makings of may

May was full of many wonderful things.

One of which was best friend graduating from Berkeley!:

Nick and I took a road trip, where we visited the Bigfoot Discovery Museum. It was adorned with adorable fan letters:

This man gave us a 30-minute lesson on the authenticity of the Patterson-Gimlin film while standing in front of a painting of himself:

The museum's life-size replica of Bigfoot:

Then we drove down and visited the madness that is The Mystery Spot:

Step this way if you are so...inclined:

Gargoyles and gondolas at the Santa Cruz Boardwalk:

We ate many deep-fried things:

And I kicked butt at this Down the Clown game:

There was a long walk along the Natural Bridges State Beach:

We ate French enchiladas in John Steinbeck's childhood home:

And learned a lot of interesting facts about the author at the National Steinbeck Center:

We sampled at least four different clam chowders at Fisherman's Wharf:

We watched a lady hold a fistful of dead squid and practically shove it into sharks' mouths at the Monterey Bay Aquarium:

I am prepared to pee on him if necessary:

We explored Cannery Row:

And visited Steinbeck's Spirit of Monterey Wax Museum, which is definitely not haunted and does not have figures that are falling apart:

This "family-friendly" wax museum went over the gruesome history of the area, focusing on torture, murder, and prostitutes:

We enjoyed more long walks at the beach:

And we found Kissing Rock:

Nick thoughtfully dressed to match the ocean:

We took a ride down the 17-Mile Drive and pulled over to stare at the Lone Cypress:

We also pulled over to stare at seals on Seal Rock. Rocks are apparently very popular out here:

I surprised Nick with a stop at The Cheese Shop, where we bought an alarming amount of cheese:

Then we camped out in Big Sur:

On the way back, we stopped near Bixby Bridge:

Damn, California:

We explored the tide pools at Bean Hallow Beach:

And stopped for jam samples and strawberry shortcake at Swanton Berry Farm:

We took three dogs to the beach and all three of them tried to eat horse poop:

George was happy despite me not letting him eat poop:

In short, we are tuckered out:

much love,
hedgie

john steinbeck's childhood home

Over the weekend, I spent an entire day stalking John Steinbeck. I visited the house where he was born and raised in Salinas. I stopped by the National Steinbeck Center a few blocks away from his childhood home. I also took a stroll around Cannery Row, the setting where some of his novels took place.

1) As a child, Steinbeck became obsessed with Thomas Malory’s Le Morte d’Arthur. He and his sister Mary would often wander along the eroded sandstone in the Pastures of Heaven, pretending the stone columns were the towers of Camelot.

The headboard and footboard of the bed Steinbeck was born in.

2) Steinbeck favored Blackwing pencils and couldn't stand a dull point of lead. Everyday, he would sharpen 24 pencils and load them point up in a wood box. Then he would take a pencil and write until the pencil was no longer sharp, usually around 4 or 5 lines later, before putting it point down into a second wood box and grabbing a new pencil. Some days, he would use over 100 pencils.

3) Steinbeck held a series of odd jobs, working as a farmhand along with migrant workers and in the laboratory of Spreckels Sugar Beet Farms. He attended Stanford sporadically and dropped out after six years without earning a degree.

4) The Grapes of Wrath earned Steinbeck the National Book Award, the Pulitzer Prize, and the Nobel Prize. This novel also earned him a lot of public scorn. The book was banned and burned for misrepresenting attitudes towards migrant workers and for being profane and obscene. He received death threats and was even put under surveillance by the FBI.

5) In 1947, Steinbeck made the first of several trips to Russia with photographer Robert Capa. They were among the first Americans allowed to visit many parts of the USSR since the communist revolution. He was allowed into Russia because they felt that The Grapes of Wrath depicted the plight of the poor under capitalism.

6) Steinbeck served as a was correspondent during WWII. He earned the respect of the troops he observed by ripping off his correspondent badge and joining in on raids and invasions.

7) In 1960, Steinbeck embarked on a road trip across the United States in order to rediscover the people of America. He traveled over 10,000 miles in a camper. His only permanent companion was his standard poodle, Charley. 

8) John Steinbeck became great friends with a marine biologist named Ed Ricketts. Ricketts' laboratory was in Cannery Row. Once, the laboratory set on fire and was destroyed. After the ashes cooled, they found Ricketts' safe. When it was opened, they found half a pineapple pie, a quarter of a pound of Gorgonzola cheese, and an open can of sardines. 

Steinbeck and the boys of Cannery Row.

9) Steinbeck always hoped to adapt his novel Sweet Thursday into a musical. Rodgers and Hammerstein wrote the musics and lyrics for Pipe Dreams. Steinbeck was enthusiastic about the project in the initial rehearsals, but the script was routinely edited to make the story of a prostitute in a bordello more family-friendly. The resulting musical was a commercial failure and it ended Steinbeck's dreams of writing for the theater. 

There is no way this place isn't haunted.

10)  And most importantly of all, it served as the inspiration for Steinbeck's Spirit of Monterey Wax Museum, the "family-friendly" wax museum that goes over the history of the area, focusing mainly on torture, murder, and the local bordello. Steinbeck only appears once at the very beginning and then an actor portraying him does a voice-over in the last room. It also inexplicably ends with a wax Elvis and a sardine can photo opportunity.

"I am impelled, not to squeak like a grateful and apologetic mouse, but to roar like a lion out of pride in my profession." --John Steinbeck

much love,
hedgie

doped up dog

After Nick and I discovered that George only has six teeth left, we thought it would be a good idea to make sure that the same thing didn't happen to Addie. We made an appointment with our vet to have Addie's teeth professionally cleaned. The process can be very stressful on a dog, so pets are put under anesthesia for it.
Now I have a poor drugged dog who keeps wandering into the bedroom and looking around for a few seconds with her ears tucked back in a way that makes her look like she just realized she can't remember why she walked in here before going back to the living room and falling asleep in positions that do not look comfortable at all.

That's my girl.





much love,
hedgie

i don't think they thought this design through

Nick bought me a puzzle that has been plaguing me for years.

My family has owned this puzzle for as long as I can remember, but we were never able to complete it. Every time we got close to finishing, guests would come over and we would have to take the puzzle apart and put it away so that people could use the coffee table.

It's a black and white Alfred Hitchcock-themed jigsaw puzzle. There is no picture of the finished puzzle because the puzzle itself is a clue to a murder mystery written in an attached booklet.

Given all of this, it is an extremely frustrating puzzle to assemble. I got to say things like “I’m looking for a medium grey piece with blotches of slightly darker grey” and “I need to find piece that has a white rope that is barely visible on a white background”.

But there are small moments of joy due to the fact that I don't think whoever designed the puzzle really thought about what would happen when you print out the name Hitchcock multiple times on something that's going to be cut up into a lot of small pieces. I keep coming across pieces that simply say cock.

Even in a difficult and colorless world, there are still moments to laugh like a child.





much love,
hedgie