Laguna Beach

The poor, neglected blog! I better stop going out of town, so that I can give my blog some much needed love and attention! In case you wondered, I have returned from Laguna Beach. We enjoyed two beautiful days. The first day, we got to visit some really nice galleries. We also saw the Pageant of the Masters. I had never heard of it before. Here is the story, slightly abbreviated. Laguna Beach has always been an artist's colony. During the Great Depression, the residents of Laguna Beach needed to find another way to draw people from L.A. So they came up with this Pageant. It is all volunteers, which I think is pretty darn impressive. They re-create famous paintings and sculptures using real human beings!!! This is called a tableaux vivant (another thing I just learned. Amazing how you can live forty years and still discover all this stuff you never knew before!) It became so popular that they finally built a permanent outdoor amphitheater for the Pageant. There is also a local art festival right outside the Pageant. It is a really high quality festival, with a lot of wonderful art. Unfortunately, you cannot bring cameras into the amphitheater, so I can't show you one single photograph of the Pageant itself. In fact, I took a photo right before we were going into the amphitheater, and they made me check my camera!!!



The second day of the Laguna visit, we drove down to San Onofre to do some surfing. My friend's daughter is just learning how to surf, so at least I didn't feel like I was going to be embarrassed at my surfing abilities. The thing that is really exciting is that I managed to catch the very first wave I paddled for, and had a great ride!!! What a wonderful feeling! It had been at least four years since I last surfed, so I was happy to be able to enjoy myself. We stayed at the beach all day, and I caught enough waves to reassure myself that I can still surf. We even managed to get my friend's daughter standing up on a couple of waves, so all in all, it was a good day of surfing. My husband and I ride longboards, so the waves are not usually big curling waves. The best part about long boards, in my opinion, is that the crowds are typically nice and mellow. Most of the surfers are there to have fun, and you aren't going to have to fight for a ride on a wave. The short board spots can often have a lot of aggressive surfers with no manners, who seem to think they are the only ones who should be able to ride waves. This behavior is called "localism." It's something that seems to be accepted in the surfing world, and I find it intolerable. Selfishness of any kind makes me want to puke. I am happy to paddle out on my long board and enjoy the day without all that stupid surfer attitude. Who needs it?

I finally managed to get myself back in the studio yesterday, and I am anxious to paint again today. Hopefully, some new paintings will be posted soon!!