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Joy is a net of love by which you can catch souls - Mother Theresa

Yesterday was the best Valentine's Day I've ever had. (n.b. that John and I were never actually in the same place on the day . . .) Five of us headed out to Pt. Reyes for kayaking and whale watching. We rented a two person and a three-person kayak and paddled around for a couple hours on Tomales Bay. It was so beautiful, and I was quite content in the three-person kayak with Rhea in front of me and K behind me. K wanted to sing, but since songs in foreign languages (ie Chinese, Urdu or Hindi) were kind of out of the question, I tried to teach him and R some good old American songs. The only hitch was that I'm completely incompetent at remembering words. So we sang songs from the sound of music and the 12 Days of Christmas. It was so peaceful. The only sounds other than us was that of water lapping against the boat and knock of our paddles on the hull. Afterwards, they were having an oyster barbeque for all the kayakers. I have found a new love; I'd never had oysters before, and they are simply amazing. Wow. So good.

After kayaking we headed to Chimney Rock at Pt. Reyes to look for whales. Unfortunately, we didn't see any, but the scenery so, so beautiful. As many of my friends know, I love cliff-walking and there were some amazing cliffs with the ocean frothing beneath. (In Ireland synonyms like "pounding" or "crashing" are more appropriate, but the ocean was pretty calm here.) We looked out and speculated what would be the next country on the horizon - Japan? the Phillipines?

Pictures are here.

10:41 a.m. - Feb. 15, 2004