This past weekend was a blast because we had a visit from daughter Emily and her husband John along with their two girls, Micheal Ann and Maya. We all had a great time on Saturday when we went to the Yakima Arboretum and discovered that it was the Arbor Festival, in observance of Earth Day being on Sunday. John wheeled into the parking lot right away, so Linda & I followed suite. It was a gorgeous, mostly sunny day but a bit chilly when the sun went behind an occasional cloud. There were lots of people there with their kids, enjoying nature and the nice weather.
A big attraction at the festival was this tortoise who was roaming around the yard eating grass and dandelions. He seemed to especially enjoy the dandelions. I told Linda later that we should have borrowed him to put in our yard to eat up all the dandelions. He would have had a feast!
Another big attraction for some was the booth that had live snakes, lizards and scorpions. This booth was presented by Central Washington University. I was not too keen on the snakes, but I did manage to touch one. Micheal Ann and Emily seemed to be quite taken by a boa constrictor by the name of Roberta.
ROBERTA HAS NEW FRIENDS!
A BEARDED DRAGON & A CORN SNAKE
Another popular booth was one which housed a couple of bunnies and a small pig. Visitors were allowed to enter their pen and hold the bunnies and pet the pig. Really, any kind of animal at this festival was an instant rock star with the kids!
MAYA & JOHN ENJOYING THE NICE WEATHER
While there at the Festival we strolled around the Arboretum grounds. It was so beautiful with all the trees, shrubs, and flowers starting to bloom. I do believe that there is no lovelier place in Yakima in the Spring.
Our thanks go to Donald and Helen Jewett for their financial support to the Yakima Arboretum, which enabled us to enjoy such a wonderful afternoon as a family, entirely free of charge. We thank them as well for their many other contributions to charitable entities in this area, including the Yakima Greenway.
THANK YOU!
Later that afternoon we had a little birthday celebration for Linda and John, and then we all went out for dinner at Cowiche Canyon Kitchen & Icehouse. Everyone enjoyed some fabulous food and the adults were treated to some fantastic beer and wine. Linda and I both had the Milk Stout Nitro from Left Hand Brewing and I must say it was exceptionally tasty.
PUZZLING UPDATE
Linda and I continue to be addicted to jigsaw puzzling. She did a couple almost completely by herself while I was busy being sick. However, she graciously waited until I felt better before she started on this one.
"THE CRAFT CUPBOARD" PUZZLE
Emily had sent this to us and it arrived the day after we left to go down to Carpinteria, so it was almost a month before we got back and I felt well enough to work on it. I thank Linda for being so patient and waiting! We both absolutely love this particular type of puzzle because they are so interesting. The puzzle brand is Ravensburger and the artist who does these particular illustrations is Colin Thompson. I am always so amazed at the intricate little details that appear on almost every single piece of these puzzles. Below are pictures of a few examples that I took from this puzzle.
THESE LITTLE PINK GUYS ARE SO CUTE!
SPRING IS FINALLY HERE!
It gives me great pleasure to announce that Spring has finally arrived in Yakima! The daytime temperatures have slowly been creeping up. One sure indication that Spring is here is when Linda and I can sit outside on the weekend and have our drinkiepoo. We were able to do just that this past weekend. We got our lounge chairs out and kicked back underneath our tree with a tasty gin & tonic. We delighted in watching the Goldfinches flitting about in the tree above us. We even had a young Eurasian Collared Dove fly up and make a shaky landing on a nearby branch. There is nothing I would rather do than sit outside on a nice day, under the tree, and watch birds. It is especially nice if I can enjoy a G&T while doing so!
FLEDGLING DOVE
AMERICAN GOLDFINCH
PARTING SHOT
Of course, with the arrival of Spring we haven't had the pleasure of Summer Girl's company inside the house as often as we did in Winter. I don't blame her, I would be outside as much as possible, too. Here she is staking out a place in the grass to spend some time enjoying the sun.
JUST LOOK AT THAT SWEET FACE!!
SOME OF LINDA'S BEAUTIFUL TULIPS
That's about it for this week, my friends. Please check back again next week for more pictures and musings!
