On Sandstone Cliffs

For as long as man has lived along the California coast, cliffs have risen high over the sandy beaches, age old cliffs. Now, out on the waves, surfers swim out and surfed in while beaches were busy with families, sand castles, and swimmers. It is the typical California heaven, of which the Beach Boys sang.

Meanwhile the cliffs became a place for the wealthy to perch their mansions. It was a primo place, highly desired.

collapse in Texas

Decades ago grains of sands that drifted from the cliffs to beach became hunks of sandstone. Bit by bit, the crumbling began. While the cliffs were disintegrating, the El Nino effect hit the beaches hard, worldwide. The cliffs crumbled at an accelerated rate, from the beach up, the cliffs down where they would meet.

read this source

At that time, Dept of California Beaches mandated that beach goers are required to be a distance away from the cliffs. These areas are marked and give warnings. Beach goers are careless and ignore signs. That is why 3 were killed and several injured just ten days ago.  Nature happens and extracts its toll.

Warning sign

Large ocean storms have pounded the shores. High waves carved out the base of the sand cliffs, forming shallow deep caves. The caves collapse and rockslides happen. This is a tragedy that has happened seven or eight times a year.

Cliffs do not obey the money of the rich. 

Slowly, the cliffs fell until edges were eight feet from the patios, then six feet. The rich owners paid big bucks to prop the whole mess up with steel, concrete, and pilings. But time is time, and they know it.

Pacifica, CA August 14, 2019
Go to this source. This collapse is shown in slide show. 

Well, dang it! All those pre-emptive strikes of hoisting up the houses has failed, failed miserably. The rich homes came tumbling down as the caves collapsed. Many still remain but are on precarious footing.

Three killed, one injured. Visit this site.

Those who build their houses on shifting sand? It doesn't make sense, and people do not possess common sense. 

For the ground bound, who would ignore warning signs and settle onto the shade of the cliffs?  From those people who also lacked common sense, some lounged, looking up to the sky and out to the ocean, not thinking the cliffs behind them were crumbling, grain by grain.

Why this subject erupted is that we went on a bus tour of Malibu yesterday. Off, high up on the cliffs, we could peer at the underside of patios, held in place by timber and steel. Shifting sand.

About Joy

Pinterest.com

Time comes in all lives when a person says “That’s enough…I’m done…”  Turning off the tractor, closing the grade book, handing over the keys and walking away.

Point of this post:

Recognize when it is time to stop, to walk away.

You know when it is time, you can feel it.  Do not deny the hip, knee, or shoulder.  Do not ignore pain or sense of exhaustion. Growing old is serious business.

A number of issues forced me to retire from teaching, a good ten years early.  Pain took me out. Changes in state requirement were strangling teachers and education.

Mainly, joy was leaving me. 

When that joy is gone, it is time to stop, to walk away, and head to something that returns joy to you.

Have you done that? Can you do that? 

Sunshine and the Ten Commandments

all images are courtesy of Bing.com

There are movies that will always be remembered for grandeur, universal truths, flawless performances by the lead actors, and/or excellent writing.   One of my favorites is “The Ten Commandments”.  Oh, I know, it is over-the-top in many ways, but it still stands out as an epic of the late 1950s.

Today my daughter Erin and her girls, Bright Eyes and Sunshine, came down to visit.  I think key factors may have been that we have great A/C and it is stinking hot where they live thirty miles away.  My husband took them out to Spaghetti Factory while I stayed home to deal with some digestive issues.

When they returned, Grandpa put this movie on to share with the girls.  Of course, Grandpa has been dying to show them “Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom” and maybe “Kill Bill: I & II”, as he has the common sense of a gnat.  But, we watched the first half of “The 10 Commandments”, with an incredible amount of commentary.  Sunshine questions every single movie I have watched with her, and I don’t think she really listens to the answers. 

Nice hair

When Moses came down from the Mountain, the girls observed his face was glowing and his hair was blown back.  They had all sorts of theories about that ranging from being in front of the fan, to his mommy blow-drying his hair, to seeing God.  We told them that Moses would get the Ten Commandments from God and give them to the Hebrews.

Sunshine gave us her wise, all-knowing look, “Oh, I know all about them!”  Such knowledge and confidence exuded from her, it was awe-inspiring.  Mommy asked her to name a few.

Sunshine crawled into my arms and hugged me. “Oh, you know.  One is ‘Don’t bite’.  Another is ‘Don’t steal’.  And, another is ‘Don’t cheat’.”  Our adult eyes shared a common moment, and we nodded to Sunshine in agreement.  “Those are all good ones, Sunshine.”

Sunshine beamed that incredible five-year old smile at us.  I told her that I had ‘Don’t Bite’ nailed.  I was really good at not biting any one.  She eyed me for a second before giving me a look of approval.  “Good job, Grandma!”