land and see

Posted on Posted in book reviews/events, food and garden, projects

oh gosh, it’s been an incredibly full couple of days; in fact, a very full week. i have a jillion photos and took a couple of hours last night to sort through the ones from the last two days to make sense of them for a post.

even in the desert, spring is everywhere—though southern california does not get anywhere near as much rain as the northern west coast, which i visited last month, it sure does have its own brand of lush greenness at this time of year, when the rainfall has been at its highest.

multicolor ice plant blooms across the hills and beaches, along with cascades of nasturtium along the roadsides in bright orange and gold

(it’s marvelous to us that a plant we have to buy and cultivate as an annual in ohio grows in such wild abundance here)

a fountain of juicy blooms wherever you look. the jacaranda trees are just starting to bloom in a few spots and i didn’t get any great photos of those, but the palms

are spectacular. i like the super-tall and skinny giraffe-like ones best.

on thursday, we went to lajolla to meet jocelyn for lunch and a little goofing around, girl-style.

we ate all sorts of foods we oughtn’t for lunch at brockton villa

(kim says she “won” the dessert round with bananas foster sundae (back, right), but we know we won with the brownie sunday (front and center). the dark chocolate espresso layer cake, while passable, did not hold a candle to the other two . . . just sayin’)

after lunch we took a walk and did some shopping that had nothing to do with yarn—but there might have been shoes and jewelry involved

(maybe a little credit card damage was done)

we consider jewelry an investment though, and if that’s what it takes to work off those dessert calories, we are in.

down at the water, the sea lions and pelicans were sunning on one side

on the other, we headed down to the tide pools to appreciate the beautiful views and photograph the port ludlow socks for the pattern release next week

we got some excellent photos while exploring the nooks and crannies on top of the cliffs. just look at this gorgeous texture—we don’t see this in ohio.

all too soon, the slant of the sun told us it was time to bid our farewells to jocelyn, with promises that we’d all get together again VERY soon (we are campaigning to get her to rhinebeck next; we think it’s a must . . .)

we headed home to see what the boys were up to and take a little tour of kade’s animal refuge and garden.

kade is a very artful manager and takes opportunities while traveling away from home to pick up bits and pieces for decorating the chicken coop door. i just love it

i have a whole separate group of pictures i took of franklin the tortoise which i’ll post when i get home—he has grown spectacularly in the last six months.

the newest addition to kade’s second “family” is hermione

a one-eyed albino hedgehog. she sorta makes me go eeuw, but kade is forgiving (i do admire her from a distance; i just don’t have any desire to touch her)

where does he find these things anyway?? (oh, that’s right, kim found it for him. she likes to go on about the strange collection of animals he has, but she’s very fond of them too)

and i already have a favorite anyway—that would be chica. she my girl and everyone knows it. hermione would have to earn awfully big points to surpass chica . . .

kade’s garden is looking well, with little squash and strawberries coming already. he used the newspapaer-and-straw mulch that we tried and it’s working really well to kep the ground cool and moist

he also planted the tomatoes a little further apart this year, which will allow them to spread out more (not that being close together deterred them last year—he still had plenty to feed everyone and put up 15 quarts as well).

this year he’s growing lettuces and greens for the pets, too. we took a walk through the orchard so he could show us the rattlesnake that they killed the other day

and that’s when beckie turned to head back to the house—it was gigantic. that’s the one thing about southern california that’s a little daunting. albeit small, in light of its many attractions . . .

yesterday we grabbed some sandwiches and headed to cabrillo national monument at point loma for picnic and a walk along the cliffs.

we explored the tidepools there for a good while too—tidepools are my favorite coastal feature; i could sit and watch the water go in and out for hours.

there are amazing things to see in the little crevices and holes drilled by the incessant migration of water over the rocks

forming a gorgeous landscape of color and texture

and prints that only mother nature and time can draw

it was the perfect way to spend our last afternoon here, walking and talking with my two beautiful friends—just look at them against those cliffs

aren’t they fabulous?
(i really wasn’t kidding when i said kim hasn’t taken off her sprössling . . .)

when we got back to the house in the evening, beckie, kade, and i rustled up an elegant dinner for the whole family.

they have a favorite pasta dish they like me to make when i visit

(BTW, there are other kids here; kade is just the one who likes to hang out with us, haha)

and share his friends . . .

today we are leaving for home, though we wish we were staying forever; we’ll be back, though, you can bet on it.
thank kim for a wonderful visit!

