We arrive early afternoon

to our good friend Bill and Bruce’s house in Laguna Niguel with a fabulous view out to the ocean…still chilly by California standards and we must admit, by ours, too! A simple supper and lots of catch up and we are all off to an early bed.

Bill and Bruce have a view from their yard that is unbelievable – a true California vista. You look from their yard, which is high up a mountain, down a long valley to an inverted triangle of Pacific Ocean. The valley is all fall-like and California brown – it has not yet begun to take on the subtle hint of green that marks spring out here. From the yard, you do not see many houses; instead, you actually see the hill. It is a beautiful view.

I have gone many times to the yard today and looked at this view as the sun moved overhead. I find it entrancing.

We first met Bill and Bruce 19 years ago as they and we were checking into a hotel – the clerk decided it was more efficient to check us in simultaneously, so proceeded to introduce us and then he became totally confused about who was who. This led to a laugh, and we have been good friends since – although we don’t get to see them as often as we would like.

Their dog Sandy Paws is a special sweetheart. She is 16 years old and has been blind for a number of years. But she makes her way around as best she can, and is a good friend to Bill and Bruce.

We had a quiet day today – sat in a lovely coffee house in the middle of Laguna Beach and updated the website. The weather finally turned, and it was a perfect day to be “out and about” (as Bruce would say with his amusing Canadian accent). We went out for Mexican food for supper, on the assumption that it would be a long time before it was available as an option.

No Laughing, Now!

Ok, here is a classic underwear story…no, not one of those stories….We had packed our big bags for the trip quite early on and had stored them at our neighbors Frank and Carmela’s. Packing, storing, moving things to Brian’s condo, unpacking, repacking and moving to Stratford, unpacking, storing, making sure we had enough of the basics, you know? Greg had forgotten what exactly he had packed in the big suitcases at Frank and Carmela’s and kept wondering why he had so much underwear in Stratford??!! Needless to say, after a thorough search of all the luggage here in California, Greg shopped for brand new underwear today for the rest of their trip around the world. Thank God there is a lot of clean underwear stored in Stratford for his arrival in June!