Bear's Life and Tides

Salmon fishing today with Greg, Earl and Mickey, on Greg's Boat. Met up with the crew just before seven. Greg showed up and we promptly departed at seven. Beautiful sunny day. North or south?  Greg heard reports of limits yesterday (south) off Pacifica. South we went (again). I hoped he was right. He usually is. Skipper's perogative. The water was a bit rough but we made steady progress. After about three or four miles, Greg got excited. He saw a fleet of boats to the west of us, a bit off shore. Lots of party boats! Let's join the party. No whales, no birds; quite a few boats. We trolled bait and apex lures between 30-50 feet. Very few nets flying. After an hour or so, the party boats headed south. We heard a report over the radio of someone catching fish off Pacifica. We followed. Gazillions of boats off Pacifica. Looked very promising, despite the bumper to bumper traffic. We saw the Shefisher/mooch master/meditator. We trolled and trolled. Saw a net or two b...

Thomas asked what happened to yesterday's blog. It was AWOL. Beth and I worked in the yard all day yesterday. I had so little to say that I did not blog.  We have been laboring in the front yard. We had some awful invasive capeweed throughout the yard. We covered it with black plastic for a couple of months. We had to take up the plastic, prepare the soil (locate and pull out residual roots and rocks), cover the soil with cardboard and then distribute wood chips over the cardboard. A good weed barrier and it looks half decent. This was yesterday after we took off the black plastic around the plum tree. We continued the process today. Hard work! We put down almost two cubic yards of redwood chips. I spent hours on my hands and knees prepping the soil. We watched a great movie last night about the Dalai Lama . The Great 14th. We all need to have a calm mind. It's that simple. He is a very impressive man. How can someone be that perfect? Everything he says is wise. He has such co...

One more morning of my convention today. Nine a.m. to one p.m. My right foot still plagued by gout. I tried to go for a walk with Beth in SF, but it was too painful - like a toothache in my foot. Karen Hobbs and Mark Lillge invited us over for the afternoon and dinner. We had something to look forward to.  We met Karen and Mark in about 1994. Karen's daughter Annie is the same age as Peg. They went to Kindergarten together. I first met Karen at a kid's  birthday party. I don't remember why Beth wasn't there. I took Peg alone. I liked Karen immediately, and knew Beth would get on with her. I came home that night and announced to Beth that I had just met her new best friend.  I was right. Beth and Karen and Mark and I have been close friends for  about 25 or so years. Karen runs Tilden - college prepatory school. Mark is a semi-retired creative marketing maven; now a professional poker player.  It is nice to have old friends who make you feel so com...

I have been attending a virtual workers comp convention the last few days [my excuse for not blogging]. My right foot has been gouty as well. Makes me pretty crabby. Sorry Beth. I got up today and watered the garden. Everything looking great. All veggies in full bloom. Then Beth and I meditated. On to the convention. Boring as hell. I miss the social aspect of the real convention. I have been going twice a year for almost twenty years. I am going thru some loss over retirement. We had a virtual workers comp board meeting yesterday. It might be my last. I'll miss that group. Smart committed individuals. I gave up my seat to a friend who deserved to be on the board. Life goes on. Whatever has a beginning has an end. After my convention today, we went over to Berkeley. Beth had the brilliant idea that we should visit my mom - outside, with masks, safely distanced. I had not seen her in over three months.  Nice visit with Lynn, Phyl, Jason, Lola and Daisy. Lynn had foot surge...

