Santana Winds and Dry Brush

On Saturday morning Dear and I took a hike up from Sycamore Canyon in the Santa Monica Mountains to a Scenic area overlooking the Pacific Ocean near Pt. Mugu. We were struck with how dry the brush was and Dear commented on how easy it would be for a fire to spread through this type of brush. This is a collage I made of some of the dryness we hiked through. We are now having a Santana Wind event in Southern California and there is a large fire burning in the Angeles Forest East of Los Angeles. I’m sure the terrain there looks a lot like this, too.

What are the Santana or Santa Ana Winds?

The Santana Winds or Santa Ana Winds, most common in the late summer and early fall, begin with dry air moving in from the interior of the U.S. towards Southern California. As this air flows down into the Los Angeles-Orange County Basin through the low gaps in the mountains (notably Cajon Pass on the east end of the San Gabriel Mountains and Soledad Pass south of Palmdale), it compresses and warms about five degrees Fahrenheit for every 1,000 feet that it descends. Though these winds are much cooler high in the mountains, they can become hot and dry and assume gale force when descending into the Los Angeles-Orange County Basin. They are often the source of air turbulence for aircraft approaching Los Angeles International Airport.

The original spelling of the of name of the winds is unclear, not to mention the origin. Although the winds have been commonly called Santa Ana Winds or Santa Anas, many argue that the original name is Santana Winds or Santanas. Both versions of the name have been used. The name Santana Winds is said to be traced to Spanish California when the winds were called Devil Winds due to their heat. The reference book Los Angeles A to Z (by Leonard & Dale Pitt), credits the Santa Ana Canyon in Orange County as the origin of the name Santa Ana Winds, thereby arguing for the term Santa Anas. This might be supported by early accounts which attributed the Santa Ana riverbed running through the canyon as the source of the winds. Another account placed the origin of Santa Ana Winds with an Associated Press correspondent stationed in Santa Ana who mistakenly began using Santa Ana Winds instead of Santana Winds in a 1901 dispatch.

Special credit for the research assistance of Librarian Nancy Smith of the Metropolitan Cooperative Library System Reference Center, Los Angeles Public Library.

I hope this is helpful information when you hear news about Santana winds in Southern California helping to spark fires.

After our hike through all this dryness we were rewarded with these glorious views of the Pacific Ocean…

We were blessed with a few cool days and now with the Santana Winds blowing in we’ll be seeing the temperature rise again this week.

Wherever you are and whatever your weather have a wonderful week.

Tremble before him, all the earth! The world is firmly established; it cannot be moved. Let the heavens rejoice, let the earth be glad; let them say among the nations, “The Lord reigns! Let the sea resound, and all that is in it; let the fields be jubilant, and everything in them! Then the trees of the forest will sing, they will sing for joy before the Lord for he comes to judge the earth. Give thanks to the Lord for he is good; his love endures forever. ~ 1 Chronicles 16:30-34

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.

Southern Methodist Episcopal Church ~ Ventura

This Historical Landmark Carpenter Gothic church was built as Southern Methodist Episcopal Church in 1888. It was a wedding chapel for some time and was converted into a B&B and now it’s for sale.

On one of our Saturday walks in Downtown Ventura, California we decided it deserved a look see. The church is on Main Street.

These handles look like coffin handles to us…

So if anyone has $1,750,000 and wants to run a B&B this could be the place for you!

Photobucket is holding all my photos that I posted on my blog from 2007-2015 hostage and replaced them with big black and grey boxes with threats. So discouraging…as I’m slowly trying to clean up thousands of posts!

Sky Watch #10

Sky Watch #10 ~ St. Mary Magdalen Church in Camarillo, California

I headed over to this historical church this week hoping to get inside to see their stained glass windows. I looked up and saw these wispy clouds above the church bell tower and decided this would be my Sky Watch photo this week. I found out that to see the windows up close I’ll have to return for a 6:30 AM mass because that’s the only time during the day that the church is open. Here is a little of the history behind the windows. I find it fascinating.

“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.”

I’m not catholic but I’ll be happy to attend mass early in the morning and have my heart directed to God and then enjoy viewing the stained glass windows. I hope they’ll let me take pictures…

For more Sky watch click here.

Happy 65th Wedding Anniversary Mom and Pop!

From The Old-Time Family

We were eight around the table in those happy days back then.
Eight that cleaned our plates of pot-pie [blintzes] and then passed them up again;
Eight that needed shoes and stockings, eight to wash and put to bed,
And with mighty little money in the purse, as I have said,
But with all the care we brought them, and through all the days of stress,
I never heard my father or my mother wish for less.

