Water Stress

The big oak trees are having a hard time in the draught. They need water but there is not enough so the trees are accommodating for the situation. They are dropping limbs. 

The tree is still alive but with fewer long limbs it has a better chance of survival.  

There is a downside to this strategy....the place where the limb broke off from the tree is now an open wound. That wound is a perfect place for parasites and other critters, to nurture and grow, which in turn can weaken or kill the tree.

The Hounds of Solvang

We have been waiting for the hounds to show up...and they did this weekend. We knew they had been coming to Solvang for a few years, so I googled around and discovered this was their 11th anniversary. 

The town is filled with hounds...and they all seem to be mellow. All the dogs were racers and all have been adopted by folks who absolutely dote on them. 

They have purchased large vehicles to transport one or two or four of these long legged dogs to and fro. This was on the back of a van.

Other windows sport decals such as these: Adopt a Greyhound

Or Fast Dog

Or save a greyhound. There were other decals too...too many to mention in fact. Footprints, and pictures, and tattoos. We enjoy watching these gentle dogs and their people walk around Solvang. Since we are leaving on Monday, I'm glad we were able to see them again this year. 

A Sweet Baby Boy

On January 7th I posted a picture of this blanket wrapped around my smallest teddy bear. Now it's wrapped around a 6lb-6oz baby boy. If you look at the other picture, there is a cap...but the cap is too big for the baby. The booties fit however. Isn't he sweet!

A Sprinkling of ...

I wish I could say we have a sprinkling of rain, but alas that is not the case. We do have a sprinkling of wildflowers, which are just starting to appear. I already mentioned the poppies in an earlier post.

There's a light dusting of DYCs beneath the trees. That's the "National Park" designation of any type of yellow multi-petaled flower...it stands for "darned yellow composite." I'm sure they have a real name, but I like DYC a lot better.

Passing It Forward

Back in February, 2014, we were on a cruise to Hawaii. As usual I joined the "Knitters and Natters" group, where several women got together every morning to knit or crochet. We had a wonderful group of 14-15 women who worked and talked making a myriad of projects. We had such a grand time,  we've stayed in touch with other. 

In the 8 sea days on that trip I made one of my Teddy Bear baby blankets. Later in the year, one of the women asked if I had a pattern for one bear so she could make a scarf for a friend who's nickname is "Bear." Since I don't have a written pattern for that blanket, I said I would make a scarf and send it to her. We decided on a color, and I made a scarf and I had a little bit of yarn left over for a cap.

A few days later, the scarf was on its way to coldest Ontario but she was unable to deliver it for several weeks as it's been a tough winter.  Yesterday was sunny and she gave it to him.

That's Bear and the Scarf! He loves it. She sent me the picture, he sent me a note expressing his delight. My little teddy bears are now in Canada warming "Bear's" neck. Pass it forward. Who knew that a blanket in Hawaii could lead to a scarf in Ontario. This is just too much fun!

Double Rainbow

I cannot take credit for this picture...that goes to my friend Ed, but it sure is pretty. Thank you!

PS. Does a double rainbow denote 2 pots of gold?

Happy Valentine's Day

I hope everyone had a Happy Valentine's Day. We did! A beautiful day, a lovely place to be, and lots of things to do and time to spend with my Valentine. Our original plan was dinner and movie...but we did not like anything that was being shown in the local theaters.                                                                                                                                                                                                  

Instead we borrowed It Happened One Night from the library. What a delightful movie. If you have not seen it, I highly recommend it. If you have seen it, see it again. The story is cute, Claudette Colbert is gorgeous, Clark Gable is handsome. Times were different in 1934, but a good story is timeless.

Holiday Weekend Camping

The Park is filled! There's even a FULL sign at the entrance that says day use only, all camping spots are filled. We've never seen so many people here. 

The weather is wonderful...in fact it's almost hot! Lots of folks are picnicking by their tents

enjoying a 3 day weekend, 

There's the "standard" collection of motorhomes (both Class A and C) as well as conventional and fifth wheel trailers. Then there are the tents large and small, red, green yellow and orange...but for me the star of the campground is this 1966 or 67 Airstream Caravel. 

