Tag Archives: California

Opening Doors ~ Day Five

This is Day Five of Opening Doors Photo Challenge. Thanks so much Jientje for this fun idea and being the hostess for it. My eyes have been opened to seeing so many great doors and doorways. We have a great old church that sits above Ventura Blvd. in Old Town Camarillo where you can hear the bells peal three times a day. I decided to stop and see it’s doors up close.

 

It was July 1, 1913. St. Mary Magdalen had been officially established. For several years the brothers, Adolfo and Juan Camarillo, had planned to build a more permanent structure to replace the overcrowded one-room wooden family chapel atop the hill along El Camino Real. Across Ventura Boulevard from the chapel stood a drug store with a high wooden billboard-like front that now stands vacant — the former Southern Pacific railroad depot that had given Camarillo its name. A few blocks westward near the middle of what is now Arneil Road, was the Pleasant Valley Baptist Church that was built in 1890. (This must be what is now Evangelical Free Church of Camarillo) A new hilltop church of ample proportions would set the tone of the growing city for decades to come and serve as a fitting tribute to God, the city, and the first family.

One day while Juan was traveling near his father’s birthplace of Mexico City, a mission-style church caught his eye. He commissioned architect Albert C. Martin to design the Camarillo church along the same lines. Juan built the church in honor of his father, Don Juan Camarillo, and his mother, Martina Hernandez. It was named for Juan and Adolfo’s oldest sister, Magdalena.

On July 4, 1914, the magnificent chapel was dedicated by the Bishop at an impressive ceremony attended by most of the townspeople coming in flag-draped cars.

From it’s hill top position, the chapel’s belfry tower, looking like a multi-tiered wedding cake, was the dominate landmark in Pleasant Valley. It was from this tower, that the bell tolled thrice daily calling the faithful to the Angelus. This was a photo I took earlier in the year.

 

During the past 76 years, the rugged hilltop chapel has withstood the ravages of earthquakes, fire, and time.  Mrs. Gloria Petit Longo recalls the effects of a smoke damaged interior resulting from a fire. It occurred a few days before her wedding and the ceremony was held under paint scaffolding.

For more Opening Doors Photos visit Jientje at Heaven in Belgium.

 

Opening Doors ~ Day Four

Today is Day Four of Six Days of the Opening Doors Photo Challenge hosted by Jientje.

The doors I’m choosing today are from the Camarillo Ranch Victorian Home of Adolfo Camarillo. I live in the City of Camarillo when I’m in Southern California. It was named for the Camarillo Family. 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.

The doorway into the dining room.

These are the old door hinges on the doors.

This view of a series of doors and doorways is on the upper floor between some bedroom suites.

And last but not least one of the very favorite doorways in a home, the door to the Kitchen!

I’m looking forward to going back for the Christmas tour of this great old home.

For more Opening Doors Photos visit Jientje at Heaven in Belgium.

 

 

Opening Doors ~ Day Two

This is day two of Jientje’s Opening Doors Photo Challenge. There are still 4 more days so you still have time to join in. I’m sharing 3 doors today that are a little outside the box…

Garages come in all sizes. These are two colorful Garage Doors that caught my eye. The first one I spotted in a beach side neighborhood in Ventura, Ca. The second one is a garage in Old Town Camarillo. Usually you would expect to find cars in garages but more than cars these days you’ll find them filled with stuff that doesn’t fit in the house!

This last photo is a door that is not fancy. It doesn’t have any great architectural beauty. It is a very ordinary front door in a very ordinary neighborhood in Southern California.

This door in Whittier, California was the front door of my family home in the 70’s. It is the door where Dear first kissed me after one of our dates. It is the door that opened many more doors to my relationship with Dear and our now almost 34 years of marriage. My parents moved away from this home and have made homes as far away from Whittier as a little village in Russia. They are now in a Senior Apartment in Southern California.

To see more photographs of doors around the world visit Jientje at Heaven in Belgium.

Engagement Party in Clovis, California

On Sunday we hit the back roads North to Clovis where my cousin Jim who married my college buddy Jeanie live (Jeanie and I met when we both were Home Economics majors at Cal-State, Los Angeles). Their youngest son Jeff asked Heather to marry him and she said YES! So because of the excitement of it all an engagement party was planned. Here’s the happy darling couple…

I told you they were darling. See that fabulous blouse she’s wearing? Jeff bought that for her while he was in Italy with his family a few weeks ago. Good taste and it looks smashing on Heather.

Clovis is about 4 hours away from us by car and we didn’t just get there by snapping our fingers so I’m going to show you some of the scenes from the route we chose to take this time. We went on a back road through Ojai on Highway 33. This route took us over and across the Los Padres National Forest.

It was very dry and hot (but 10 degrees cooler than Saturday). We saw lots of interesting landscape. Lots of huge bolders that looked like they could fall on us around several curves. The tunnels and canopy of eucalyptus trees were very cool. We finally made it over the winding roads through the forest to the flat lands of Central California. We went through an area of oil refineries and saw this great old oil Derick.

We arrived for the main event at Jim and Jeanies and the real fun began. Jim and Jeanie have a Spanish style home on a very large piece of property that is just perfect for large gatherings of people. They’ve done a beautiful job with landscaping and adding great features to make the house and yard invite you in.

