Tag Archives: Rain

When it Rains it Pours…

After all the fires that burned so many hillsides in Southern California a rain event here can trigger mudslides and flash floods without much warning. The rain here in the Camarillo area has been coupled with heavy winds so eucalyptus debris is just flying through the air. The air smells of eucalyptus which is a nice change from other smells we can get because of the extensive farming in this area. Weather advisories are streaming across the television.

 

 

 

Looks pretty scary! Hopefully the predictions won’t come through…

Photobucket is holding all my photos that I stored on their site from 2007-2015 hostage replacing them with ugly grey and black boxes and asking for a large ransom to retrieve them. It is a slow process to go through all my posts deleting the ugly boxes.

Today…from Rain to Glorious Clouds and Blue Sky!

Here’s how the morning began in Southern California on Friday…

 

Here’s how the day turned out! I drove to Oxnard to get gas at Costco and then stopped at a couple thrift stores. I know…shocking! Then I decided to follow the blue sky through downtown Oxnard to Hollywood Beach and the Harbor.

The Channel Islands were in view…

And the clouds were amazing…

Downtown Oxnard??? Who knew! I’m going back here soon to explore the historic section of this town and in the meantime find out why Oxnard was named Oxnard!

Tomorrow is a big day. We are picking up our son Josh at the airport in the morning then heading to the Tam O Shanter for lunch. After lunch we are going to a classic car show at Heritage Square in Los Angeles. But the real reason for the trip and the most exciting part of the day will be meeting up with lots of fans of the Seattle Sounders F.C. at the Home Depot Center in Carson where they will be playing Chivas. Nine family members will be together enjoying the game. On Sunday the family is meeting for lunch at my sister’s house before we take Josh back to the airport.

Have a nice evening and great Saturday!

UPDATE: Oxnard is named after the family that developed the first major industry here, a sugar beet factory in the 1890’s.  From time to time someone suggests changing Oxnard’s name to something else–Channel Islands to name one example.  So far, it’s still Oxnard!  (Although many folks do refer to the area or Oxnard adjacent to the harbor and beach as Channel Islands.) That’s why we say “Oxnard… more than just a pretty name.“

Aren’t They Cute?

Our drive to and home from the funeral on Saturday was quite treacherous at times with rain squalls that turned the freeways into rivers. We saw a few cars that had hydroplaned and ended up in the medians or in accidents with other vehicles.

But we made it there and home again just fine and it was worth it to see these cuties, my mom and dad.

Here are the song sheets from the funeral with the same songs in Russian and English side by side.

A closer look at the same song here in English and below in Russian…

I was pleased that I understood most of the Russian message at the funeral service. The English message delivered by my brother Steve was challenging…

Welcome to my bi-lingual world…

Some of you asked if Dear is Russian and the answer is no. He took Russian in college and he can read Russian. He sang with our Russian choir when we were dating. Dear is half Swedish and half English, Welsh and Cherokee. :0)

Raindrops Keep Falling on My Head…

See the wetness out this window? We have had rain in Southern California for the last couple of days and we are promised some more rain tomorrow. I find it very refreshing being a transplant from the Seattle area. I was happy to have to pull out my great Marmot raincoat!

Tomorrow we are travelling across town to Whittier for a funeral. The Aunt of my best friend from my Russian Baptist Days in L.A. died last Saturday. My friend and her cousins (whose mom died) were connected in many different ways to my family and extended family. Our Russian community is all inter-connected in hard to explain ways. So it will be a day of tears for the grief her children are feeling from saying goodbye and a day of rejoicing in knowing she is with her Savior in heaven. A day of remembering our friendships and re-connecting and seeing the kids “all grown up”. A day of looking at someone and thinking “oh my I know who you are but I can’t remember your name right now”. Does that ever happen to you?  We will sing in Russian and sing in English. We will hear messages in Russian and a message in English. We will pray in Russian and pray in English. We will gather at the church, then head to the graveside, then we will all meet together for lunch.

“Therefore in life I’ll trust in Thee,
In death I will adore;
And after death will sing Thy praise
When time shall be no more.”

Hope you all have a day filled with an awareness of the God who made this world for us to enjoy and numbers our days…