A Wedding and Three Concerts

Last week came and went but left me with lots of great memories, images, and melodies in my head. We spent the first half of the Memorial Day weekend in San Luis Obispo and celebrated love, marriage, family, and friends at Holly & Chris's wedding. Sam and Jenn came down from Tahoe and the four of us stayed in a suite together.

We all (Doug included) drove back to Ventura for a night at home. Tom helped me finish the pond by doing the more detailed digging and we put the liner down the next morning. (More about that in another posting.) We spent Monday at the UCLA Reggae Festival and had a great time with the all the sounds and sights of the day.

Two dress rehearsals later, we joined the Cal State University Channel Islands Chamber Orchestra (CHICO) and the CSUCI choir for two performances of Ralph Vaughn Williams' Dona Nobis Pacem. We performed at the Camarillo Community Church on Friday night and at our First United Methodist Church in Ventura on Sunday afternoon. We got to enjoy Mariam and CHICO perform Rhapsody in Blue twice!


More photos are coming!

A Dolphin Day

You know the expression, bluebird, to describe one of those totally gorgeous, blue-sky, sunny days - especially after a snow storm that leaves the slopes oh-so gorgeous? I had the day off on Wednesday and had what can only be described as a dolphin day. I left home early and drove down the coast for my appointment with Kathy and as is my habit after a great haircut and visit with her, I drove to Torrance Beach (which is actually in Redondo) to enjoy the sight, sound, and aroma of the beach where I grew up. (As beautiful and calming as the ocean in Ventura and Santa Barbara is, we have a natural seepage that leaves tar and the smell of tar at the beach - the smell in Redondo and the rest of the South Bay has a sweet ocean scent and the sand is wide and lighter in color.) So the day was just starting to warm up to the first day of a mild heat wave - a high of 76 degrees was predicted - and the surfers, joggers, and strollers were out as usual. There were even a couple of guys out in a kayak and a row boat. I sat and ate breakfast and read my morning devotions on a bench above the beach - what a gorgeous South Bay morning!
Then I noticed the dolphins. It's not unusual to see dolphins in the water, but there were more than usual that day.Actually, the reason I went back to the car to get my camera was the fact some of the dolphins were doing those cool out-of-the-water leaps they do so well. Unfortunately, I wasn't able to capture any of those leaps on camera so I'll just have to rely on memory to replay those images.So back to what makes dolphin days. All the years I commuted up the coast to work at UCSB, I knew my day was extra good whenever I saw dolphins along the drive. Last Wednesday, I had the day free to do whatever I wanted, so I made a point to pull over and walk on the beach or along the road and saw dolphins in Redondo, Malibu, and just south of Mugu Rock. The weather was perfect, I had the time, and dolphins were fishing and playing where I could see them clearly. A truly dolphin day!

Looking Back: April 1st Flowers

This has been a great year for spring bulbs. Even though I didn't buy as many new bulbs this year, the ones I did buy were hardy and bloomed a long time. We also had a few returnees from past years. Had it not been for our heat wave and Santa Ana winds last week, these may have still been blooming today.

April Irises

Wow, it's been a long time. Between getting the CROP Hunger Walk off and running (oops, making that walking ;-) and trying to figure out a one-week Alaskan itinerary, I haven't had time to blog. Oh, yeah, we also spent a wonderful long weekend in Yosemite at the end of March - I'll have to back-track a bit and post some pictures and/or videos. Anyway, with the exception of the naturalized burgandy lace tulips that have begun to bloom, we pretty much left the tulip season at the beginning of the month and entered the time of the irises. These are the ones I bought several years ago that are "reblooming" irises. They bloom several times a year rather than only once a year. The first year, nothing happened, but last year we had them yearround. This month, however, was the first time they all bloomed at once! Enjoy the pictures . . .

The Eagles are Coming

I haven't posted anything to this blog for a few days but here's a link to the Channel Islands Live Eagle Cam. You can watch the eagles incubate the eggs in the nest. The eggs are due to begin hatching any time now! Just now, I've been watching the male, K10, get settled on the nest on Santa Cruz Island - watch the cam, it's really cool!