Lori Scuba Diving

Lori's friend, Rick has been a long time scuba diver and is familiar with ocean diving.  Since Lori loves the water,  it didn't take long to persuade her to jump into scuba gear!  First you get used to wet suits,  then take lessons in a local swimming pool,  pass initial tests and then dive with an instructor to put your knowledge to the test!  She passed the test which qualifies her to dive up to 60 feet deep!  She has done several Pacific Ocean dives  and the first week of March,  Numerous divers planned a trip to Catalina Island off the coast of California.  They chartered a diving boat on the island and spent several days in the semi-warm waters of the Pacific! Catalina Island is a divers paradise!  Underwater gardens, kelp jungles, and even a ship wreck are available excursions.  They swam with jelly fish,  sea bass,  lobster and all the colorful species that own the ocean.  And since Catalina is a tourist spot,  many restaurants offer all the seafood varieties readily available.  You notice Lori entering the water from shore.  This dive allows  gives you entrance into the shore gardens after the hard work of getting there through wave action that wants to take you back to shore!  To complicate Lori's journey into the deep,  she had to carry 38 pounds of weight to compensate for the wet suit buoyancy.  This weight along with the suit, tanks and valves,  makes it difficult to navigate the steps.  She survived and brought home a tired body and lots of new memories of the ocean deep!

Trees Unseen

The winter drive to the coast reveals the inner structure of trees never seen in other seasons.  You can easily discover the many groves of Alder trees that become hidden behind their leaf coverings.  Winter disrobes all leaf bearing trees leaving them naked in Winter's brisk winds.  If you dare look,  you'll enjoy their stature, their bark and limb structure.  After many groves of Alders,  you then notice the moss, the scale, the mistletoe - the parasites that gradually drain the life from these forests.  However,  to me,  moss is most fascinating.  This velvet cover,  glistens in the sunlight giving the trees that have embraced this cloak,  a rich beauty.  These photos hardly portray that the eye sees.  Soon, as the leaves appear,  what is very visible now, will disappear.  And next year, about now,  if you dare look,  you will notice this beauty again and, no doubt,  a few of these trees will be gone.