SquareOdds #8: Main Street, Mendocino After Dark

Self took these pictures a few weeks ago, around 6:30 p.m. The bookstore on the corner had just closed for the day. The only thing open was Dick’s Place, laid-back watering-hole (the low building with the neon sign). Directly across the street, the wide meadows of the headlands were completely dark, but you could hear the ocean — powerful, slamming against the cliffs. It always gives self a shiver to walk by night around the headlands, because the dark is so deep, and the ocean is so loud.

Posting this for Becky’s Squares Challenge. The theme for this month is ODD.

SquareOdds #2

Doing the Squares Challenge this month, hosted by Becky over at her blog, Life of B!

Today’s odds:

On her most recent trip to Mendocino, self stayed in Room #13 of the Mendocino Hotel. The number 13 can sometimes be unlucky, but it can also sometimes be lucky. Guess it would all depend on whether or not you are superstitious.

Self was in Gallery Bookshop a lot. Was tremendously amused by this book!

Stay tuned.

February Squares: The Odd 1

Becky at Life of B has just announced the theme for the February Squares Challenge! YAY!

• “Oddity, like beauty, is in the eye of the beholder. What one person rejects as lunacy, another reveres as truth.” — Philip Gulley

Here’s a picture of the Mendocino Hotel. A few steps away, the red-lit Dick’s Place, with a neon martini sign! This is Main Street, Mendocino. The hotel dates from the mid-19th century, and the bar dates from the 1950s. Late at night, these are the only open establishments.

Come to think of it, a bar right next to a hotel isn’t that odd. But she really likes the picture (despite it’s not being as sharp as it could be), and most of all she really likes the neon-lit martini glass (extreme right). She was told that Dick’s had to apply for a special license for the neon sign.

The human skeletons were painted life-size. She found them in a vintage store in Fort Bragg (Doorward, Redwood Ave.).

Stay tuned, dear blog readers. Stay tuned.

Whatsoever Is Lovely Challenge: Bookshelves

XingfuMama hosts the Whatsoever Is Lovely Photo Challenge. Thinking back over the past week, self thought of the last time she was in one of her favorite places: Gallery Bookshop in Mendocino.

Books are a special thing of self’s.

Someone was commenting on the bookshop’s newest book display stand:

Self got the name of the people who did the bookshelf: Wood Joint Studio, Fort Bragg.

She doesn’t know why, but wood of all kinds really appeals to self. One afternoon, she called Taimi Barty and asked if it would be okay for her to drop by (because self is such a nosy, nosy writer). And Taimi was the soul of graciousness. Self sped over and met Taimi and Bob, her other half, and self was completely in awe of the space (which was huge. Canoes were hanging from the ceiling).

“Do you build treehouses?” self asked. Which was probably the weirdest question Taimi was ever asked.

And guess what. After self and Taimi had been talking for at least a half hour, self found out that Taimi was a Harvard grad. And she also remembered reading an article on the front page of the Mendocino Beacon in December: the wood shop program at Mendocino High School had just received a grant. The head of the wood shop program was a Harvard grad. Suddenly, the scales fell from self’s eyes and she blurted out: “I read about you on the front page of the Mendocino Beacon! Oh, wow! You’re a rock star!”

And Taimi looked very amused and said, “STOP.”

No, seriously. She is a rock star! Self wishes she could sit in on a wood shop class in Mendocino High School!

So this is her “whatsoever is lovely” share: meeting an unlikely hero, in person, in Fort Bragg.

Stay tuned.

Water, Water Everywhere (WWE) Challenge: The Mighty Pacific

Still reading Conquering the Pacific: An Unknown Mariner and the Final Great Voyage of the Age of Discovery, by Andrés Reséndez.

p. 174:

• On the morning of May 1, the San Jeronimo cleared the capacious bay of Acapulco and entered “the true sea that makes all others appear like rivers and puddles.” — Juan Martinez, soldier, 1 May 1566

For the WWE Challenge, a view of that same ocean, viewed several hundred miles north of Acapulco. Self took this picture last month on the Mendocino Headlands. It was a very cold day. A storm was approaching.

