Saving Starfish from Sunburn

This is my choke cherry tree on the 6th of June. Just barely past the budding stage.

Today is my mom's birthday. For her first present, I "let" her babysit Maya while I got a haircut. Then the we took her to Land's End for lunch. It was a glorious day at the end of the spit. For my far off readers, a spit is a long, fingerlike projection of land into the water, like a very skinny peninsula. It was sunny and warm out so the boys went outside to play near the water's edge while I paid the bill. By the time I got out there, they had each caught a flounder! A very nice man from Fairbanks thought he should let my boys fish with him so guess who's having flounder for dinner. (Probably not Dave Johnson from Fairbanks!) I did not have my camara with me (after all, I was only going to town to get a haircut). Luckily, Dave thought of everything, including taking pictures of the boys and grandma with their prize flounders. I will post them as soon as he emails them to me. We were talking about the wonders of modern technology and when I told Dave about our recent trip to Vietnam, he told me he had a grown child adopted from South Korea! It's amazing what you learn when you talk to "strangers" on the beach. It's as if we are all somehow connected...

When I walked up the beach to find a plastic bag for the fish, I noticed a pink starfish stranded on the rocks during lowtide. I brought it down to the water so it wouldn't get dried out. On the way back I noticed about a dozen more. I asked a local teacher who was fishing with his sons if the starfish would be okay until the tide came up. He assured me they would be fine. I couldn't help piling them up, 5 in each hand, and bringing them back to the water's edge. I wondered if I wasn't being like one of those ignorant do-gooders. I'm not sure what Amy Tan's book "Saving Fish from Drowning" is about, but it gave me a catchy title for today's blog.

As we headed off the spit toward town, I could see dark clouds over most of the bluff. I told my mom: "I don't want to go back to rain and clouds, I want to follow the sun!" We stopped at Wagon Wheel (plants and pet store) to buy crickets for our pet frog, toad and lizard. There were cute little baby walking sticks there and the boys begged me to buy some. I consented to two as long as they can co-exist with the hermit crab who buried himself and never comes out. I am maxed out on pets in aquariums. We have a third tank for the fish and snail. Maya jabbered away in the backseat between the boys, one holding the crickets, the other holding the walking sticks. I could only imagine her thoughts: in Vietnam people eat creepy crawly creatures, but in America they actually buy them and keep them for pets! As I headed up West Hill the rain was now coming down in torrential fashion, almost worthy of monsoon status. By the time I got to my house, it was turning into hail. Here is the photo to prove it.

My mom will go out with Jim tonight for grown up fun: art museum, dinner, theatre. On Sunday we will throw a big party for her, complete with barbecue and hot tubbing!

Here are the fun videos I promised you: