Bunny & the baguettes

This is my new neighbor, Bunny.  She just moved in a few blocks away and brought with her the lovely Ginny.  Their new home is quaint with red-stained decks and lush greenery that flourishes in the yard.  It will be great to have them close, especially as Ginny's baby enters the world this fall.

Yesterday was the epitome of a Southern California summer.  The type of Thursday that will soon be impossible until next year...a soothing morning yoga class, scrambling an egg white breakfast, scavenging for beach chairs in the scary garage, driving through thick traffic to Laguna Beach, picking up an iced-coffee, searching for a parking space....and finally, sinking my toes into the warm sand for the afternoon.

Crescent Bay is this year's beach of choice.  A narrow slice of smooth sand nestled between sea-bird coated cliffs, clear blue waves that gently crash upon the shore, lack of cross current that allows for swimming, and most importantly --- clean bathrooms with soap and toilet paper.  Our merry group of seventeen scattered our towels, umbrellas, and chairs and frolicked in the turquoise water for hours.  Mara's family is a solid eight people +1 (the newest addition is debuting this fall).  Emmanuelle brought her three boys.  The visiting French teens bring the count up by three...and then there's Ginny +1 and me.

How do you know when your're at the beach with French people?  Because instead of tearing open that bag of Dorritos or munching on a granola bar, you find yourself tearing off hunks of baguette.  All around you are children and teens happily eating plain chewy bread...not asking for toppings or scooping out just the doughy center, but enjoying their beloved cultural carb.  I reminded myself yesterday (for the millioneth time) that French should have long ago been my language of choice.  Every day I encounter opportunities to use it, strangely more than the Spanish, which envelopes Los Angeles and naturally, more than my beloved German, which is scantly heard except for the tour busses that empty in Yosemite or San Francisco.  Out of the seventeen of us at Crescent Bay, fifteen spoke French.

I wonder what a trip to the beach may hold for our group next year?  Daniel and I will have returned recently from our adventure in South America (we hope), all of our possessions still in storage, readying for our move to his MBA program of choice.  Mara and Lionel will have welcomed their seventh child into the world; Diega will be a big sister; Antonia may be traveling in Greece after graduating high school; Ginny will be toting a music loving infant...and I just hope that Emmanuelle will not forget to bring baguettes.