An explanation of Wordless Wednesday 05-01-20

First, Happy May Day!  When I was a child just outside of Portland, Oregon, May Day was the day we went around to our neighbor's and left paper cones of spring flowers hanging on their doorknobs.   I sometimes think I will do that in my current neighborhood, but fear that everyone would think I had just gone over the edge and call the guys in the white jackets to take me away.   Times and traditions change. 

I feel the need to explain this week's Wordless Wednesday.  On Tuesday KoKo and I drove up to San Juan Bautista to spend a few days with our friend Mary.  Mary also lives alone, and doesn't even have a doggy for company, so a houseguest is a treat for her.  We didn't leave Placentia until 4pm and made an amazing trip in 5 1/2 hours and that included two half hour stops for potty and gas.  So, the actual driving time was 4 1/2 hours.  There was almost no traffic except for the big trucks and, to my surprise, people were driving the usual 70 to 80 mph.  I expected some speed demons to be hitting the 100 mark, just because they could.  None of those.  So, it was a very pleasant drive except for the last hour over the Pacheco Pass in the dark.  Usually there are a lot of other cars and trucks to sort of light the way, but not this time.  Some of the time mine were the only lights on the road.  Weird and creepy.  Anyway we arrived about 9:30pm and we all went to bed pretty soon after that.  

The first picture on Wednesday was the wildflowers on the hills around Gorman, CA, at the top of the Ridge Route.  Only poppies and some short yellow flowers I can't think of the name of right now.  No lupine in sight.  The middle two pictures are of Mary and KoKo and Froggy.  Mary didn't want me to post her face, but I couldn't resist her gorgeous white hair.  Like most people in the world she is yearning for a haircut.   The last picture was taken from the end of her road where her new house is in a new development on the edge of San Juan Bautista.  Right now the hills are a bright green and so lush and beautiful.  The old barn is part of the original farm the development is built on.  I'm not seeing many people as KoKo and I do our walks - two or three other dog walkers in the morning.  Many of the houses here have a gold colored card in their window with OK written on it.  These are distributed by the town and the fire department drives around to check that none of the signs have been changed to a red sign, which I suppose says NOT OK.  Nice to know that people are watching out for the residents.  

We will drive home on Sunday in isolation in our car with only one potty stop and then get gas after we are back in Placentia.  Social distancing by car.  

While here I have been working on the Little Houses. 

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Wordless Wednesday 04-29-20

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Drive from SJBautista to Placentia on Feb 22nd 03-02-20

I finally spent some time editing the pictures I took on I-5 coming home on the 22nd.  There are a LOT of almond trees; they line the highway and stretch to the rising hills for miles and miles.  In between there are fallow fields, open uncultivated land, other orchards, and, of course, off ramps that lead to gas stations, restaurants, etc.   It is harder to take pictures with a cell phone when I am driving and I plan to go back to a point and shoot camera.  I think the images are better using that method.  Here are some views from along the way.

  

Something that is pretty prominent are the billboards begging for more water for agriculture.  One of which questions: "Is it wasting water to grow food?"  I know that there are new methods for watering crops, very few farms along this route use overhead sprinklers now. 

I have no idea what the actual problem is, other than the continuing drought, but I do get tired of the signs.  

Almond blossoms.

Almond blossoms, bee hives, tumbleweeds. 

Almond blossoms and tumbleweeds. 

Almond blossoms and lowering clouds. 

NOT almonds, another nut or fruit, along with tumbleweeds. 

 More NOT almonds. 

And then it started to rain.  More almond blossoms and beehives. 

Well, you get the idea!  California grows 80% of the world's almonds and they are the #1 exported crop.  

There are other crops growing along I-5 in the valley.  Lots of grapes, both for wine making and produce.  I have seen the pickers packing the grapes directly in the boxes that are shipped to stores. 

Almonds in the distance, grapes in the foreground. 

And there are some orange and lemon orchards. I know these are oranges because I have driven the route when the fruit was still on the trees.  All picked and shipped now. 

Citrus trees have very dense foliage and the leaves are dark and glossy.  

Saw a lot of these low growing yellow wild flowers, but I don't know what it is.  This is uncultivated land.  But almonds in the background. 

A green crop in the background and plain old grass on the freeway verge. 

These are piles of dead almond trees.   It seems they cut down the old trees and let them dry out in the fields, then they are scraped into these huge piles. 

 And the piles are ground into mulch.

There are several facilities along the way to which the mulch is trucked and then processed for further mulching.  The trees have a life span of 20 -25 years and do not bear fruit the first 3 or 4 years.  Almonds are alternate bearing so that a large crop one year is often followed by a lighter crop the next year.  [Google]

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Photo Failure 02-28-20

I was working to post pictures I took on the last trip up to San Juan Bautista and Pacific Grove when my phone started to just say "loading" on and on and on.  It won't stop.  So, I have no access to any pictures on my phone.  Hope it can self correct.  It is almost midnight, so I will just check it in the morning.   I tried to find some great almond blossom pictures from years ago, but since the demise of Picasa I can't find anything very easily.  But when I drove up and back on I-5 last week the almond trees were in their full glory.  By the time I drive up again in a couple weeks the blossoms will all be gone.  