I went fishing today.  I got up at 5 a.m. Got dressed. Packed up my stuff. Drove to the boat to meet Greg, Earl and Roe. We quickly got the boat ready and departed out the Golden Gate in sloppy weather. There was enough wind and swell that Greg had to go pretty slow.  We had to decide whether to go North to Marin or South to Pacifica. Greg had inside info that the party boats  caught salmon yesterday near Pacifica. South we went. We got outside the Gate and proceeded down the coast, off Ocean Beach. Kind of foggy. Blustery. Almost immediately after passing Seal Rock, we began to see whales. We made our way slowly south, the five miles or so to Pacifica. There, we saw more whales and lots of birds (a good sign for salmon fishing) and put our trolling gear in the water. For the next four or five hours, we followed the whales and the birds; among the dozen or so other boats doing the same. All the good signs were there. I remained optimistic, though, we s...

Finally made it back to Inverness this morning. The garden is exploding. Fruit, vegetables, flowers - all producing. The smells, the colors. Makes me happy. Inverness makes me happy. Nature. There is none in SF, where outside is just a concrete jungle with the hum of a city. In Inverness, I hear birds and the wind. I feel the warmth of the sun on me. I have the beauty and comfort of nature. Wide open space. Real trees; not the planted row along a sidewalk. Bugs, bees, hummingbirds. I hate mosquitos - but I gotta admit, itching my bites makes me feel pretty alive. Silver lining in this pandemic for me - getting to live full time in Inverness. It will be hard to go back to SF. Maybe we won't. Who knows. I won't consider spending more time in SF until my gym AND Tadich Grill open. Going salmon fishing again this week with Greg and the crew (Roe and Earl). I am excited about that. We spent hours today researching and discussing the weather. Is Tuesday better than Wednesday? What a...

I shopped at Rainbow Grocery today. I missed shopping there. I missed the hippy (worker owned) environment and the excellent selection of gourmet foods and produce. I stocked up on all the weird crap that I crave, like Indian hot lime and mango pickles. I am the king of condiments. I saw a couple of amusing sig ns at Rainbow Taste Cherries at Your Own Risk I avoid cheese that puts mind control worms in my ears  Driving home from Rainbow, I noticed that the city felt empty. Sure, it was a Sunday afternoon; but, there was a dead feeling. The only people I saw were unhoused. I can't wait to get back to Inverness. We drove to Beth's sister Gail and Gamiel's house for dinner to celebrate father's day and  niece Emily's birthday. They were excellent hosts as always. Dinner - grilled " Fred's Steak ", cauliflower au gratin, roasted potatoes and salad, was superb. Handsome Couple! Beth and I drove back to SF early. I would have rather driven to Inverness but t...

Beth and I drove to SF this morning. We got there early to go the farmers market at the Ferry Building. We picked up a few snacks and some peaches and sweet corn.  Then, we walked up Telegraph Hill to  Coit Tower, where I carefully noted where the boats were fishing (Arch Rock). Then down the back side to North Beach. Signs of life - restaurants and stores open for business. I lounged around all day until dinnertime. We got in the car and drove over to Mark and Helen's for dinner in Pacific Heights. I always get excited to have dinner at their house. They are excellent hosts. Good food and great wines. They barbecued salmon kebabs. Good thing I like salmon because this was the third day straight I have have had it barbecued. After a lovely dinner, wines, chocolates, port, madeira and a lively political discussion, we drove home. Back across the city to our condo.  I realized driving home in the city how different it is. Cars, traffic, people, unhoused peopl...

Pleasant surprises in the garden this morning Sugar Snap Peas Sweet Peas First Tomatoes I really enjoyed the smells in the garden this morning. I brushed up against a tomato plant. That luscious savory smell. It reminds me that there is nothing like a home grown tomato. I cannot eat tomatoes from the store. Not the same.  The musky smell of sage - indescribable. And, a yellow Graham Thomas rose. A perfect trifecta of smells today. Aside from some weeding and light gardening, I did hardly anything today. I filleted a salmon from yesterday. I barbecued the salmon carcass. We ate it for dinner. Beth was suspect of the idea, until she tasted it. Crispy skin. Yummy flakes of meat pulled off the skeleton. Fleshy oily collar. Greg gave me the idea. A new treat. I'll never throw away a salmon carcass again. the bear