late post

i started this blog post BEFORE i went to stitches but didn't get a chance to post it. the post is just a bit of eye candy from our trip to monterey at the beginning of february. hubby has an annual conference there every year. i love the monterey/pacific grove area. the whole historic area of the canneries speaks to me-despite all the modernization-i can still see and feel the old Steinbeckian "cannery row." i enjoy walking the streets of cannery row letting steinbeck's stories and memories flood back to me.

once a working cannery the monterey canning company now houses shops and the local starbucks.

liam and i had a great time cruising around town on our bikes. wow-no hills!!!

i'm a big ed ricketts(steinbecks buddy) fan- i love him. if you want to know more about ed i encourage you to read "about ed ricketts" by john steinbeck. it can be found at the front of steinbeck's "the log from the sea of cortez" book.

a memorial statue stands at the site of ed's deadly car wreak back in 1948. the statue is always adorned with fresh flowers. you can check out my old post about ed ricketts here.

lover's point-a great place for thought.

we were fortunate to watch 3 sea otters play and feed. diminishing numbers of otters make this a special occasion!!!!

being a lover of color and a dyer of fiber-i am always seeing things with a "dyers" eye. wanting to recreate things i have seen-such as these sea anemones in a tide pool.

while the boys were out on a bike ride- i walked along the beach. it was a beautiful late afternoon- full moon in a tide pool.

tranquility

monterey has the best thrift stores.

new altar boy shoes!!! a skirt for st. paddy's day, a skein of handspun yarn for a dollar,
and 4 awesome tops. score score score!!!!

pacific grove is a cute little town next to monterey. i love the little houses. this particular house had some awesome recycled garbage art adorning it. check out the jelly fish.

and the soda can flowers!

on our last day we went to the carmel mission. the california missions have a beauty all their own.

raised as a catholic the imagery and art work was beautiful to me.

there was a small museum but this piece really freaked me out- the confessional. something i always dreaded as child.

scary huh?

there was a flock of scottish blackfaced sheep at the historic ranch next to the mission.-the fiber looked divine. unfortunately they didn't sell it-or maybe that was a good thing:)

get away!

i just returned from a quick trip to pacific grove. i was fortunate to accompany hubby on a business trip. He was attending the ecofarm conference at asilomar. fabulous!!!! i love little get a ways with my man! especially to the coast. we always stay at borg's motel, right on lovers point:)

here's the view right out our motel door.

there are little beaches and a long trail that goes in both directions. you can walk to cannery row! i was enjoying the view when all of a sudden:

some eejit decides to eat their breakfast right in my view!!! yes, i could see them clearly- adding half and half to their coffee, letting the dog join them at the table, etc. total bummer. luckily it was only 2 hour parking and they did not extend their stay. i did manage to finish my thuja socks knit from orange flower yarn waiting for their departure. i used size 3 needles- my favorite for socks these days!

then i realized- OMG! the only other knitting project i brought was lace. nothing wrong with that but i can't knit lace with other folks around. i need something basic. like socks. an addictive knitter without a project is like a junkie without smack. you just gotta have it. my fingers were itching and beginning to sweat. my stomach was beginning to tighten. withdrawal symptoms were setting in. clearly the only thing to do was get a fix. forgetting my oath, i got my fix at 529 central avenue.

a skein of madeline tosh dk-settled my nerves and i quickly cast on 44 stitches and started another sock- i can quit anytime i want, really!

there's so much groovy history in the area that really fascinates me. remember our trip last fall? you all learned about my interest in Steinbeck and my fondness for Ed Rickets-. well, on our last night in pacific grove i was laying in bed looking at the local "things to do" rag and something grabbed my attention immediately. Ed Ricketts' Pacific Biological labratory was to be opened to the public!! a dream come true for me. i've seen the outside of his lab many times on Cannery Row- and always wanted to get inside.

they were giving hourly tours all day. there's no way i could miss this event . bare with me friends; i just gotta share some of the tour with you.

i entered into the living room area.


unfortunately none of this stuff is Ed's. the list of folks that used to hang out with Ed is quite amazing(Henry Miller and Joesph Campbell to name a few-and all the colorful locals!!!)-wish i could have been a fly on the wall! we were fortunate to have Frank Wright at the tour- he actually knew Ed back in the day and he told us stories.

