Today we celebrate 20 years, yes, 20 years together.
On our first date, November 5, 1999, it was love at first sight. From that first picking up of a piece of plastic, and with that first question: Are you going to keep that? we began a creative adventure that has taken us and our plastic around the world.
Northern California is known for its temperate weather with a well-defined summer dry season and a foggy, rainy season in winter. Our high-season for collecting plastic is typically late-January when the winter storms have flushed the plastic out to sea then back on to shore. The lowest of the low season is in November before the rains begin. So we believe it to be a miracle, a gift from Poseidon, that there was any plastic on the beach on that fateful day in 1999.
We often say that there are many reasons to go to the beach. Plastic may be one of them but we also appreciate the ocean breezes, the sun and surf. Today, the real treasure was not in the plastic we found, but in the people, the kindred travelers, we happened to meet on the trail.
Yoga pal Wendy McLaughlin was with her tracking companion Richard Vacha. Judith had not seen Wendy since back in 2013 when she brought a field trip of middle-school students to Gallery Route One to view our show The True Cost of Plastic. Richard Vacha just published The Heart of Tracking, excerpts from his field journal and columns from the Point Reyes Light newspaper about his life-long passion of identifying animals by their footprints.
Because of the strong undertow surfing, swimming or even wading at Kehoe Beach are not advised. That, along with a warning sign at the trailhead about a study of great white sharks being conducted just off shore, might be enough to give a surfer pause. So we were surprised to meet a guy, surf board tucked under his arm, heading back from the beach. He said he had gone out to catch just one wave but with the rough conditions, that one wave was enough. Which prompted Richard to tell his Eli surfing story:
Some years ago Richard brought son Eli and daughter Amelia out to Kehoe, Eli armed with his stick (surfboard), set out to catch a wave or two. Amelia and Richard standing looking way out into some pretty gnarly surf. A guy comes by curious as to what we are looking at. Wow, he says, "I've been surfing for 30 years, I would never go out in that shit." I looked at Amelia—"Well, I'm glad I brought my spare..."
Some years ago Richard brought son Eli and daughter Amelia out to Kehoe, Eli armed with his stick (surfboard), set out to catch a wave or two. Amelia and Richard standing looking way out into some pretty gnarly surf. A guy comes by curious as to what we are looking at. Wow, he says, "I've been surfing for 30 years, I would never go out in that shit." I looked at Amelia—"Well, I'm glad I brought my spare..."
Our paths have crossed many times with docent/singer Jeff Wilkinson who, during Snowy Plover season, sets up his education table at Abbott's Lagoon.
Posts here:
Today Jeff was making a quick stop at Kehoe to check on the Big Horned Owl who perches in the tree above the trailhead toilets. We told him about the Northern Harrier soaring over the marsh but the Peregrine Falcons who nest high on the cliffs were not there nor had we seen the magniifent owl. But, last time we were out, with the Japanese team from Frau magazine, we had spotted the perfectly chamouflaged owl. The blink of his eyes, the only give away.
The perfect theme song for this day I bless the day I found you...