What Else I Did On My Summer Vacation

Tom and I drove up the coast to Sea Ranch. There was a little store by the gas station in Valley
Ford––The Wool Mill––that sold things made of wool. Bedding, clothing, rugs, cupcakes.

Tom only took four computers on vacation this time. I took my watercolors instead of my
computer and painted like crazy.

We entered the woods.

We walked along the trail that runs for ten miles by the ocean.

The Sea Ranch Lodge is a very nice place to stay. But we had to stay in a house because Tom
wanted to cook.

There was jazz Thursday night at the lodge. The singer reminded me a little bit of
Mose Allison.

Being that I had dug my swim suit out for Lake Tahoe, I took it along to Sea Ranch as well.
Tom came up with an old swim suit, too. Most days we were the only ones at the pool
and sauna. The pool's heated by those solar panels you can see at the bottom left of the photo.

I love the colors in the dressing rooms.

There's a tiny sauna for women at the top of the steps. There's a
bigger one for girls and boys downstairs, and that's the one we used.

This is the house where we stayed. There's a great little shop in Gualala
that sells Marimekko, and Tom bought me a new dress.

And don't faint, but here's my new Marimekko apron. I wear it not to cook in, but to clean up
after other people cook––and to paint in.

We did miles of walking. Here's a poem the Cricket read to me about walking when we were
at Lake Tahoe.

On our very last day it rained. We hadn't seen or heard rain in so long, we were stunned. 

When I texted msmasmushly about the rain, she wrote back, "Oooooooh - fireplace going?"
Is she not a genius? Tom immediately built a fire and I texted back, "Of course!"

Lots of watercoloring done by the end of the week.

Back home again on our own beach. Tell me again: Why did we go on vacation?