Category: Uncategorized

LA county is still not allowing small businesses or restaurants to operate. but the neighboring Ventura and Orange County are. So it was time for a day trip.

So off we went to Moorpark to the Underwood Family Farms. They have a much larger farm out in Somis, but at this location, they do a lot of education and activities. I heard from a friend that she took her family the week before to go strawberry picking. I guess when you are a big outdoor farm, people can come even during a lockdown and boy did people come!

Aytan was good, initially wearing his mask. We took a tractor ride out to the fields, where were set free!

Picking strawberries, you can see a few others, there actually were tons of people, scattered out in the fields.

We had a lot of fun. picked some arugula and lettuce as well. The strawberries were delicious, so much better than anything I find at the market. Both Aytan and Shira really enjoyed our outing, so that was a very successful day.

On Sunday we drove up to Ojai. I’m sure the beaches were very crowded. Probably a few less people up in the mountains, but plenty of people out and about. Funny how fuzzy these bikers are, there were tons of bikers out! Filling up a cantina out of town as well as just being on the roads.

We ordered food, sat at a table outside and had piping hot food served to us! Heaven! One of these years I won’t have to travel 60 miles for this pleasure. I got a veggie eggs Benedict, best ever!

I think I took this picture just 5 minutes after getting the food… No not really, I savored each bite.

Adorable signs and yes, the honey store was open.

Happy customer.

Sorry, these are fuzzy, when a guy with a bald eagle full head mask walks by, you just got to grab your camera. Well I do. I do wonder why he has sunglass up there? Is he some kind of hipster eagle?

To be continued….

Leah

So when my middle son Elk was about 2.5 years old, we were swinging him, as parents will do…. Yup, he slipped, fell on his face and had to have a tooth removed. Yup, guilty as charged.

OK, the second picture looks almost like the same person but not quite. That is Elks’ son Cameron, 4 years old. And he too has that gap in his mouth… Hmm, history repeats itself? Well not quite. No one ‘did anything wrong’. When his teeth came in, two teeth were fused together, at one point one of them died and infection set in. So out came the two teeth. It is just funny that it is the exact same location in the mouth, and yes, the two are very similar. Elk was already building with Duplo blocks at age one and is now an engineer. Cameron loves regular lego and at four has built some very impressive things with lego. We shall see if he becomes an engineer. right now, like father like son.

This little cactus is getting ready to flower.

Almost there.

There we go, fully open! Like the irises, this flower won’t last long. It is delicate and beautiful and is meant to attract some bugs to pollinate it. But producing this kind of flower is a lot of effort and energy for a cactus. So I’m enjoying it will it’s here.

Much bigger yellow, the hibiscus. At least this bush continues to bloom, so it’s not just a few day event.

Out on a walk, Matilija poppy.

This is actually a hydrangea plant. Not your typical flower, but oh so beautiful.

The flower of a wandering Jew. Don’t see too many of these plants anymore. They were popular houseplants in the 80s and here in CA, grow very well outside.

A close up of another succulent. Can you tell I’m having fun with my macro lens.

Someone used an old door as a gate. I love this kind of arrested decay.

What an inviting porch swing.

How weird is this? It is by the trash, so I guess they are done with it. Was it a self made to order Sewing dummy? The kind that you use to get a perfect fit when sewing clothes? Or was this a prop in a play? Who know, I just know that I enjoy all these discoveries as I walk around the neighborhood.

Leah

Yes, the sun was shining, the wind was up, but I took a two mile walk/run along the beach with the grandkids.

They have been there a few times already. Well, that is why you move to a beach community isn’t it??

It was probably my first time in 10 weeks. Look how blue! Yup, the waves were high, we did see a paddle boarder fall off his board trying to get beyond the surf. I’m not sure he made it.

Chilly, so I was bundled up, yes the smile is real. What a relief to be here, to walk along the waters edge, getting just a little wet. The boys of course got a lot wet and sandy.

The red tide is still here. There was a lot of foam deposited by the waves. The small wasn’t great, but it’s still an ocean small. The foam had a yellow tinge to it, not red. I don’t know if there is anymore bioluminescence. This foam is very strong, I saw the wind blow balls of it up the beach. Normally foam disappears quickly, not now.

Heading towards the pier. Look at those clouds, we don’t often see clouds like that.

Yesterday it really rained hard. I know, not easy capture rain in a photograph.

