Tag Archives: California

California Dreaming Route 66

Road trips are the best. When gas was cheap, people were able to travel all over by car. It still one of the best ways to see California. Get lost in your day dreams while looking out the window at the beautiful scenery passing by. Maybe some good music playing.

California Dreaming

All the leaves are brown

And the sky is grey

I’ve been for a walk on a winter’s day

I’d be safe and warm if I was in L.A.

California dreamin’ on such a winter’s day.

(Gilliam, Michelle/Phillips, John Edmund Andrew)

Get your kicks on Route 66.

“Well if you ever plan to motor west

Just take my way

it’s the highway that’s the best

Get your kicks on Route 66

Well it winds from Chicago to L.A.

More than 2000 miles all the way

Get your kicks on Route 66..”( Bobby Troop)

Route 66 song via accebernosam on You Tube:

Ahoy Mateys and shiver me timbers! Dave Barry reminded me that Today is International Talk Like a Pirate Day. So…

What do you do with a drunken sailor

Early in the morning….

You’re guess is as good as mine. Harrr!

My contribution for Stream of Conciousness Saturday

Monterey or Bust

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California has many spectacular natural resources. One that is on display right now is the Monterey Bay gathering of whales, sea lions, dolphins, orcas and other marine animals that has been occurring in abundance for the past couple of years. I hope I can get up to Monterey in the next weeks to see this in person. A BBC/PBS production Big Blue Live will give you an idea of what is going on up the beautiful coast of California.

https://youtu.be/xZGyaBQA5R4?t=1s

There is abundance of food for the marine life. One of these is the Pacific Sardine. If you go to Monterey you will see a tourist area called Cannery Row. This is same area written about by John Steinbeck. The area used to be a real thriving cannery for sardines. They were overfished, impacted by ocean temperature changes, and just about wiped out. Now due to conservation measures the sardines are back. Whales and the California Sea Otter were also almost hunted to extinction and since being protected are now thriving. It is amazing to see this bounty of nature alive in Monterey.

San Francisco: A Drone’s Eye View

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Here are some nice shots of San Francisco and its bridges done by danesdrone on You Tube:

Makes me homesick. Beautiful city. This poem reminds me of the fog coming over Twin Peaks into the valleys of San Francisco.

The Fog by Carl Sandburg

The fog comes

on little cat feet.

It sits looking

over harbor and city

on silent haunches

and then moves on.

Bombus Californicus or Fervidus

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I saw this furry critter out in Palm Desert (photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey, UC Davis website) and I was happy to see it. I had not noticed any around our backyard near Los Angeles for a while. It may be that we don’t have enough flowering plants right now to attract them.

These are the black furry bumblebees with the yellow spot near their heads. I researched them a bit and found a post on the UC Davis website about these bubblebees and that they are now called Bombus Fervidus. I have read that the bubblebee is declining especially in Europe.

What kinds of bees are in your neighborhood and do you have bumblebees?

An interesting Bumblebee conservation Fact Sheet from the Xerces Society.

How Irish Coffee Came to America

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Irish Coffee was brought to San Francisco by one of its famous newspaper columnists, Stanton Delaplane. He had first tasted Irish Coffee at Shannon Airport and wanted to recreate the coffee. He collaborated with Jack Koeppler, then the owner of the Buena Vista Café, and with the help of the mayor of San Francisco, created the recipe for Irish Coffee in 1952. It is still served at the Buena Vista to this day.

Happy St. Patrick’s Day!! Erin Go Bragh!

The Birds and the Bees and the Grapefruit Tree

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We went to Palm Desert for the weekend. We have put off coming out here for far too long. It has been about a year since we were last here. It is beautiful in the desert right now. Warm and sunny but not too hot.

The place where we are staying has many citrus trees on the property. The trees are in bloom with sweet smelling blossoms. There is fruit on the trees as well. There are grapefruit, orange and lemon trees.

There is a lovely large grapefruit tree in the backyard. The grapefruit tree provides shade and sweet perfume. It has been wonderfully relaxing to sit on a lounge chair, on the back yard patio, near this tree.

There are many honey bees, bumble bees, and hummingbirds flying amongst the citrus blossoms. As I sit very still I can watch the hummingbirds up close as they drink from the blossoms. There is a light breeze and mocking birds are singing. Very magical.

When you take the time to notice, you realize there is great beauty in the world. I feel such joy, my spirit soars and my heart is full to bursting. I whisper a prayer of thanks.

“If you suddenly and unexpectedly feel joy, don’t hesitate. Give in to it. There are plenty of lives and whole towns destroyed or about to be. We are not wise, and not very often kind. And much can never be redeemed. Still life has some possibility left. Perhaps this is its way of fighting back, that sometimes something happened better than all the riches or power in the world. It could be anything, but very likely you notice it in the instant when love begins. Anyway, that’s often the case. Anyway, whatever it is, don’t be afraid of its plenty. Joy is not made to be a crumb. (Don’t Hesitate)” –Mary Oliver

20150307_115248 Palm Desert Grapefruit Tree

Grapefruit tree in Palm Desert

One Elephant Seal and the Central California Coast

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I went on a spur of the moment trip and met my daughter in Cambria this past Sunday. It was a little over 3 hours drive about 200 miles north of where I live. The drive up was gorgeous. The most beautiful scenery starts above Ventura where the highway runs along the ocean. The day was sunny with moderate temperatures and the ocean appeared calm and blue. You get a beautiful view of the ocean up to Santa Barbara. Then again above Santa Barbara where you start getting more open countryside. Everything is still green. Up into Solvang there are rolling hills and oak trees. Above there around Los Alamos you start seeing vineyards. The vines are dormant now for the winter. Then you swing by some ocean communities again like Pismo Beach. Onward to San Luis Obispo and you connect with Highway 1 and head toward Morro Bay. Highway 1 then runs along the ocean up to Cambria.

