La Purisima Mission

Yesterday we went to Mision La Purisima Concepcion de Maria Santísima. Mike's parents were in the area to attend his niece's high school graduation, so we enjoyed a visit with them.

Erin did her Mission report on La Purisima in the 4th grade, when all California school children learn about California history. We enjoyed our memories from that previous visit!







I couldn't resist taking pictures of some of the flowers in their gardens. Here are some Matilija poppies. You may remember Chuckbert sharing a photo of his Matilija poppies recently.







Here are some California poppies, hanging on for dear life in the late spring sun. They were being visited by some bumblebees.





Here are some swallows flying in and out of their nests. I had tried to make a movie of them to post, but the movie didn't work out, so this is a still from a small bit of video I did manage.



And some family photos:


Goofing off in the parking lot.... I was holding a dollar bill that had a really cool serial number. In fact, its coolness index is 96.6%.


Kevin shaved his head last week!







We had lunch together after the visit to the mission, and then we all headed to our respective homes. It was a nice afternoon!

Sunset on Mars

Taken May 19, 2005.

Hikes

I hiked Stevens Park again yesterday, and a couple weeks ago, I did a quick hike up Cold Springs Trail. The wildflowers are quickly diminishing. The creeks are getting quite low. It is our dry season, so the trail will be getting quite dusty.

Here are some pictures. All of these were taken with my new camera. I'm sorry that I don't have names for most of the flowers.

The following are from Cold Springs Trail on May 16.


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Blue Dicks

This is the only one I messed about with to make the colors stronger.

A typical creek scene.

The following are from yesterday's hike through Stevens Park.

An Oak Arch. (I think it uprooted itself)

Boulder and Oak.

This was a really interesting plant (below). Dusky greenish leaves and dusky purplish blossoms. This one had a friend visiting.



The honey bees loved the wild mustard that grew close-in to the trail. It was a little hairy walking through it!







This grass was really tall! It grew at least six feet high.

Oak overhead.

Besides the flowers, trees, and rocks, yesterday I enjoyed a bunch of cabbage butterflies, a couple swallowtail butterflies, two turkey vultures, and of course a bunch of alligator lizards.

Alas, no snakes.

More cats

If you are love cats or are an engineer, or if you are a cat or love an engineer, you'll enjoy this video. About 6 minutes long, but I giggled throughout.

Go, Cat, Go!

Thanks, Gramps!

I love stories like this.

Remembering on Memorial Day 2008

4,080 Americans dead in Iraq.

808 coalition deaths in Afghanistan.

Ick, Dad!

Last week was our late father's birthday. He would've been 85!! p-doobie lamented having no good picture of him.

Here ya go, p-doobie!



This was taken at our wedding.

Light Blogging

Blogging has been and will be light, as I've been helping out with Trish. I'm going up there this weekend again, leaving late this morning. She is doing well! She is in Rehab now and making steady progress.

Trish and her sister
May 14

I've lost my marbles!

I've lost my marbles. Has anyone found them?

Happy Mother's Day!

There's a fungus among us!

Chuckbert has been so wonderful about sharing his garden with us. Poss, p-doobie, and BobBIE have also let us take a peek at their gardens.

Here is my submission. This is from the woodchip pile left over from when we took down the big ash tree in our front yard. Purty, huh?



By the way, this is from my Brand! New! Camera!

Intentional Art

I had never heard of Fried Marbles until p-doobie mentioned them. A little research on the internet told me that this was a popular craft in the 50s. I guess that is why I missed it!

I was inspired to try this intentional art project, so Sunday I went out to the craft store and got some supplies. Erito helped me.

Here is a before shot. You can only use clearies and cat's eyes.


Cooking the marbles:





A pitcher of ice water at the ready!



In ...


they ...


go!


Here are the final products! These are some of our favorites:









I attached some bell caps and jump rings to them. I threaded a chain through this one, and voilà!

BEAUTIFUL!

Not only will a fried marble make a beautiful pendant, but maybe a sun-catcher, a Christmas tree ornament, a rear-view mirror decoration, or a pet collar ornament! Enjoy!

Longest Burning Lightbulb

I read this article in today's LA Times. Incredible! A lightbulb that has continuously burned for 107 years!

The lightbulb has its own website. There is a webcam trained on it. Go ahead, check it out; the light is on!

The better to see you with, my dear!

My, what big eyes you have!

Hendry's Beach

Yesterday I walked along Hendry's Beach, also called Arroyo Burro Beach. Locals call it Hendry's.


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View toward the West.

I headed West. To the East of the parking lot, the happy dogs hang out!

It was a really pretty spring day. Hendry's is a good tidepooling beach. It was low tide while I was there, but I didn't stop to explore. I didn't have the right shoes, and I had such little time. Next time, I'll take you on a tidepooling adventure!

If you look closely at the large version of the second picture below, you can see UCSB's Storke Tower. It is about 5 miles away, as the house finch flies.

Plenty of opportunities for finding critters among the exposed rocks!

Every once in a while, there was a broken-shell repository. I'm not sure why these form; I guess it has to do with how the water flows back out over the rocks. Anyway, it's kinda cool to see all the little broken shells and smooth pebbles all piled up.

Shell pile.

Here is a drift log!

Coming back......view toward the East.

I didn't walk too far. I was short on time, having had to work on a Friday! Yuck! I walked enough to get some exercise and bask in the fact that I live in such a Paradise!

Erito's birds

I encouraged the dickens out of Erito to post news about the house finch babies. She procrastinated taking pictures. A few days ago, we checked the nest. Unfortunately, the babies had already left, probably within the couple days before. They stay in the nest only 11-19 days!

News from, The Onion

Click, for story.

Commas, Turning Up, Everywhere

WASHINGTON—In the midst of a crisis that may have reached a breaking, point Tuesday afternoon, linguists, and grammarians, everywhere say they...