Helpers

Sleepy-Heads

Lady and Captain, Helping.

Captain Sleepy-Head

Lady Sleepy-Head

Lady, Looking

As Audience, As Witness

As I was getting coffee at the cafe this morning, I had a gentleman walk up to me and ask about the Bamboo Reef t-shirt I was wearing.  He wanted to know if the business were still in operation, and I named Monterey and SF as ongoing locations.  He then told me his father had been one of Bamboo Reef's three founders--with Al Giddings and Leroy French -- back in 1961.  We chatted briefly, me asking about his father's name (which I now can't recall, grrr), and then he moved on.

I'm guessing he wasn't a diver like his father, or at least not a local diver, or he would have known . . . but we didn't talk about any of that.

I like how the man wanted to connect with something his father had helped make -- and to say it out loud -- and I, random fellow that I am, was able to participate as audience, as witness.

Captain, Chaucer

Captain, Shakespearean

Captain, helping: "Read your Shakespeare."

Note: I was in the laundry room to settle the unsettled washer again.  While I was sitting upon the washing machine, I had thought to do a little homework or a little pleasure reading.  Captain helped me to settle upon the classic.

Captain, Helper

My good cat Captain loves to help me with the laundry.

What that means:  Our washer is not balanced properly, so until I adjust the machine, the washer flips out and becomes unbalanced and galumphs galumphs galumphs.  I tend to grab a book to read and just sit atop the washer (instead of dealing with the balance issues).  Captain, bless his soul, likes to help me and comes running when he hears the imbalanced washer struggling--and so we both sit atop the washer.

Yesterday while I was at work, the washer was in operation and Captain heard the imbalance and came running to the rescue, standing atop the heaving machine and gentling it with his weight, just a bit.

Rum Reflections

When I was in my teens, my 20s, and my 30s, I wanted to rescue people. When I was in my 40s, I wanted to rescue myself. At the edge of 55, I'm still committed to a little of both, but I am also fairly sure that the matter is largely out of my hands.

I'd like to help out, in any event, as the case may be.

Logbook: Helping

June 6:  Today a woman about my own age or a little younger approached me in the grocery store, asked me to help her with a high shelf an aisle or so away, and then directed me to which items she wanted. She was rather short, as she pointed out, I am tall, and the shelf was high.

I am often approached for help in many situations, but I was wearing very ragged, dirty jeans and a rather ragged, dirty t-shirt, carrying a six-pack of Negra Modelo and a box of Instant Oatmeal, and hadn't shaved in a couple of days, so she probably didn't mistake me for an employee, but she wanted help and asked. Power to her.

I was happy to help.

(I don't think she was hitting on me, by the way.)

P. S.
I should add that when she first approached me I was reaching for a giant stuffed octopus above the freezers, so there was at least one clue I might be harmless.

Intrepid: Mother-Daughter Abalone Divers

Mother and daughter go abalone-diving for the first time.  They had to work hard on this bright, but surgy day.

In the photo below, I'm fairly sure that's the mother talking to my friends about abalone diving.  The photo below is from the afternoon before the morning shots I caught above.   I've been abalone-diving since 1978, so I did have some advice for this woman.  She had good questions, practical questions, but she also revealed a lack of experience that troubled me.  Van Damme is a protected entry and exit point, mostly, but I wouldn't call the waters out by the arch a novice dive spot at all.  I pointed out some of the dangers as well as places I'd seen divers get lucky, but I also appreciated the sheer verve this woman had.  She wanted to get some abalone, and she was willing to swim and work to get it.   I was happy to see her and her daughter out there the next morning, but I also paddled my kayak nearby to see if they wanted any help or not.  I could see some struggling with all the surge as well as some difficulty with a weight belt, but I didn't patronize these divers by trying to help them when my help wasn't wanted.   I tend to paddle over and hover around any divers, checking whether any aid is wanted, I see out on a surgy day working the long swims.  Male or female, I'll add.  My friend E saw the two later, when they exited the water, and reports that they did not get abalone, but they saw one or two small ones.  Next time, I say.  Next time.