Dedicated To Darlene

I've been dragging my feet on this post. One of my dearest friends, Darlene, passed away last week. She was a friend I had met on my study abroad trip to Paris back in 1996. She and her husband were in the program and I got to know them both fairly well. Upon our return to the States, we still continued our friendships. Darlene did get divorced, and I was her friend through out. We've been through one another's relationships and growths and even lived together for a short period of time. She did remarry and had a daughter. About 6 years ago, she and her family moved to Atlanta so she could start a music career. She'd come to visit and I would still see her about twice a year, and we did call one another now and then. The last time I saw her was Halloween of last year, and the last phone conversation was around November. I did try to call her about a month ago because I know she was going through some medical issues, but got no response. Her mother called me on Friday to let me know she passed away. She was only 35.

Darlene was such a presence and touched everyone who knew her. I'm so happy I got to be part of her beautiful life. I couldn't be who I am today without her influence, and I am so thankful I was blessed with her friendship.

Speaking of life, I want to congratulate Shayna and her husband on the birth of her son! Conner came into the world on Monday!

Traveling the Coast

In the last week I've been going up and down central California. On Monday and Tuesday I was down in San Louis Obispo and Santa Maria for work. It's been interesting in that I have never drove around this state. The thought of a surfing safari has entered my mind, but really has materialized. As I was driving from SLO to Santa Maria, I saw the Pismo Beach Pier from the freeway. It looked very surfable, so I vowed after work I would return to get a closer look. When I came back it was so windy and blown out!

So I decided to walk around town, and maybe gain some local knowledge of this break (there were surfers about in the water, btw). While out and about I saw this cool little surf shack:

I headed home and it was completely windy the whole way. Wednesday I was in Monterey and it was still windy, although no less beautiful. A view looking towards Cannery Row and the aquarium:

Yesterday I was back home in Santa Cruz and Capitola. I went for a lovely bike ride along the seemingly deserted Westcliff. On my way home I stopped for some food... now Santa Cruz has so many public painting all over, and I'll have go around one day and photograph them, but here is just one I thought was cute:

It's the wall of a bike shop here in town. I went home and hung out with Fos.

As far as surfing goes, it was a fun week with a lot of swell. I tried to wake up to go this morning, but it was raing and I wanted to sleep in. I'm glad I did as it was pretty darn flat. More to come!

Work & Surf

For some reason my laptop won't bring up my blogger dashboard, so I haven't been able to post. Anyway, it's been a great April so far and I have been super busy at work. It seems since school has ended I have been getting home later and work a lot harder. Go figure.

The surf has been really good this past week with a nice south swell. There's an even bigger mixture of swells happening as I type. My friends and I have been having a blast and gettin' plenty of good rides. On Saturday I saw this cool truck parked by Cowells. What an awesome surfmobile!

On Easter Sunday I went to a couple of breakfasts and had a really nice time. After I got home, Natascha and I decided to clean up the front yard, which is now just screaming to us to have a BBQ. While sweeping and raking, Fos found this little guy slithering around in the dirt:

I named him Lyle. I really like the perspective of this picture! It reminds me of one those wide angle lens shots of those puppies. Well, that's it for now. I'll try to get some more writing in soon in between surfing and working