The condo development at the beach below our Vrbo has grown this year.
The past few years, we’ve been fascinated with a driftwood art installation at the beach. We first noticed it four or five years ago. I wrote about condos at the beach last summer HERE.
This summer, the person who is working on what we call the “beach condos” has added more people, creatures and signs. We’ve never seen anyone working on it. But it keeps growing and getting more interesting. I’d love to know who is creating this. I am picturing an aging hippie with long white hair.
Here are random photos I took yesterday morning:
One of the many driftwood people at the beach.Looks like he’s doing a cartwheelSummerland Semi Social Club signDriftwood dogs.Another character at the beach.“Please remove your shoes” makes me laugh.The other sign reads” Please leave it as you found it.”These guys look like they’re dancing.The artist is obviously having fun.Ahoy! A pirate.
Video overview of the beach condos.
Have you encountered anything like this at the beach or anywhere else? Which person or creature is your favorite?
With more and more employees being called back to the office, jealousy is bubbling up in the workforce.
Companies are pleading with employees to come back to the office and are plying them with goodies like gift cards, swag and cash bonuses. I read that this is not sitting well with the employees who worked in the office throughout the pandemic.
If they are truly upset, they may “quiet quit.” I’ve seen the term before, but didn’t know what it meant. Today I read an article in the Wall Street Journal that explained it called “These Workers Were the Bosses’ Favorites. Now They Feel Jilted“by Callum Borchers.
What’s waiting for people heading back to the office after Labor Day? Jealous looks from the underappreciated colleagues who returned long ago
“Tension is a real risk with this group,” says Kristie Rogers, an associate professor of management at Marquette University. “If we’re not paying attention to those who have been around a while, making sure that their efforts were valued and continue to be valued, there could be some division that undermines the purpose of bringing people back in the first place.”
She adds workers who believe their in-person contributions are not sufficiently rewarded may quit or “quiet quit,” staying in a job but doing only the bare minimum.
Keeping everyone satisfied is especially difficult since many workers feel empowered to resist office callbacks and expect new perks in exchange for showing up. Those who’ve long been working in person can hardly be blamed for resenting the incentives—why weren’t they offered sooner?—even though the benefits are available to all.
It sounds like a mess to me. Jealousy in the workplace is awful. I should know. I was jealous in my 20s. I found out that a new hire was making much more than what I was paid. Yet, I had experience, a college degree and more responsibility. I didn’t “quiet quit.” I QUIT!
Then, I was on the other side. When I worked with my husband in financial services, I would leave earlier than others to pick up our kids from school and get them to swim practice. I was on the receiving end of dirty looks. But it was the deal we had.
Have you ever experienced jealousy at work?
What are your thoughts about quiet quitting? Have you ever worked with someone who did the bare minimum?
What do you think about working remotely versus showing up in the office?
This is what a sea lion does when it’s stressed. It raises its neck and head off the sand.
Sea lions, dolphins and terns — amazing sights I’m enjoying.
I wrote about the Domoic Acid poisoning that is affecting the sea lions last week. If you missed it, you can read it HERE.
My husband and I encountered a second sea lion in distress a few days later. I called the marine life rescue hotline to report it. Within minutes, volunteers were out staking signs and yellow crime tape to cordon off an area around the sea lion. One woman was the same volunteer I had met the week before. She reminded us to leave the sea lion alone, because they often die from stress if they are suffering from the toxins.
I was infuriated to watch people who let their dogs off leash, walk in front of the signs and tape with their dogs barking at the sea lion.
This is the sea lion in a relaxed, non-threatened position.
I called the rescue hotline for this sea lion.
Now for the truly amazing sights of a flock of terns at the beach:
My husband walking down the beach with the terns.
I spotted the terns way down the beach. They looked like a solid white stripe across the beach where the sea lion sat the day before.
I was afraid they were munching on the sea lion’s carcass, but fortunately that didn’t seem to be the case. I’ve read about terns and they like lagoons and canals.
The terns were in front of this canal. Ashton Kutcher and Mila Kunis’s home. Here’s an article with more pics.
People who live here year-round complain it’s been too cold this summer. We’ve had foggy days with small slivers of sunshine peeking through. On some days there’s no sunshine.