Getting closer, about this point we met a fisherman who pulled out a large white fish right from the surf. I asked if it was going to be dinner, nope, catch and release. This was the second fish he caught today. And being a fisherman, he knew the names of the fish. We watched him return the fish to the ocean. No pics, sometimes I enjoy the moment without recording anything.

Almost there. I wish there were people on the pier, but our state is desperately trying to keep as much of a lockdown going as they can. At this point, it has nothing to do with our health and everything to do with the power and control of our rulers.

This cute girl had a photographer friend with her, a lot of pictures were being taken.

There she is again! Photobombing! We walked beyond the pier, I thought we’d turn back at that point, but now, we kept going. Finally I had to turn the boys around and head back. By now, they were running and jumping in the surf. By the time we left the shore, both boys were drenched and full of sand. A quick shower was called for at home. I think they both might have napped, I know I needed one!

Leah

If I’m in a crowded area, like waiting in line for an hour and a half at the postoffice. I wear a mask. One of the postal workers who wasn’t doing anything didn’t have a mask on, of course, he is part of the guvment, rules don’t apply to him. Also, he gets a full salary for parading around in front of us doing nothing.

But out in the neighborhood? No, sure other walkers around, but we were at least 10′ apart not, just six. I’m tired of my mayor lecturing and hectoring me, if you obey my draconian rules I might loosen up a little. Clearly, it’s about punishing us, not protecting us.

This was a little strange for me. I look down an alley and I see these three garages with orange doors. Looks like this would belong to a small apartment building.

But no, I walk around to the front and I see this lovely single family house. So now I’m thinking that having that 3 car configuration for a garage actually saves space and gives them a larger back yard. Genius! Also, I do love the orange doors. Notice the front of the house doesn’t have any orange. Well except maybe for a chair on the porch, but the paint is very staid. Pretty, but average colors.

At two separate houses I saw massive Halloween blow up decorations. This is probably a 7′ high gate into the property and good old Jack Skellington is towering over it. He is huge!

Another house has this TRex with a pumpkin. Also a pumpkin by the front door.

Same house, other corner, more decorations. I have walked by these houses in the last few months, these decorations are new, they haven’t been here since Halloween. Is someone pining for normalcy, or are they saying nothing will ever be normal again?

Thank God grandkids are normal. Shira got a haircut. Aytan also got a haircut, I just didn’t get a picture.

West and Cam went to the beach! yay, I get to go next week!

Einav is at the stage of feeding herself, the spoon ends up on the floor immediately. So does a lot of the food. More of it is on her face than in her belly. Well, that’s not true, she is chubby and healthy, so she is getting enough in her. She is crawling, sitting up and has two new teeth!!

Eyal is fascinated with closets and also is basically toilet trained! Amazing! He goes on his own, even at my house he announces that he has to go! Huge milestone, especially for the dads.

Gerbera blooming

Can’t wait to see the flowers! I bought this guy exactly a year ago at a succulent sale, I so wish I could be back there now.

I bought this chocolate mint one week ago and of course, it’s in a pot, it has exploded in one week. So I’ll be taking a cutting for my son when I go visit him at the beach this coming week.

Look at the new growth, this mint is happy.

Leah

I didn’t see a lot of birds, have they flown away? Is this not the season for them? Bunnies ran swiftly across the path, but no time to to catch them on camera.

So, lets look at some of the plants, I have no idea what this berry is, I’m sure it’s poisonous.

But it’s very very pretty, I love all the color changes, from green, through yellow, and orange.

Finally getting to a jewel red.

I don’t know for sure, but this looks to me like a very simple, basic rose.

It is attracting the bees. Btw, those murder hornets, no, I’d hate to see one of them. But what they are murdering is bees, not people.

I didn’t have my macro lens with me. I am impressed with what I’ve achieved with the lowest Fstop on my regular lens.

Like this very strange tiny white flower.

The play of light and shadow, looks like a grape vine to me? Will there be any fruit? If so, the animals will get it before anyone else does.

Back at home, the cherry tomatoes are thriving. It looks like this one is going to have quite the black overtones.

One of my hydrangeas is blooming. I haven’t had much success in the last few years, probably cuz I don’t water them enough. I certainly didn’t feed this one correctly, so only pink, no blue.

Extreme close ups put me on par with Georgia O’Keefe… well, not really but I can dream.