26 thoughts on “land and see

  1. Those are wonderful pictures!! It sounds like you had a wonderful time at the tide pools (I hope y’all found Beckie a starfish!), and a perfectly relaxing visit. I wish you could stay forEVER! 🙂

  2. Thank you for the lovely photos…been to that coast but not as far down as San Deigo….beautiful flora and fauna, so wonderful to see…and those deserts..mmmmmm…that Sprosling cardi is really beckoning to me….I’m hoping it’s knit in 4 ply – or whatever that is in Americano!!! LOL!
    Kind regards from Joyce in Northern Ireland.

  3. I love the Cabrillo Monument tidepools! I’d lived in San Diego almost 10 years before I even knew about them, but we’re trying to make up for lost time now. Haven’t been to La Jolla forever, the guy hates parking down there. I used to work at the Museum of Contemporary Art La Jolla in college, beautiful view from their deck. Your pictures are great, reminds me of that we’re really taking living in paradise for granted, need to get out to the beach! Another favorite spot is the cliffs accessible through the La Jolla Farms community. They’re a little hidden, but if you know anyone who went to UCSD they probably know how to get there. Great for dolphin and surfer watching.

  4. Fabulous pics. Wish I was there although here (Portland) is fab this weekend. I love the shoes, would you mind sharing what brand they are? Party on!
    Cindy

  5. Those tidepools look fascinating–I have to get there someday to see them. Any chance of getting that pasta recipe? It looks so yummy!

  6. Always enjoy your posts SO much. I am amused to see the plant that we call ‘pigface’ here in South Australia is called ‘iceflower’ in California. I much prefer the Californian name!

  7. Wow, wild nasturtiums, bananas foster, new shoes, and sea lions – what a wonderful adventure! (I’m with you on the hedgehog, though – weird!). Thanks for a glimpse into a place I’ve not yet been. Now I want to go!

  8. Ahhh…so many things to comment on in this post!

    First, the knitting. LOVE those socks! Oh my gosh!

    Now, the hedgehog…what a cutie! My son had two rats, and we just loved them. That hedgehog reminds me of them. How I do miss them (not the clean-up work though).

    And the scenery…

    Sigh…

    My daughter played in a soccer tournament out there, and one evening, we drove the girls to La Jolla. I could not get over how everything looked just like what you see on TV. There is just no way you could recreate a set that even would come close, eh?

    We, too, visited the sea lions. Such fun memories.

    As always, it is a pleasure seeing the world through your camera lens!

  9. Wow, even the sea lions go blond in SoCal.

    Also, the iceplant is an invasive non-native so there are plenty of places that would be happy to have you take it away. Removing it is hard work, let me tell you.

  10. that port ludlow sock is gorgeous! i love the way the lace opens up when it’s actually on the foot. i wasn’t quite seeing the appeal when it was in the needles, but now i’m smitten. 🙂 glad you’re enjoying our coast!

  11. San Diego gets in your blood, doesn’t it. Even after 33 years, I still miss the c;imate especially. Those Port Ludlow socks are wonderful; I fell in love with them when I saw them one one of your test knitter’s blog. I can’t wait for this pattern!

  12. This may be the first time I’ve asked this question about one of your posts – what are those shoes? I love them! They would be great for showing off things like the Port Ludlow sock.

  13. your photos are so inspiring. thank you for sharing your lovely trip with us. i often find myself drawn to the textures of the landscape around me. i, too, have many pictures of sand, rock…etc. 🙂

  14. Your tidepool pictures make me so nostalgic for my childhood — we’d go spend a week on the coast of Oregon, and my sister and I would spend all day at the beach. We especially loved the tidepools, too — one of our favorite activities was to tease the anemones. Just the lightest touch on them and they’d close up quickly, then sloooowly reopen, only to have us tickle them again. It was truly idyllic.

    And I’m joining the chorus — what are those adorable shoes?

  15. Absolutely beautiful!!!!! I think I should come along the next time you go to Kim,s :):):)

  16. Beautiful photos! The albino hedgehog made me think, ‘eeuw’, too. It has to be the pink eyes. That pasta dish looks fabulous! Yummy! It sounds like you had a wonderful trip.

  17. Wonderful photos. Wish I could take such a terrific trip like you. Sounds like an awful lot of fun.
    Great shoes also!

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