Venice Beach

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(The Master’s College)

I wanted to go see the landslides at Malibu, so that’s where Bob and I headed this morning….and ended up at Venice Beach. (It’s south of Malibu about 20 miles)

It was warm enough that we didn’t put on a jacket even in the morning, and got up to 94 degrees before the day was over. We sat on the beach and watched the surfers in the morning, and then after lunch we walked the beach, and found a whole lot going on…I’ll include pictures. ALL kinds of people..we learned that it’s one of the more liberal beaches. I didn't get pictures of the vendors along the sidewalk, but they were in tents, side by side. On the other side of the sidewalk were the small shops, packed in side by side. There wasn't any wasted space! Sometimes there'd be apartment buildings wedged between the shops, but no empty space. There was also street entertainment ~~ artists, tatooers (?), a man who walked on broken glass, singers, a man on a humungus pogo stick~~lots of things. And solid people. But there wasn't pushing, or rudeness. Between the sidewalk and the beach was a trail for roller-blading, skateboards, and bikes. This sidewalk/street area was probably two miles long. Amazing how things work around here! We had such a fun time, just walking and looking. We'd stop and watch the entertainment, or watch an artist, and then just wander. And then we walked all the way back on the beach.

Before we came home, we drove up to Malibu, and we did see the hillslides~~kind of hard not to. We always thought people were silly for building on the hillsides, but one thing we didn’t understand is that there just aren’t many places to build that aren’t on the slope. None of us realized how many mountains there are in California. Some people built in just plain ridiculous places, but mostly these mountains are not well grounded. By that I mean in many locations they’re just huge piles of dirt. And there’s nothing to stabilize them. With this many people, they have to build somewhere.

Sunday morning we had intended to go to sunrise service, but alas, the hour came and went with us not there. We did go to an incredible service later. This was the first year I can remember that I didn’t dye Easter eggs, or make Easter baskets. Even if none of the kids made it home, we still did it. I missed not doing it this year, and was really lonesome for the little ones. Really lonesome.

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Photos

Venice Beach
I laughed at what people wore into the water~~it may have started out as shorts and a shirt, or jeans and a shirt, but then ended up as swimwear! Lots of people were realistic and began with swimsuits, but lots were not.

Notice the sailboats on the horizon?
Later in the day they spread out more, but in the morning they hung together. There were a lot of surfers that day.

One spot along the beach,
between the vendor sidewalk, and the water, had a large basketball area~~there must have been four or five teams playing, as well as several teams of two or three. One spot had guys playing, and when they'd take the ball to the other end of the court, two guys would go out and shoot hoops in the basket. They weren't together, but they were both using the same basket. When the team went to that end, the guys went to the sidelines! Notice the people on the playground behind them...people climbing hanging ropes, people climbing poles, using the hanging rings to do gymnastics. Lots of people doing lots of things, without any written rules, and yet everyone seemedd to be enjoying themselves. What a concept!

See the surfer?
I was going to discard this picture, but I really like it.

Isn't some of this stuff illegal???
There were several shops that sold these, and they all had signs that said "For tobacco use only." Yeah, I'll bet.

These two sculls were skimming along,
and then one tipped. We watched for a long time, and there didn't seem to be a panick, but neither did they both get going at the same time. It was hard to tell what was going on, because they were so far out.

Then a lifeboat showed up
and the lifeguard stayed in this position for several minutes, and then both boats were upright.

This is how the story ended.
Is it just me, or does this man not seem real pleased?

I've been lots of colors,
but avoided this combo! Doesn't he look (wait, it may have been a she) like someone you saw on tv, with a sign, standing in a crowd of people?

Comments

[Patti]

I'm positive that those little ones miss you too. And we miss you too!!!

[Patti]

Oh yap, I forgot!
If building on the hillsides is the only place for them to build, I'll pray harder for them, I'd rather all those people stay in California because we are already too crowded in Montana!!!!

[Danielson]

I hear what you're saying.
It must be the weather that keeps them living on the mountainsides.

[Lisa]

beautiful pics!! we miss you VERY much