Round Robin Challenge ~ Your Hometown

Our Round Robin Challenge is to

 Photograph Your Hometown!

Grab your camera and show off the sights, sounds and flavors of your locale. One photo or a whole spread. Lets see your town and your favorite spots.

 ~Welcome to The City of Camarillo, California

Located in Ventura County California, the City of Camarillo (pronounced cam-a-ree-oh) straddles the 101 freeway about 50 miles Northwest of Los Angeles and 40 miles South of Santa Barbara in a coastal valley 10 miles from the Pacific Ocean at Point Mugu. In a semi-rural setting, the surrounding farmland is some of the most productive to be found anywhere, yielding up to three crops per year.

The Camarillo Ranch was originally a 10,000 acre Spanish land grant created in 1837, patented to Gabriel Ruiz in 1866, then purchased by Juan Camarillo in 1875. His son Adolfo built the Queen Anne Victorian home in 1892. Later the barn and stables were added to support the agricultural work and house the renowned Camarillo White Horses. Today the ranch is owned by the City of Camarillo and operated by the non profit Camarillo Ranch Foundation.

The historic land upon which the Camarillo Ranch now sits was a part of the original Rancho Calleguas, one of the last Mexican land grants (9,998.29 acres). It was given by Governor Alvarado to Jose Pedro Ruiz in 1847. Juan Camarillo (1812-1880) obtained the rancho from the Ruiz family in 1875. Juan was a member of the Hijar-Padres Expedition to California in 1834. He settled in Ventura in 1857. Following Juan’s death in 1880, Adolfo Camarillo, his oldest son, took over the ranch operations. He was 16 at the time. During next 68 years, Adolfo operated the Camarillo Ranch, changing the operations from mostly cattle to crops. He was a leading innovator bringing in lima beans, plus barley, corn, alfalfa, walnuts, and citrus.

Adolfo (1864-1958) married Isabel Menchaca (1861-1936) in 1888 and they moved into an adobe home on the Ranch, which was later destroyed by fire. They had seven children. In 1890, with the help of two Chumash Indian boys, he planted two rows of eucalyptus trees. The trees arched across Highway 101 in Camarillo for many years. Some of the trees still line the north side of the freeway. Adolfo also employed a number of Chumash Indians on the Ranch. [the first collage at the top of the page shows Adolfo Camarillo on one of his famous White Horses. You can read about these famous horses here]

The Camarillo House was built in 1892 by Adolfo and others using the services of Architects Franklin Ward and Herman Anlauf This three-story, 14-room home was built in the Victorian Queen Anne style.

Adolfo’s younger brother, Juan (1867-1935) later donated land for St. Mary Magdalen Chapel (completed in 1914) and St. John’s Seminary (completed in 1939), both prominent in Camarillo history. Juan chose not to stay at the Ranch and lived and worked in Ventura and Buenos Aires

We have only lived in our condo in Camarillo for two years. We have our established home in the state of Washington. Although we weren’t overjoyed about returning to Southern California, we feel blessed to be able to live in Camarillo in the interim. Camarillo is a lovely area with close proximity to the Santa Monica Mountain Recreational Area and Pt. Mugu State Park and Recreational Area.

Camarillo has wonderful access to fresh farm produce and we have a farmers market year round on Saturday mornings. We have several good restaurants in town and one of our local favorites is El Tecolote. We enjoy Mexican food and we have many options for that in Southern California. Our Friends of the Library bookstore is one of the best I’ve ever been in.

I hope you have enjoyed my little tour of my hometown. To see more Hometowns click here.

Bruschetta

I was standing in the bank waiting my turn and on the television they had Giada from the Food Network making some great looking bruschetta. I got the ingredients I needed and decided to try it. Hopefully I get it right because I didn’t write anything down.

 

The ingredients she used were whole milk ricotta cheese, tomatoes seeded and chopped, fresh mint chopped, salt and pepper. I don’t remember if she used garlic so I went ahead and used a clove of garlic, also. She mixed these ingredients all together and put it into a nice serving bowl. She used Ciabatta bread that she drizzled with olive oil and grilled. After it was grilled she squeezed some fresh lemon on the slices. Your company can spread as much of the topping that they want on the slices of bread and enjoy…

If you need more specific amounts here’s what I used. About 8oz. of ricotta, 1 beefsteak tomato chopped, 10 mint leaves chopped, 1 clove garlic, minced, salt and pepper to taste. I bought a small loaf of Artisan Sea Salt Filone bread from Von’s/Safeway. This bread worked out good because it filled in the extra salt the dip needed. I will be making this again because it was duhlicious! Michelle found the link for the original recipe  and you can find it here.

