Playing Hooky and Looking for Jesus

On an ordinary Tuesday morning my husband and I went to the beach. I suppose most folks don’t think of going to the beach in November but it was sunny and mild and called to us. Normally my husband would be at work and I would be busy with my store, so right from the get-go it felt delicious to play hooky. And our chosen beach, just south of Half Moon Bay, CA, was empty. We owned the beach.

I hunted for sea glass in the sand, read a book and gazed out at the horizon. It was lovely. It was the gazing out at the vastness that sent my thoughts down strange paths. I remember thinking as I half gazed/half dozed…how did this girl from a small town in upstate New York end up living most of her adult life in California? Isn’t it funny the paths our lives take? 

My husband broke into my thoughts with a “Are you getting hungry?” and we dusted ourselves off, clambered up the 80 stairs, walked the half mile back to our car and drove into the town to catch some lunch at our favorite diner. (I opted for my usual Reuben sandwich with potato salad.)

Here’s my favorite pic along the path to the beach. Love the contrast of the aged wood, rusty wire and lichen.

Back at home, some 35 miles away, I had to get back to work on a freelance project that had hit a technical snag and later package an order. Not as fun as the beach, but good in their own way.

And of course you know another part of life is my persistence at my neighborhood thrift store. I had gone before we headed to the beach. My only purchase that morning had been a plastic bag filled with Italian plaster nativity pieces. The way the bag had been wrapped and taped it was hard to see what was there and in what condition. Turns out, I have three wisemen, Mary, Joseph, a shepherd and a donkey with a damaged ear.

See what’s missing? No Jesus! And my husband, with all astuteness, said, “Isn’t that the point?” and shared that he believed I had a loser with this lot.

But I begged to differ! I’ll parcel out these pieces and make a profit. Maybe not huge, but still. Plus if they don’t sell quickly the wisemen have a home interspersed with my brass candlesticks.

But even so today after my workout I popped into Goodwill to look for Jesus. Was hoping that in all the Christmas decoration stuff, the shelves and shelves of it, I would find him. My missing baby. Alas, it didn’t happen today.

Though I did find two professionally framed Beatrix Potter needlepoint pieces. So sweet.

And amidst the Christmas decorations (while I didn’t find Jesus), I did find a box of 50 music CDs: Deutsche Harmonia Mundi 50th Anniversary Box. Hmmm. This looked like an amazing collection of baroque and ancient music! A quick in-store search brought up four for sale on Amazon. Well, I’ll be darned!!! I gently put this box of CDs in my shopping basket. 🙂

Worthpoint data shows that in 2011 a number of these boxed sets sold in the $230 range, but there is no sales data since then. I’m guessing these have become more scarce, hence pricier, and my set appears unused.

Well, I’m taking a bit of a breather today before I tackle my next project.

As always, happy hunting,

Karen