Let’s rewind to Thursday. I took the day off so Mom & I could have a SoCal adventure day. We headed out around 10 am and drove down to San Juan Capistrano and went to the restaurant where we had reservations for 11:30 am, L’Hirondelle, which is right across the street from the mission. The reservation was mostly irrelevant because we were the only ones there at that time, but it slowly filled up a bit after we got there. We sat outside – it was a lovely, temperate day. Mom wanted this restaurant specifically because she had what she describes as the best creme brûlée she’s had in a long time from this place. It’s very highly rated and reviewed.
The outdoor seating was nice enough, but I bet it’s prettier at night when the lights are on. There’s a nice little fountain. We each ordered sandwiches. I got the ham & cheese with garlic fries and she had a chicken curry sandwich. For dessert, we had the famed crème brûlée to share. Everything was just fine. It wasn’t the best, and it wasn’t the worst. The dessert seemed a little curdled? We still ate it, but we were disappointed. The restaurant is cute though.
After lunch, I dropped off Mom at the mission then went to find a place to park and met her at the entrance. We went in and started looking around. Here are some photos I took:
We really liked the bell wall area and the Great Stone Church ruins. We also stopped into the Junipero Serra church which has some pieces from Barcelona. We had a nice time walking around. We headed back home, and I went to Aqua Zumba that evening. That was supposed to be the last class, but we have one more to make up for that rainy day we had earlier. We’re going to get a refund for the week that was canceled due to the COVID exposure. I also should mention that I binged the third and final season of “Dead to Me.” It was good.
Friday, I worked, and then I…did nothing. I literally sat in my chair and watched TV (“Mythic Quest” and “Avenue 5”) and played on my phone. I regret nothing.
Saturday was my 51st birthday. My plan was to go do my regular monthly trail clean-up, go to lunch with my mom, then maybe do something else or nothing at all. I chatted with my wonderful sister to get the day started, then I went to Starbucks for my free drink and made my way to the parking lot where we meet for the clean-up. I had some time before we started so I sat and read and responded to messages on Facebook. Soon, the nature guide guy, Jeff, showed up… and that was it. Unfortunately, the woman who was the volunteer coordinator and usually sent out the email reminders died unexpectedly 😦 so the clean-up crew was light. We went out anyway. It was a beautiful day and we picked up a lot of trash.
It was all good. We were nearing the end, chatting, enjoying the morning when BOOM, I slid on the slight decline that was clay covered in sandstone and went down in a heap. Lord. I twisted my left ankle pretty bad and scraped up my right forearm a bit. Looking back, I’m not sure how I managed to not hurt myself further with the trash-grabber I was carrying or the bag full of glass, but somehow I didn’t, thankfully. In the split second after it happened, I was almost sure I had broken my ankle, but as I was able to gather my wits, I realized I hadn’t but that it was hurting. However, I was able to put weight on it so I got up (Jeff helped) and was able to limp back to the car. What a bummer! I went home and told Mom. I took some Aleve and went to lay down and elevate my foot with some ice on it until it was time to go to lunch.
We had reservations at Cedar Creek Inn in Brea. We had tried to get reservations there for Thanksgiving but were put on the waiting list. We changed that reservation for my birthday. It’s a nice restaurant, but not as fancy as I had imagined it, which was actually fine. Mom had the Monte Cristo sandwich and I had the seafood stuffed omelet. We had calamari to start. It was all really good food. We got our dessert to go (coconut cake for Mom and pumpkin pie for me). I had mentioned that it was my birthday when I made the reservation, and I said it to our waiter, but he maybe didn’t hear or something. Needless to say, nothing happened as far as my birthday there. But it was quite good and we were satisfied.
We went home and I did a quick selfie photo shoot to post a good shot of me on social channels. I think I got some good ones! Here are a couple of my favorites:
I used that last one (the more close-up) on my socials. After that, I ate my pumpkin pie and elevated my foot and responded to the rest of the nice messages of good wishes I got.
Today, I went to get coffee and the rest of the day has been spent on my bed. The only way to recover from a sprained or twisted ankle is rest. More accurately it’s RICE (rest, ice, compression, elevation) so I’ve been doing that throughout the day. I’ll be doing that for the rest of the week to be honest. I can put weight on it, but when I point and/or flex it or when I walk, it feels like something just wants to snap. It’s very unnerving. I have my annual visit to my doctor on Tuesday so I’ll definitely mention it to her. Otherwise, I just plan to take it easy as much as possible.
Until next time!
Meeting Grace: The Blog 
I love all the selfies!
Bummer about the ankle. Keep resting it.