California Beach

One of the things I really wanted to do on my trip to California was go to the beach I used to frequent in college. To get to Mad River Beach you wind your way through flat farmland. For a while I lived in a small farmhouse along this route, and was dismayed to see that though it was still there, it looked like it hadn't been maintained in the 30 years since I lived there

To get to the water you have to hike over some dunes which had some interesting vegetation on them. Here's a picture of some driftwood, I remember the beach being covered with driftwood, but years of storms have changed the patterns of how the wood is deposited.

I sat on the beach and watched the activity. It was a rare sunny day, bright and crystal clear. There were some people surf kayaking in the ocean, a sport I had never seen before but it looked like fun - said by someone who cannot successfully body surf even though I grew up in Southern California.

I watched kids playing and dogs running and flights of birds overhead. I wish I knew what the birds were, I'm guessing pelicans but I'm probably wrong. This gull landed near me and we contemplated the scene together.


These pictures were intended to help me with my next quilt for my class. I've been thinking about doing something from this beach scene, I like the lines and the textures, but the more I look at it the less I can come up with. I've e-mailed the picture to Kim to see if she can do her computer magic and come up with a line drawing for me to work from.
Of course I've picked up some new fabric, lovely batiks that look like sand and water. Time is getting short so I'm going to have to dive in and start something soon.