Posted in Gardening, Health, Out of Town, Survival, tagged Cancer, Healing, Health, Mystery Flower, Plants, San Diego on December 10, 2013| 22 Comments »
Does anyone know what flower this is? My sister-in-law met a woman at her church in San Diego who was gathering some. When asked what the flower was she answered, “It fights the cancer.” No other information was offered since the lady did not speak fluent English, but she gave a cutting to my sister-in-law to take home.
Mystery Flower “Fights the Cancer.”
Posted in Camera-Walking, Humor, Look at This!, Out of Town, Survival, tagged nature, photography, Plants, San Diego, Survival, Thorns, trees on December 10, 2013| 20 Comments »
Some folks just don’t like to be touched.
Some trees don’t like it either.
Thorny Tree Trunk in San Diego, California
Posted in Beauty, Buildings, History and Places, Look at This!, Out of Town, Uncategorized, Where to Go, tagged Art Center, California Pacific International Exposition, San Diego, Spanish Village Art Center on December 7, 2013| 15 Comments »
There is a “value added’ benefit to blogging. Sometimes favorite blogger friends unwittingly act as travel advisers. That’s what Cindy Knoke of http://cindyknoke.com did for me. If you haven’t visited her blog, plan to join the hundreds who recognize her photos from “The Holler” as fabulous, and her photos from her travels as worthy of National Geographic attention.
Anyway, Cindy once did a post on San Diego’s Spanish Village and I knew I had to go there and yes, I was there just a few weeks ago!
The Spanish Village Art Center is a courtyard collection of quaint structures built in 1935 for the second California Pacific International Exposition.
The idea was to depict an old village in Spain and the results were so popular and so beautiful that the village was allowed to remain when the exposition ended.
I can certainly see why because today the Village is still the “stuff of dreams.” First taken over by local artists it transitioned to a barracks during World War II, and finally determined artists restored it to what it is today.
There are 37 working artist studios/galleries that host over 200 local painters, sculptors, metalsmiths, jewelry designers, clay artists, gourd artists, photographers, printmakers, fiber artists, basket makers, mixed media artists, glass artists, enamel artists and more.
If I lived in San Diego, I know I would be spending days there for peaceful wandering and enjoying the enormous collection of talent and maybe even taking classes myself.
Thanks Cindy for the phenomenal travel tip! The Village is definitely worth seeing!
Posted in Entertainment, History and Places, Home and Hearth, Humor, Out of Town, Random Impressions, tagged American Old West, Beatles, California, Carlsbad, Conestoga wagons, Garmin, GPS, San Diego, Temecula, Wild West on October 10, 2012| 8 Comments »
CALIFORNIA HERE WE COME!
We somehow found our way to a very comfortable timeshare in Escondido, California (in the Wild West). It’s about an hour from San Diego and 30 minutes from Carlsbad. My brother and sister-in-law live in San Diego. Our son and his family live in Carlsbad.
I know California is supposed to be civilized because the settlers struggled and endured all manner of hardships to tame it and that settled that. Nevertheless, I consider a trip to California is still only for the bravest explorers. Imagine what the pioneers experienced in their Conestoga wagons. I wonder if they had traffic jams like today. Maybe if one wagon got stuck, the others would bottleneck behind it. Did they know they could drink from cactus? Did they travel the road we are now lost upon? But I digress.
Our Wonderful Timeshare in Escondido
Timeshare Morning Walk
If Only the Pioneers Had Lola!
Although we felt like perpetual pioneers, we were fortunate enough to have a GPS guide named Lola. However, once outside our vacation unit and in a car, we were inevitably lost; lost within the timeshare itself; lost on roads and freeways; lost in parking lots. Remember I predicted this? And we took along our Garmin thing too with the GPS gal we named Lola. And by the time we found our way around, it was time to go home to Virginia. Gripping the door handle or the overhead thingy, worrying about the next wrong turn has left me slightly arthritic and perhaps perpetually paranoid. I never did have this eye tic before or the twitching in the neck. Could it be that because Bill is left handed he manages to consistently turn in the wrong directions? How can anyone make four wrong turns in a parking lot in broad daylight under clear California skies? And no, I am not exaggerating.
But How Was Our Trip?
Well, we did get to visit with family and friends even though one family member had just been in the hospital for chest pains (that turned out to be nothing), another getting intravenous antibiotics for a skin infection, and another with a kidney stone waiting to descend! All of these things happened two days before our arrival, and all of them had happy endings about the time we left (with the exception of the kidney stone which is still lurking somewhere). And no, we are not all really that old and decrepit even though it seems so. My hair color was black before we left and now, a week later, it’s white! Try to picture me with black hair, o.k.? – and without the tic.
California weather was HOT upon arrival… like up around 100 degrees, then cooled off a bit in a few days. Skies were oh-so-clear and there were lovely breezes even inland, but especially toward the beach areas.
What Did We See or Do?
Well, we went to a Beatles concert that was so real the old-time fans in the audience were swaying and singing along with the young impersonators who were truly fantastic. I wanted badly to sing too but my voice is so bad it makes people flee the room. When my grandgirls want their father to leave they say, “Sing Grammy!” Did you really want to know that?
The Beatles Live Again
We also went to a funny cowboy town called Temecula and cruised on foot in and out of the shops but didn’t buy anything much. At least on foot we found our way. I think Old Temecula is sort of like a ghost town where you walk on plank sidewalks and everything is the way it probably was. They do have food and water and bathrooms though – not like when the pioneers arrived.
Temecula Court House
Temecula, California
An Odd Wild West Building
We took a ride around Carlsbad and had a wonderful dinner there. We had dinner at our son’s lovely home.
We had a lot of wonderful dinners in California – and lunches – and breakfasts – and snacks – and bread! We found the most scrumptious bread ever. I would have gone back for more but we found it on one of our lost detours and I’m sure we could never find it again.
And having gained at least five pounds, we went home.
I like California a lot, but –
I like home better.
I love home.
We don’t get lost here.
Virginia Views 