Surf Cities Sea Cliff Health Center

The Waterfront Hilton is where my story begins.  I place my knap sack down and enter Starbuck's, not to kill a whale as in Moby Dick,  but to energize my body. By the fountain, two Mexicans rub the grind and mold from its bottom. . The manager and several other workers enter for their pick up. It is a daily routine of coffee to remove the cobwebs of sleep.
   Outside the waves are up, way up, as surfers slide up and down to enjoy the waves today. I stir the coffee to allow the honey a chance to permeate it. It is delightful to peer outside and see the large Palms swaying back and forth.  I continue to enjoy my coffee laden with honey, milk and sugar. The surf is up today and many waves crest to eight or higher.
   The best place to keep cool is where the sea meets the sand. I take my back pack and Starbucks drink to the edge of the water and watch two surfers look for the best waves. It is too bad I never learned to surf, but that doesn't stop me from placing my toes in the water.
    Now I am thoroughly relaxed. I can breath. It is too bad that my brother can't be with me, but so far the Sea Cliff Health Center in Huntington Beach have done nothing about his left eye. His eye lid covers the eye and with corrective glass lenses, he can have 20/20 vision out of that eye.
     Also, Mel was not taken to the eye doctor for his shot and forgotten when they were supposed to have a party last week on Friday. I call this place the House of Wax. Nobody seems to know what the others are doing. Most of the staff behave like manikins.
     What is needed is a computerized system to better make decisions. We don't know what all of these thirteen pills are for and who and for what they are for. When Mel was ambulance d here last October, nobody knew what his real problem. A Dr.Craig called me after he had been discharged to let me know he had a grave eat infection and that he was blind. At least one of the four doctors should have seen that all he needed was an eye lift. And later a Nurse told me he had brain cancer.
     Mel is not blind and did have brain cancer, but it may take an Act of God to give him this. In the meantime, he is depressed and sorely wishes to watch the Dodgers in the World Series.  I have been feeding him for ten months but now getting pooped
  Huntington Beach is socked in today, to I will amble under its pier and stay by the waters edge It is great to be alive at 78 years of age.

A Ubiquitous Day in Surf City

   My plugs need oiling.  The number one bus stops in front of the Hilton at exactly eight fifteen. On board, it begin to relax and breathe with the knowledge that hot dry air will clean my spark plugs. The bus ambles on to Sunset, Seal and then Long Beach. It is great to remove myself from the beach and the Sea Cliff Health Center. I have been bogged down with Mel for almost a year, and I know that I need change or I will be a patient in bed one. At least I have time to dream and relax on the bus.
    Writers from the New York Times have begun to use terms such as "ubiquitous" and "nascent" far too much. You can feel it on the Streets of Surf City. The younger generation have given up learning for skate boards, tattoos, bikes and drifting further from the main stream. Skin heads appear everywhere as do the homeless.
     The bus turns a corner across from the V. A. building and just south of Long Beach State College. Nature calls so I run into the V.A. to take care the overflow and return to the bus stop, just in time for the #901 bus to downtown. The further I stray from Surf City the more relaxed I am. At least there are no panhandlers on this bus to shake me down. I still feel pissed that nobody seems to care about the man on the street.
      The New York Times now uses the term "ubiquitous" when referring to events happening today. ICE has flooded our cities rounding up those with the wrong skin color. Nobody wishes to build the wall and our new head has fired just about everybody he has hired. Two of our ships have collided in the seas off of Japan. Yes we have a new ubiquitous beginning.
     I tap my blue card on a machine and wait for the Blue Line Metro. Most of Long Beach is asleep at nine o'clock, so it is safe to ride the rails. My asthmatic lungs begin to sing as we pass Pacific, Willow, Wardlow,  then Compton, Vernon ans so forth. The train lumbers on to the Washington Street tracks before handing off to the Flower ones on the way to Seventh Avenue.
     The last stop is Seventh Street. I am still miffed why the panhandler attacked me. Guess he thought I was stealing his car.  I had called the police and a couple hours later a policeman came to my apartment.
      "You did the right thing by not fighting back.  Sorry we came late.  Some lady threw her baby out of a three story window."
       " Who is delegated to watch our streets. It is sometimes a free-for-all on these streets. And who watches over the benches. I never see any police cars" I answer. 
        "No, the Orange County Sheriff is supposed to taker care of these benches. Have a good day Mr. Garrett."
         "Thank you officer Tojo."
       Two escalators take me to street level.  My lungs are doing adagios now. I feels great to drink softer dry air..I  can't get over how many tall buildings live in Angle Town. I make it to the downtown Library and notice two policeman on the fourth floor. I order the microfilms I need and go downstairs for a bit to eat. At least Panda Express or the Microfilms machines are not ubiquitous. (Not edited)
   









