Yesterday morning at around 11, Dody, Gail and I embarked on our long planned trip to Carmel to visit Arline and Sheila, our two retired colleagues. Our fourth companion, Diane, was unable to go with us, for she had just contracted COVID after her latest trip to Las Vegas with her daughter.
Despite a lack of the usual loquacious enthusiasm from Diane, and gloomy clouds hanging in the sky, we had a pleasant and safe journey with Dody at the helm. Once outside the county line, we immediately saw familiar stretches of green farmland. Luckily, this part of the world remains pretty much the same, immune from the frenzy of building more housing.
An hour later, we arrived at a booth for allowing visitors to drive in, thinking that it must be our friends' place. Looking at the guard's puzzled look, I retrieved my low-battery phone to double-check the correct street number. As it turns out, our address should be #3515 Del Mesa Drive, whereas the place we stopped at was #500, which was designated for the Del Mesa Carmel Community Association. The friendly man told us that we needed to turn back and look for a facility called Pacific Meadows.
After another phone call and a minute of driving, we finally reached our destination, confirmed by the waving of Arline on her third-floor balcony. Once inside, we found ourselves sitting in a garden-like living room, overlooking a long range of emerald green mountains, not in the least bit inferior to Hitler's Berghof. Apparently, Monterey County has done extremely well with its low-income housing for senior citizens. Nearly half a dozen buildings flanked the magnificent Santa Lucia Range. It will not happen in Santa Cruz. Anything with a decent view of water or mountains will certainly be sold to the highest bidder.
It seems that Arline is thriving in such a community after less than two years. Having lived for decades in a land-free trailer on Swanton Road, Arline finally bought a house in a bullet-ridden neighborhood in Stockton, but sold it to follow her daughter to Florida. Once a new home was built from scratch in Port Charlotte, she returned to California, for the destructive hurricanes and divisive politics did not agree with her. Just as she was getting content in her mobile home in Ukiah, her number was called for the Pacific Meadows. Arline is one of the most single-minded friends I have had. Wherever she goes, she can always manage to cultivate a beautiful garden out of the wasteland. It was a truly comfort to see her finally settle down in a secure and affordable community, concentrating on her self-imposed duties to be creative, and to instruct her fellow residents how to play cards and games.
After our lunch at Woody's in the aforesaid Del Mesa Carmel, we visited Sheila, Arline's former office-mate. It is Sheila that had introduced Arline to the facility. Even though they live in the same community, they hardly see each other. Unlike Arline who likes indoor activities, Sheila is an outdoor lady. In addition to being a docent for the Big Sur Lighthouse, she is a school guard for the local middle school. At the age of 82, she seldom stays in her home for long.
After vising our two friends, we decided to leave at 3:40 p.m., an hour earlier than planned, due to a shortage of parking spaces, which was one of the few issues in the Meadows. Three of us all felt happy and accomplished after the visit.
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