Photobucket is holding my photos hostage from 2007-2015 and replacing them with an ugly black and grey squares demanding money to release them, so frustrating.

Friday’s Fave Five

 

This week was filled to the brim with the regular and the unexpected. My favorites were…

1. A early morning hike on Saturday with dear where our reward was a beautiful view of the Pacific.

2. While we were hiking our ribs were slow cooking to a totally comfort food perfection that we enjoyed later in the day.

3. One of my favorite things to do every week is to thrift store shop and there’s a photo of my favorite little Christian thrift store in Camarillo where I have found some really reasonably priced goodies.

4. I saw an interesting recipe for Bruschetta while at the bank. (Isn’t it weird how they have these tv’s where they show the food network chefs cooking at the bank!) Anyway I made it for an appetizer and it was good. I’ll be posting the recipe later today! Update: I posted the recipe here.

5. I had a fabulous treat on Thursday morning at Dawn. I walked out on my little patio and looked to the east and saw an amazing Sunrise that prompted me to praise God.

Here’s a photo of one of the goodies I found at the thrift store this week. These 7 pieces of ceramic fruit with gold leaves and stems were $4.00. I thought I could come up with some sort of Thanksgiving centerpiece with them…

 

For more Fave Five’s or to join in visit Susanne at Living to Tell the Story.

Photobucket is holding my photos hostage from 2007-2015 and replacing them with an ugly black and grey squares demanding money to release them, so frustrating.

Sky Watch #14

Clear blue skies again in Southern California but I’ll throw in a bonus, some beautiful wild parrots!

 

The skies in Southern California were clear and blue this past Saturday when we went on a short hike in the Santa Monica Mountains. On our way back to the car we spotted some colorful birds in a tree. Upon closer inspection we realized they were wild parrots. Their coloring makes them blend in with the tree leaves so you’ll need to look closely to see them. I’ll apologize up front because I’m going to post 6 photos. This sight is so odd to see in Southern California.

 

 

 

 

Looks like a couple of the parrots are kissing here…

For more Sky Watch click here.

Photobucket is holding my photos hostage from 2007-2015 and replacing them with an ugly black and grey squares demanding money to release them, so frustrating.

Vintage Thingies Thursdays

Well if it’s vintage or antique and I have it in my home I probably inherited it from my MIL Verna. Verna went to be with the Lord in 1997 and had lived with us from 1988. I’ve always enjoyed these Silhouette art pieces from her. The letter writing and posting ones are dear to me because the art of letter writing is something that I’ve enjoyed keeping alive over the years. Recently I’ve gone the way of most and stopped the regular practice of letter writing. I still write a letter occasionally and always at Christmas.

 

For more Vintage Thingies visit Confessions of an Apron Queen.

Photobucket is holding my photos hostage from 2007-2015 and replacing them with an ugly black and grey squares demanding money to release them, so frustrating.

Slow Cooker BBQ Ribs ~

 

INGREDIENTS

    • 4 pounds pork baby back ribs

 

    • salt and pepper to taste

 

    • 2 cups ketchup

 

    • 1 cup chili sauce

 

    • 1/2 cup packed brown sugar

 

    • 4 tablespoons vinegar

 

    • 2 teaspoons dried oregano

 

    • 2 teaspoons Worcestershire sauce

 

    1 dash hot sauce

DIRECTIONS

  1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F (200 degrees C). I browned the ribs on the stove top.
  2. Season ribs with salt and pepper. Place in a shallow baking pan. Brown in oven 15 minutes. Turn over, and brown another 15 minutes; drain fat.
  3. In a medium bowl, mix together the ketchup, chili sauce, brown sugar, vinegar, oregano, Worcestershire sauce, hot sauce, and salt and pepper. Place ribs in slow cooker. Pour sauce over ribs, and turn to coat.
  4. Cover, and cook on Low 6 to 8 hours, or until ribs are tender.

I got this recipe from all recipes.com here.

Since this was my first time making ribs in a slow cooker I went with the first recipe that looked decent. This sauce was very good. Since I made these on Saturday I’ve read a couple other recipes and this is the sauce I’ll try next time to see if it has a little more kick to it.