Leah

Turns out that states that are run by Democrats have become tyrants. Since CA is a huge state with no GOP in sight. (they cheat them out of their duly elected votes, or they subvert them). We are among the worst. So now we’re seeing told, lockdown until August. What is really bothering me is all the people who can’t work because of this stupidity. I get it, starve half the state than demand that the Federal government pay the bill. Instead of simply working towards getting people back to work. Meanwhile over 51 percent of the deaths are due to senior facilities and I have no doubt that a large number are also among our vagrant population. But who am I, just a tax payer in this state. No rights.

So I and many others are defying stay at home orders and going outside, even without a mask! Masks are for being in a store, not outside in the sunshine in nature! I went to our local wildlife refuge, which really is a bird sanctuary, for permanent and migratory birds. You’d think I’m miles from civilization. Luckily there were a lot of people around, I saw quite a few moms and kids! Yay for going outdoors!

FYI, I’m standing next to the lake, which is really just an enlarged area of the LA River that gets it’s water from the next door Tillman reclamation plant. Across a field of mustard is the 405 freeway, which you can’t see and beyond that, Target. Why is Target a winner in the ‘necessity’ wars, but the small mom and pop businesses are shuttering never to return. Remind me why people think the Dems are for the little guy, get back to me when I stop laughing or really crying.

A sign of the times, a stolen Costco shopping cart, full of garbage, although I didn’t see encampments, they are around. Last summer after a number of fires were started in this area they cleared them out. But just like down the street from me, they come back quickly and as I have learned, they have many more rights than I do, I’m just supposed to pay for them.

Squirrels are part of wildlife too! How satisfied is this guy?

Or his buddy over here?

The always present Canada goose. I stopped to talk to a young man who had just lost his job… he is taking the time to explore the area on his bike. He had come from Florida, so to him these huge pests, I mean birds are a wonderful novelty.

Form and shadow, always an interesting study.

There is one out on the water. This is a very large lake, I know, its not enclosed, its’ part of the river. I guess the migratory birds aren’t around, I just saw one other guy with a huge lens on his camera. I’m sure he found things that I didn’t.

There probably will be more riots soon, meanwhile, Californians are simply going outside and enjoying the one thing we can here. The weather and the landscape.

Leah

A macro lens captures amazing things that are hard to see with the naked eye.

a close up of a Kangaroo Paw flower. Very primeval looking.

The tomato is thriving.

Look at the little baby! This is a cherry tomato, so it won’t get large, now it is the size of pea.

After a week the string beans have sprouted. I love the ability to document the growth.

When a plant sprouts, it has a set of first leaves. They are called Cotyledons and are present within the seed. These are the first part of the plant that immediately starts photosynthesis so the rest of the plant can grow. With beans, the bean is the cotyledon. You can see the real leaf emerge.

I may have planted these seeds to close…. I may need to transplant before the roots get too deep. The cotyledons will die back quickly. I did go and buy some poles for these beans to grow up on.

These are old fashioned roses, I don’t remember their name. they have weak stems, so I cut them short and put them in bud vases.

these two spent the morning here so….

So these two could spend some quality time together. It was a win-win for all of us.

Leah

A yellow iris bloomed. Unfortunately, the flowers last maybe two days at the most. I have some purple ones that aren’t showing any sign of flowering at all. Irises are supposed to be easy, it’s true, I do very little, but the results are short and fleeting.

I have baby tomatoes!!! Yay! The other veggies seem happy and are growing. Still waiting for the string beans to sprout, I guess it’s like the watched pot. They won’t do anything until I ignore them.

More Macro, the bottle brush opens.

Shhh, don’t tell our mayor. There are stores who are serving their customers. My son in law desperately needed a new sewing machine. He got a beauty, a Brother. Yes, he had a 12 year old cheap brother, but this one, has all the bells and whistles. It was fun shopping with him, it was fun hearing from him a few hours later about how wonderful this machine is. To many more years of productive sewing!

Yeah, we wore masks, I’m fine wearing it in a store, but when I’m outside in the fresh air, hell no. Fresh air and sunshine are healthy, rebreathing my own recycled air – not so much.

There is whole wheat flour and yeast back in my market. I was going to buy this for my son, but he already found some local to him. He also has finally gotten the sourdough starter to grow. I tasted his first loaf, not bad, if he perseveres, which he will, it will only get better. I didn’t need to buy the yeast either, someone sent them yeast so wife and kids are making Challah the traditional way.