That's Frank on the right. on the left is Michael Hemp author of "Cannery Row- the History of John Steinbeck's Old Ocean Avenue." we own that book-if i would have i was going to meet him i would have brought it for him to sign.

Author Scrap Lundy was also there.

i had to get his book, "Real Life on Cannery Row."

i can't wait to reread Cannery Row and then read Scrap's book. he researched for ten years to find out the truths behind Steinbeck's Cannery Row. here's more photos of the tour:

snacks were provided. too bad i just had a huge breakfast! here's Frank sharing more stories.

next we went out to the back of the lab. This piece of equipment was what Ed used to render shark liver oil.

the next photo was taken at the end of the pier looking towards the back of the laboratory.


next we got to go down below where Ed gassed cats and other "sciencey" things to get specimens ready to mail out. guess you'll have to read the book(s) if you don't know what i'm talking about. these filing drawers are supposedly the real deal- i just had to touch them! i'm such a geek!

if we hadn't had to hit the road i would have stayed all day-the folks putting on the tour are awesome! their love and passion for Ed, Pacific Biological Laboratories, Steinbeck and Cannery Row is phenomenal. they will be offering more tours in the future so check their website if you will be in the area. One more photo in honor of Ed. courtesy

it was a whirl wind trip but so worth it. i had a wonderful time. the ocean replenishes my soul.

i forgot- here's a piece on NPR for you listening pleasure!

central coast: part one

haven't been able to post recently as wooly and the family have been gallivanting around. pops got some time off work and we decided to camp the central coast. we decided to head to the salinas valley first-here's our favorite early morning coffee/tea/ gotta go porta john stop before you hit sacramento. this little blue closet has saved us many a time-there's even toilet paper in it.

being that we were headed to steinbeck country we thought it appropriate to listen to this book on tape during the many many hours we'd be traveling in the car. glad i remembered to check it out of the library.

there was something wrong with our tape player- it was speeding up the tape so that it sounded like we were being read to by david sedaris with touch of munchkin. trippy! it took a while to get used to but we we eventually got used to the helium induced voices. Come to think of it i think David should get a gig reading the classics for audio books. can't you just hear him reading jane austin or dickens! maybe i need to contact him.

we saw so much of california's agricultural land-it went perfect with the book.

we made it all the way to salinas and thought it appropriate to have a picnic at the public library. the truth of the matter: everyone was hungry and cranky and we couldn't find a place to eat our packed lunch after blindly driving around town we stumbled upon the library.

the lunch was eaten heartily and we didn't even mind the wet sprinkler grass:

i needed to check out the library-WOW! it was swarming with patrons-this town loved it's library-awesome! i checked out the steinbeck section. Impressive.

both sides! i found my favorite steinbeck-

cannery row-i know how original. but it is. i just love that book. must admit i'm a bit smitten with ed ricketts who is portrayed as "doc" in the book. He's a fascinating person and i would have loved hanging out with him in his lab. i started reading "the log from the sea of cortez" and there is an excellent bit called" about ed ricketts" by steinbeck in the beginning. something he wrote after ed's horrible accident which killed him in 1948.

i could have stayed there all day. but we had other things on the agenda. next stop:

wonderful place for any steinbeck lover. i took tons of pics inside but i don't want to be the annoying person showing you 50 million pictures from their vacation that you really don't want to see...i can hear the yawns starting already! plus-if you've never been, i'd hate to spoil it for you. i did think the publishing penguin time-line was cool. back into the car; the journey continued......