The Cowardly Lion, Dorothy, the Tin Man, and the Scarecrow.

While everyone counted their aches and pains Teresa climbed the steps of the Wrigley Memorial and started waiving to the crowds like the Queen of England and made us all laugh.

Everyone is in good shape and good spirits after a very long hike.

These painted eagle sculptures are about 4 feet tall and are on the boardwalk that goes around the bay.

They lit up the bridge to welcome us back to Long Beach. The lights are reflected in the water and across the prow of the ferry.

Walking Disciples at Tamarack Beach, October 21, 2006

Saturday morning Skip joined me for a drive up to Carlsbad to meet our fellow MCC Walking Disciples for a hike along the bluffs overlooking the beach, starting at Tamarack Beach and walking south for 2-3 miles and then back to our starting point. It had been some time since I was in Carlsbad and when we got out of the car I looked around at the sun and the surf and the expansive sand and told Skip I'd forgotten how beautiful it is up here. Our hike was along sidewalks and bike paths and well traveled roads. Bicyclists, joggers, surfers, and walkers were all out enjoying the day.

As I write this I realize I'm approaching it from a Midwest perspective, as if such a fine day was a rare occasion as they are in central Illinois. Whereas in and around San Diego you can count on nearly everyday to be as good, or at least not so bad as to seriously prevent you from doing what you want to do. I'm still something of a tourist with his camera gawking at all the splendor as if I was the first to see it.

Local fauna.

Skip on the beach.

Meanwhile, In Another Part of the Forest

One of the books I read this summer is a collection of gay short stories of Keith's titled Meanwhile, In Another Part Of The Forest, edited by Alberto Manguel and Craig Stephenson. I have several collections of gay short stories myself so I was familiar with many of them. However, this is a large book and many of the stories were new to me. They're all gems by masters such as E.M.Forster, James Baldwin, Ray Bradbury, Ernest Hemingway, and William Faulkner, among others.
One of my favorites is by Shyam Selvadurai called; "Pigs Can't Fly". It's the story of a young boy who prefers to play 'bride' with his girl cousins instead of soccer with the boys. He and all the girls agreed he played the lead best until a new girl joined them, got jeolous, told her parents, and he was forced to quit in shame.
In the introduction the author and the editors compare the hero's experience to Alice in Wonderland: " Moments of joy... enlarge the self. ...we grow in the world... We are that colossus Alice in Wonderland shooting up to the ceiling after downing the bottle labeled "Drink Me". ... if we are ridiculed by adults and peers, the magic vanishes, the joy evaporates, and, like Alice shrinking to the point where she falls in her own pool of tears, we are reduced to something even smaller than we were in the pale beginning."
For me this was a revelation into the meaning behind part of Alice's strange adventure and the genius of Lewis Carroll as well as throwing light on a common childhood tragedy.

World AIDS Day December 1, 2006

All that are present
reach a hand back
to all those that passed.
You did not go in vain.

The AIDS epidemic is 25 years old. That there are people younger than that contracting AIDS still is a real failure of humanity as a global community. Many shackle our best efforts by promoting abstinence. They make much of the failure rate of condoms. But what is the failure rate of abstinence? The next time you're in a room with someone preaching the benefits of abstinence and the evils of condoms ask them: The failure rate of condoms is about 3%, what is the failure rate of abstinence? How many people here were born as a result of failed abstinence? And what kind of a back up plan does abstinence only give you? If you know how to use condoms you can still chose abstinence. But if you've been taught abstinence only, and that fails, where does that leave you? Unwantedly pregnant or sick? We deserve better.

MCC Beach Bonfire/Barbecue September 10, 2006

On a sunny Sunday afternoon the church planned a barbecue and bonfire at Crown Point on Mission Bay at 4pm. Since Crown Point is my favorite place to start roller blading around the bay, I got there at 3pm. I like roller blading around the bay because the sidewalks and bike paths are nice and wide. I like starting at Crown Point because after a nice warm up through a picnic area the path turns west towards the ocean and into the wind. When part way around the bay it's 2 short blocks over to the bike path that runs along Mission Beach. The path is real wide but you can't go fast because of all the people. But there's the ocean, the surf, surfers, beach goers, and beach volleyball to watch. At the south end of the beach the path turns in towards the bay. It's along this waterway between the ocean and the bay where I saw this boat on its way in tossing out bate or some kind of food that was attracting all the birds.

The image is a little blurry, but that's a wedding about to get under way right on the bay with sail boats going by.

After roller blading around the bay I joined the MCC beach bonfire/barbecue at Crown Point on Mission Bay.

Not far down the beach from our group, using the next firepit, another church group had backed a Ryder truck up and unloaded a whole truck load of firewood. The park closes at 10pm. They quickly realized they could never use all the wood they brought so they came over and asked us to help ourselves. Later on they just brought over more wood for us. While everyone else from MCC left before sunset, Chuck, Eddie, and I decided to stay and enjoy the bonfire. We talked, traded shots with the camera and enjoyed watching the fire dance, the sun light fade, the city lights come on, the tide come in, the bay turn to glass, and the moon come up.

Labor Day, 2006

Labor Day dawned bright and clear and turned out to be just as sunny and warm as my two previous trips to the beach this summer. After stopping at the Ibis Market for sandwiches, snacks, and drinks I headed towards the ocean. Side note: the north/south streets in my neighborhood are named after birds alphabetically. It starts with Albatross, which I used to live on, digresses from the system for B and skips C altogether, then takes up with Dove followed by Eagle, Falcon(my street), Goldfinch, Hawk, Ibis, Jackdaw, skips K in favor of Ingalls, and ends on a Lark. It occurs to me that my mother and her siblings who grew up on Eagle Street in Kankakee, Il could flee the midwest and enjoy sunny San Diego and, at the same time, come full circle and live back on Eagle Street. Though it's a lovely lane full of charming craftsman cottages, I don't think I want you all just one block away from me. But I digress.
The beach was terrific; the sand warm, the ocean cool. Adolfo and friends were nearby. Eddie showed up after fighting traffic from LA. We took a long walk up to the north end of the beach and back, stopping to chat with lots of friends along the way. As we were getting ready to hike up the bluff to our cars another friend of Eddie's stopped by and we kept talking late enough to stay and watch the sunset. I got this shot just before the sun completely slid into the sea. And, being careful not to blink, we saw the very last ray of the sun flash a bluish green before drowning beneath the waves.