Tag Archives: Santa Monica Mountains

Days and Moments Quickly Flying ~ Hymn

Days and Moments Quickly Flying

Days and moments quickly flying
Blend the living with the dead;
Soon our bodies will be lying
Each within its narrow bed.

Soon our souls to God who gave them
Will have sped their rapid flight:
Able now by grace to save them,
O that, while we can, we might!

Jesus, infinite Redeemer,
Maker of this mighty frame,
Teach, O teach us to remember
What we are, and whence we came.

Whence we came and whither wending,
Soon we must through darkness go,
To inherit bliss unending,
Or eternity of woe.

Jesus, merciful Redeemer,
Rouse dead souls to hear Thy voice;
Wake, O wake each idle dreamer
Now to make the eternal choice.

As a shadow, life is fleeting;
As a vapor so it flies;
For the old year now retreating
Pardon grant, and make us wise;

Wise that we our days may number,
Strive and wrestle with our sin,
Say not in our work, nor slumber
Till Thy glorious rest we win.

Soon before the Judge all glorious
We with all the dead shall stand:
Savior, over death victorious,
Place us then on Thy right hand.

Words: Edward Caswall, 1858.

Outdoor Wednesday ~ Back in the Hood…

It’s time to get your outdoor shots together for Outdoor Wednesday hosted by Susan a Southern DayDreamer! Thanks Susan!

 

It’s great to be in Sunny Southern California again and to resume my walks with Willow! Sheesh, it’s been over 8 weeks since we last walked! The sun peeked over the Santa Monica Mountains as we started out. Willow said “that’s a nice shot”. So I said, “Okay I’ll take a picture.”  When Bloggers walk they are always looking for a great shot.

 

After we made it up the first hill huffing and puffing a little (remember it’s been awhile since we’ve walked)  we spotted this great Poinsettia plant and I thought of Ruby Tuesday…except it’s almost Wednesday so this will work for O.W.

Hope your week is going well and that you are surviving whatever weather is being thrown at you!!

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.

Looking at the Sky on Friday

 

We had some beautiful skies this past week in Southern California. This is a view from a field behind our housing development. The mountains you see are the northwestern end of the Santa Monica Mountains.

For more sky photos visit Crazy Working Mom.

Photobucket is holding all my photos I stored with them from 2007-2015 hostage unless I pay them a lot of money. I’m slowly cleaning up many posts from this time period and deleting their ugly grey and black boxes with a ransom request. Such a time consuming bother.

SkyWatch ~ #18

These were taken last night on our way to and home from a local restaurant we frequent….

These were taken at Dawn this morning. The moon shots looking west, the sunrise shots looking East.

For more Sky Watch visit the Skywatch Blog.

Photobucket is holding all my photos from 2007-2015 hostage and demanding a ransom for me to access them. I’m slowly cleaning up many of my posts where PB have added ugly black and grey boxes where my photos used to be. So frustrating!

SkyWatch #17 ~ Santa Monica Mountains

 

These were the skies above the Santa Monica Mountains that I saw during a short hike last Friday. A storm was brewing and we were blessed with some great clouds in the skies above Southern California!

It’s not very often that we get interesting skies in Southern California so I’m throwing in the following collage of the skies from last week and the weekend.

 

For more SkyWatch from around the world click here.

Photobucket is holding all my photos from 2007-2015 hostage and demanding a ransom for me to access them. I’m slowly cleaning up many of my posts where PB have added ugly black and grey boxes where my photos used to be. 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.

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.

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.

We Thank Thee, Lord, For This Fair Earth ~ Hymn

 

We Thank Thee, Lord, For This Fair Earth

We thank Thee, Lord, for this fair earth,
The glittering sky, the silver sea;
For all their beauty, all their worth,
Their light and glory, come from Thee.

Thine are the flowers that clothe the ground,
The trees that wave their arms above,
The hills that gird our dwellings round,
As Thou dost gird Thine own with love.

Yet teach us still how far more fair,
More glorious, Father, in Thy sight,
Is one pure deed, one holy prayer,
One heart that owns Thy Spirit’s might.

So while we gaze with thoughtful eye
On all the gifts Thy love has given,
Help us in Thee to live and die,
By Thee to rise from earth to Heaven.

Words: George E. L. Cot­ton, in Hymns for Use in the Cha­pel of Marl­bo­rough Coll­ege, 1856.

Ht: Cyberhymnal

I want to wish all my Canadian Bloggin Friends a very Happy Thanksgiving. I know some of you are celebrating today and maybe some of you will be celebrating tomorrow. May God bless you richly with a thankful heart and gratitude towards Him!

WFW ~ Micah 7:18,19

Micah 7: 18, 19 ~

Who is a God like you, who pardons sin and forgives the transgression of the remnant of his inheritance? You do not stay angry forever but delight to show mercy. You will again have compassion on us; you will tread our sins underfoot and hurl all our iniquities into the depths of the sea.

For more Word Filled Wednesday click over to Amydeanne’s.