Our 52nd Anniversary

Although it seems impossible to us, we really have been married 52 years as of Feb. 13. We don't even feel like we've been alive that long. (Except for some days.) We do realize that our anniversary celebrations are not as ambitious as they once were. This year we drove to the coast and hiked on the beach. It was a beautiful day.

The day before, on not quite so beautiful a day, after many days of rain, we hiked through our own place. The path from arboretum into woods was a stream.

Johnny kicked the leaves out of the way so the water would go down the bank instead of along the path.

 A bear had been through the woods some time before us, leaving thrown up apples in his wake.

Our seasonal catch pond had expanded out of its banks.

Lichen from a tree had blown down on our path behind the south field. Pretty little red fruiting bodies, or something, decorated it. 

Usually lovely and clear Agency Creek was a muddy river. 

Spirit Mountain, above our farm, still had a trace of snow.

The next day, our anniversary day, we drove to the coast, stopping at Gunaldo Falls, as we usually do. In the dry season, it is barely a trickle and hard to see across the ravine. This day, it was a full fledged waterfall.

My excuse for going to the coast was to conduct the quarterly mile walk on the beach for CoastWatch, a program of Oregon Shores Conservation Coalition. "My" mile is in Cape Kiwanda State Park and accessed from McPhillips Park. As soon as we hiked to the beach from the access road, Johnny spotted a Peregrine Falcon sitting on the ground far north of us, below a big outcropping of rock. I could see it only with binoculars.

 I zoomed in my camera and clicked... just as it flew off screaming, apparently irritated by a pair of ravens, who quickly left the area.

However it soon landed on the large outcropping of rock and posed.

The tide was out, exposing usually covered rock formations.

Quite a few Moon Jellies were stranded on the beach. Johnny's foot shows a size comparison.

Beautiful ocean scenery along my mile walk...

From up on the dune, looking north, I could see a dot on the beach that was Johnny, dutifully picking up trash on his way back to the car, while I hiked over the dune to the south side.

Lots of exposed rocks on the south side of the dune, too, with Chief Kiawanda Rock in the distance.

By the time I walked down the beach to the Cape Kiwanda parking lot, Johnny had driven there and was waiting for me. We had lunch in Pacific City at our favorite Mexican restaurant, where the waiters all know I want Mango juice and Johnny wants lemonade.

It was a wonderful 52nd anniversary.

And now the rains are back...