Inching toward Normal times

April 10

It's been quite a literary week for me. Both my book groups met up this past week. On Wednesday evening we had an incredibly robust discussion on Zoom. Our selection, The Friend, sparked opinions and musings from everyone, each weighing in from their unique perspective. The book reads like a memoir, but it's a work of fiction covering themes of love, loss, relationships, pet dogs, writers, and the craft of writing. There's much philosophizing and analysis. The Zoom platform kept us disciplined - one speaker at a time - - sticking to the topic. Our next meeting in May will be like normal times at Leslie's home. We'll all be fully inoculated so we'll be sharing potluck contributions, and chatting unmasked. 

I met up with my other group (all fully vaccinated) in a garden under the shade of mature oaks to discuss the biography of Edward S. Curtis. He was a famous photographer of American Indians, and contributed significantly to our knowledge of native traditions. Our discussion was mellow, but it was great to see everyone in this period of transitioning toward normal.

This week I started reading Barack Obama's A Promised Land. I'm loving it. It's surprisingly accessible, and full of stuff that re-affirms my admiration for this remarkable individual that we were fortunate enough to have as a leader for eight years.

April 13

Good and bad news characterizes this phase of the pandemic. Now there's more supply than demand of vaccines. Discussions about when we can expect to reach herd immunity excite us. California may arrive there in mid-June to July. While daily new infections in the US are on a slow rise, California's trend remains good. 

Distressing news is a constant. Today the Johnson and Johnson vaccine has been paused in the US. The first roadblock in the vaccination process since the Biden administration turned the pandemic situation around in the country. Six cases of blood clotting, including a death and a hospitalization is under review to determine linkage to the vaccine. The impact on the US isn't huge, since the government has secured adequate mRNA vaccines for all adult Americans. Europe and South Africa, which also paused use of the J&J vaccine, can't afford any more hurdles after the AstraZeneca headaches.

Overall though, things are looking up. Yesterday (April 12), for the first time in 14 months, Daryl and I spent the entire day on the road. We hoped to capture some of the exhilarating experience we'd had in 2019 on a loop that took us past Ojai through the rugged Wheeler Gorge landscape, the unspoiled Sespe, and then across an agricultural stretch before heading west on Soda Lake Road to the Carrizo Plains. A wet winter two years ago resulted in an explosion of wildflowers carpeting the landscape. Of course, the meagre rain this past winter kept our expectations low. Still, the scarcity of poppies and lupines and total absence of desert blooms astonished us. Clumps of flowering ceonothis on mountain slopes offered some satisfaction, but the already colorless landscape was dispiriting. Nevertheless, the drive out of town marked a change in our psyche. A signifier of a change from a year ago.

Sespe Wilderness as seen from Highway 33

Soda Lake Road is a narrow, unpaved road and for quite a long stretch the landscape is barren. Tumbleweeds provide the main entertainment. Then patches of white appear (salt pans). In a wet year the desert blooms would be at their peak in April. We ate our picnic lunch (focaccia, avocado, cheese, salad, fruit) at what would have been the heart of the area's beauty.

Salt Pan - Carrizo Plains

We gazed at the beige hills framing the plains, willing them to turn bright yellow like we'd seen them on our previous trip. We discerned hints of yellow and a bleak telegraphing of many months of fire threat in store.

The drive west to Santa Margarita was remarkably windy with steep climbs and descents. A coffee stop at the sleepy hamlet jolted our spirits for the simple reason that it was the first time in over a year that we were consuming coffee from a cafe. We were back in the world of people!

We hit the highway, crossed Cuesta Grade and exited at Shell Beach for gas and cake from our favorite Deli. Lemon bars and more coffee deserved to be enjoyed with a seaview. On this fine sunny day there were tons of people of all ages around us, but we were completely relaxed a safe distance away on a park bench with an unobstructed view of the blue expanse and iconic cliffs. 

Next, we headed to Pismo Beach. It's become quite the la-di-da beach town, thrumming with visitors. 

Pismo Beach Pier

We strolled to the end of the finely constructed pier, took in the views and then the wide stretch of sandy beach tempted us. It was low tide too and since we'd been in the car all day, a long, long walk in this gorgeous setting was the obvious way to round off our day's excursion.

Our minds are already on the post-pandemic future. Plans for the summer of 2022 already in nascent stages.