I started a new quilt project!!! Remaking Posh Penelope. The same pattern I used for Einav’s quilt. I rarely repeat a pattern, but this one was so much fun. It’s not super simple, which is good for my brain. It does feel like popcorn, I just want to keep going and going.

I think I will end up with a large quilt this time, not a baby quilt. Perfect scrappy quilt, I’m in love.

I sewed another dress. I wasn’t too happy when I finished it, it felt meh. So Back to the scissors and the sewing machine. The sleeves were too long, so shortened them. Also, I got too many puckers when inserting the sleeves, so I went back and ‘did it right’, eliminated most of them.

Sorry about the silly face, happens. I then took in the side seams and the princess seams, I can wear a fitted dress! It looks better than a sack.

Probably won’t remake this pattern, I’m not in love with it. At least now I have a dress I like and feel comfortable in. Now back to making more quilt blocks.

Leah

We had two grandkids sleep over so their parents could celebrate their 7th anniversary. A great time was had by all, the parents walked down to the beach and along with hundreds of others, saw the bioluminescence. We had a great time with the boys.

We went to see the cousins. Westley really loves the baby. Clearly she loves him back.

We went to the nearby park and lake to feed the ducks. Yes, there were plenty of people, thank God. People need to get outside, fresh air and sunlight are so important for our health regardless of viruses. I don’t have much bread in the house, not sure the ducks liked the cheerios all that much, they get fed plenty.

Eyal kept that mask on for maybe five minutes. He has asthma, so extra precautions. These days the serious Drs. and scientists (not the political ones, who are loving the lockdown and controlling us) are saying that it is rare for children to get the CCPflu and even rarer to be what my son calls ‘mosquitos’. They don’t pass it on.

It is springtime, the ducklings have hatched. They are so well fed and healthy that having nine or ten ducklings survive is not unusual.

Oh, it was this fellows birthday! Cam turned 4! When his parents dropped him off they brought a cake with construction decorations. All he asked for was Star Wars Lego. I’m happy to say our governor is behind the curve, he will allow stores to offer curbside delivery, I bought this last week and got curbside delivery. Yes, it is way to hard for Cam, Westley and I worked on it and Cameron is surprising good with lego for a 4 year old.

Back to the lake, looking at fish.

They had the chance to just run!!!

Back for lunch!

Then playing with the treehouse. This structure is on it’s last legs, it came with the house, it is rotting. It will be replaced. But you can’t keep boys of something like this that they can climb on.

Then, bring the boys back home. We walked to the beach to see the red tide the creates the luminescence. People are beginning to walk on the strand again, the policewoman, is sitting in a stairwell of a building, not really paying attention. At night, everyone comes out to watch the display. Little by little, people are reclaiming their lives. Now, just to let people work again, work is essential to life. It’s not just the money.

Beach art, it is a wonderful thing.

I know I’m blessed.

Leah

With the rules of what we can and can’t do, at least in LA county nurseries are open. I should have gone to my nursery, but I needed other things at the hardware store. So that is where I went.

Five weeks ago my son in law gave me this tomato plant. It is thriving. One of the things I bought at the hardware store was this cage. Luckily it is made in the US not China. I know, I can’t avoid everything from China, but I’m trying to limit what I buy.

I’ve added amended soil as well as coffee grounds, look how happy the plant is, I have plenty of flowers. I’m wondering if any have already started fruit, or it it needs to get really hot for that to happen. My yard is full of bees, bugs and worms, so that isn’t the problem.

As I said, not a lot of variety at the hardware store, but at least I could go in and buy what they have! So mini bell peppers!

A Melon. OK, now I’m going back 43 years to when I did my army service on a kibbutz and we grew melons.

People say that if you plant squash, you will be overrun. I am about to find out. I only planted one of each, so we shall see.

I planted a flat of carrots, so that is six plants.

String beans from seed.

And now, the old saying I saw on a needlepoint sampler. He who plants a seed beneath the sod, and waits to see, believes in God.

I actually may visit my nursery and get a few more plants… They are planted among the flowers. Unlike a friend who literally has a farm on the quarter acre behind their house. That is too much work for me.

The climbing roses are blooming

They start out pink and yellow and fade to yellow. Beautiful.

Less than a week, the two original flowers are spent, in a week this Iris will return to being just boring leaves.

Another Iris is getting ready to bloom. This is a standard purple one, but you better believe that I will be sharing this flower as well.

Leah