Summer at Home
15 July 2025

It is summer, and I’m at home in the city (actually, the suburbs) of San Diego, California. This post is about what I’m doing in the summer in the city.

Sunset over the Ocean

Recently, at the actual start of summer, I saw a beautiful sunset over the Pacific Ocean on my way home from dinner with friends.

Summer in the City

The song Summer in the City from the Lovin’ Spoonful in 1966 comes to mind. The lyrics do not really match my experience -it is not terribly hot, the people I see do not look “half dead,” and I’m not down. But sort-of ignoring the lyrics, the energy and liveliness of the music and song matches my upbeat mood this summer in the city. Here are the lyrics of the first verse:

To hear the song again, click on this and be transported back to 1966:

Another Pilgrimage Walk to Santiago de Compostela

Last winter, I was seriously considering returning to Spain to undertake the pilgrimage walk on the Camino de Santiago route known as the Via de la Plata & Camino Sanabrés, a 1,040-kilometer (620-mile) walk from Seville in south-central Spain to Santiago de Compostela in the northwest. I started that pilgrimage walk in the spring of 2023 with my friend Tom from Sydney, Australia. I unfortunately had to stop after 600 kilometers due to worsening tendonitis in my left leg. I returned in the spring of 2024 with my brother-in-law, Ron, and a friend of his, Dan, to complete the pilgrimage to Santiago de Compostela.

Why would I want to walk a pilgrimage route I have already walked? The first time on a walk like this, there is some anxiety each day about what the day will bring: how steep is the hill really? How difficult or rocky is the downhill? How muddy or unstable is the path? Will I miss a marker and get lost? Are there places to get food along the way? How much water must I carry? When walking a second time, knowing what each day will bring, the anxiety is minimal, and one can immerse oneself more in the beauty, the meditative, the spiritual, and the religious aspects of the pilgrimage. And when I walked the 800-kilometer Camino Francés the second time, that is what I experienced: a much deeper cerebral experience. [My first Camino Francés pilgrimage walk was in spring 2016, and the second was in autumn 2017.]

I would like to make the pilgrimage walk on the Via de la Plata & Camino Sanabrés again to see how I experience it differently. After a problem last November in Thailand in which I spent a night in the hospital (https://james-intrepid-pilgrim.blog/2024/11/24/full-day-in-bangkok-5-phed-mark-and-an-adventure/), I was thinking that a long, very solitary walk in Spain did not feel right. So I passed on going to Spain this past spring. While I do not regret staying home, I am seriously considering going to Spain next spring to walk that route, or most of it, again. Considering…nothing planned yet.

Home and Active

What am I doing at home this summer? I am busy every day. Generally, I am reading, writing, walking in the morning, cycling most days, strength training in the gym twice per week, and I practice yoga and meditate every day.

On a couple of my bike rides from my home towards the coast highway, I recorded a few short videos, riding with one hand while holding my phone to record…not exactly safe to repeat often. And I’m not a polished cinematographer, but I did get a few videos, which I uploaded as shorts to YouTube.

Cycling on the bike path along California Highway 56 towards the ocean.

Further along the same ride, on the coast highway, Old Highway 101, heading north from Solana Beach to Cardiff State Beach with the ocean ahead.

After heading up the coast, a view of the ocean while riding south of Swami’s Beach towards Cardiff State Beach on Old Highway 101

Then cycling south on Old Highway 101 along Cardiff State Beach

South of Del Mar, overlooking Torrey Pines State Beach, I stopped and got this video of the ocean.

Sometimes, even in the summer, the clouds hide the sunset. After another dinner with friends in Encinitas, I captured a view of the ocean at Cardiff State Beach at sunset: cloudy evening, no dramatic sunset.

Another bike ride along the California Highway 56 bike path heading west towards the ocean.

Nearing home, the kangaroo paw flowers along the road on Carmel Canyon Road. Only a mile to go to get home.

Saxophone Practice

I also spend a little time many days practicing my alto saxophone. I played clarinet and saxophone in junior high and high school. My long-time friend, Gary (we have been friends since first grade), played trumpet. Gary told me a few years ago that he and his wife were walking in downtown Portland, where he saw a trumpet in the window of a pawn shop. He bought it and told me he enjoys the practice after 50 years or more of not playing. He urged me to get a saxophone, and I considered it. At an L.A. Jazz Institute event Gary and I were attending, I got to know a professional saxophone player, Anthony Minstein. I told him I was considering getting a saxophone and playing again after 50+ years. After getting to know him over the weekend, he offered to sell me one of his alto saxophones, saying that he knew I would appreciate it and it would be going to a good home. I bought it. I was somewhat surprised at how much I remembered after all these years, how to read music, the fingerings, etc., etc., etc. I am not very good, but I really enjoy the practice. And I am getting better. After almost 50 years of computer work, mostly using the left side of my brain, I’m now balancing out my brain using the right side as I practice. Very fun…in the summer in the city!

Returning to Thailand

I returned from my 12th winter in Thailand on February 7, 2025. My 13th yoga-focused winter in Thailand is booked, and I’ll leave for the Kingdom on November 12. The midpoint between these dates, June 26, has already passed. I feel the quiet pull of return. Less than four months remain.

Each of my journeys in Thailand has been distinctly different. Although I stay at the same place (The 3-Sis Guest House), practice yoga at the same place (Wild Rose Yoga), eat at many of the same restaurants, and visit many of the same temples, each year carries its own distinct rhythm. There’s nostalgia after so many visits, a recognition of how much has changed even within what seems routine. Bangkok and Chiang Mai hold memories layered with meaning, reflection, and growth. I’m reminded of a quote from the Greek Heraclitus:

No man steps in the same river twice, for it’s not the same river, and he’s not the same man.

I am very much looking forward to how I experience my next winter in Thailand: what will be familiar, what has changed, and what surprises await.

Until I leave in November, I stay grounded in what sustains me, my touchstones: reading, writing, morning walks, cycling, strength training, yoga, and meditation…in the summer in the city..

Next: Preparing for a 13th yoga-focused winter in Chiang Mai.