~ Edgar A. Guest

These are the 8 Bagdanov siblings from oldest to youngest. Kathy, Vera, Fred, Ellen, Tim, Steve, Lana and Leonard

Now here’s a funny discovery we found out from my father this past weekend. It seems all these years they’ve been celebrating the wrong day as their anniversary. My parents were both from a peasant background. They both with their families escaped out of Russia into Iran in their pre-teens. They did not have great record keeping. There are no birth certificates or wedding licenses for them. They chose a birthday when they entered the U.S.A. They knew they were both born in the Spring. They chose September 13th as a wedding date because they thought they remembered that their wedding coincided with a Jewish holiday in September. Come to find out from a date they found on the baby picture of their first daughter who died at the age of 2 that they could not have been married in September but it was probably July just after harvest in Iran. Most of their friends got married this time of year after all the work was completed. Our first sister Kathy was born in April so they know they were married well before September 13th! Yes, strange but true, after they lost their first Kathy they named their second daughter Kathy, too.

September 11, 2001 ~ I’ll Never Forget

I will never forget this day. Where I was, what I did, who I talked to. My TV was still in my living room in Washington in 2001. I sat on the edge of an ottoman in shock. I started dialing, first my husband, then my married son and his wife, (they were married 2 weeks before 9/11 so they just celebrated their 7th anniversary this year, too) I woke my 2 kids that were still at home. That day seemed like it would never end. Called my SIL to find out if she’d heard anything from my niece who works in Manhattan. My niece was in route to Manhattan, no one at work had seen her yet. She wasn’t a casualty that day. She made it. She had to turn around and try to get home again. It took her over 6 hours to get home. Small price to pay compared to so many…

Praying that God will continue to lead and direct our leaders in how best to protect the people they are called to serve. Praying that God will protect us from evil. Also praying that God will build us up to be able to persevere and endure whatever suffering comes our way.

I’m headed out to my porch now to put out the only little symbol of our flag I have here in Southern California. My big flags are all in Washington State. I’ll add a photo soon.

Psalm 20:7 ~ “Some trust in chariots and some in horses, but we trust in the name of the Lord our God.”

So for my morning walk I was on a quest to find U.S. Flags displayed today. I have a hard time walking past 30 minutes by myself and challenging myself with quests helps me stay out longer. At first I was sad that I wasn’t finding any flags but as I plugged away I finally found some. Here’s a collage of some of the flags displayed on my neighborhood 7208 step walk.

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.

Ruby Tuesday ~ Bothell Landing

I took a walk along the Sammamish River Trail at Bothell Landing and these are some of the Ruby things I saw. After parking my car the first ruby that caught my eye were the rooster combs. Then I crossed the River on this bridge to get to Bothell Landing.

I walked around Bothell Landing where they have relocated several historical buildings.

This was the first school house in Bothell.

I’ve been finding out some interesting history about Bothell for my ABC Wednesday post. Bothell is the first city in the state of Washington that we lived in when we moved from California to Washington in 1988.

For more Ruby Tuesday head over to The Work of the Poet.

Oh and look what I got last week when I came in third place for answering Maryt’s question on how to tell the good guys from the bad guys. Thanks again Maryt.

Have a great Ruby Tuesday y’all!

Photobucket is holding all my photos from 2007-2015 hostage on their site and have replaced my photos with black and grey boxes of ugliness. I’m slowly deleting those boxes from my blog and trying to update so many posts, very frustrating.

Suzzallo Library ~ University of Washington

Since I had absolutely nothing for ABC Wednesday, the letter Z, I decided to cheat a bit and use my Suzzallo Library Post for Z. Look! There are two z’s in Suzzallo! My daughter and I were here last Thursday.

This is Suzzallo Library on the campus of the University of Washington in Seattle. Ground was broken for this library in 1923. The building is an example of the Collegiate Gothic style adopted by the University as part of the 1915 campus plan, developed by architects Carl F. Gould and Charles H. Bebb.

Three heroic figures of cast stone depicting “Mastery”, “Inspiration”, and “Thought” sculpted by Allan Clark stand over the portals of the main entrance.

We walked up the beautiful staircase to get to the second floor reading room.

One of the entrances to the reading room. This room has inspired comparisons with the great library reading rooms of the world. After being in it I can understand why.

Oak bookcases are topped with a hand-carved frieze representing native plants of Washington State, including salal, Douglas fir, scrub oak, grape, dogwood, mountain ash, rhododendron, pear, trillium, salmon berry, wild rose, apple, marigold, canteloupe, tulip and cherry.

The room measures 65 feet high, 52 feet wide, and 250 feet long.

At each end of the room, a paneled alcove features a hand-painted world globe hanging from the ceiling, which bears the names of different explorers.

Tall, traceried windows incorporate leaded glass which is intended to break the direct rays of light.

The room features a vaulted ceiling elaborately decorated with rich colored and gilded stenciling.

A 1927 article in The Pacific Builder and Engineer stated that “This room has been pronounced the most beautiful on the continent and is ranked among the most beautiful in the world. It is comparable only to the nave of a cathedral.”

Some more views of the outside of the building.

If you live in the Greater Puget Sound Area and have never visited Suzzallo or if you happen to travel to Seattle, I highly recommend you put it on your list of places to visit.

ht: Most of the information I’ve shared comes from a Library Guide that is free at the entrance to the Library.

If you’d like to see more ABC Wednesday, Z is for posts click on over to Mrs. Nesbitt’s.

The Happy Wonderer ~ ellen b.

To honor and encourage

Tag Archives: History