It’s a hot day, beautiful, the sky is cobalt blue, the air is actually clear and you can see the mountains…it’s glorious in fact, and I spent the morning down on Venice beach surfing for the first time ever. Shan’t be the last, it was fantastic! I have mastered getting in and out of a wetsuit (even that was hard), lying on the board and drifting, and sitting on the board and drifting, and hanging onto the board while mostly in the water and bringing my feet up on the other side of the board…a good days work I think! I still got pounded a bit by the waves, and inhaled a bit too much water…cause all kidding aside, surfing is damned hard work and I came nowhere near anything close…you have to wait on the right wave, when it’s coming up behind you paddle like hell lying straight out on the board, then at the right moment lift yourself up by your arms and bring your feet up under you in one quick fluid movement…ha! Damn difficult, and requiring more upper body strength than I currently possess I believe, I did make it to my knees once or twice at the exact right moment and without tipping over, and rode the wave all the way in to the beach and that was marvelous, like flying on top of the water, and I understand the zen rush it must be to be standing…hope to go at least once more before I leave, so perhaps I’ll make it to my feet!

So now I’m happily lazily exhausted, my shoulders sore, arms tired, and it’s off to work on the house…imagine I shall be unhappily exhausted by the end of the day, so i wanted to capture some of the exhiliration and happy contentment i’m feeling right now, life is so fucking good in spite of everything, I’m so glad to be intensely alive.