在天堂般的日子看见结果的铁树
情人节后的周六睡到自然醒，起床后便开始惦记起山中的草是否青了，花儿是否开了。可某人偏偏睡不醒，只好一个人坐在厨房看了会杂志。终于等他下来吃早饭，我提出要去爬山，某人答，有蛇喔。我质疑到，这早春哪有蛇？ 答，你可知"惊蛰"二字？ 看我一副半信半疑、几分失望的模样，某人笑而提议说，去海边吧。
就这样，吃完饭，两人坐上了车。我掏出平时读杂志时写满句子单词的小本本，开始考起某人来。这些单词都是新闻里常常看到的，而又是我需要再次掌握的。我知道某人的词汇量不在我之下，他一个平时不读书不看杂志的人，自称"秀才不读书仍知天下事的人"，靠的是一只手机刷天下。我一个一个单词抛出来，guagmire, doldrum, bonanza，paradigm等，他一个个迎刃而解。我顺势夸了夸，某人信心大增，要求我接着考。 这时车辆已经驶入界于两座山峦间、只有一条道的山路里。周六的车辆真不少。看着两边渐渐泛绿的山峦，和前面缓缓行驶的车队，我从本子上顺手找来galvanize一词问他。他指着路边立着的一个三角形的拦路架子说，"就是像这样的一种涂层材料"。我以为他错了，以为这下可以show off一下我的词汇了，纠正他之后，面对他的质疑，我又疑惑地掏出手机查正，才知道这词确有他说的那层意思，而他后来对moot一词的另种解释，对最近流行的quid pro quo(this for that)的词根解释也扩展了我对这两个词的认识和记忆。当然他也有失足的时候，比如eschew和indigent就说错了。就这样，路上的时光很快打发了，当熟悉的海面出现在视野里，我们很快转移了话题，在手机的导航下，辨认着街名，寻找着新景点和parking。
阳光下的海面一如既往的蔚蓝辽阔。我们一路向南，停靠着，走过一处处海滩。午前的海滩空旷，游人并不多。我们爬过礁石，看远处海面，近处海浪、海鸟和不远处的灯塔、房子。我们走上海滩，看浪花一次次卷起，一次次涌来，像身着蓝色衣裙的少女舞动着她白色的裙边，不停地戏弄着、舔着沙滩，然后又俏皮地退去。我们接着穿过mini的海边公园，走过陡峭的Thousand Steps (回程时数了数只有225个台阶), 来到另一处。途中，我们第一次见到铁树结出红红的果子。(俗话说，千年的铁树开了花，据说铁树开花通常要60年，结果就需要更久的时间。铁树结的果也叫凤凰蛋)。第一次看到如此硕大厚实圆润的仙人掌， 第一次在这个清澈见底的tidal pool里近距离见到海水中的一群鱼。再后来，某人忽然间对海水产生兴趣，蹲下身子，摆弄着老旧的相机，不厌其烦地抓拍着海水涌向沙滩、掀起高度回落成白浪前的那一瞬间。随着一声声的咔嚓咔嚓，那如琼浆玉液、凝脂碧玉般的美，终是如他所愿，定格在相机里了。
下面照片的中间是不是像一块被裹着的玉石翡翠:)
对我这个年纪的人来说，什么情人节已经跟我没有关系。能在一个平常的周末看一会书，再去这样的海边走一走, 享受风和日丽，便是岁月静好了。就像途中遇到的一个老美老头，跟我们打招呼时不忘说，another day in the paradise。人越是老去，离去天堂的日子越近，或许就会越觉得人间其实就是天堂，如这海，这景，这风，这云，这花，天堂有吗？(某人开玩笑说，天堂啥都有，有美女，有情人，有.......呵呵，还有一句睡觉前常说的一句话，"眼睛一闭啥都有"。看来，人最重要的是要有梦，有梦最美:)
情人节后被遗忘在海滩上的玫瑰 (或是有人特意摆放的情人节的玫瑰)
蜂鸟的silhouette
狗狗游到海里捡起橡皮螃蟹玩具。狗主人看到我们在给他的狗狗拍照，非常友好地朝我们招招手。
海鸟在专注找吃的。
镶嵌在岩石里的石头。
清澈见底的海水
水中的鱼
这沙滩上的白浪像不像衣裙的白色裙摆:)
It is February 15, a Saturday after Valentine’s Day. After breakfast at about 10:40, we set out to the beach. Traffic was heavy once we exited onto one-lane lane, flanked by the hills on both sides. We had to stop here and there for the traffic lights and to follow the slow traffic flow. This however gave us a chance to peer out of the window to relish at the sight of the early spring. The dominant brown color on the hills is receding, the new grass surging on the surface of the slope, soon to prevail all over the valleys . Cactus flowers are budding, while daisies are impatiently blooming in the sun. The trees are spouting their first leaves, tender, yellow and clean like water washed. I rolled down the car window sporadically, to breathe in the fresh air, as the car was snaking out of the hilly road to the destinated beaches.
The destination beaches this time are a bit further south from where we normally frequent. Having lived for decades in a city twenty minutes’ drive from the coast, we do not expect another walk in the beach to be of anything unusual. However, it still delights us. Beaches may look alike at first sight, but the variation of the width, the curves, the rocks in the sea, the blue hue of sea water could render each its unique beauty. Adding to that are the plantation, the lighthouse, sculptures, and a myriad of art galleries along the streets that have human touches to blend seemly or unseemly civilizations into the nature.
Through meandering trails that lead down to the beach, or the steep stone Thousand Steps, we descended to the flat soft beaches. Watching the turquoise water shimmering afar, adjoined by towering cliffs, finding a tidal pool that has a school of fish swimming among the seaweeds all invigorated us. For quite a few times, he squated down, attempting to catch the moments when azure water rising up like a big stretch of emerald before crushing into white waves and lapping to the shore. In the breezy beaches, we whiled away our late Saturday morning and early afternoon. What is left behind after hours’ stroll on beaches are not just our footprints that were soon washed away, but memories and photos that attest continually to “another day in the paradise”.