There were lots of people and great food that Jeanie with my cousin Katrina’s help prepared themselves. Appetisers, Russian Chicken (MGCC recipe), Beef with aujus and salsa on the side, pasta salad, fruit salad, and rice pilaf. Yummy! One of Jeanie’s girlfriends from her Bible Study made all the cookies, heart shaped brownies and cookie bars. I love how she decorated the cookies. I asked her if she’d come to my next party with some of her fabulous cookies :0)

 

But the best part of the day was seeing old friends and relatives and getting re-acquainted and caught up a little with each other.

Jeanie and Ellen b. ~ Jeanie’s Swedish roots welcome sign ~ Jeanie with her sister Kathy B. ~ My cousin Katrina with her husband Andy and daughter Kristen ~ The engaged couple Heather and Jeff ~ Jeff’s older brother Ben ~ Ellen b. and Dear ~ My cousin Jim praying for the couple and meal ~ Cousins: Jim, Ellen b, and Katrina.

Hi Katrina…I know you are out there now :0)

The last time I saw Kathy B. (Jeanie’s sister) was in 2005 at a different celebration here in Clovis. This face to face meeting was very special for me because since 2005 Kathy B. and I have both started blogging and I have gotten to know and love her more through our blogs. It’s just something special to meet with bloggy friends face to face. Kathy B. blogs over at Count it all Joy. She truly has chosen joy through her suffering and has a special place in my heart.

Thanks for the wonderful party Jim and Jeanie. Congratulations Jeff and Heather. It was fun celebrating with you! May God bless you and the uniting of your families with His love and joy!

 

Opening Doors ~ Day 1

Good Morning and Happy Labor Day to those of you in the U.S.A. Busy holiday today watching and praying Gustav will lighten her load and that our far away neighbors will be spared another huge disastor!

Day One of Opening Doors Photo Challenge

For Day One of the Open Doors Photo Challenge I chose this gate and front door combination on a house I walked by in Ventura, California.

Make sure and visit Jientje at Heaven in Belgium to see more doors from around the world.

 

Fun Monday

Gattina is the hostess for Fun Monday and here is her assignment for any of us who want to participate..

She says, “As I am a very curious person, I just want you to show us a picture of your blogging place! Your room or bed or whatever space(s) or place(s) you have to write your posts.”

My husband is working in Southern California and we chose to keep our home in the State of Washington because we would love to re-locate there in the future. So in the mean time we have a small 1 bedroom condo in Southern California. My space to blog is in the center of our living area space. My computer and work area is on the dining room table.

My views from my blogging space are the kitchen right in front of me and the living room to the left of me.

When we are going to have company I just put the lap top away.

For more Fun Monday click over to Gattina’s in Belgium.

Pink Saturday ~ Disneyland

Note!! I’ve had a lot of trouble getting into blogger comment windows today. I don’t know what the problem is (if it’s on my end or blogger’s end) I’ve tried to comment on several Pink Saturdays and haven’t been able to. Quite Frustrating. Have a great weekend y’all!

Welcome to my Pink Saturday Post from Disneyland in Anaheim, California!

Pink on the Castle

Pink blossoming trees, Pink flowers, Pink on the Fairy Godmother, and Pink umbrellas at the Plaza Inn.

Pink inside one of the rides

The Pink striped Cheshire Cat at Alice in Wonderland Ride

And my favorite splashes of Pink the Tea Cups and the Lanterns.

For more Pink Saturday visit Beverly at How Sweet the Sound.

Skywatch ~

This is what the sky has looked like the mornings this week on my walks with Willow. You can barely see the Santa Monica Mountains through the marine haze. It usually burns off by the middle of the afternoon. This looks like a great scene for a science fiction story or horror movie with a title like “Out of the Mist” or  “Out of the Marine Layer” How about the first sentence to the thriller… “He appeared one morning out of the mist, off the mountain. Nobody had ever seen him before but one thing was certain, he was not of this world.”

Thanks for your indulgence. Have a great Friday and weekend. It’s a long weekend here in the U.S. since we’re observing Labor Day on Monday.

For more Skywatch photos click here.

 

Bridging the Gap ~ Day 4

My bridge for today is from my favorite place to walk in Southern California. This is a foot-bridge we use when we walk along Emma Wood State Beach in Ventura.

This is Dear after he crossed the bridge. This shot was taken in the Winter. We usually start our walks at 7 A.M. so we pretty much have the beach to ourselves. The next shot is the same bridge taken in the summer time with my friend Jody from Washington crossing it.

I took it at this angle to get this great patch of Cactus in the photo.

For more Bridging the Gap Photos visit Alice at Iwasborn2cre8.

 

ABC Wednesday ~ F is for

F is for Friends of the Library Bookstore!

Camarillo has a beautiful new library with a fabulous Friends of the Library Bookstore.

It is one of the bigger Friends of the Library stores that I’ve ever been in.

Their sections include hardbound fiction, paper back, Classics, Children’s, Travel, Food, Gardening, Craft, Poetry, Mystery, Science Fiction, Magazines, Large Print, etc.

Everything is reasonably priced. The majority of the books and magazines range from 25 cents to $2.99. Some of the more collectible books are priced higher.

These are some goodies I picked up yesterday.

I’ve purchased lots of books here that are in wonderful shape for a fraction of the price when brand new.

My favorite find this time around is this classic children’s book by Burgess that has a copyright date of 1910.

For more ABC Wednesday click here.