Happy Easter!
This morning I was pleasantly surprised with a nice Easter breakfast of whole wheat pancakes and freshly squeezed orange juice that Rhoda had prepared for Brynn and me. Today was the day that Brynn was to perform at the Ragged Point Restaurant and resort. This restaurant was about a 45-minute drive from Cambria. The weather was good, no rain, a bit cloudy though, but good enough to play outside. Michael, Brynn’s boyfriend was going to bike up here from his house, a good 2-hour bikeride. He arrived at 11am, just as Brynn was about to leave with her mom to Ragged Point.
Michael rested, had a bite to eat and drink and was strong enough to continue his journey to Ragged Point on his bike. He rode a total of about 70 miles this day. Claude and I were to join Rhoda and Brynn and Michael at 1pm, so we left at about 12, did some errands in town including picking up my now ready fired coffee mug I had made earlier in the week at the arts and crafts shop on that first rainy day. We then continued on Hwy 1 to Ragged Point. Just past the entrance to Hearst Castle, on the seaside we could see that there were many Elephant Seals up on the beach. I asked Claude to stop, in order to take to pictures.
It was wonderful to see these mammoth animals swimming around, and laying on the beach soaking up the sun. They would lie so still they kind of looked like there were dead, but they weren’t!
We climbed back into the van and continued on to Ragged Point. As we pulled up to park we could see Brynn busily performing outside on the patio to the Restaurant guests; it was a wonderful site to see!
We sat at the corner table, and listened to Brynn serenade us and the rest of the guests for Easter Brunch. At one point she played her parents request piece of the Easter Parade Song. The story behind that work is so cute… last night around 9pm, I heard some singing coming out of Rhoda’s bedroom. She was singing the theme from the Easter Parade film to Claude as he was writing out the music, so as Brynn had the music to perform today at the restaurant. A special request from her parents, but they had to provide the music first. This in the end was a real family team effort, as Rhoda sang it, Claude wrote it out on Music manuscript, and then Brynn performed it for them, a very special moment.
In this picture you can see Brynn's cute Tip basket on the chair to which later became quite full !! Later Brynn performed for me a special work, the Meditation from the Opera Thais; Martin played this piece a year ago at my dad’s funeral. I really appreciated the gesture and she played it beautifully. So our waitress came and took our orders, and Claude, Rhoda, Michael and I had a wonderful lunch out on the patio while being serenaded by Brynn.
About an hour later, Rhoda and Claude took off to go home in one car, and Michael and I stayed to the end of Brynn’s performance for the afternoon of 4pm. At one point Michael and I went for a little walk around the grounds and I took some spectacular shots of the coast!
So Brynn happily was done for today, she made $200 for playing and $100 in tips, not bad for 4 hours work! Brynn, Michael and I then piled into the Van, with Michael’s speed bike all packed up in the back of the Van, and drove about 4 miles north on Hwy 1 to take a look at Salmon Falls.
It was a nice last view of part of Hwy 1 since my trip tomorrow to San Francisco, will be taken up and over the mountains inland, not along the coast. Brynn’s parents are driving me early tomorrow morning to San Francisco, as Brynn is still not able to drive for that length of time because of her still sore back. The only thing left this evening to do is pack, but first Brynn, Michael and I are going to play some fun games. So into the garage Brynn went, and came out with a box that brought us back to 1971. First of all I made some popcorn, and then we settled down to play our first game of " KerPlunk!" it was hilarious !
I haven't played that game in over 30 years ! Then we played " Tiddly Winks, and then ended with a game of " Sorry" what a hoot, and what a great way to end my vacation here in California. Now its time to pack my suitcase, which will take 10 minutes and then off to bed , as we are leaving at 7:30am tomorrow morning.
I would say all in all, I had the best vacation ever !
This was just perfect, I highly recommend everyone to come and visit the central coast of California, forget LA forget Florida, this is were its at! Thank you so much Brynn for inviting me and being the best guide a person could have, and thank you Claude and Rhoda for letting me stay in your more than perfect home !
I will be back !!!!! as Arni would say….
Ineke, Caroline and Nicholas are in Amsterdam for 3 weeks. They left last Friday, and I have just recieved word from them that all is going great and they are enjoying the treats of Amsterdam. Ineke is going to hear the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra play Mahler's 6th on the 22.. now I am jealous! I am going to listen to the National Youth Orchestra of Canada play Mahler's 5th this tuesday the 16th at Roy Thompson Hall. Of course the Concertgebouw will be the concert to be at... but I guess I can't choose that one right now... Amsterdam is famous for all it's bikes as well... it would be a great idea to build a Bike parking lot at Union Station , just like the one in Amsterdam, where you can park your bike inside, for one day, or one year, plus if you have a flat tire, it would be fixed by the end of the day when you pick it up ! now thats a good idea !!
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