newport beach

one day on balboa island (they call it there: god’s waiting room)

what an incident….i met bert minshall on balboa island
In front of the local museum. he worked for the well known western actor john wayne. altogether for17 years. (https://www.biography.com/actor/john-wayne)
JW, privately called “duke” had bought a mine sweeper from the us army. he made this military boot HIS ship, his partial home, his entertainment yacht. bert shared jw`s time on the wild goose for 17 years. at the end as captain! i spent a whole day with him. bert shared all his memories with me. his many adventures. his personal relationship with jw and his family…….and he showed me “his” ship, the impressive “wild goose”: from top to bottom. the playroom, the bedrooms, the rooms below the main deck, the machine room……a fascinating journey into the past.

in good memory of john wayne

and of course i never forget ASTRONOMY

therefore, on a sunny day…driving a mustang convertible…we drove south…towards san diego…but before arriving at this exciting city….we turned left…towards the mountains…winding roads upwards…through indian territory….through remote landscapes…up and up….until we finally arrived at this impressive observatory…on …PALOMAR MOUNTAIN

palomar-observatory-astronomy-tour.html

http://www.astro.caltech.edu/palomar/homepage.html

a wonderful journey to the most interesting mountain in california. a huge telescope, the largest for decades, explores our universe. and when one looks up towards the sky, it is always the past, what you see.

CATALINA ISLAND

and then, on a splendid sunday…we left balboa peninsula with a cruise ship…almost 2 hours watching dolphins…then this SPECIAL island.

https://www.gotocatalina.com/