I went down to Pacific Grove to attend a seminar. The weather was gorgeous and the monarch butterflies were there for their migration. A volunteer at the Monarch Butterfly Sanctuary in Pacific Grove that last year there were 17,000 butterflies, and this year their number had increased to 23,000. There were flying overhead in the grove of eucalyptus trees and it was amazing. I had never seen so many butterflies in one place before. It was hard to get a photo of the butterflies, but I did manage to take a photo of one.

My digital camera is not the greatest, but I did get a decent photo. If you are passing through the area, the monarch butterflies are going to be there through I believe mid-December. It is so worth seeing them. The volunteers had a telescope set up and I saw the monarch butterflies clinging together like a daisy chain. It was so unreal to see them like that, all close together and just hanging on to each other. It was like I was looking a live butterfly curtain, which felt so surreal and yet it was right there in front of my face.

Then we drove down to Carmel and walked down to the beach to watch the sunset, so here's my Carmel beach at sunset pic.

The weather was warm which was so unexpected since it was rainy and cold just a couple of days ago. Okay, one more photo.

We were at a gallery afterwards and asked the gallery person for a recommendation for dinner, and she said to go across the street and try the newest restaurant in Carmel called Cantinetta Luca http://cantinettaluca.com/, which is located on Dolores Street between Ocean and 7th Avenue. The woman at the gallery said the pumpkin ravioli was to die for.

We were able to only able to get a table because it was 6 pm and very early for dinner, otherwise the restaurant was all booked up with dinner reservations. For appetizers, we tried 1) Arancini - fried risotto balls with mozzarella and prosciutto and 2) Grilled local sardines, eggplant crostini, teardrop tomatoes and balsamic Vinegar and the Tricolore salad of bitter greens, green apple, gorgonzola, walnuts and honey vnaigrette. I loved the fried rissota balls, very inventive, and the local sardines were out of this world. I'm not a big sardine lover, having only ever had the canned variety, but I could get used to eating fresh grilled sardines.

We each had the pumpkin ravioli with brown butter, sage and saga and just a glass of wine each of the Sangiovesse, Remole " Marchesi de Frescobaldi" 2003. The sangiovese was like a pinot noir only a little more earthy, and a very good wine.

We were thinking of eating at the Merlot Bistro on Ocean at Lincoln. I've eaten there a couple of times before, but it's nice to try new restaurants especially when one that's been recommended. And it wasn't that expensive either I think. We paid around $80 with tip for dinner for two; not cheap but not outrageous for great food and very, very nice wait staff. And I love that they had dishes I'd never seen before and wanted to try.

Never give money to your political party or to a candidate you like, because they will sell your identity and at election time your home will be bombarded by pollsters and voicemails from party freaks wanting your vote.

Okay, I'm one of those crazy people who permanently votes absentee ballot but who totally waits till the night before the election to vote. Nutty, yes!

And there were so many things to vote for this time, what a bother! I'm thinking this is the first time, but I know it isn't, that I'm voting for the other party! I am still peeved at the Phil Angelides people for booting Steve Westly from the demo primary for Governor, so I absolutely cannot vote for him. In fact, I'm still so peeved I voted for his opponent. Oh well, the Governator will sweep Cali big time so one more vote won't hurt.

I've also never voted for either Dianne Feinstein or Nancy Pelosi. I cannot stand either of them. I detest Dianne Feinstein for her performance as mayor of San Francisco, and feel she is directly responsible for SF's homeless problem. Nancy Pelosi is way to left of center to ever get my vote, plus whenever I hear the woman speak or give a speech I totally cringe!

And just to be incredibly anti-Feinstein and anti-Pelosi, I voted Republican in both races. It's a wasted vote since they will probably both sweep.

I also could not vote for Cruz Bustamante and had to sadly vote for Steve Pozner. Boy, maybe the pundits are right when they say that the older one gets, the more conservative one votes.

Plus since I'm in a major contrary mood today, I whipped out the Bay Guardian guide to voting and voted against everything and everyone they endorsed! Actually, that was the fun part of my voting experience.

I am so looking forward to the elections being over because I've been bombarded by voicemails from people asking me to vote for this or that. I received voicemails from Bill Clinton and Al Gore, and didn't even listen to the message and hit the delete button. The Democratic Party sold my identity and had all kinds of democratic freaks calling my home. I even received a voicemail from Nancy Pelosi; talk about scary!

I heard a phrase in a meeting today that I thought was very intriguing - "dollar curtain". It's a variation of the phrase "iron curtain", which was coined by Winston Churchill to define the boundary between the Soviet bloc countries of Eastern Europe and the West European countries.

"Dollar Curtain" means a town that defines the boundary between the rich and riff-raff/have-nots. Mission Viejo was described as a "dollar curtain" town in Orange County.