Still cannot get over the fact that leagues and leagues east, on the other side of that ocean, is self’s home country, the Philippines. There is nothing between self and the Philippines except WATER. Imagine crossing that expanse in the 16th century, at the mercy of currents and the vagaries of wind.

Many attempts were made to reach the Philippines after Magellan. Villalobos reached it but left immediately after. Miguel Lopez de Legazpi arrived in 1565 and stayed to become the Philippines’ first governor (Legazpi was pretty old, for an explorer: he was in his 50s. His nickname was El Adelantado)

Legazpi had his two grandsons with him, both teenagers. One, Felipe de Salcedo, 18, became captain of Legazpi’s flagship, the San Pedro, on the vuelta.

What an incredible feat. Truly. And such courage for an 18-year-old. They almost didn’t make it.

His younger brother, Juan de Salcedo, 17, stayed and made a home for himself in what is now the province of Vigan. His grandfather died a year after arrival in the Philippines, but Juan de Salcedo spent the rest of his life there, even bringing his widowed mother and his sister to the islands! (These Salcedo women must have been made of very stern stuff: the trans-Pacific crossing, in the sixteenth century, was no walk in the park)

Weekend Sky: 7 a.m., Mendocino Headlands

Thanks to Hammad Rais for hosting the Weekend Sky Challenge!

I believe I read somewhere that it’s also his birthday? Happy Birthday, Hammad!

Took this picture yesterday morning, standing on Main Street.

Cee’s Black and White Challenge (CBWC): Cold or Chilly or Chili

Thanks ever so much to Cee Neuner for hosting a number of inventive photo challenges. This week’s CBWC is COLD or CHILLY or CHILI.

Cee: “Remember your photos needs to be black and white, desaturated, sepia (brown tones) or selective color.”

Self’s been spending a lot of time on the northern California coast, where the weather is often stormy. Here are a couple of pictures self took during the last storm, the ones that were almost monochromatic:

Lens-Artists Challenge # 183: Memorable Events

Here’s how Leya introduces this week’s Lens-Artists Challenge:

• This week you will have an opportunity to show us some memorable events – new ones or delightful memories! I had to reflect upon it for some days before I knew what to choose…because life gives us quite some of these very special events, doesn’t it? Happy Birthdays, surprising hikes, meetings with faraway friends, interesting exhibitions, travels to special places…

Yes, life does give us these memorable moments! I’m so happy that my memorable moment happened just two days ago, on the Mendocino Headlands.

I spent a good part of December 2021 here. It’s a quieter time of year, but there were still people around. So it’s quiet, but definitely not lonely. I deliberately stayed away from TV and news, brought a stack of books to read — what more could one ask for?

Since hotel rates were at bargain basement level in January, I decided to drive up again. This time, I was in the throes of editing a manuscript to send out. So, unfortunately, the first couple of days here, I was a hermit in my room.

Then, I got an important call, and I could not get out of it. The hotel is so quiet — I knew I’d be disturbing people if I continued talking in my room. So I headed to the bluffs. It was my first walk in a number of days, the call was cutting in and out, but I didn’t care. Because — WOW! To think this was just a five-minute walk away, and I was so deep into my work I couldn’t even manage getting out. And with the weather so gorgeous, too!

As soon as the call ended, I started taking a bunch of pictures. Here are a few:

Twofer: Whatsoever Is Lovely Challenge and Cee’s Flower of the Day (FOTD)

Today, self went for a walk around Mendocino Village. The weather has been gorgeous. The fuschias seem to be in season; many were blooming along fences and pathways.

Posting this for XingfuMama’s Whatsoever Is Lovely Challenge and Cee Neuner’s Flower of the Day:

Cee’s Fun Foto Challenge (CFFC): Fun with Other Challenges

This week’s CFFC spotlight is MONDAY WINDOWS.

Self loves Monday Windows.

Here’s the front window of Mendocino Chocolate Company on Main Street in Mendocino Village. If anyone’s within driving distance, highly recommend!

Me

Bonus window: The Gallery Bookshop is one of self’s favorite bookstores. Also on Main Street in Mendocino Village, it is open every day until 6 p.m. Self took this picture in the late afternoon, on a cloudy day in December.

Gallery Bookshop, Main Street, Mendocino, California