“They don’t understand why we don’t just live in a $3,000/mo. apartment where everything is safe and sterile and clean; why we live in a warehouse, or a garage, or an attic or shed or laundry room; why there is a mattress on the floor with a space heater where there normally would be a Queen size bed with a duvet and a nightstand and central heating.”
Interesting post on the Ghost Ship, young people, and not fitting into a box.
I remember staying in a motel, with my future husband, on a road trip where they had these coin operated massaging beds. I swear the label on it said something like “Cyclo Massage” and I tell you it felt more like a jerking earthquake and not too relaxing either. For many years we had our own joke about cyclo massage. I noticed in this image that the company address is in Pismo Beach, Ca. where ” home models are available. ” Be still my heart! Pismo Beach is not too far up the coast from us. Did you know A. Pismo Clam was the name of a character in The Bank Dick, a W.C. Fields film? In that film W.C. Fields’ character is Egbert Souse (pronounced Soo-say).
Just a little trivia inspired by the prompt “coin” for Stream of Consciousness Saturday hosted by Linda G Hill. Featured image of Massaging Bed control by Kenji Ross on Wikimedia. Vote image by Pixabay.com
For readers in the US, don’t forget to make sure you are registered to vote and please be sure to vote in November!
For those of us in need of cat therapy there is new addition to pet friendly venues, Crumbs and Whiskers the cat cafe on Melrose. Come and have a latte with a kitty. They have a nice idea of donating part of the proceeds to cat rescue organizations and all the kittys in the shop are up for adoption. Below a video via You Tube. The KABC7 News Report says Crumbs and Whiskers charges $22 on weekdays and $25 on weekends for 75 minutes of playtime [therapy]. Reservations required.
Today is the Autumn Equinox or the first day of Spring depending on which hemisphere you live in. Since I live in the Northern Hemisphere, it is our first day of Autumn or Fall. Today does feel a bit cooler here in Southern California, 74 degrees in my neck of the woods. We will probably have another heat wave soon so this may be our one true Fall day weather wise. Our trees still have green leaves but I am celebrating Fall in spirit.
I am reminded of another thing. Day light savings time will end soon. Remember “Fall Back.” Oh, joy! Another hour of sleep!
In Indio, California just off Highway 111 is Shields Date Garden. They are all about dates and the Coachella Valley grows 90% of the world’s dates according to a post in Conde Naste Traveler. If you happen to visit Shields, you can purchase dates and other date products and watch a short film about the sex life of the date. One thing I would recommend you try, especially if you are there on a hot day, is their date shake. A delicious milk shake made with their special ingredient, date crystals, and the usual vanilla ice cream and milk. Or if you like it in a more solid form, date ice cream. And, according to the previous mentioned post in Conde Naste Traveler, the date shake is the unofficial drink of Palm Springs.
Shields Date Garden
This little post of travel trivia is for Stream of Consciousness Saturday hosted by Linda G Hill. Today’s prompt is “date.” Images of Shields Date Garden by Ken Lund on Flickr, image of DVD via Shields.
We often enjoyed a drive along the coast in the evening after a stressful day of work. Seeing the water and the beautiful natural coastline always lifted me. It did not fail me today as I drove North on PCH. This would have been our fortieth anniversary. Well it still was except Jim wasn’t here to share it with me. He missed it by one month. This time I will not turn around and drive back home. I will continue driving all the way to Mendocino. I have rented a cottage there for a month. It was to be our anniversary trip.
This is my contribution to Friday Fictioneers hosted by Rochelle Wisoff-Fields who also provided the ocean image. I am thinking of another anniversary. May 25 is the 39th anniversary of the release of Star Wars in the US. It was the year I got married and started my own adventure.
The first house I can remember was up in Clear Lake. I don’t remember very much just a few snippets of my life then. I do remember the tire swing that was tied to tall tree at the front of the house by long ropes. It wasn’t just an old hard rubber circle but the rubber had been cut from a large balloon tire. The swing was more like a bucket style. I have a memory of my older brother pushing me in that swing higher and higher and up over the roof of the house. My parents were upset to see through the back picture window my feet popping out over the roof.
I get tired of all the hyperbole and contention when we have a presidential election year in this country. The debates, debates and more debates. I know it is important for our democracy to have an exchange of ideas but my make up is such that I do not like arguments and confrontation. It’s not that I can’t get on my own soapbox but these debates are uncomfortable to watch with all the gotcha stuff from the candidates and the press. I am not convinced debates helps us really know what the candidates are about. They just show us who can score more points in a debate by embarrassing his/her opponent.
During the Dust Bowl days and the great migration of the people from the dust bowl states to California there were many people from Oklahoma coming to our state of California. They were called Okies by many people here. The Grapes of Wrath describes what it was like for people then. I have an early memory of these country people living up the road from us in Clear Lake. I went up to their house with my mother and all these men were sitting on the front porch, dressed in black suits with somber looks. Holding shotguns with blood hounds laying at their feet. I remember feeling a bit frightened of them as we stepped up on the porch to visit the woman of the house. I don’t know why we went there that day. Maybe to say hello or bring her something. Sometimes the woman would visit my mother. My mother said the woman would say she had to get home to make dinner. My mother said she knew she was just going home to make potatoes.
