by beachraven | Jan 28, 2022
El Porto, Manhattan Beach, California One of my favorite surf spots was El Porto in Manhattan Beach in front of the Chevron refinery. Paddling out just after dawn before the onshore breeze picked up, the ocean surface would be like glass. Sitting on my board...
by beachraven | Jan 21, 2022
Bright stabs of sun filter through the fig tree, the plants glow with every shade of green while a blue-sky circling buzzard looks for dinner. It all feels so alive. There’s gotta be a story here. And a gardener is clipping and raking, as scents of fresh earth...
by beachraven | Jan 15, 2022
In the ‘70s, I lived with three roommates in a rental house in a Denver suburb. We set up the communal stereo on a shelf supported by cinderblocks in the living room, and it became the heart of the home. My crazy graveyard-shift job gave me time alone in the house...
by beachraven | Jan 8, 2022
Monterey Bay, Pacific Grove, California That’s the second time today I turned my head and caught someone staring at me or turning away. It happens the other way too. I’ll look at someone, maybe they remind me of somebody or have an attractive quality, and...
by beachraven | Jan 1, 2022
El Carmelo Cemetery, Pacific Grove, California I had a New Year’s Day missive written and ready to go about a shiny wetness that covered the outside world from the night’s rain, a chill-filled house, and a kind of relief that hung with me. It...