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Home again 02-22-20

It was a rather easy drive from San Juan Bautista to home.  Light traffic and only a few of those 100 MPH drivers.  I had two stops of about 1/2 hour each, so the driving time was about 5 hours.  Rain periodically, but not very severe.  I picked up KoKo and he now wants to be on my lap every minute.  He is such a lover.  I will skip the San Diego meeting tomorrow, I hate to miss it, but I am very tired tonight and I will have to drive down on Wednesday for a scheduled docent tour of the Ruth B. McDowell quilts at VAM. 

I took lots of pictures along the way, but they were definitely "point and shoot", so will need to be edited.  One of my two stops was at In & Out Burger at Laval Rd , just north of the Grapevine.  The burger and shake gave me a boost to get over the mountains and home!! 

It was just at lunch time so they were very busy. 

"What does fresh really mean?"  Well, they peel the potatoes and slice them for fries.  And the ground beef is never frozen.  I never worry about getting sulfites in my meal. 

I had never noticed that the crew wears giant diaper pins to hold their aprons on.  Must be four inches long! 

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Recuperating today! 02-21-20

After a strenuous day of quilt hanging, both Mary and I were dragging our tails today.  We both were up and down during the night.  My shoulder problem came back with a vengeance, but fortunately I found an analgesic patch in my suitcase and finally got back to sleep.  Those handy patches work great on my shoulder.  The rest of the day I lazed around editing pictures and doing e-mail and finished the book I have been reading.  David Baldacci's "The Sixth Man".

We went to dinner at Inaka, the Japanese restaurant here in San Juan Bautista.  The food was delicious, but the service was very slow and they don't take reservations for parties of two (how odd!).  It is a very popular place and an unusual restaurant for tiny SJBautista.

I will drive home tomorrow.  I would like to stay and just hang out at Back Porch Fabrics and talk about the quilts.  But I need to be home Sunday for a meeting and I miss my KoKo dog! 

When you walk into the classroom at Back Porch the quilt facing you is Judith Content's "Cataclysm" (85"W x 55"L).  She was working in her studio and her husband was reading the book "Krakatoa" about the massive eruption of that volcano in Indonesia in 1883.  He was so fascinated he kept reading parts out loud to her.   She read the book and was inspired to do some silk dyeing and created this fabulous quilt.  I am so lucky to have it in the Thomas Contemporary Quilt Collection.

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Traveling a bit. 01-27-20

Haven't been up to see Mary in San Juan Bautista, CA, for six months!  That is surely a record.  KoKo will stay with a doggy caretaker for the few days I will be gone.  Hope to get into Pacific Grove to visit friends, shop at Back Porch (of course I don't need any fabric!), and have lunch at the Red House.  But mostly I will loaf around in Mary's new house and, hopefully, get some computer work done.  

One thing for sure, the landscape will be a lush winter green.

But it might be too early for almond trees in bloom.  Pretty aren't they?

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Lots of summer flowers. 07-30-19

Walking KoKo exposes us to different plants and flowers.  All of these are from Mt Vernon, WA, or Coupeville, WA, except for the last three from San Juan Bautista.  It is very dry here as they haven't had rain for a while.  But there are lots of landscape plants that are kept watered.  Not so much the lawns. 

There are, of course, dandelions everywhere. 

All along the roadways.

We see them on our two daily walks. 

Not sure about these.  Watsonia? 

Unbelievable tuberose begonias grown by Max, Mabel's husband here in Mt Vernon. 

The large ones are the size of luncheon plates. 

The smaller ones are such lush colors. 

Madonna lilies in the yard of Max's SIL, Marge. 

 Stigma and anthers of the Madonna lily - the anthers are so precisely attached they quiver in the slightest breeze. 

More lily buds with Del and Marge reflected in the window.

More lily buds, they are so elegant. 

Amazing two tone dahlia.

And a white lily - name  unknown. 

Lacecap Hydrangea

Closeup of Lacecap Hydrangeas. 

More Lacecaps

I was thinking this was a guinea gold vine, but I looked it up and I am wrong. 

Ideas?   The waterdrops are from sprinklers, no rain while I am in town!

Chicory - just starting to open. 

Chicory is a late summer/fall wild flower. 

Shasta Daisies. 

Shasta Daisies closeup.  

???

Matilija Poppies

Matilija Poppies

Lilies along the roadside.

A pile of hydrangeas. 

More lacecap hydrangea. 

And the regular "old fashioned" hydrangea.

Looks almost like gaillardia - this is cultivated though. 

And a closeup. 

Hollyhock in San Juan Bautista.

A common "old fashioned" garden flower, but tonight  I can't think of the name. 

Growing in downtown San Juan Bautista. 

Rose of Sharon (a bush) flowers in San Juan Bautista. 

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