That is fine by me. I’m loving the cool weather for beach walks. It’s such a contrast to our desert life. Also, the tiny house doesn’t have AC, so it’s better to have cool weather than hot.
I read in the news that Interstate 10 washed out near the border of Arizona and California. We missed wild weather.
I’m hoping the road will be fixed before we drive home. The alternate routes are hours longer! Plus one alternate route closed due to downed power poles and lines.
Maybe we’ll be stuck here at the beach in the tiny town of Summerland.
What has your August weather been like? Is it unusual or more of the same?
We watched a pod of dolphins playing during our afternoon walk.
This morning on our beach walk, I first noticed three signs and yellow tape.
Warning signs posted at the beach.
We stopped to read the signs and a woman approached us wearing a hat that said volunteer for some marine life organization. She said there was a distressed sea lion ahead. It had been resting on the beach behind the signs and yellow tape.
Then when a young woman was walking her pit bull, the dog pulled out of its harness and attacked the sea lion.
The volunteer from the Channel Islands Marine Wildlife Institute told us the sea lion escaped into the ocean. She explained that the sea lion was suffering from Domoic Acid poisoning, which is caused by algae bloom.
My husband said that algae bloom happens every year. Isn’t that a normal thing? Wouldn’t sea lions be used to it?
She said they were inundated with calls about sick sea lions along the coast and that the Domoic Acid poisoning could be fatal. The volunteers were out observing the sea lions from sunrise to sunset along the beaches. Apparently stress could make the illness worse. She was standing on the beach all day to keep people and dogs away from the sick sea lion.
I asked if we could still take our morning walk.
“If you have to,” she answered. “Please stay along the cliffs and as far away from the sea lion as possible.”
We started on our walk, but as we got closer to the sea lion, we turned around. It wasn’t worth it.
We also spotted the young woman with her pit bull walking down a trail to finish their morning walk. She was avoiding the volunteer who was positioned by the signs. The young woman spotted the sea lion in the ocean in front of her and thankfully turned her dog around and headed back up the trail.
If you want to read more about the sea lions and Domoic Acid poisoning, here’s an article from the local news. The article said the Institute is fielding 50 to 100 calls a day.
Who knew that stress was so harmful to sea lions? What are your thoughts about what stress can do to us?
One of my favorite things to do besides taking long beach walks is to sit and read at the beach. One day over the weekend, I found myself alone on the beach without a book. My husband was driving our son to the gym for physical therapy. Our son’s girlfriend had walked to a surf shop to rent a board and wetsuit.
I wanted to get back to the house to pick up the book I’m reading — Shirley Jackson’s “We Have Always Lived in the Castle.” But I was a good three miles away from the house. So I just sat. It was one of the most peaceful afternoons I’ve experienced in a long time. It was too bright to surf on my phone. I couldn’t even read emails.
I watched the pelicans, egrets and sandpipers. I watched the waves. I felt connected to the sea.
Here’s the opening paragraph of the Shirley Jackson book I’m reading:
My name is Mary Katherine Blackwood. I am eighteen years old, and I live with my sister Constance. I have often thought that with any luck at all I could have been born a werewolf, because the two middle fingers on both my hands are the same length, but I have had to be content with what I had. I dislike washing myself, and dogs, and noise, I like my sister Constance, and Richard Plantagenet, and Amanita phalloides, the death-cap mushroom. Everyone else in my family is dead.
I read “We Have Always Lived in the Castle” when I was a teenager. My mom had a copy. Then I read it again after college. It’s been at least 20 years since I’ve picked it up. It is still captivating.
But sometimes I just like to sit. I find it beyond relaxing. Watching the waves I find similar to meditation.
I love watching the sunlight play on the waves.
Do you ever find yourself just sitting? Why do you think it’s good for us to be quiet — and not be reading, on our phones or computer? Do you have a book to recommend for my beach vacation?
Here are a few photos and videos from our Southern California beach vacation.
This is our favorite beach for walks, swimming, and hanging out. It’s also home to Kevin Costner, Ashton Kutcher and at one time Ellen DeGeneres.
The beach below our Vrbo. I love watching the dog herding its horse.Social distancing.A mural on the side of a building downtown Carpinteria.Beach wedding. The groom made the archway for his bride.
