Here I am practicing on a boulder. "Warming up".
Gearing up for the big rocks.
Ready to go.
This is not a picture of me, but a shot of someone else at the same spot I was on the highest part of my climb. John's hands were full of the ropes supporting me to get photos of this climb. It's about 80 feet high. I climbed three different rocks that day, four if you count the boulder.
Happy Birthday Heather. Love you.
Here is Kevin having a turn.
Here is John in the garage with on of the drills we used.
Here is the finished product. The original plan was to cover it with carpet (we also have spare that in our garage), but we haven't gotten around to doing it yet. The cats seem to like it.
Once we were in town and shopping (cause that's what you do in Solvang) everyone was talking about the Nativity Pageant being presented at the local amphitheater that night; so, we went. There were live donkeys and goats and really really pretty music. Glad we did that. If you ever get a chance to be there for that be sure to bring a blanket; it was very cold.
The church we found to go to on Sunday was in Los Olivos; that's how we found Los Olivos Cafe where I had the best salad I've ever had in a restaurant (see above). It's a roasted butternut squash salad with dried cranberries and goat cheese with a balsamic vinaigrette. The only thing it's missing is purple pansies. Super delicious.
After lunch we walked through town and passed a park where there was this turkey. I don't remember exactly what it was doing there. It's the first one I've really seen up close and also the wild turkeys I have seen are not this breed. I thought it was kinda cool being so big and beautiful and everything and just hanging out at the park.
What you expect to see in Solvang; windmills.
The Hitching Post was visited for a light dinner.
Someone at one of the shops talked about the roasted artichoke they serve and how good it is; so, I got it. It was delicious. It's roasted over an indoor open flame barbecue and served with roasted tomato mayonnaise or something like that. I had a glass of their red "it goes good with food" wine to go with. Funny. Good.
Here Natalie and I are diligently making favors for the upcoming party celebrating her thirteenth year.
Sampling the candies to assure their freshness.
Ta - da! Gummi Pops.
Kiss kiss sweet daughter.
Baskin Robbins white cake and French vanilla ice cream stuffed with Gummi Bears.
Johnette and Natalie taking pictures of the birthday cake with their phones.
The girls after their scavenger hunt in the park.
The Saturday before Christmas John and I drove to San Clemente to visit Dad, Carol, Robin, Britt, Beau and Casey. We spent the afternoon visiting and eating cheese, crackers, pan forte and wine. After the snack we walked down to the beach before the sun set. Here I am posing with John and Britt wanting to be in th picture too. Hi Britt!
Here we are at the beach. We did take pictures of the rest of the family, but they didn't turn out that well so I won't be posting them here.
John and me on Christmas morning. We spent the holiday in Fremont with David, Michelle and Nathan.
We started off the year with a trip to Pasadena for the whatever number Annual Tournament of Roses Parade. We left the house around 4am arrived in Pasadena with just enough time to park the car and find a decent spot of sidewalk to stand and watch the parade.
John served hot chocolate to keep us warm.
Emeril Lagasse was the grand marshall! That definitely was a surprise (we did not read ahead) and is a highlight of the year so far. If you open up the picture to full frame and look very closely you can see the back of his head.
Afterward we went ice skating in Santa Monica. Every year they set up a temporary outdoor rink. I think the temperature that day was about 65 degrees.
Natalie and I sat out while John skated with Kevin and Heather.
Lone desert flower. Some sunflower thing. I used to know it's name. Feeling ambitious? Look it up.
Amargosa Opera House. This opera house exists because of Marta Becket a ballet dancer from New York City. She moved out to Death Valley Junction in the mid forties because of this building. Her vision was to move from New York and turn it into an opera house and perform all her original art here. So, she did and she does. Throughout the years she has performed every weekend her original shows, mostly one woman shows. She is 83 years old now and performs a show called the sitting down show. She doesn't dance anymore because of a back injury. She sits on stage now relating her life story and how she ended up in Death Valley Junction and sings songs from various shows she performed througout the years. Oh yeah, she's also a painter. The video displays the murals she painted on the inside walls of the opera house; an audience of sorts. Very ambitious, prolific, determined, creative, talented, brave woman. Check out the link above to the opera house and read all about her yourself. You should also look up Death Valley Junction on a map; it's out in the middle of nowhere.
Marta Becket's mural art.
John at the top of Ubehebe Crater.
The only two spots in Death Valley I have left to visit are the Racetrack and Eureka Sand Dunes. It probably won't be until we get a four wheel drive; they are both about thirty miles of dirt road to get to them.
It doesn't just snow in Boston. Here I am in Indian Wells Canyon yesterday. Upon my request John brought me up here to hike in the snow. We actually hiked into some weather; big fat snow flakes softly falling from the sky. See those rocks in the background? Later this year I'm going to learn to rock climb and climb those rocks. After the hike we went into Inyokern had breakfast at Taqueria Bernardino's and shopped at the Country Feed Barn and Inyo Dreams. I may go back today to get a nice little Indian basket they had there, but we didn't have any cash or checks and she doesn't take Visa. If I do I'll post a picture of it for you.We've replaced the TV cart since this video and got a new lamp for behind the couch.
Ta da!
Here I am behind the BBQ. See all those people behind me? They all ate a hambuger or hot dog. We served up around 1,600 hams and dogs. The guy on the right is cooking up tri-tip.
See the flames? That's me stoking the fire with hamburger grease.
Natalie dressed as a pirate. Arrrrh! In her right hand is her bootie bag full of candy.
Kevin sporting BLING and long blonde hair. Gangsta Yo
