It was hot already when we were awakened this morning at 8:15am. There’s a little boy whose apartment is right behind our bedroom window. He loves to play the drums. Usually he plays in the afternoons, but sometimes in the morning on the weekends. It always bothered us, but when the weather was cooler the bedroom windows were always closed, so it wasn't too bad.
Now, with the heat, we have the windows open and there’s just about 20 feet between their front door and our bedroom window. They have their doors and windows open, and the drumming was a rude awakening this morning! I called the building manager, because it was only 8:15am, and it just seemed like an extreme thing to be doing so early.
He said we were definitely right and he would speak to her. He knew exactly who I meant, and said she was “very reasonable” and he was sure there would be no more early-morning drumming. We’ll just see, won’t we!
It took some doing, but I finally convinced Eric that getting out of the house was the best idea. When I suggested the aquarium he got more enthusiastic and off we went. BIRCH AQUARIUM is in La Jolla – just about 10 minutes away.
As soon as we got out of the car, I realized I forgot my camera. I was so mad, but I was lucky to find pictures of our favorite attraction on the internet! Enjoy!
We went through the the CORAL DISPLAYS, the HALL OF FISHES, and the TIDEPOOL DISPLAYS, amongst others, but our absolute favorite was the ART OF DECEPTION (Do You Sea What I Sea?). There were many tanks hiding various fish and other sea life amongst the rocks and plant life. They use their amazing camouflage to hide themselves. You could stare into a tank for 5 minutes and finally notice a fish right before your eyes. They were fabulous!
Our absolute favorites were the leafy sea dragons, whose elegant leaf-like appendages float right next to the leaves of real plants that look remarkably similar. They have tiny fan-like fins by their ears and on their backs that move super-fast and help them float effortlessly through the water. You can hardly see these fins when they're moving, because they are so thin that they are transparent, and they move so quickly. Their “leaves” just float elegantly around them, moving in the water as a real plant would.
See the transparent fin? 
After touring all the exhibits we drove to HILLCREST and went to ORTEGA’S – A Mexican Bistro – for a late lunch. We shared a Portobello Mushroom Quesadilla. Eric had ½ roasted chicken and I had the baja shrimp tacos. It was all really good and we were really hungry, but I ended up taking home one of my two shrimp tacos!
We headed back to the apartment, and headed right to the bedroom, which is the coolest room in the apartment (thankfully!). Eric started watching TV and I fell right to sleep and had a wonderful nap.
When I got up we watched an episode of MONK that I had seen, but Eric hadn’t. As usual, it was really great. We both love MONK. It’s just such a high quality show with great writing, and wonderful actors!
For the rest of the evening we just watched TV together, and I occasionally worked on the computer. We’re just trying to stay cool with all the fans going and the windows open. It does get considerably cooler as soon as the sun goes down, and it’s definitely more comfortable.
I heard the opposite is happening in NY and that it’s unusually cold for this time of year, so I guess I shouldn’t complain. I do take the heat much better than the cold, but I think it bothers Eric a lot, so of course that bothers me.
Tomorrow is supposed to be more of the same. I heard from one of the crafty divas of the CRAFT MAFIA. There is an art fair tomorrow and they will have a booth. One of the divas creates beautiful pieces of jewelry and the last time I saw her (at the SPRING LINE-UP where we each had a booth) I gave her some vintage beads I found. Since I don’t use that many beads in my creations, I thought she could put them to good use and she was very grateful. She emailed and told me that she has lots of broken jewelry that she can’t use in her pieces, and she’d like to give them to me. So, I’ll drop by the FESTIVAL OF THE ARTS tomorrow, which is in NORTH PARK on UNIVERSITY AVENUE.
I asked Eric to go with me, but tomorrow he has two basketball games, so there’s no way he’s going out again. I was lucky there were no games on today, or I probably wouldn’t have gotten him out to the aquarium!
It was a fun day and we haven’t done anything like that in a long time. I really feel we should take advantage of the tourist attractions here, because we will be leaving eventually. I want to know that, when we leave, I’ll have seen the best San Diego has to offer!