This 17 foot Caravel has a Wally Byam WBCCI number of 16034, so it's not as old as some, but it's been rolling down the roads and camping in the USA for close to 50 years. A true veteran camper. When we bought our first RV, this fellow was already 5 or 6 years old. (BTW, Wally Byam started building Airstreams in 1932. The lowest WBCCI number I've ever seen is 99. The numbers can be issued more than once, and they can be passed down the generations. I'm always on the lookout for double and triple digit red Airstream numbers.) 

A Dome

See the dome? One of the mental maps I use in my photo class is "the dome." While this tree is not a classical dome, it is dome-shaped. A "Dome" usually makes for a good image...and in this case, the good image is a very interesting oak tree...old and knarly, resting a heavy limb on the ground, barely surviving in the draught..but hanging in there nonetheless. 

This is a more classical dome shape

 and, this is the "classic" dome...the Palace of Fine Arts in San Francisco, taken from the deck of a ship. As you can see, the "dome" tells you exactly where to focus on the picture.

PS...I'm getting ready for my photography class in March.

Digikid

Meet a "Digikid." This little girl is about 4, she's less than 3 feet tall, yet she has her own iPhone and she knows exactly what to do with it. She's a prime example of a "digital native." She's never known a time when there was not a digital device which she could access. She is very comfortable playing with the device in any situation, including on her back on a pretty unforgiving bench seat. Look how intent she is? She is completely absorbed by the game she is playing. Her attention is unflagging! 

This little girl will learn to read and write using a digital device. She might never read a traditional book or newspaper. She might never write with a pen or pencil. She might never learn traditional spelling as texting might be her predominate form of written communication. 

This little person is a completely different person from the hundreds that I taught during my long teaching career. Is the current educational system ready and able to teach digital natives? My next question(s) are even scarier...will her digital education be adequate? What are the skills and knowledges that these digital natives will need to function in the rest of the century? Are they the same ones that you and I needed? Are they different? If they are different, do we even know what they are? And the list goes on and on.

SOD

SOD does not mean dirt, in this case it stands for Sudden Oak Death...and that's pretty grim. The large oaks in this part of the world are threatened with an "ugly" called Phytophthora ramorum which is killing oaks in the moist coastal areas of the state. It's also infecting other trees such as redwoods, douglas firs and laurel as well as rhodendrums. Sadly, it's not just in California but in Europe too. 

See the dead looking leaves on this tree--that's the outward manifestation of the disease. What the pathogen does is kill the tree from the inside out, so until you see the dead leaves, the "normal" untrained eye cannot see a problem. There's no cure for the disease as of now. What the folks in the park are doing is cutting down the dying limbs in an effort to halt the disease from getting into more trees.

The foreman and the lumberjack are evaluating a tree and deciding what needs to be done. I'm almost afraid to go outside and see what else they have cut down as throughout the park there are downed trees. Some are 80 feet tall. 

For folks who like chain saws, this is one LONG chain saw. The lumberjack can cut limbs that are about 12 feet overhead. That's pretty amazing.

To find out more about SOD, there's a huge website maintained by the California Oak Mortality Task Force at suddenoakdeath.org.

Number 5

I've decided to keep track of the blankets I make this year. To that end, here is the fifth blanket. This one will go to Project Linus.

Since I was making too many ripple blankets, this one is just a shell-V pattern in turquoise, lavender, white and a varigate of the same 3 colors. It's really soft and cuddly. Some child will like it a lot. 

State Flower

The Golden Poppy is California's state flower. It it illegal to pick the wild blooms, but it is legal to take their picture. The Golden Poppy became the state flower in 1903. April 6 is Golden Poppy Day and in May there is a Golden Poppy Week. I write this because I've never celebrated Golden Poppy Day nor Golden Poppy Week. It must be a deep dark secret that only the poppies know about. 

Right now, there's a patch of poppies blooming beside the highway. The rain we had over the weekend probably encouraged them to grow. 

I like this picture because of the shadows on the petals.

If you look closely, you will also see pollen dusting the flower. Since these poppies are blooming right now, I'm guessing they will not be in bloom on Golden Poppy Day in April.

Hiding among the poppies are some yellow and orange daisies. They are an extra treat!

Two Strange Plants

Do you know what that large curving object is? I don't either. I think it's a succulent type plant and I think it is blooming. There are many of these "blooms" in Santa Barbara right now. It's one heckuva flower!

