i'm in fort bragg on my dad's laptop. woke up this morning and went on a 3 hour birdwatching tour through the botanical gardens on the coast led by the guy who owns the ice cream shop in town. he recognized me since i met him with my pop and he lent me some binoculars. i can now tell the difference between a downy woodpecker and a hairy one. i also saw a great blue heron and some big black oyster-eating bird, that was my favorite one. then went to a folk-festival in caspar, lots of hemp clothing and ceramic bowls :) keepin' it real simple here in mendocino county.
spent the day yesterday with jesse and missy and their daughter jasmine. they are friends of addi the balloon guy and he gave me their phone #. we ate organic fruit and i talked about coffee for an hour with collette and jason who own a small coffee plantation in el salvador , he is a bass player and was excited to hear that i was a musician too and they welcomed us back to town anytime and took the evangenitals card, i liked them all a lot and said i would be sure to let them know when we come up here to play.
last night i took my dad to see missy's art opening at piaci's, the pizza place that is coincidentally behind his store. going out in this town with my dad is humbling and reminds me of how others must sometimes feel being with me around crowds of people. i really see where my personality came from, only he is me to the 10th power. the guy knows EVERYONE in this town and we have to stop our conversation every 2 feet to say hi and shake hands and tell jokes. folks go on and on to me about what a great guy he is and i nod my head and say "i know, i know.." i really do know though~the guy is truly amazing and i am so lucky he is my dad. then after dinner i asked him to tell me again about how his grandfather escaped from russia in a cattle boat to going to south africa and how they ended up getting from there to ellis island...

i really needed this vacation.