Stream of Consciousness Saturday is hosted by Linda G Hill. Our word for today is “tire.” Featured Image is “End of the Road” by Don Graham on Flickr. I want to include his caption here:
“One of the remaining stretches of Old Route 66 runs from Kingman, AZ to Wiliams, AZ. About midway between is the almost gone town of Hackberry. Just outside of town, a man in restoring what used to be a popular stop along the route. There is a gas station and general store. Nearby lies a broken down ruin of an old travel court. Often, when the Okies were following the Mother Road to their promised land in California, their old car would break down. Not having the money to fix it, they would park it and trade the gas station owner for a few nights in a cabin. That is what this scene reminds me of.” (Don Graham)
I want to participate in Love Is In Da Blog Stream of Consciousness as well and contribute my post to Bee Halton’s site Just Fooling Around With Bee. I want you all to know that I do LOVE stream of consciousness writing. I find it does free up my creativity and I can take it where it wants to go. And you never know where you will end up. I am often pleasantly surprised and I hope you are too.
Anacapa Island is part of the Channel Island chain off the coast of Southern California. On a fairly clear day you can see the Channel Islands from the coast. They are not far yet are a world away from the mainland in their environment. I have heard their names, Anacapa, Santa Barbara, Santa Cruz, San Miguel, and Santa Rosa , but have never visited them. Anacapa’s name comes from a Chumash Native American Indian name for the island, Anypakh. The Chumash lived on these islands in olden times. Reading a bit about these islands from the National Park Service website, I would like to see about planning a trip there one day. There are animals and plants located on these islands that can’t be found anywhere else. Anacapa is home for seabirds, like the California Brown Pelican and Western Gull, sea lions and harbor seals. There is interesting history to be learned about the human inhabitants as well. Like Frenchy LeDreau who lived on Anacapa from the 1920s to the mid 1950s alone in a cabin with his cats. He lived off fishing and sold lobsters to get supplies and liquor. Frenchy’s Cove is named after him. The lighthouse on this island was a welcome beacon for ships navigating the Santa Barbara Channel. Reading about Anacapa makes me think about what a wonderful gift our National Parks are to all of us.
There are many indescribably beautiful natural sights in my home state of California. I am not a flowery writer who can speak poetically in my description. Even if I were, I think the beauty is so great that words can not do it justice. One of the natural wonders that come to mind are the coastal redwood groves off the Avenue of the Giants in Northern California. The trees are so big they give you the impression of being in a prehistoric landscape. Some of the trees there are thousands of years old. They are resistant to insects and fire but are threatened by the wind effect that has been created by the new freeway that was put in near there. Some of the trees are getting blown over. Another indescribably beautiful sight is the view from the coastal Highway 1 on a sunny day. The section between Monterey/Carmel and Cambria are particularly magnificent but I like the view between Santa Cruz and Half Moon Bay as well. If you get a chance to visit San Simeon take a look toward the ocean from atop the hills there. The Hurst Family has kept a large swath of land from the castle down to the ocean free from development by giving the land to a nature conservancy. Thank you Hurst family. That is the Hurst family of William Randolph Hurst, who was a wealthy newspaper owner. The classic film Citizen Kane was supposed to be based in part on his life. And the castle I am talking about is Hurst Castle in San Simeon. Highway 101 from Ventura and up the state to Salinas allows a view of soft rolling hills dotted with oak trees and nowadays acres and acres of vineyards have popped up along the highway. The Salinas area is called “the Salad Bowl of the World.” This is where so much produce is grown. Near Santa Cruz you will find fields of artichokes. The original wine country in Northern California is another favorite, with Sonoma and Napa counties. Sonoma has The Valley of the Moon. Jack London lived there. Who wouldn’t love a place called The Valley of the Moon. I had a chance to visit the city of Healdsburg in Sonoma county not too long ago. Wine is a major product in California all up and down the state. I did not think Sonoma could hold any more vineyards and then I saw the vineyards around Healdsburg, as far as the eye can see. San Francisco is where I was born. It holds a special place in my heart , a jewel of a city. There are some pretty nice views there as well looking down from Nob Hill to the bay. A well known San Francisco Newspaper columnist from the past said of San Francisco:
“One day if I do go to heaven…. I’ll look around and say, It ain’t bad but it ain’t San Francisco.” —Herb Caen
I’ve only scratched a very small surface with my descriptions, I have left out many places like Yosemite ,(a famous national park), Sequoia National Park, Mendocino, Santa Barbara, San Diego, La Jolla, and oh well you get the idea. There is just too much to cover in my stream of consciousness and in one small post. I hope you will get a chance to visit my beautiful state of California someday.
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Here’s a drones eye view of San Francisco by danesdrone that I have posted previously:
There is another beautiful city that we are all thinking about and hoping they soon heal from the terrible recent events. I have not had the privilege of seeing beautiful Paris but hope I will someday.
Notes Tied On The Sagebrush 