Then there is this plant. It has a thorn or spike or prickle every inch. There's absolutely no way you can touch this plant without getting hurt. It might make a good fence, as long as you did not need to get to the other side. 

Mother Nature sure has some interesting attention getting tricks. 

Memory Lane

When I was 9 our neighbor bought a shiny black Thunderbird that had two tops--a hardtop with a porthole window, and a soft-top. He brought the 3 seater to our house and took everyone for rides. What a treat! The car had a bench seat and I think we crammed 4 little kids into the car. He put the soft top down and we raced thru the hills. My hair got so tangled, it took at least a week to get all the snarls out. I loved that car. 

A couple of days ago I saw this car

while not black, it was the same model. The porthole window in the hardtop...and even a bench seat! It brought back some fine old memories. 

What a sensation that car made. 

I never forgot that experience, but it was not until 1992 when I bought a Thunderbird. It was a hardtop and nothing very special. In fact the car was at the end of the product line. It was not considered sexy or sporty...it was just a model that had run its course. Given that, I kept it for 8 years, put a lot of miles on it and it NEVER needed a repair. It worked all the time. It was one of the most reliable cars I've ever owned. 

Where Did It Go?

In case you are wondering, the 'It' is Lake Cachuma. Here's a picture of the Lake that leads to an area called Harvey's Cove. There has not been any water in Harvey's Cove for so long, the grass and weeds are 2-3 feet high.Small shrubs are growing where there should be clear blue water. At the other end of the Cove there's a nice little fishing bridge, which has not been used in a long time because there's no water to support the pontoons keeping the bridge afloat. 

Here you can see vestiges of the old road that has been submerged for several years. If you look at the water line on the far shore, you can see where the "white" ends, and the "green" starts...there's about 40-50 feet between the water level and the top of the "white." The good news...a rain storm is coming this weekend. I hope the next set of pictures I take from these two locations show some change in the "right" direction.

Question

Nestled in a small spot under a bush was this...

Clearly a water dish for a pet, probably a large dog, named Bear. Who was Bear? How did his bowl end up at the Keck Park? Did Bear belong to Ms. Keck? Or did the owner of Bear hide it in the park, because it was one of Bear's favorite places? I don't know. I just saw the bowl and immediately I envisioned a big floppy dog, Bear, who used to frolic in the park with his person...you can imagine the rest of the story I'm sure.

Santa Barbara

Santa Barbara has some of the prettiest architecture in California. It's fun to drive up and down the narrow streets and look at some fine big old homes and gardens. I could not take pictures of all of them...but here are a few.

You'll see this home on your way to the Mission. It has a dog in front, which I'm told is decorated on all major holidays. Alas, he was not decorated now...maybe he will get a Valentine's Day make-over soon.

I love the side entrance.

Then we saw this "little" home...

 ...with its own circular room...and look at the delicate fretwork on the gable.

But I'm ending with a mosaic boulder. I'm sorry there is no scale to show the size of this rock, but take my word that it would take more than one person to pick it up. Isn't this a delightful piece of whimsy to anchor one part of a garden? I just love it. 

Bath Day for Ducks

It was Sunday, but the ducks were taking baths anyway! I guess they did not know that they were supposed to bathe on Saturday. Whatever the case, the mallards were having a grand time splashing each other and preening.

These two were posing ever so nicely, until I clicked the camera...so much for static birds!

One duck did a walk-about to check out a person. But, when the fellow started talking to the duck, the duck just ignored him. It's the duck's park and the people are mere visitors.

The ducks have their own private lake and tolerate the people I guess.

As you can see, not all the ducks are mallards...here's a mallard mix. He definitely has the green mallard head...

but I'm guessing he's part "domestic" duck too. Sadly he has a broken wing. He's found a home at the Park, and he seems happy. 

The Alice Keck Park is a place for both ducks and people.

Blossoms and Flowers

DYesterday we walked thru the Alice Keck Garden in Santa Barbara. What a delightful place. It's still wintertime, but a few plants were doing their best to show off.

The trumpet flowers were over a foot long, ranging in color from yellow to peach to white.

There were hibiscus of the "normal" variety, but also an unusual variety.

Even a few trees were blooming.

I'll share more of the garden throughout the week.