Category Archives: California

Walking Club Tally ~ Week 3

This week was a much more successful week for me in the walking numbers. I walked close to an hour every day but Friday.  Today Dear and I walked at the beach for close to 2 hours! My average this week was 11,508 steps a day. I’m so much happier with these results and I hope that when I weigh in on Monday for the Brown Plate Special I’ll have some lower numbers on the scale, too. Before our walk we had some blintzes that my mom brought over last weekend. I filled them with a ricotta mixture.

The Blintzes were baked with butter and half & half. After they were out of the oven we put a dollop of sour cream on top and some pure maple syrup. This was at 6:00 am so I have a whole day to burn off these calories. 🙂 I think Lovella will be pleased. Good thing we’re headed for a good long walk…

 

We decided to walk along the railroad tracks at Emma Wood State Beach in Ventura. It was cold and crisp this morning.

 

The Channel Islands were in clear view today.

 

 

This is at the North entrance to Emma Wood and Lana G! just called me so I’m waving to her while I talk to her in Washington. I’m all layered up cuz it was cold this morning people.  Well cold for California, it was shorts weather for you hardy folk in the North!

 

On our way back to the car I took this shot of the river and the snow capped mountains in the distance. This river empties into the ocean at the South end of Emma Wood. Hope you are all having some good times walking…

Photobucket is holding all my photos I stored with them from 2007-2015 hostage. They have blacked out all those photos on my blog posts. OH BOTHER! I’m slowly cleaning up my posts.

TT #19 ~ Hope for Spring Walk

If you are here for Wildflowers in Winter the literary edition please scroll on down to the next post…
For my Thursday Thirteen this week I’m sharing 13 images from my walk in anticipation of Spring. I looked for signs of Hope for this wonderful season we’ll experience soon…

 

These were all taken from yards and common areas in my neighborhood. For those of you living in regions that actually experience 4 seasons remember my walk was in sunny Southern California.

 

My thirteenth image is of my shadow which I hope will become smaller by Spring!

For more TT click here.

Photobucket is holding all my photos I stored with them from 2007-2015 hostage. They have blacked out all those photos on my blog posts. OH BOTHER! I’m slowly cleaning up my posts.

Walking for Donuts? Is that what Lovella had in mind?

Dear and I decided to walk along the main road outside our neighborhood today so we could check out Calleguas Creek after the rains we’ve had all week. The sun was shining and the skies were clear.

 

This creek is generally pretty dry with maybe a trickle once in a while. The rain storms we’ve been having have made the creek flow strong and constant. (This photo was taken after the last rain storm, not today, but the creek looked just like this today with bluer skies)

We continued up the road.

 

The grade you see in the distance is what Dear has to travel everyday to get to work.

Oh no, look what I see, a donut shop. But here we are on a healthy walk…

 

On the way back to the Condo I got a shot of the Creek on the opposite side of the road.

Now where did that come from and how did it make it all the way to my condo?

I’m hopeless people!  Not only were my walking numbers way down this week (6108 avg.) I rewarded myself for my dismal efforts with a donut! Not a little donut either.

Have a wonderful rest of the weekend…

Photobucket is holding all my photos I stored with them from 2007-2015 hostage. They have blacked out all those photos on my blog posts. OH BOTHER! I’m slowly cleaning up my posts.

Thursday Thirteen #18 ~ Oldest Operating McDonald’s

Welcome to my Thursday Thirteen. On January 15th I stopped by this McDonald’s to take some photos and gather at least 13 facts about the oldest-operating McDonald’s. I don’t have the facts numbered but I’m sure there are at least 13! Enjoy…

 

 

 

Roger Williams co-owner of the McDonald’s Restaurant at Lakewood and Florence Blvd., stands by the 64-foot neon sign that may be the only one left of its kind in the United States. William and Bud Landon opened the McDonald’s in 1953, and the business still remains under the original franchise agreement with the McDonald brothers.

 

The 1953 McDonald’s restaurant at 10207 Lakewood Blvd. (at Florence Ave.) is the oldest operating McDonald’s.

It was listed on the National Trust for Historic Preservations 1994 list of the 11 Most Endangered Historic Places.

It was one of the first restaurants franchised by Dick and Mac McDonald, prior to the involvement of Ray Kroc in the company, and it still has the original “Golden arches” and a 60-foot animated neon “Speedee” sign.