Thursday, April 19, 2018
I am still working on the tribute blog to Dad, but the videos take an extremely long time to upload, plus I've been having technical problems with YouTube. So, that will be in a future blog.
PICTURES & VIDEO FROM CARPINTERIA
We left home on 2/22 and arrived in Carpinteria on 2/24. The scenery going down there was much better than it was when we went in October (except for the snowy part). I even managed to get a couple of pictures along I-5 that were interesting. You can tell that the Spring growing season had already started because we saw lots of trees sprouting leaves. The fields had been plowed and some of them were already planted with what probably will turn out to be flowers or vegetables.
Almond trees
Fields with almond trees behind
When we arrived at Dad's house, everything was so green and lush. The rains that they recently had were proof positive that if plants get enough water, they will flourish. In years past the area had been under a severe drought and a lot of the plants were either not blooming or were very puny. Also, there was barely any grass. We could not believe the difference!
View of side yard
The rains had been welcome for bringing the vegetation back to life, but they also posed a threat to the homes on the hillside due to the risk of flooding. The devastating Thomas Fire of last December burned to a crisp anything growing on the hills, leaving nothing to keep the water from washing away the soil. After the fire there were several calls for evacuation, with the neighboring city of Montecito sustaining a disastrous flood in January. While we were there, we actually had to evacuate one night because a storm was coming in from the ocean. Luckily, it did not drop as much rain as expected, but the threat is definitely on-going. Below are a few pictures that Linda and I took when we made a hike up the Franklin Trail. This area was right in the midst of the Thomas Fire, and is not too far away from Dad's house.
Burned bushes on the Franklin Trail
Weeds and small plants are making a comeback!
You could see where the firefighters stopped the fire
Hiking up the Franklin Trail
On the one night that we evacuated from Dad's house (out of an abundance of caution), we went over to Ventura, about 20 miles away. Linda's cousin and his wife have a condo there. Luckily they were out of town and graciously offered their condo to us for the night. We thought we were in a vacation resort! What a beautiful place they have, and within walking distance of a nice shopping center. We went over to the Panda Express that night and picked up supper, then brought it back to the condo and proceeded to drink their beer and listen to music while relaxing in their recliners.It was just what we both needed to relieve the stress! A big heart-felt "thank you" to both of them for their hospitality!!
We "roughed it" here for our evacuation night
The fortune that came with our supper...I think Linda & I do a good job of this
While we were at Dad's house we took quite a few walks around the area, just to get out and get a bit of exercise. A quick walk down the road behind his house was always welcome, and always afforded us with a beautiful view of the ocean.
You will notice a large structure out in the ocean in this video. That is an oil rig. There are several of them still offshore, although Linda said that years ago they were all over the horizon. At night they are quite pretty with all the lights on them, but during the day they are just an eyesore. You can just barely see the Channel Islands in the background of this video as it was hazy that day.
I was able to get some pretty good bird pictures while there. There has always been a great variety of birds at Dad's house, which is more than I can say about Yakima. I didn't get as many pictures of hummingbirds because the bottle-brush hedge was not in bloom like it was in October. Too bad my camera messed up back then because I had some really good pictures! Below are a few of the bird pictures from this trip.
California Scrub Jay
Anna's Hummingbird
"You lookin' at me?" California Towhee
One day we decided to take a ride over to Ojai, one of the areas that was hardest hit by the Thomas Fire. We wanted to go to one of our favorite places, Meditation Mount. We had read that the fire in December had done a lot of damage to this beautiful garden retreat. Sadly, when we got up there we found out that it was still closed to the public. I hate to think of how it must look now.
Meditation Mount still closed due to fire damage
Another day we decided to take a walk on the beach. It was windy and a bit cold, but we went anyway. We went a little bit farther down the beach from where we usually go, so I was surprised to see a lot of driftwood washed up on the shore. Of course, someone had started a community "art" project of driftwood in the sand, so Linda had to contribute to it.
But, is it really art?
We practically had the beach to ourselves, except for a few birds wading in the water looking for food.
A couple of Long-Billed Curlews
Up above us were the Carpinteria Bluffs, with a path you can walk along that leads to the Seal Sanctuary Overlook. We had been to the seal sanctuary a couple of times before, so we decided to forgo it on this trip. We did walk along the path a short way and the smell of the Eucalyptus trees lining the pathway was heavenly.
