars on a summer night--looking forward to seeing it from the flip-side next month.