it was a delightful getaway

La Jolla was at it's finest glory while I was there. Cool mornings followed by clear, sunny days with just the lightest breeze, then long twilights. Absolutely perfect. We walked the dogs, talked, sat in the lovely white garden, met friends and had a generally all around great time. (This is just a tiny corner of the garden so you can see the lovely white blooms.)

This is the beautiful fountain against the back wall; I could hear the soothing sounds all night. Lovely.

Phemie is an "Italiophile" (?) and thus the water feature in the garden. She spent part of her Stanford college days in Florence.

Wednesday evening we drove in to San Diego for dinner with three other classmates and the woman who was our first gym teacher! Sandy has a beautiful house, an impeccably restored Craftsman-style bungalow perched on the edge of a canyon filled with eucalyptus trees.

Dinner for six.  Good food, good conversations among good friends. The best.

Thursday we did the Girard Street stroll ~ antiques, fabrics, boutiques ~ and then went to the Timkin in Balboa Park. The speaker had written a new book on Venice and was giving a lecture.

After the lecture we wandered through the galleries of the museum where Phemie is on the board. A gorgeous collection and, get this, entrance is FREE all the time. Balboa Park was jumping. Lot of music lovers, art lovers, and theatre lovers (remember the Old Globe is there) milling around in the soft, fragrant evening.

Friday we went off to the Torrey Pines Lodge Spa for a super indulgent morning. This was followed by lunch and more talk. The evening was spent watching the NewsHour ~ I was among the like-minded sane ~ then the opening ceremonies of the Olympics. I faded early and went to bed. Phemie stayed up until after midnight. I gave up when I decided there was just too much going on and I needed a road map to figure it out. Flew home Saturday afternoon, happy and full-up on fellowship for another 6 months. We'll see these folks when we stop in La Jolla on our way to Mexico.

Meanwhile, some news from el norte. Our dear Rafa, who had been repairing our fence and has been our all-around go-to guy for the household and garden work, suffered a massive stroke on Sunday a week ago and will probably not make it. We had just seen him the day before when he came to gather up his tools and scrap wood. Life is fragile, very fragile. Likewise with Marie. I talked to her daughter on Sunday who said it will be only days now until she is gone. Tell the people you love that, indeed, you love them, you cherish them, you are happy they are in your life. They could be gone at any minute.