A lone Eucalyptus tree on the Bluffs
One of my favorite places to be at Dad's house is out on the deck. That's where I took most of the bird pictures over the years. But the view is always spectacular, especially at sunset. Some evenings you can hear the coyotes howling in the avocado orchard that is behind Dad's house.
Sunset as seen from Dad's deck
One of the more interesting walks that we took was one along the Carpinteria Salt Marsh. We had taken this walk before in years past, but they have extended the trail quite a bit more. I was able to get this great shot of a heron as he flew off.
The Salt Marsh
Great Blue Heron
Hummingbird in silhouette
ARTY PHOTO OF THE WEEK
I have always enjoyed taking closeup pictures of flowers and plants because it gets you to notice the little details and the play of light and shadow. This is a closeup of a succulent that was always growing in a huge pot on the back deck.
Those are just some of the pictures and videos that I took while we were in California. There are many more but I do believe I have included enough in this blog for one week!
PARTING SHOT
The blog would not be complete without a picture of Summer Girl. We are both very happy to announce that Spring has finally arrived in the Yakima Valley and warmer temperatures (and SUNSHINE) are so appreciated!
I hope to see you back here next week to share more pictures and video with you!
The last time I sat down at this computer to write my blog was Wednesday, February 21st. After several days of spring-like weather it had snowed that morning, and I had just gotten started writing when my phone rang. It was the call we had dreaded...Linda's sister calling to let us know that Dad had passed away. We frantically made plans that day to drive down to California.
We left the next morning, driving the truck this time because it has snow tires, and we knew we would run into snow somewhere along the way. In fact, we hit snow off and on the entire first day of driving, but none of it was heavy and the road was slippery only in a few places. We spent the night at our usual place in Red Bluff, California. The next day we drove down I-5 and the weather was nice and sunny, although a bit windy.
We arrived in Carpinteria on Friday afternoon. Needless to say, it was very strange being there without Dad. There was a huge empty space where he usually was, and it just wasn't right not to hear his voice. Although he was 97 years old and was getting over his stroke from four years ago, we still did not expect it. We had planned to go down there the middle of March so we could celebrate Linda's 70th and his 98th birthdays together. But it was not to be. Instead, we all gathered a month earlier to say goodbye.
We spent three weeks in California, helping to clear out the house and get it ready to put on the market. There were a lot of tears along the way, and reminiscing about days past. It seemed like every little thing would evoke a story from someone. That house held so many memories for all of us!
After three weeks Linda and I packed up the truck with as much as it would hold and headed back to Yakima. We hated to say goodbye to the beautiful house that we had visited so much in the past few years, which had been Mom and Dad's home since the 1970's. But we were anxious to return to our home. It's true, you know, there really is no place like home.
Just before we left I developed a scratchy throat, but thought it might just be allergies. The day after we arrived home I woke up with the worst cold I have ever had, which in about a week developed into pneumonia. Linda came down with a cold too, and although she said it was the worst cold she'd ever had, luckily hers did not get any worse. I was very sick for two weeks with that stuff and let me tell you, it was no fun. I am still not 100% recovered, hence the shortened blog today. But I wanted to at least touch base with everyone and let you all know we are still hanging in there.
While in California I took a lot of pictures and video. I just had the energy to upload them all a couple of days ago. I will be sharing them with you in the coming weeks. I am also going to dedicate an entire edition of the blog to Dad in the near future. He was one of the most interesting people I have ever known. We all miss him terribly. As his grandson says, he was a Legend.
He definitely knew how to be great!
Summer Girl weathered our absence like the trouper that she is, with the help of our dear friend L.H. In fact, S.G. and L.H. became BFF's while we were gone. Summer Girl told me that she feels like she should get special treatment in this edition of the blog, since she went through so much while we were gone and then again when we got home. So here are the two pictures she picked out to grace this week's blog.
No end to her work! Now she had to be nurse to the sick!
The softer side of S.G.
I'm afraid that's all I can manage for this week. Thanks for stopping by and I hope you check us out again next week!