I met my daughter at a restaurant called the Indigo Moon for lunch. She had driven down about 3 ½ hours from Northern California. There is a lovely beach in Cambria called Moonstone Beach. There is a wooden walkway on the bluffs and we took a walk there before sunset and had dinner at a restaurant above the beach. There are many inns along Moonstone Beach and we could see some people sitting out on the balconies.

Moonstone Beach by Snowfalcon on wikipedia

The next day ,after a delicious breakfast at a local diner called the Cambria Cafe ,we drove a bit further north to San Simeon. The Hearst Castle is located atop the hills here. We did not go to Hearst Castle but I have toured it in the past. The Hearst family owned many acres of land around the castle. My daughter and I said how glad we are that they gave the bulk of the land to a nature conservancy so it will not be developed. What a gift to have all this open land preserved. We went to the beach at San Simeon for more gorgeous views and saw an elephant seal sun bathing on the beach, (photo above). There were signs posted about the elephant seals stating they are a protected species. The signs warned not to approach them too close. It recommended staying back about 50-100 feet from them.

When we first saw the elephant seal I was worried it was sick, injured or worse because it was laying so still. Then it opened its eyes, looked around and, as we walked over to look, started to roll over and yawn.

It had a snout, that looked like a short elephant trunk, called a proboscis. I spied a couple of pointy teeth in its lower jaw. I thought it was a young male because of its size. It had some open wounds around its neck. I told my daughter that maybe it had gotten in a fight with an older male and been driven off. A park ranger later confirmed it was a male probably about 5 years old.

My daughter and I did a little hiking along the beach and on the bluffs above. It was so beautiful with clear blue skies and sunshine that reflected off the water. We saw a few monarch butterflies among the eucalyptus trees above the beach. The eucalyptus were so fragrant as we walked along and stepped on their fallen leaves and acorns. The Eucalyptus tree is not native to California. It was brought to California in the 1850s during the California Gold Rush from Australia.

We said goodbye in the early afternoon to make our drives in opposite directions. This trip made me realize I need to do this more often. Get out and see the beauty that is so close and is the California coast.

Elephant Seals at Piedras Blancas, California via wikipedia

|Jusjojan|

Tangerines are from Tangiers

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For Stream of Consciousness Saturday we are given the prompt to write something that includes the letter “t.” I am reminded of tangerines.

Every year at Christmas we hung up our special decorated Christmas stocking that our mother had made for us and labeled with our names. On Christmas morning we found our stockings filled with tangerines, whole walnuts and candy canes. I carried on this tradition when my kids were little and would include chocolate and small toys. I left out the whole walnuts for my kids.

Tangerines got their name from Tangiers, Morocco where they originated. The season of tangerines is from autumn to spring. Citrus fruit would have been considered a delicacy for many people in the world. After better transport became available citrus in winter was more common.

I remember growing up that citrus from California was considered a special gift along with dried fruit and dates. There was a company called Mission Pak which shipped gift packs of oranges, dried fruit, dates and nuts to people in other parts of the country. We used to hear their jingle all the time around the holidays. It went “Say the magic words, say Mission Pak and it’s on its merry way! No gift so bright, so gay, so light, give the Mission Pak magic way!”

Later in my life, after I had moved to LA, I would see gift packs like these at the Farmers Market on Fairfax. Tourists would buy them or have them shipped as gifts.

Did you get tangerines or oranges in your Christmas stocking? Do you remember Mission Pak? I really like the little Clementines that are seedless. They are a nice size for kids to have for snacks and no worry about spitting out or swallowing seeds.

|LindaGHill|

Rainy Day Tuesday

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It is raining in Southern California today and will continue on and off through the night. I have decided to start visiting my followers blogs today and some of my frequent readers. I think this will take more than one morning. It is something that has been on my mind to do. So my post is brief today. I am mulling over my posting schedule and will be deciding my topics. So stay tuned.

Good day for Southern Californians to snuggle up with a warm drink and put on a sweater. Those who have to be out driving, be careful. People tend to drive a bit crazy in rainy weather don’t you think?

Patience

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It is a good feeling to be looking back at this daily blogging challenge from the end. It wasn’t as hard as I had anticipated. On the whole, I am glad I did it. It was good to participate in the Nano Poblano community group because it helped me with meeting some new blogging friends.

I will be participating in a writing course with WordPress in December but may not be posting everything from that project. I plan to continue to post at least three times a week here on my blog. Well, here is my last post for this month.

Rain

“When clouds form in the skies we know that rain will follow but we must not wait for it. Nothing will be achieved by attempting to interfere with the future before the time is ripe. Patience is needed.”

—I Ching

This quote says more to me than just about being patient while waiting for rain. It can relate to any kind of waiting for something to happen. I know the restless, agitated feeling of wanting to find the answer to whatever I am seeking. I have found that I must learn to be patient. I have had this experience in the past. Whatever is supposed to happen will happen when it is time for it to happen. Patience.

“Significant rain to much of Southwest California Tuesday into Wednesday….This storm has the potential to bring heavy rainfall to much of Southern California next week.” —The Weather Channel (11/29)

We have been patient for quite a while. Good news to a state gripped by drought. We have had beautiful weather for most of November but we need rain. It is a bit cooler today, Saturday. We need rain because when things get so dried out and the weather stays hot the fire danger increases.

I saw a report online this morning that Northern California’s Fire Season is now over because their temperatures have been dropping. We are waiting for the same news here in Southern California. Patience.