 

 

For more Thursday Thirteen click here.

Photobucket is holding all my photos I stored with them from 2007-2015 hostage. They have blacked out all those photos on my blog posts. OH BOTHER! I’m slowly cleaning up my posts.

Winter Flowers in California

The theme for this week! 

January 23 – 29. Wildflowers in Winter, a winter image of a flower in your area.

 

Bird of Paradise (Camarillo, California)

I live in the city and wildflowers are out of easy reach for me. These Birds of Paradise seem to grow with absolutely no effort around here. They pretty much bloom all year long from Winter to Fall. The Hummingbirds love to come and visit these. I’m still trying to catch a photo with that little bird visiting. This one is just outside my bedroom window. Today it’s pouring down rain here and this splash of color caught in a bit of sunlight is cheering me up.

  The Bird of Paradise is one of four plants in the genus Strelitzia.  The plant most often referred to as the Bird of Paradise and the one pictured above is the orange flowering Bird of Paradise, Strelitzia reginae.

For more winter flowers around the world visit Wildflower Morning.

Photobucket is holding all my photos I stored with them from 2007-2015 hostage. They have blacked out all those photos on my blog posts. OH BOTHER! I’m slowly cleaning up my posts.

Happy Birthday Little Brother! 50 Years Young Today!

Happy Birthday Dear Brother Tim! These first photos are from your very first Birthday Party in January of 1959 at 4635 Oak Street, Pico Rivera, California. This area was known as Montebello Gardens at the time or Jardines as our Hispanic friends called it…

 

Talk about a blast from the past. Look at the cousins around this table. The Loscutoff’s, The Bogdanoff’s, The Shvetzov’s and the hosts of the event the Bagdanov’s.  I wish the photo clearly showed Dedushka at the end of the table sitting next to Pop. Look at you so pleased with your cake!

 

Here you are in a classic 50’s highchair enjoying your cake with Mom watching.

 

Time for presents with cake still on your face and your older cousins Alex, Bill, brother Fred, Walter, and Jim surrounding you. Vera on the right…

 

Spring forward to the present! It was fun celebrating with you and Letty at the California Grill in Camarillo on Saturday night.

Dear and Ellen b
Happy 50th Birthday Tim
You are a wonderful brother, always ready to help us and any of your siblings and friends. Thank you for your compassion and kindness. We appreciate you! And did I mention that I can remember the day you were born and how happy I was when Pop told us we had a new baby brother! Enjoy your day…
Photobucket is holding all my photos I stored with them from 2007-2015 hostage. They have blacked out all those photos on my blog posts. OH BOTHER! I’m slowly cleaning up my posts.

Walking with Lovella and Company ~

So I joined an online walking club over at What Matters Most with fellow bloggers. Most everyone has pedometers but so far I do not so I am figuring it out on averages and how many steps I take on average in a minute. Sounds complicated but it’s not too hard to figure out. Anyway the point is to try to get out and walk more. Here’s my first weeks average. I am calculating 6 days and taking Sunday off.

Monday ~ 7900
Tuesday ~ 8680
Wednesday ~ 9980
Thursday ~ 3500
Friday ~ 9000
Saturday ~ 12,350 (woohoo)

Total 51,410 divided by 6 = 8568

I’d like to get to over 10,000 steps a day….

Surfers Point ~ Ventura, California

A HIGH SURF ADVISORY REMAINS IN EFFECT UNTIL 10 AM PST SUNDAY. SURF 6 TO 8 FEET WILL PERSIST ALONG EXPOSED WEST FACING SHORES.
62°F at 2:00 pm

We took a short drive up the 101 Fwy to Ventura on Saturday morning. We parked at Seaside Park and started our walk along the beach at Surfers Point.

 

We walked along the Promenade.

 

The Surf was exceptional today and there were tons of surfers and photographers waiting to catch the perfect wave.

 

 

The waves were so much more dramatic than my photos can show.

 

We were on the pier for these shots. The foam tells the story of the power of these waves.

 

Some of the waves were high enough to spray onto the pier.

 

The calm before the next set of waves. This is on the Ventura Pier looking back on Ventura.

Photobucket is holding all my photos I stored with them from 2007-2015 hostage. They have blacked out all those photos on my blog posts. OH BOTHER! I’m slowly cleaning up my posts.