November 29th: Where did November go?

Kelp piles on Swami's beach

 

Now that Fall is here, the ocean takes on a different level. I guess it has to do with the sun being lower on the horizon. As I showed in an earlier blog, a lot of sand gets sucked off the beaches, leaving a lot of little round rocks. In addition, when the winds and tides are just right, a lot of kelp piles up on the beach just past the point at Swami's. The current comes down from the north, hits the point, the water wraps around the point and dumps floating kelp, that has broken loose, onto the beach. There are some pretty big piles of kelp. The kelp, once on shore, is an important food source for birds, insects, invertebrates. and other animals.

Kelp air bladders

Kelp air bladder
 perfect for popping

There are a lot of scattered kelp air bladders on the beach. When the kelp is rooted to the ocean floor, the air bladders keep the kelp floating to the surface under the water. When the air bladders wash up on the beach, it's fun to pop them by stepping on them. It's kind of like popping bubble wrap. I don't know why it's fun to step on them and hear them pop, it just is!

I found a wonderful site that talks about the kelp and the animals that benefit from it. There are great pictures and information about each animal and algae. When snorkeling at La Jolla I wished I'd had an underwater camera. Turns out I didn't need one. I had seen many bright orange California state marine fish, the Garibaldi, kelp bass, green sea anemones, sea lions, harbor seals, bat stars and various crabs. All are pictured at this site. Cabrillo Marine Aquarium Display  It was fun to see the pictures and read about what I saw when snorkeling.

It also seems like there are more birds. I love watching the small sanderlings. They run in and out with the waves. They are really fun to watch. They are usually kind of skittish but I was able to get a couple videos.

Turkey ready for baking

Matt found an interesting turkey recipe on the New York Times site. He showed it to me and I was very interested. It first involved "spatchcocking" a turkey. Never heard the term, but the video showed you just cut the back bone out so the turkey can lay flat on a baking dish. Then you brine the turkey in salt and buttermilk for 48 hours. Then bake it.

We decided to try a test bird. The same chef has a chicken recipe using the same process. It was two weeks before Thanksgiving so it wasn't like we'd preempt Thanksgiving. We made the chicken and it was excellent! 

We had planned to go to Rebecca's house in Studio City for Thanksgiving. But given the surge in the coronavirus, all recommendations were to avoid travel. We decided we could Facetime and enjoy the holiday without adding to the coronavirus mess. Rebecca is an excellent cook so we knew she would still have a good dinner. She decided to do the chicken recipe and we watched a movie together on Facetime.

Our dinner turned out great. The turkey exceeded our expectations. I will never cook a turkey any other way. Here is the site in case you are interested. Samin Nosrat's Brined Turkey recipe

In addition to the turkey, Wendy made three bean salad, broccoli, cranberries cooked with apples, stuffing, mashed potatoes and Wendy's made from scratch pumpkin pie. It was a great feast!

Stuffing, bean salad, mashed potatoes and cranberry dish

Wendy's made from scratch pumpkin pie

Rebecca was very pleased with her chicken. She also was amazed at how good it was.

I had also been continuing my expansion of places to hike. The Cabrillo National Monument is one of my favorite places to visit in San Diego. The point is a high mountain at the entrance to San Diego Harbor. 

San Diego Bay History

Cabrillo ocean front trail

The west side of the mountain goes almost straight down to the ocean. There is a beautiful walking trail that winds along the shoreline providing some spectacular views of the waves breaking on the rocks.

One of several ravines 

Lighthouse in the distance

Interesting erosion

The view on the left is looking up from the ocean. If you look closely, you'll see a tiny point in the picture. That is a lighthouse at the top of the mountain. The view below is the same lighthouse from the east side top of the mountain.

Because it is getting cooler, (40 degrees this morning) I decided I better order some sweat shirts. I didn't bring any from Florida because I didn't have any! A wind breaker is all I ever needed in the Florida Keys. I ordered a blue zip up sweat shirt and a red pull over. Of course Wendy asked, "What are you going to put on it?" Well red sweat shirt, Christmas coming, can certainly find something fun. 

Matt talked about a gnome that Wendy was considering for herself. I said, "Maybe we should make matching sweat shirts!" Just kidding of course. Linda would change her shirt if we ended up putting on the same color. I'm not sure why that was an issue but the rule was whomever had it on first got to keep it. 

Steve's sweat shirt

Wendy hadn't used the gnome yet and it's easy to have many variations, so I began designing my sweat shirt. The gnomes were good but I felt I needed more. I found some great elves to add to the design. After putting the elves and gnomes on the sweat shirt I though it lacked something. Snowflakes to make it a little more festive! It turned out so well it is now my first Christmas decoration.

Sometimes it seems like time is standing still given the coronavirus impediments to getting out and doing more. But then it's hard to believe it is the end of November. We are all certainly looking forward to the arrival of the vaccine. Stay safe everyone, we're not out if this yet!