Last Northern Cal. Visit and Heading South

We were able to squeeze in a short visit with my dear friends, Anne and John Lewis, who live very near my sister Flinn's place. Anne is Susie Hunolt's sister and we've known each other since the 60's.

We got a kick out of the talking tree in their front yard!
Another favorite spot on the California Coast is Big Sur. We decided to continue driving down the Coast highway as far as Carmel in order to see where I lived when my father and mother were still married. I must have been about 5, but clearly remember the wonders of this area. Just above Big Sur we happened to see some sculpture that I recognized as being the work of Tom Hunolt's brother, Jim, so we stopped in at the studio. It turned out that this place just exhibits his stuff. He lives nearby, but wasn't at home, unfortunately.We were attracted by some wooden items there (not Jim's work...I'm not sure which things were his, except for a sculpture in marble outdoors). Check out this burl carving!And Julie loved this music box which had a very nice tone when struck with the stick.I had to snap a shot of a seal which someone had taken a picture of and framed:And here's a view of the Sur Coast. Every time I smell the kind of sage that grows here it brings back those early memories. We picked some sprigs of it and have dried it for the trip home.If you zoom in you can spot the seal lions on the rocks below......or, check them out by the hundreds on the beach which we came to later on! These guys have been protected for so many years that now they are abundant all up and down this part of the Coast.We stopped in Carmel-By-The-Sea to eat our packed snacks, and found this very nice sculpture on a bench nearby.