Posted in August 2012 …

When is a View Not a View?

Cliff top dwellings I was very excited to wake up yesterday morning at Shell Beach and see a view of the Pacific out of the bedroom window. A beautiful view, framed by the ubiquitous cochineal-red oleanders, grey-blue succulents and ochre gravel. To the right, a cliff top path. To the left, another cliff top path. … Continue reading →

Isabel prepares a feast

Look at her gleam^^ I, Isabel, write from the solitude of an empty hotel room. Well, Rachel’s here but she’s deeply asleep and so would be no use in a fire. So for all intents and purposes, I’m on my own, and in the shit if there’s a fire. Rick, leader of the pack, has … Continue reading →

Jogs, Runs and Managing Expectations

The path to nowhere This last week, I’ve been spoilt with my early morning runs. The San Francisco Bay Area, the Carmel Valley upland trails… Delightful exhilarating scenery. Then comes a night at the Hampton Suites and Inn, Paso Robles: the hotel trapped within a major Highway 101 interchange with a few local main roads. … Continue reading →

Musings From a Mole

Evening kittens Here’s the latest goss: I’ve reverted to the waking hours of my 8 year old self. I am tucked up in bed by 9.30 every night. Any later and I start to panic. On a school night, it was vitally important that I got a proper rest, so that I’d be in a … Continue reading →

Passing Paso Robles

Cambria Main Street This morning saw a successful and timely win against Satnav, who in a spirit of provocative meanness tried to force us down Highway 101 again for our journey south. It took a hundred miles before the spoilt brat stopped demanding a legal U turn at the earliest safe opportunity, but we closed … Continue reading →

The Big Sur

Despite the mist, no one could fail to be impressed by the Big Sur. Except four adolescents in the back muttering about how Highway 101 would have been faster.

The Carmel Zone

The Thomas Kinkade Experience If Carmel (CA) didn’t exist you couldn’t invent it. The hyperreality of a Disneyland experience is hard-pushed to match a walk down Carmel’s main thoroughfare. Gingerbread cottages and cutesy boutiques selling everything you don’t know you need or want, but still you fall for it all. I’m ashamed to own up … Continue reading →

$hmu number 2

I’ve sat by during the past couple of days, watching all others (even a little Kempner) take centre stage on this here blog. Christ, Alison Lawrence (one of our maternal aunts) has had more page time in her comments alone, than I. Not begrudging you those comments, Al (if I may be so bold as … Continue reading →