Can we help you?

En route to the hideaway this weekend, two cows wonder what we're up to.
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1973

Apparently the telltale ultra short dress was not unusual in the early 70s. I really was wondering because I would describe my mother as being very modest and showing off my knickers like seems out of character for how I perceived her to be. Congrats to Ragged on guessing the right year! We moved into that house summer of 1972. Based on the new plants and I can tell that it was winter/early spring, that would make it anywhere between Dec 72 - Apr 73. I was 4 1/2 years old. Thanks to all for joining me down memory lane.
I musta been grumpy or something. both photos i'm sporting a little attitude.
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Welcome

My front door.
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flashback

Any guesses what year this was?
Um, I think my mother put me in a dress made for a 2 year old. It's a tad short, don't you think?
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7 hour cat nap condensed into 23 seconds

Saw this originally on Stuff On My Cat. It cracks me up.
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Happy Easter

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Flying over the Sierra Nevada

The magnificent Sierra Nevada Mountains. Our hideaway is hidden somewhere within that range.
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epitaph of sort.

"Snores loudly. Feels bad about it."

Actually, it's a 6 word memoir.

I was tagged my Rosemary. The essential idea is to write 6 words that would be your memoir, that describe you. Well, i thought about mentioning being crafty, being an auntie, attempting graciousness, blah blah blah...but I decided on just being silly. Cuz i'm like that sometimes. But I have snored my whole life (at least since I was 11) and it's tormented me my whole life. Imagine awkward sleep overs, annoyed college room mates, self-conscious camping trips...even my poor husband has to sleep with ear plugs. Sigh.

So that's me, in one small ugly nutshell.

Wanna play, too? It's really not that hard. Officially, here are the 'rules':
1. Write your own six-word memoir
2. Post it on your blog and include a visual illustration if you’d like.
3. Link to the person that tagged you in your post.
4. Tag five more blogs with links.
5. And don’t forget to leave a comment on the tagged blogs with an invitation to play.

If Phin, Ragged, Nan, Luke and Lilli wanna play, that'd be famous! Please join along. If others wanna play, too, the more the merrier! But if tags ain't your bag baby, then my feelings won't be hurt. I'll just come over and sleep on your couch and keep you up all night with my beastly snoring.
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It's good to be home

Traveling is awesome. You get to see and experience so many different things. And it really makes you appreciate home. Especially when spring is here but it isn't yet where you just left.






Photos taken at Stanford Shopping Center.
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Chicago: Day 3

I’ve mentioned before that at one point in my life, I wanted to be an architect.

So one of the events on my must-see lists was the Frank Lloyd Wright home and studio tour.

I started my tour with a self-guided audio walking tour that led me though his neighborhood, highlighting many of the homes that he designed along with homes that his students and associates designed. The tour also highlighted this Unity Temple which he designed. Definitely a Frank Lloyd Wright design, but certainly not a typical church style.

After about an hour and a half walking through the neighborhood, I got back in time for the home and studio tour. Unfortunately, no photos allowed. He built, lived worked in this house from 1889 till 1909 when he moved to Europe, working there till 1911. This house was restored to how it looked in 1909.

Jimmy’s conference ended at 3 today, so we had time to explore Chicago together. YAY! It was bitter cold and windy. There’s no doubt in this California girl’s mind that Chicago being called “The Windy City” is appropriate. Bitter, bitter cold. We walked to the Chicago River, which was still green from the day before. The dye just dissipates after time as the water from Lake Michigan flows in to replace it.

