Indian summer

An Indian summer is a period of unseasonably warm, dry weather, occurring after the end of summer proper. This particular Indian summer struck on a weekend, and people took to the parks to enjoy the 90-degree temperatures.

At Wilderness Park, one of the favorite activities was fishing. Whether you use a pole with a reel and hook, or just try to scoop the fish up with a net, the allure is the same for young boys everywhere.

Punta Cana beauty

A mere 3,200 miles away from Downey is Punta Cana in the Dominican Republic. Although Downey and Punta Cana share some similarities (a strong historical Spanish influence and a similar population of around 100,000), the similarity pretty much stops there.

This tropical island is a beautiful vacation destination. The turquoise waters and the white sand beaches draw visitors from all around. It drew us. My daughter and I just got home from a week at a resort on the Bavaro shore and had a great time.

On one of our daily beach walks, we ran into this fisherman cleaning his daily catch. It was fun to watch the activity going on, but I love the sound of the surf, the constant blowing of the wind, and the water as it rushes over my feet.

"My life is like a stroll on the beach....as near to the edge as I can go."
~ Thoreau

Catch of the day

On our recent field trip to Malibu, we posted a picture of this bird. But upon looking at some of my pictures, I discovered I had one of him with his "catch" in tact.

"The charm of fishing is that it is the pursuit of what is elusive but attainable, a perpetual series of occasions for hope." ~John Buchan

Lost to the sea (in a good way)

A little outside of Downey is Long Beach. At the end of the beach is a jetty where I love to fish. I love it. I love how calm it is, how great the feeling is when you catch a fish (I did yesterday!) and with no one there but yourselves, it's just the people you care about cheering with you.

To catch a fish...

Fishing is boring, unless you catch an actual fish, and then it is disgusting. ~Dave Barry

If you look closely, you will see a hook and part of a fishing line in the duck's mouth. I'm not sure what he was doing with it, but it was a funny sight to me.