It’s All About Being Flexible

No, I am not talking about being a contortionist, but rather about being flexible in what we do. In December, we had planned to go cycling in the San Diego area with our cycling buddy, Ed. A couple of days before we were to depart, the wild fires that plagued parts of coastal southern California grew massively, fed by dry hot inland winds blowing towards the coast. When new fires developed just outside San Diego we decided to re-schedule. Fast forward to January, and we flexed that coastal trip into a visit with our friends, Rick and Jan from North Vancouver, who were staying in Oceanside for a couple of weeks. Rain was in the forecast, so we decided a couple of days off the bikes and on foot would be good for us.

We left on a Monday and it started to rain just as we were approaching the coast. We checked into our hotel and walked through a gentle rain shower to Rick and Jan’s place. 

Just as we settled in to enjoy their fire pit at the beach, the rain really picked up. Another change of plans and we were off to enjoy dinner out together. 

With Rick and Jan at their fire pit

It rained heavily through the night, with the storm taking out a power substation leaving our hotel and about 1500 buildings without power for a few hours Tuesday morning. 

Storm coming in, Monday evening 

Tuesday morning, we met Rick and Jan at the train station to head to San Diego. It rained enroute, but most of the day we only had intermittent showers while we walked all around Old Town. It poured while we were in for lunch, then again later in the afternoon when we popped into a brew pub for a beverage. Again, no rain while we walked back to the station, steady rain on the train back to Oceanside, and pouring rain once more through the night. We were pretty impressed that despite getting 3 inches of rain while at the coast, it’s coming and going really had no significant impact on our trip. 

Bird of Paradise blossoms in San Diego

Wednesday morning, however, the news was full of stories about the storm’s impact on some communities.  We looked outside to see that the parking lot across from our hotel was flooded. Terrible mudslides hit San Bernadino and Montecito where the December wild fires, the largest in California’s history, had burned off the vegetation and baked the ground. When these heavy rains fell, the run-off was dramatic, leading to the damaging, and fatal, mudslides. We were relieved that we only had to deal with a temporary power outage! 

Rough water Wednesday morning after the storm

Western Gull on guard duty, Oceanside pier

This passed Sunday, we were invited to join some friends to watch polo at the Eldorado Polo Club. This meant that our usual long Sunday bike ride had to be flexed into a shorter, faster ride so we could get to polo on time. It pays to know people as our hosts knew someone who had a corporate tent that wasn’t booked, so they let Mike and MJ have use of it. We felt like the rich and famous as we comfortably watched the matches from under the shade on an afternoon when the temperature reached over 80F (over 26C).  Oh, and it goes without saying that there was lots of good food to enjoy. 

As long as the ball is inside the red barrier,
it remains in play. The horses can come over the barrier (blue rider #2), so there is about a 10 yard buffer zone
between the barrier and the spectators.

So where’s the flexibility here? Well, a polo field is 300 yards by 160 yards, with an area equivalent to approximately 9 US sized football fields. A couple of weeks ago, we were cycling by and noticed that a massive field lacrosse tournament was being held on the polo fields. I don’t know how many games they had going at once, but there seemed to be lacrosse players as far as the eye could see, with many of the polo fields each converted into multiple lacrosse fields.

Lacrosse tournament. 

Our house, here, has two bedrooms, no den. What is a poor nerd like me to do without a place to have a desk to “work” at? I mean, really, my dad brought home a school desk for me to work at (puzzles, plasticine, colouring, etc.) before I even started school! I was frustrated to have my desk here crammed between the bed and the window in the second bedroom. This was practically making me apoplectic! I tried out all sorts of different room configurations, made little scale drawings with sofa beds, day beds, no beds. Nothing seemed to be the solution I was looking for. Finally, when my sister was here last year, we searched the internet until we found the perfect solution: a Murphy bed that is desk by day, and bed by night. The great news was, that there is a Murphy bed store in the area that can build this model! I was one excited and delighted nerd!!

It was too late in the season to have the piece ordered, built, and installed before we left, so I arranged to have it ready for installation in late November.  Much to my wallet’s relief, the mattress from our existing guest bed fit in the Murphy bed; it was almost too thick, but it fits just fine and makes for a very comfortable bed. 

 It took the boys almost 4 hours to do the installation.

I now have  a study here! I am the happiest nerd I know!!! Just like at home, I share my study with the dogs as that is where they have their beds and stay at night or when we are out. I have my space, the dogs have their space, and Sandy is more than happy to have us out of her space!

The desk stays parallel to the floor through the transition from desk to bed, which takes less than 30 seconds.

Even Rockie has been working on her flexibility. Why wander all the way down the hall to her bed when she can find another space to make herself perfectly comfortable?

So there you have it. Kate and Sandy, and the dogs, working on their flexibility in retirement. I just don’t know why the city works department couldn’t show some flexibility when they were doing a major drainage project that turned part of the road into a rather impressive trench.

Really?!?!?