We found ourselves at the fun reflective bean, so of course, I couldn’t resist another self-portrait .
We had dinner in the city. Fantastic soup and dessert, but note to self: seafood in Chicago, especially in the winter, can’t compare to seafood in California any time of the year.
We are homeward bound on Monday. We’ll be very happy to be home. I’m exhausted from all the walking and being cold. Jimmy’s exhausted from bending his brain, and we’re certain the kitty misses us.
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Chicago: Day 2

Ohboy, when I went downtown today, I had no idea what was in store. I got a bit of an inkling when I got on the train and 90% of the people were dressed in Kelly green. Then within 5 stops, the train was packed like sardines. Apparently, the city celebrates St. Patrick’s day the Saturday before if the 17th falls on, say a Monday.
Well, since I didn’t plan on attending any St. Pat’s parades or drinking green beer since 6am, I kept my schedule as planned.

I went to the top of the Hancock Building, on the 94th floor, where I had amazing views of Chicago.

Here’s the Chicago skyline, looking south from the Hancock building. The top of the Sears Tower is covered by the fog. By the way, it was 28 degrees and windy. You may notice that bit of green at the bottom left. I’ll get to that in a little bit.

This is Lake Shore Drive. North of the tower.

Here’s a view of Navy Pier. Looked so appealing, I decided to walk there.

It was a long walk. I was tired. I was cold. I took just a few photos.

But getting this view was worth the walk to Navy Pier. Notice the color of the water. That’s the color the river normally is. Remember this color when you see the river in a few more pics.

The Chicago Tribune tower. Love the neo-gothic architecture.

The Wrigley Building. Like Wrigley's chewing gum? Well, this is their building. Nice, huh?
Ok, now let me get to the main event of the day.

The green Chicago River.

It’s been a tradition to dye the river green for St. Patrick’s day for the past 40+ years.


It’s sponsored by the Plumbers Union, Local 130, not the city of Chicago.

Why? I donno. Because they can, I suppose.

They use a Plumber’s dye that’s used to detect leaks.

And it’s a big hit.

The ducks don’t seem to mind.

There were a ton of people there, enjoying the festivities and views. And probably the green beer more than anything.
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Chicago: Day 1

Fantastic view to wake up to, isn’t it? We’re at a hotel near O’Hare airport, which can be somewhat noisy with the planes landing and taking off, but it’s fun watching them.

As Jimmy began his conference, I took the train downtown. My first stop was the Art Institute. Before we left on this trip, the most common thing my friends said I had to do was go to the Art Institute. I’m glad I took them up on their suggestion. I spent a quick 90 minutes there, enjoying some of my favorites like Picasso, Dali, Matisse, Monet and the special exhibition of Edward Hopper. I could only spend 90 minutes because I still had a bunch of things on my todo list. Besides, it was noon and I was hungry. I have my priorities.


On my way to lunch, I stopped to take photos of this Crown Fountain. It portrays images of Chicagoians. During the warmer months, it’s a fountain where water squirts out of mouths and such where children of all ages play.


I grabbed a sandwich and sat by the fantastic Cloud Gate or more affectionately The Bean at Millennium Park . So much fun people watching especially with the warm sun. It was actually in the high 40s, low 50s today. Blessings.

As you all probably know, when you’re adventuring alone, it’s not likely that there’ll be many photos of yourself. That’s where reflective mirrors become the friend of anyone requiring a self-portrait. The Bean must be the best thing for anyone wanting to capture their own image. Me, dead center.

But I’m sure that it’s intended purpose was to reflect the amazing Chicago skyline in fun and unusual distortions.

The guide book I’m reading recommended taking the brown line El (Elevated Train) because it snakes around the downtown highrises, crosses the Chicago River and cuts through many Chicago neighborhoods, giving the visitor a local’s view of the city. I liked the idea, so I did exactly that. Took the brown line out about 10 stops, walked to the other platform and headed back into downtown. I got out near the Sears Tower and just walked around the downtown Loop awhile.

Within the Loop, there are some famous sculptures. This one is the Flamingo by Calder at Federal Center Plaza.

This one is clearly a Picasso, which is untitled.

And this one is Dubuffet’s “Monument with Standing Beast.”

