Dense, complex, rewarding. Steinbeck’s band of apres-Depression misfits each form an essential pillar in the community of Cannery Row, in Monterey, Calif.

A quick but tricky book. Occasional deviations into individual vignettes are intriguing, but difficult to decipher at times. But Steinbeck’s love for place and land–this book is almost a pastoral at times–is clear and joyful.

The plot is loose and centers around Mack and his group of down-and-out unemployed, scrappy rifraff, who have the best of intentions but drunkenly screw everything up. You always see it coming. Sometimes it involves trapping frogs. It always involves booze.

Each individual character adds to the tight sense of community. Dora, vibrant madam; Doc, the intellectual, lonely marine biologist; Lee Chong and his center-of-the-little-universe grocery.

Cannery Row is a paean to the Monterey collective consciousness, the little joys of life, the quick shocks of violence and the meaning of place.

Tags: american, california

Segways on Pismo Beach

Originally uploaded by lyzadanger

We went “gliding,” as my father-in-law would say. The big all-terrain tires made it more off-roady as we glided over the sand.

The photo is on the pier in Pismo Beach. It was sunny but pretty darned cold.

Tags: california, family, holidays, pismo beach, segways, Travel

Sheep, California

Originally uploaded by lyzadanger
I wish I could have shot this on film. It looks digital-y. I used my sister’s genius Christmas gift to take this: a tripod ball mount on a little rubber cup-thing. It’s meant to be used on the top of wine bottles as a super-portable tripod-y thing, but it works great on other things, e.g. fence post tops, as in this photo.

Tags: california, holidays, sheep, sunset, Travel