 

Surf Cities, Waterfront Hilton Hotel

"No dark coffee today...It is my birthday and I wish to celebrate..Think I will have a  Mocha today?
"What kind would you like? We have strawberry, banana, mango ...so you wish the strawberry.?   Should I mix in other fruits?"
  "Any extra charge?"
  "No..That will be four thirty five."
  My pocket watch said eight o'clock. My #25 would be here at exactly eight twenty five. The Waterfront Hilton Hotel is my first stop for today. Off the ocean, I enjoy the view of the crashing waves, the beach and pier. 
  From my corner table, I have a first hand view of the Surf City Beach.  off of P.C.H.  Outside by the pool is a large breakfast buffet but I must remind my stomach "not today". With a straw I sip my mocha drink and hear the news from the T.V. inside the Coffee Clutch.
     I delete from my mind anything said about Trump but zero in on the anniversary of the death of Elvis Presley. Today was also my 78th birthday, and no Trump or the panhandler who pushed me will spoil it.
    I remember the  words of my oldest daughter Olivia as we walked to the Century Theater at the Bella Terra shopping center. My youngest daughter held the hand of my three year old Allison. I extend my left hand to Olivia, my six year old grandchild
   "Grandpa, I do not need your hand!"
    "Why not?"
    "Cause I am independent!"
  "Two busy to beat the heat, I didn't know  how funny yet sophisticated it was for a six year old. I repeated what she had told me to everyone that included the Senior Center.
    I remembered a radio show broadcast on top of the Pickwick Hotel in San Diego in the 30's. I had lived there at the Y.M.C.A. before moving to Huntington Beach.  Its two towers were finished in 1938 and broadcast a radio show from there.
    An Alumnus from San Diego High School , Art Linkletter began his career on top of that building with a program called Man on the Street Pickwick. Since the stage line stopped there as well as the Greyhound bus, many people came to watch his show.  But later he began a show, Kids Say the Darndest Things. and .
    Oh yes, another alumnus by the name of  Gregory Peck matriculated to the school and was a member of a drama club, and the J.V. football team. He admired the play of one Ambrose Schindler but never had his body or athleticism. So the chagrined Peck had to eek out a living by becoming movie actor.

Nuts and bolts for today: The cell phone does not have the personality of our kids today. Listen to them, they are full of gems.



   
   
 
 

A Surf City Birthday

As always, I showered, put some under arm on, and sprayed a little cologne on my neck. Yes, I felt great when...Excuse me, that was my phone.
  "Shabbat Shalom Lauren, nothing is needed for my birthday. You and your sister did it for me and now I can look over and enjoy my grand children."
  My daughter called to wish me a happy 78th birthday...and it made my day. I ate my hard boiled eggs with Rice Crispy Cereal, cleaned the kitchen and out the door I flew. I caught the #29 bus to the beach and descended at the Waterfront Hilton Hotel. After I climbed the curved steps to the fountain and entered.
   "Take the roasted coffee, the tall." I dripped some honey from two small glass containers and poured milk and a little sugar into my paper cup. I peered out the window and marveled at the ocean view with Jack's and the parking lot in front of it. Two surfers glued onto a wave and were milking the ride.
    I took up a seat at the corner table and looked over my Schindler notes from October of 1936 from the Union Tribune, When a thought entered my excited mind. In San Diego a few years ago, my Rabbi Carlback told a story about a father soon to die.
    "Caleb had born two beautiful daughters and bore grandchildren. His older daughter cried and mentioned that it was 'too bad he would not live to see them marry and bare more children. He responded.
     "My dear, Only God can tell us when our number is up. I produced two seeds that bore two beautiful women and now grand daughters...I will live to see them marry and produce more seeds."
      "He did live another twenty years and even witness the marriage of all his granddaughters."
       "So one sees that from a few seeds, some mighty Oak trees grew and grew and produced more seed.s.
  It was eight fifteen now and my #25 would be picking me up, and take me to the library where I would write this and edited my Schindler story. And oh yes, Sam, the Indian from India has promised to bring a chicken laden with Curry for me for my birthday, so I better hurry up to enjoy the Hawaii them at the Surf City Senior Center

Nuts and Bolts for Today: live today as if it is the second to the last day of your life.