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Working, at the beach

David and Michelle have known each other for about eleven months. Fast friends, inseparable but for the fact that Michelle moved away and has returned for a visit. We're at Windandsea Beach, down in La Jolla. Michelle lost all her teeth due to cancer, from which she's now, thank God, in remission. She's got the laugh of a survivor, that on top of the world feeling that comes from defeating an enemy that should have taken you down. The laugh that knows that next time, you might not be so lucky. I'm a day out from an aborted root canal, in between mega doses of Advil and Tylenol. Extraction in my future. How lucky I am, nothing but a bad tooth to fret about. There are photo shoots up and down this stretch of beach. A couple's engagement, two different families, and me. I've been approaching people all day, and everyone's playing. David and Michelle, Evan the skateboarder/surfer/lifeguard, a young couple down at Point Loma who posed for me on the cliff. When I returned to them, her eves were closed, and she was leaning on his shoulder, lovingly. I put my finger to my lips so he wouldn't wake her, and I grabbed some more shots. Hudson the dog, at Pannikin’s. Teetee the dog. Another dog whose name I forget, maybe Roxie. Scotty the Painta at Sunset Cliffs. Three ladies on a bench.

We’re on Day Six of Seven down at the Aviara Resort in Carlsbad, courtesy of Piper Wood of Hand in Paw Rescue. In the ten years since founding her small organization, Piper has saved over 5000 animals from around the world, from the worst of situations. She’s rehabilitated them and found them forever loving homes. I’ve been using the time to work on my business, photograph the Golden Knights, and drive up to LA for the failed root canal. There’s a gas grill mere steps away, and it goes up to 850F. I’ve never used a gas grill before, as I’m a wood burning lump charcoal kind of guy. But it’s here, so I take it for a spin. Chuck steak and turkey legs on the first night. Not bad! Friends are dropping by on Tuesday, so I crank it up to 850F and take a stab at ribeyes. I’m hobbled by not having my temperature probe. The one from Vons doesn’t make the grade. It hits a temp then doesn’t come back down. So I rely on feel and instinct to not ruin the steaks, and sure enough, I don’t. Chicken legs, so so. Next night, corn catastrophe, despite low temp. Inside, I wreck the broccoli. And the potatoes. I give up for the night and avert starvation somehow. Watermelon, grapes, Advil, Tylenol. Mostly, I never leave the villa. Two trips to the grocery store. A walk to the pool. Zoom meetings and phone calls. Early to bed, early to rise means you don’t wake up tired.

And on the seventh day God ended His work which He had done, and He rested on the seventh day from all His work which He had done. Then God blessed the seventh day and sanctified it, because in it He rested from all His work which God had created and made.

On the seventh day, we packed our bags, loaded the cars, and descended from Aviara to continue our work back home. Soon, another adventure begins. Keep your eye on that eastbound plane. I’ll be writing you next from New York City.

If You Could Live Forever

If you could live forever, would you? What if you could be Forever Young?