Little Drummer Girl

 While we were in California, Allie had a drum recital.

She’s pretty good though she didn’t like the song and she wanted to look more rock and roll

Christmas 2021

 

We celebrated at Shanna's house which made things easier to me. The kids played videogames while Snickers enjoyed being between them all

I made a black forest cake but no one ate it

Although it didn't snow on Christmas, it has since complicating my running. I went on the dreaded treadmill which I had injured myself on earlier in the year. Hoping a path will melt later today

Josh had professional photos of his family taken enlarging one of them for me

his girls

I'm back to taking jacuzzis with my light show, music and wine

Christmas lights in Shanna's neighborhood

one of my trees

the main tree

Christmas kids

I have had my laptop forever. Twelve years? It has become very slow, riddled with quirks and finally started making groaning noises. Even though I have virus protection, with non-stop ads to buy even more protection, I do get viruses. I thought that a Mac would be more free of that stuff but could I use blogger? Could I load my old files onto it? I spent a few years ignoring my expensive new Mac mulling this over but finally gave it to Naomi for her computer classes, although she needs a PC and comes to use Steve's. I figured I better transition over to a new PC before the groaning turned into outright failure. It's a work in progress. Although there is someway to load all my settings, it is not easy to understand so I have had to add all my programs one by one. Annoying. But the computer is quiet (solid state now) and fast. I will eventually like it once I have added everything.

I do hate winter though at least last week it was warm enough to go outside. Not so this week. I am sore from over exercising but not much thinner to show for it

There is no there there

 Where is there? There is Oakland California where Gertrude Stein spent her early childhood, Years later she went back to find her home razed thus no there there. But her quote began a life of its own with many interpetations. Early on our vacation we made a trip to Oakland. I had read that on the Berkeley border, there is a sign that says Here although I read it had said Here it is. On the Oakland side: There. Not easy to find or photograph. The signs themselves are surrounded by closely placed metal staves that I could barely place my iphone between. And to get there, I had to choose between walking on a busy road or through a tent city of homeless people. Busy road it was.

We traveled to Bay area south of San Francisco to visit my brother and to use up these vouchers that will expire. December is their rainy month though for the first 4  days it was relatively dry. Then the deluge of 4+ inches which they need. But it was so nice to see green and flowers when everything is dead and brown in Michigan. I took lots of photos but I will share only a sampling.

My brother lives high on a hill with two balconies facing the ocean Good for sunsets

There is the There sign

Berkeley rose garden March is best to see it but still had some roses

Entrance to the rose garden high on a hill. Behind us is the Golden Gate Bridge

After a lunch in Berkeley's Gastro Ghetto with prices twice as that of Ann Arbor we walked on Berkeley's campus. Their symbol, the Golden Bear is wearing a mask poorly, not covering its nose. However the Bay Area is good about masking up and getting vaccines so Covid much less than back home among the Stupid (excepting Ann Arbor)

In the drizzle we saw several light installations in Golden Gate Park San Francisco This one which changed colors was called Entwined

different colors

The paths through the woods were lit up too Phosforest

Pretty ferris wheel

My favorite. The plant conservatory which kept having changing flowers projected on it

The next day, onto the Monterrey peninsula to look at monarch butterflies. They have been declining in numbers over the past few years but this year have bounced back. We saw plenty of them in our yard but we have east coast butterflies who will not go to California. Best month: November but still some in December. Also if its less than 57 degrees, they will huddle with their wings folded shut looking like streamers of brown leaves. They go back and forth between the cypress and eucalyptus depending if its windy. It was windy so on to the sturdy cypress. As we were there, the sun started to warm them and they opened their wings. Took a while for me to even see them

My brother had a telephoto lens and a tripod. Other visitors took photos of his viewing screen as iphones don't have much of a zoom.

Steve's phone has a bigger zoom than mine but still isn't as good as a real camera. Our really good telephoto lens was left at home

One mariposa grande made even more so bu a huge helping of farfelle pasta before hand 

On to the 17 mile drive which I might have been on as a child. On one side, rocky beaches with very white sand, on the other fancy golf courses including Pebble Beach and very fancy houses.

The symbol of the area:The Lone Cypress presumably hundreds of years old

Us and the cypress

I found this cute little guy in the Butterfly sanctuary, a Townsend warbler which keeps to the West coastal areas breeding north of Seattle. I thought warblers were strict insectavores which is why they don't come to my feeders. This one presumably looks for scale and aphid infested plants, not to eat those parasites but to eat their sugary secretions. Anyway he let me get quite close to him

We also drove through the town of Carmel which had plenty of very pricy but interesting houses. I liked this hobbit house

driving back north on the Pacific Coast Highway as the sun set

I did go running three times on the coastal path with the sun, despite my very dark sunglasses making it difficult to see

there is a working harbor, dungeness crabs being its main focus. There is also a noisy colony of sea lions

In town, lots of murals. This one of Maverick Beach which as the biggest waves on the Pacific Coast. I was told that the flowers belong to a 'smart plant'

Public service announcement. Again people more cooperative here 

Pretty store

wild mustard blossoms. Sometimes there are huge fields of them with people stopping to take selfies

Another sunset from the lower deck which is covered with passion fruit blossoms that attract hummingbirds

Another early morning run shot

We took a walk up Devil's Slide, an area of unstable earth where a railroad was buried three times in rock slides before they gave up on it and the road was especially dangerous due to sharp curves and drop offs  and was replaced by a tunnel through the mountain but on a clear day, we were fine

Another area we hiked was in San Franciso, Land's End. View of the Golden Gate

Then came 2 days of torrential rain, with roads being washed away, trees falling down and a few minor earthquakes, which though close, I didn't feel  During a break in the rain, we took a drive

to the lighthouse

Steve battling the wind and rain

The light of the lighthouse now being replaced

torrents of water everywhere

It was sunny again the day we left: Montara Beach

IO

Steve's sunset

On one of the rainy days, a college friend drove almost 400 miles to see me Very fun to see her

A good interlude. At one point, it was warmer in Michigan than in California but that came with 60 mph winds and power outages so I would not have been able to enjoy the warmth. Still glad it hadn't snowed. Nothing says vacant house more than no tire tracks in the driveway though Naomi was around a lot. Very proud of her as she did very well in her first semester back at school. She should be in a year or two be able to support herself well. Allie had her first drum recital who is 8. She is surprisingly very good. 

The house was very cold when he returned as the battery expired in the thermostat. Fortunately too warm to damage things