Summer Days at the Beach

The past two days I've taken the dog to Stinky Beach. Although a bit more stinky than Lighthouse Field Beach, it has all-day off leash hours and is practically empty late morning-ish. There are tide pools, long stretches of beach and tons of rocks to climb on. It's only 1.5 miles from our house so it's very walkable. I am so happy to have discovered this! (Jake apparently knew about this but for some reason I thought it had the same restrictive hours as other beaches - and those are too crowded for Turnip to act reasonably.)

Having way too much fun (ok, there's no such thing for a dog):

Must do some splorin':


Drying off by rolling around in the sand:
Ok, time to go home and get a bath.

Reminiscing

One year ago today we were half way through the road trip, hanging out in northern Michigan:Two years ago (to the day) in Venice!

































I wish we were traveling this summer.....

Sunday Picnic and Fall Schedule

On Sunday, Jake, Turnip and I went to Berkeley for a vegetarian picnic/potluck. We met some new people, ate a bunch of food (including too much sugar) and got into a couple dog fights. All is well and I was particularly impressed with how friendly strangers are in Berkeley. Compared to the uptightness of people living in Santa Cruz, it was very refreshing to be around genuinely nice people. After the picnic in the park, we walked a few more blocks to visit some friends who recently moved from Santa Cruz to Berkeley. And we ate some more there.

On another note, I recently received my fall schedule. It looks like I start on September 4th and I have classes Monday (at 7:00am!) and Friday afternoon. On Mondays after class I will be tutoring for what's called PLTL - Peer Led Team Leading. It's basically a mandatory tutor session for first year students and meets right after their lecture. I will be leading a group of 5-10 students. Since I loved my PLTL leaders from last year, I thought I could contribute back by becoming a leader myself. Plus I will get paid. My clinicals will be Wednesday and Thursday evenings which I'm particularly happy about because I won't have to wake up at 4:30 a.m. all semester. For the first half of the semester we will be doing mental health nursing and the second half will be medical-surgical nursing (similar to our first semester of first year). I'm going through the emotional stages already about fall classes - panic, anxiety and dread for most of June but now I'm starting to get excited!

Beautiful Day!

Today was the first nice day in awhile (low 70's, breezy, clear) and I thought I would celebrate it by going for a hike with Turnip and my friend Jen. We went to the Pogonips (next to the UCSC campus and very close to our house) which has many trails to keep it interesting every time. What's cool about this place is that the landscape changes often - from forest to field to abandoned historic buildings - and the view encompasses the entire Monterey Bay. It was clear enough today to see the mountains behind the town of Monterey.

This is my lovely friend Jen (with view of ocean):

And the trail before it hits the forest. It is sooooooo dry right now. In the winter this is all green.And of course, the after hike snack as Turnip dozed:

The Perfect Sandwich

Ok, a sandwich has to be pretty good for me to want to spend 30 minutes taking pictures of it, uploading those pictures, choosing the best picture of the bunch and then writing a paragraph about it. I think this sandwich deserves it though!

I grilled some marinated zucchini and eggplant (lemon juice, balsamic vinegar, olive oil, pepper, lots of crushed garlic) on my indoor grill pan and tucked it inside some homemade rosemary foccacia with pistachio-lemon pesto (made it up on the spot - basil from garden, pistachios, lemon juice, garlic, salt, pepper, a little olive oil), mayo and one sliced cherry tomato (all I had was one!). It was then pressed to an inch of its life.

The veggies came out perfect - the eggplant meltingly soft without being oily and the zucchini retaining a slight crunch. The pistachios also gave the sandwich a little crunch and it was all lemony from the marinade and pesto. Jake would have dumped a bunch of Parmesan on his, but I like to keep mine fresh tasting. The zucchini and basil were from the garden and the eggplant from the farmer's market. The eggplant lately has been fantastic without the slightest hint of bitterness. I think I've been spending a small fortune on it. This is the second time in two days I've made this meal. I've never been able to resist a roasted/grilled veggie sandwich, and this is better than any I've had in a restaurant.

What happens when you have multi-purpose kitchen appliances

You forget to change the plates from 'waffle' to 'griddle' before preheating it and you're stuck make a waffle-ized sandwich. Not too bad though - peanut butter, apricot jam and banana on whole wheat.

Wearing sweaters and moving to Canada

Ok, we're not really moving to Canada, but it is very tempting after watching the movie Sicko yesterday afternoon. The content was amazing and I think his best film so far. It was heart wrenching, funny, full of great information and really entertaining. Go see it!!

In terms of wearing sweaters, it's so cold here as the rest of the country swelters! It's overcast and 61 degrees today (and gets down into the 50's at night). I've been wearing a sweater for two days and wool hats when walking Turnip. And by no means is she happy about all this - she just lives for sleeping in her sun patches all afternoon. She was giving us this look today that seemed to blame us for the crummy weather. However, I'm glad I'm not where it's humid and and in the 90's. I hope everyone else is finding ways to stay cool!

Unhappy and bored dog (today):
















What she'd rather be doing (hanging out by the garden - picture from last week):

Summertime Treats

Here are the first cherry tomatoes. The plant is currently out of control and we'll be seeing a lot more where this came from. These first two were delicious!





And this is one of our favorite summer salads - watermelon, mint and feta doused in lime juice with a bit of pepper. I could eat this everyday during the summer.....

For Marilyn!

Happy 4th of July everyone!

Didn't even notice

We had an earthquake today. I was knitting and didn't even notice until Jake pointed it out. It didn't even wake Turnip up - usually she will bark before one happens. Some warning dog she is!

Hmmmm....

I just saw someone fishing at Westlake Pond with Velveta cheese.

Do fish like cheese?

First Post, Middle of the Summer

Here is our new blog to keep you updated on all the fascinating things we're doing in Santa Cruz. Turnip seems to have a particularly active lifestyle and we'll be sure to update you on all her adventures.

So far this summer:

• Turnip got skunked (still dealing with the smell when her head gets wet)
• she developed allergies and is now on 3 medications
• I went to Michigan for 10 days
• I was in a coma for 3 days after my nursing final
  
• I'm working about 50 hours a week (mostly overnights)
• Jake is teaching Environmental Ethics
• he joined then quit a softball team before the first game
• I've been walking Turnip 3-4 miles every day
• I've started and have not finished 3 knitting projects
• The garden looks very promising
• My grandpa went into the hospital but is now fine (from what everyone tells me)
• Pat and Gary sent us a great package from their trip to Portland
• We're re-watching all the seasons of the fantastic Canadian show Trailer Park Boys

So, here's a start and check back soon for I hope to post at least a couple times a week.

Alana