We’ve been in Carmel for five days to celebrate my son’s fiftieth birthday.  Everything was perfect.  One daughter-in-law and I enjoyed a behind-the-scenes tour of Monterey Bay Aquarium.  What a gift to see the attention and love that goes into caring for every creature there.  We designed a toy to entertain an octopus and played a game where we were giant sea bass.  Each bass gets its own food so is trained to go for a red circle or blue square.  

Naturally we enjoyed the beach, the book store, and The Secret Garden, always a given, and the greyhounds were welcome everywhere. 

Another daughter-in-law and my niece had a surfing lesson at 7 in the morning so I explored a beach, solitary except for rocks and sand dollars. I rescued three. I learned that a sand dollar given gently back to the ocean may live another six to ten years.