These ingredients come from Taste of Home Magazine ~ Tasty Pork Ribs ~ Feb/March 2008 Recipe by Michelle Rominger…

1 cup ketchup, 1 cup bbq sauce, 1/4 C. packed brown sugar, 1/4 C. worcestershire sauce, 1 Tblsp. balsamic vinegar, 1 tblsp. molasses, 1 garlic clove minced, 2 tblsps. dried minced onion, 1 tsp. Cajun seasoning, 1 tsp. ground mustard, 1/2 tsp. salt, 1/4 tsp. pepper.

 

Oops! I don’t see anything green on the plate. Can anyone say COMFORT FOOD?

Photobucket is holding my photos hostage from 2007-2015 and replacing them with an ugly black and grey squares demanding money to release them, so frustrating.

ABC Wednesday ~ Mary Magdalen Church, Camarillo

M is for St. Mary Magdalen Church in Camarillo, California

 

In my Sky Watch #10 Post I mentioned that I was trying to get inside St. Mary Magdalen Church in Camarillo to see their historic stained glass windows. A few Sundays ago we went to the church grounds to buy some home made Mexican food at a fiesta they were putting on as a fund raiser. While there I was thrilled to see the church doors open and I went inside and was able to finally see and take pictures of these amazing works of art.

Here is an excerpt written in a historical site about the windows.

“The most notable chapel fixtures were its magnificent 13 stained glass windows.  These azure, crimson, green, and gold windows tell a double story — one of the life of Christ, the other of a world at war.

While on a trip to Europe, Juan Camarillo selected the windows in Munich, Germany. The year was 1913 and the early rumbles of the continent gathering its strength for conflict were growing with each passing day. Somewhere between the studios of glass-blower F. X. Zettler of Munich and the church on a hilltop in faraway Camarillo, the stained glass windows were lost. Zettler’s name can be seen at the bottom of the windows depicting the Holy Family (east side) and Christ with the children (west side). Despite the best efforts of the Camarillo family through consuls and ambassadors, the windows appeared lost forever. Mrs. Carmen Camarillo Jones recalled that her uncle Juan feared they were at the bottom of the sea. One day a letter arrived from a German official. This official in Munich had been noticing several large crates staked outside a building with Juan’s name on them. He had written Juan several letters and finally one got through at the end of Word War 1. Much to the joy and relief of everyone, the lost windows had been found. However, it was a painfully slow and long trek to Los Angeles, and then on to Camarillo, before they were finally installed in the thick brick and plastered chapel walls in 1919.”

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

After I had been in the church for about 5 minutes the caretaker came in and closed the doors behind me I figured my time inside was over.

To see more of the outside of this historical church click here.

For more ABC posts on the letter M visit the ABC Blog.

Photobucket is holding my photos hostage from 2007-2015 and replacing them with an ugly black and grey squares demanding money to release them, so frustrating.

Thank You for Praying for my Dad!

He would do the same for you!

Thanks so much for all your prayers for my dad, Moisi. He came through his surgery well and will be coming home Tuesday morning. Several of us “kids” were at the hospital all day hanging out together. We got to pray over him before he went into surgery. He’ll be in a lot of pain for a while but when everything heals up he should have some good relief from some heartburn issues that have been bothering him for a long time. I really appreciate my blogging community that responds to the needs of our cyberspace community! Blessings on all of you…

Photobucket is holding my photos hostage from 2007-2015 and replacing them with an ugly black and grey squares demanding money to release them, so frustrating.

Blue Monday ~ The Blue Pacific

This week for Smiling Sally’s Blue Monday Challenge I’m showing you the rewarding views of the Pacific Ocean Dear and I got to see after hiking up just .7 miles off of the main Sycamore Canyon Trail in the Santa Monica Mountains. Even though it’s only .7 miles you are going UP so we get a lot of huffing and puffing in. But look at the sight at the top of the trail!

 

We like to do this hike anytime but summer. When the weather is cool there are less bugs, less heat (obviously) and less chance of running into a rattlesnake (maybe).

 

Too see more Blue visit Sally here.

Update: I’m leaving early this morning to take my mom to the hospital for my dad’s emergency gall-bladder surgery. Please pray for him. I won’t be around a computer today.

Photobucket is holding my photos hostage from 2007-2015 and replacing them with an ugly black and grey squares demanding money to release them, so frustrating.