By Mary O’KEEFE

I spent my weekend at two beaches. I started in Redondo and ended up in Laguna. I wrote on page 3 about the work my daughter is doing conducting beach surveys but I also wanted to include the emotion that comes from walking along the beach. 

My grandsons and I started out in Redondo. We are very familiar with this beach and in fact it was the first beach I went to in Los Angeles County. My husband grew up on this beach and listening to him talk about it really made me want to move to California. The closest thing to the west coast I saw as a kid was watching “Beach Party Bingo” in the Rivola Theater in my midwestern town. My grandma worked the concession counter at the “movie house” and I spent my summers watching the California sun, albeit from afar. To me those films were California. 

When I met my husband I told him of my beach references and he said the beaches weren’t anything like that – and then he told me how he grew up. He and his brothers spent most of their time at the beach. His brother surfed and snorkeled and went kayaking and fishing. My husband talked about dumpster diving at the nearby Mattel factory, riding bikes along the beach and being in the water more than on land. To me he lived the life I saw depicted in those beach movies. 

Being with my kid at Redondo this weekend was amazing. Seeing her love and respect this environment makes me proud and also gives me hope. On Saturday, we became citizen scientists. We looked for clues of what was happening at the beach. For the first time in the four decades I have been going to this specific beach, I did not see many birds nor was I bitten by any sand fleas –  a small price to pay for being at the beach. Redondo has always had seagulls and shorebirds. We saw five in the four hours we were there. 

We normally see a lot of those tiny sand crabs but again – nothing. The only thing we did see were so many dead ladybugs. My grandson found one crawling along the sand and it was bloated. My daughter instructed us to make sure to write all of this down in our notebooks and she would upload the data. I immediately went into a panic that the beach was dying but she, calmly, told me that one day at the beach cannot tell the entire story – but it was something to watch and to continue to study. 

I am amazed at how she and Cat, a board member of her non-profit 7 Seas Collective, are creating this army of citizen scientists. When we were done my eldest grandson told her he was now a beach scientist. Her goal is working on changing the mindset of those visiting the beach. 

We then went to Laguana Beach, this time without our scientific test kit but just to walk along the beach and climb on the rocks. This brought even more emotion for me. I know those who are from here do appreciate the grace the beach can provide but I think it is different for those of us that immigrated to this area. Don’t get me wrong – there is a magical beauty when a light breeze blows through a corn field – but standing in Laguna and looking out to sea is quite honestly awe inspiring. There are moments when I have to actually pinch myself to make sure I am really here, on the west coast, at the beach. The waves crashing against the rocks, the sound of my grandkids laughing and – yes – even making sure my youngest grandkid doesn’t eat another mouthful of sand … it seems like a dream. 

As I look out to the horizon I realize how much we can learn from the sea. The entire ecosystem is right before us. From the runoff that travels from the LA Basin to the beaches, the sea takes it all in. I can’t imagine anyone who has spent any time at the beach would not understand that we survive on this planet because of the sea, and why protecting it is not just to maintain its inspiring beauty but to protect our own survival. 

Earlier this week and last weekend we did see some rain here and there but the story for the next few days are the Santa Ana winds. 

According to NOAA, on Friday into Saturday we will be seeing some Santa Ana conditions with wind gusts between 25 to 35 mph and higher gusts in the mountains. 

Although Santa Ana winds are warm, we will not see high temperatures – mostly from now through next week we will have temperatures in the mid-to-high 70s with a possible increase on Saturday and Sunday in the low 80s. 

No rain until possibly Monday or Tuesday of next week but if it does rain it will only probably be about a half inch at the most.