April's Perspective

Two weeks ago my in-laws got on an airplane and disappeared across the wide blue yonder, forever away, but before they left I unloaded my sister-in-laws memory card onto computer so I'd have something to document their visit with. When people come to visit, I savor every moment, constantly reminding myself to not take a single second for granted. In the process, I neglect everything, namely taking my own pictures, but also housework, cooking, everything but showering and enjoying my company. Someday I won't be so deprived of such companionship and I'll be a good hostess again, but for now, it is what it is and I am more grateful for the visits than my visitors can imagine. So here are some of the pictures April took. She managed to snap, in six days, 224 pictures of things that I have somehow taken for granted in the day-to-day monotony of my busy life.



Everyone in this family is a gamer, so the opportunity to play games together never escapes us. This is where we all sit and argue about what we'll play and where the patriarchs of the family try to scam us all out of our money, no matter what we're playing.



These are the sea lions that are always in plain sight at Avila beach. You can hear them from the entrance to the pier and on hot days can smell them from yards away. They are so funny, barking and fighting like siblings at each other. Every time we've been there, they've been piled up on the bottom level of the pier. You can actually walk down the stairs and stand where they are lying, but they can be aggressive and will bite, so we don't ever attempt the stairs.


Here is a perfect photograph of the sweetest, most tender, most considerate, and loving man I have ever laid eyes on, in the perfect setting: the only characteristic of California life that brings him peace.

I love the fish markets, even though I am no connoisseur of fish, just because they are so typical of life on the coast and I've never seen anything like them in all of our journey. What a treasure.

These are four of the most amazing children in the universe This cool tree is at the park across the street from us. They spend hours in it playing games and climbing and sitting it. I wouldn't know that because I don't go to the park anymore since I've forgotten how to be fun, but they tell me about it and their nice aunts and relatives take them and shoot photos of them in it.

We took a drive to Jalama Beach, which is 15 miles and 45 minutes over a winding, climbing mountain trail. Just when you're ready to hang your head out the window for relief from the car sickness, the ocean in all of it's splendor appears out of nowhere and carries your troubles far away. This shows a huge pile of seaweed that has washed up in the tide and carries with it all kinds of shells and exoskeletons of crabs and various surprises. It was cold and off season when we arrived, so we had first picks of the shells and they were amazing. We all came home with pockets full.

These are the men of the family enjoying a moment together or something. How would I know? I was probably asleep in the car.




April's sentiment was the same as mine when we first arrived. She said she kept taking more and more pictures of the ocean to try and capture the beauty but just couldn't do it justice. I will post more pictures from this file, there are just too many good ones not to. Thank you, April! This post wouldn't have been nearly as cool without the pictures in it.