Day 18.
These are the Dr. Seuss Trees of La Jolla, California.
If you have never seen them in person, the illustration does not exaggerate. They actually look like this. Wind-bent Torrey Pines on the bluff above the Pacific, shaped by decades of ocean air into something that belongs in a children’s book. Which, given that Dr. Seuss lived just a few miles away, may not be a coincidence.
Pico is on the right tree. Lower branch, hanging on. Small green shape, easy to miss — which is how he prefers it when he’s somewhere he’s not supposed to be unsupervised.
He goes where the interesting things are. The Dr. Seuss Trees qualify.
For Stooge, this one is personal. He grew up in San Diego — La Jolla included — and Dr. Seuss was everywhere. Theodor Geisel lived and worked here, and you could feel it. The way he drew trees, the way he bent reality just enough to make it more true than real life — that got into Stooge early and never left. You can see it in the linework. You can see it in the way Pico’s world tilts slightly sideways from ours.
Standing under these actual trees, in this actual park, with a parrot on your shoulder — it feels like coming home to a place you have only ever read about.
Thank you, Dr. Seuss.
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Come back tomorrow for Day 19.
— Stooge