This one apparently is a changing piece: Pigeons warming by an eternal flame. Just kidding, it’s not really an exhibit. But the eternal flame is at Daley Center Plaza for some reason I’m sure, which I’ll look up why sometime, just not today.

St. Patrick’s Day is Monday and it’s well known that Chicago dyes the river green. I guess they dyed this fountain as a precursor of the event.

And one of the last views of the day before heading back was the famous Chicago Theater.
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Join me on a long drive

It's been quite a while since I've written a decent post, so prepare yourself for a long one.

We went to the hideaway this weekend. We haven't been in almost 2 months so it was nice to get up there again. We actually wouldn't have gone except for the need for heavier jackets for our trip to Chicago.

We left Saturday at 7:15am, a beautiful spring morning. Within 25 minutes, this was our view.We're not in the country yet, believe it or not. Big cities on either side of this grade. Fremont (population 210,000+) to the south and Pleasanton (population 72,000) to the north.

The cows don't care that they're within 3 miles of a Starbucks on either side of them.

Heading out of the more urban areas, we drive through the Altamont Pass Wind Farm.
According to wiki: "Altamont Pass is still the largest concentration of wind turbines in the world, producing about 125 MW on average."
The turbines add more texture to the already beautiful green hillside and sky. However, if our rain has ended for the season, these green hills will be brown in 3 weeks.

So now we're about an hour and a half away from home, driving through the almond orchards. The trees are blooming.
Didja know that California grows almost all of the nation's almonds?

There's even a Hershey factory nearby so they can cover those almonds with chocolate as quickly as possible. This barn isn't Hershey's. Just an fyi is all.

The trees are just about bloomed out, and the blossoms litter the ground like snow.

Just a few minutes up the road from the almond orchards is the town of Oakdale.
Is Oakdale notable for anything? I don't think so. Oaks? Well, there are a lot of oak trees on the drive to the hideaway. Only about 15,500 people live there.

Along with these interesting creatures!

And lots more agriculture.

And a few more almond trees.

Then we drive to the foothills.
Lots of lava rock from a lava flow 9 million years ago.

A little detour trough Red Hills. When the wildflowers bloom, they carpet almost every foot of this area. But we're still a bit early. The flowers aren't blooming yet.

A few more cows grazing along the hillside. They'd have to travel a lot further to get to a Starbucks. Again, not that they care.

20 minutes from Oakdale, we're driving through Jamestown with a mere population of just over 3,000.
But it was a bustling town during the Gold Rush and is known as the Gateway to the Mother Lode. It's now a picturesque little town with lots of antique shops.

25 more minutes up the road, we're finally at the hideaway!
Wow. The neighbor told us that it hasn't snowed in 3 weeks. And it's been warm (40s and 50s during the day) for the past 2 weeks. But there's still this much snow left on the ground. It was the most snowfall we've had since we bought the place 9 years ago, and we missed almost all of it.

Well, the night before, our neighbor said a visitor came traipsing through our yards. His, ours and the neighbor on the other side of us.They look like human footprints, right?
They're not. Take a closer look.
See those pads on that print on the far left?

Yep. A bear came to visit.

Walked right towards our hideaway.

It's a mighty nice hideaway. We like it at least.

So we spent 2 days there, Saturday and Sunday.
Then drove home Monday morning.

Care to join me for a few more pics on our way back?
If you've lasted this long, ya might as well stay for the trip back to the Bay Area.
Here's the road going back to Oakdale.

Lots of cows grazing on this Monday morning.

When we get to Manteca, we're almost on the freeway. Just another 1.5 hours till we're home.
Their sign could use a little fresh paint.

Another half hour on the road, we're back to the Altamont Pass, my landmark that we're back in the bay area.
I can't help but take lots of pics of these windmills. I'm not sure why the obsession.

And if I can get the windmills and cows? With the green hills and blue sky? I'm a happy girl.
I'm easy to please.
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The View From Twin Peaks

Market Street leading to Downtown San Francisco with the Bay Bridge on the right.
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