Yesterday we were at Rio Del Mar beach with my Texas friends who were staying in Gilroy (hence the title of this series of posts).

Mrs. Texas carries a bag at the beach to collect pieces of driftwood for making mobiles, one of which hangs at my kitchen window.

The sun came out in the afternoon at Rio Del Mar beach. Glorious!

These are very dear friends of 39 years, and we thoroughly enjoy one another’s company, whether being serious or silly.

A friend texted while we were at the beach to ask for some help on a painting, and I responded with this.

She said I look like a tourist. Indeed, I was a tourist!

Finally, we headed out to find a place for lunch. The first and closest place was out of clam chowder (to be expected at 3 p.m.), and Mrs. Texas asked for a recommendation of somewhere else that might still have some. I said, “Don’t ask him to send us to his competition!”

She said, “We came all the way from Texas for some clam chowder!”

The guy was great and gave us a recommendation, so off we went, this time in the Texas truck rather than on foot.

We found the place, but this ain’t Instagram and I am not going to waste your time with pictures of food. Instead, look at this zinnia garden next to the deli. It was most totally excellent, as delis tend to be, particularly after walking miles on the beach.

Tomorrow I’ll show and tell you what we did next. Thanks for reading along!