Created by June Morrall
(Image is of me with John O’Toole. I remember feeling relieved that he asked me. At the time it was important to have a date and I didn’t often have dates. Lucked out for the Junior Prom at Lincoln High. These days the the juniors go stag—now, that sounds much better!)
That’s us, John and June. We weren’t girlfriend and boyfriend but he was a very nice guy. I wish I could remember more about where we went to dinner–maybe Alfreds, that was a popular prom venue then.
June, I just got done reading about Bob Breen at the tidepools, and the hordes and crowds at low tide:
http://www.fitzgeraldreserve.org/conservation.html
I can hardly believe it! I was usually the ONLY person out there around 1972 – 1977, climbing over the rocks at low tide, watching the sun come up over the shining waters, and I would go help Bob with whatever I could many a time since he was the ONLY person hired by Parks & Rec to work the entire stretch of the coastline. I always wished I could have had a job like he did; even all these years past I have remembered the wonderful times I spent at the marine reserve.
On those days that others would show up saying “there’s nothing out here, what are people talking about?” I would show them how to find life under the sea and most importantly, to return the rocks to their original position so the life growing underneath them would not die. I am so sad to find out that this has not been the case, with so many incredible numbers climbing over the area. My, how times must have changed! I specialized in studying the nudibranchs of the coastside, which are exotic and beautiful beyond belief. No one would ever guess these small animals could have developed and exist hidden in the rocks, yet so close in the sea.
I will have to write to Bob and send him my photos and drawings, since I did them when he was there (or perhaps pass them on the the Friends of Fitzgerald Marine Reserve; how wonderful that this group has been started). Who would have guessed that he would still be there, all these years later? What a treasure that Bob was to the tidepools and to me. He was always so nice and such a well-educated gentleman. There weren’t too many of them back in those days. He treated me so well, and showed me that kindness, conservation and respect for all life forms really did matter.
I had some friends visit yesterday. Really nice folks, doers, the kind I admire. They have not live here as long as I have but I was amused by one comment:
“We hope to move to Pescadero.”
Currently, they live in another beautiful part of the more developed Coastside.
What amused me?
How many of you, who have lived here as long as I, and there are lots of you out there, said the exact same thing 30–40 years ago?
Longtime neighbor Connie Phipps once angry over the new signal light at Coronado & Highway 1 (has anyone ever looked at Coronado? The actual street? The sign for it is HUGE; you’d expect to find a freeway, when, in reality, Coronado is a tiny street, maybe 3 houses on a mini-block.
Does the County have plans in the works? A parallel road to Hwy 1? What could it be? Or was the man who made sign drunk?
So Connie said to me sotto voce: “We should have moved to Pescadero years ago.”
That has always been the dream: Pescadero…..La Honda…and for us recluses even farther south and into the secret deep canyons.
Things never change. Or, rather, the thoughts don’t change—-but Pescadero and La Honda and venues farther south are nothing like what they were 30-40 years ago. A realtor married to a lady involved in saving animals, says 20 years and Pescadero will be the new suburb.
Pescadero was once a dream for me and La Honda heaven for Ken Kesey. Now, there is no there now, thank you . To me at this moment, that’s what the writer Gertrude Stein once said famously.
Correction Re: Mission Hospice:
In an earlier post I wrote that I had not heard from the grievance counselor at Mission Hospice. I was wrong. She (Cindy) had called and left a message on my life-partner’s phone. . I rarely, if ever, check for my messages there. Most people call on my personal line.
I apologize for the error but still wish Cindy had made another attempt.
(On some things I’m “old school,” and if I don’t hear back I look for other ways to reach people. This was important enough to check up on and I am not hard to find.)
T
From the Half Moon Bay Review
Las Cabritas Ranch will exhibit twenty-seven goats in the Pure Bred Live Stock show in San Francisco from November 1 to 8. We expect to see them return with a lot of prizes.
The Wilson cottage, the Amos cottage, the Dr. Thomas cottage, the Wheeler house, the Maier mansion, the Weyl cottage, have all been rented recebtkt for the Winter months, which allows that the people are beginning to appreciat our Winter climate.
Arthur Wagner, wife and daughter Dorothy and Jean Ross of Jean Ross of Salada Beach. They have many friends here who will welcome them back.Mr. and Mrs. Havice own considerable property here and also stock in the Montara Realty Development Company.
Mr. Wilcox has three of the largest potatoes of the season on exhibition at the post office, one of them weighs two and one half pounds. Who can beat it?
The United States Government is at the present time installing a powerful wireless station at Point Montara Lighthouse station.
Mr. and Mrs. Drew of New York (side note: I met Gretchen Drew in San Francisco and she gave me some of the writer Peter Kyne’s work. Kyne lived in Moss Beach as a young man) have leased the house recently occupied by Rev. Osborn and will remain here permanently.
There is so much property around Montara that is improved that can be bought at such bargains that it will only be a short time until there is a more stable real estate market and the bargains are snapped up.
It is to be hoped that the people will remember that there are services at the church every Sunday morning at 11 a.m. Rev. Mr. Osborne, pastor.
Miss Bessie Chase, who is spending a vacation at home, has been busy decorating the interior of their beautiful home. She is quite an artist with the paint brush.
——-
Story by Barry Parr (Coastsider.com)
AB 650, the bill designed to help the city of Half Moon Bay pay its
Beachwood settlement, has been rewritten to be a loan from the California
Infrastructure and Economic Development Bank instead of a grant from park
bond funds. The bill now also includes a requirement that the city obtain
an independent appraisal of the Beachwood property.
The bill’s sponsor, Assemblyman Jerry Hill, told Coastsider that the
structure of the bailout was still “fluid” and that it could ultimately
include a cash component as part of the $10 million, and that the term or
interest rate of the loan had not been determined. He said that the bill
was restructured as part of the process of getting it out of the Assembly
Local Government committee. However, he declined to characterize the
current version of the bill as a placeholder.
I’m not a group person but I do love art so if you can, it’s this Saturday, please click here
As you know, I live in El Granada. Not only was my partner-in-life very ill, but a longtime neighbor, Bob Phipps is also very sick. I have always liked Bob and Connie Phipps. They live directly across the street from me.
One Christmas one of the Phipps put a Christmas card on my door telling me that we (me ex, John Morrall) were the best neighbors on the block. We never complained. We were loosey-goosey.
I do have to mention one thing, though, Connie and Bob: Remember “Ralph” the dog? Who could forget “Ralph?” Well, I won’t get into it, but those were the days when leashes were unnecessary and all the animals ran wild. Maybe “wild” isn’t the right word. They were free to chase and do whatever. I used to look for “Ralph” in the bushes but he was good to me.
I wish you well, Bob Phipps. I know he gets picked up by the senior center folks–he’s always been such a social guy. Good friends with Duane who once owned El Granada Market.
Because I do not want to invade anyones privacy–Id like to say that a man whose name begins with J and is married to a woman whose name begins with B has also been seriously unwell. I like J a lot—he’s a “sailor” which means he likes to travel.
Closer to my house on my side of the street an old friend is getting old. I don’t know about the state of his health but his wife is so good to him. They like to walk but it’s obvious the walking isn’t easy anymore.