We went to the Meditation Garden today.  It is one of my favorite places in the area.  It is cultivated, it is planned, it is gorgeous, it is natural, it is unnatural.  The desert meets the sea; our hands meet the earth.  There must be hundreds of kinds of plants, from ferns to cactus to daisies to pines.  There are carp and mini-waterfalls, benches and paths.  There are steps and gravel, sun and shade.  There are people meditating (some seem a bit self-conscious), drawing, reading, photographing, and, yes, chatting a bit too loudly and exuberantly, but that’s ok with me.  There are security guards (weird) and old people and young people and lovers and tourists and students.  All lovely.

We walked on the beach, too, and saw the skitterers and a godwit.  My phone camera isn’t good enough to take a really clear picture of them, though.  We collected more amazing stones, focussing on those with interesting inclusions.  The inclusions seem like poetry inserted into prose.  They are a surprise, and exclamation point, perhaps even a chuckle.  How did they get there?  What process did they interrupt, and for how long?  I wish I remembered more of the geology I studied 47 years ago!

We sat out on the patio for coffee and pastry this afternoon.  The sun was warmer than it has been for days.  We soaked it up.  All good.