December 2nd: November was a good month in California

 

I went for a bike ride along the coast and stopped at James G. Scripps Bluff Reserve. I'd been here a number of times with Rebecca, London and Trevi because this is one of the beaches that allows dogs. 

 

I was by myself this time so I just parked my bike at the bike station. There is a nice bike station provided for free that has tire changing tools and air. This is a very popular road for biking.

I walked toward the ocean. On the way I noticed some stairs I hadn't seen before.

I decided to check it out. I'm glad I did. There was a gorgeous, expansive view in all directions. Here are some of the pictures.

View looking south

View looking Southwest

If you notice the people and dogs on the beach you can get a perspective as to the height of this bluff. Much higher than I anticipated.

On the path into the park is a very well maintained garden with many really cool looking plants and flowers.

I am still playing pickleball most mornings. It's fun, nice people and good exercise. I've also been using the weight room as planned. I'm feeling pretty healthy! One Saturday when I arrived there were almost no parking spaces available. It's a very large parking lot so that was unusual. As I approached the far end of the lot I saw that a huge skate board structure had been set up. This was a practice/competition for young people trying to qualify for the winter olympic snowboard events. This is apparently how you learn when there isn't any snow. I didn't pay to get in but watched for a little while. Most of the participants looked pretty good to me.

My family was looking forward to Thanksgiving. Rebecca was coming down from Studio City for the weekend which allows more time for fun. Of course, Trevi and London came along. I offered to watch the dogs at Wendy's house if Rebecca wanted to have a couple nights off and stay at a nearby hotel.  

I wondered if the dogs would be unhappy staying with me instead of Rebecca. We put their dog beds on my bed and they seemed very happy all night. Of course I was awoken by London licking my face when she decided it was time to get up.

I decided to take them for a walk first thing. Wendy helped me put Trevi's little jacket on her. Trevi is in great shape but quite thin. She gets cold easily. 

Both dogs enjoy walking. We went on a trail close to Matt & Wendy's house that is well maintained with a great view along the top ridge.

I was responsible for making the turkey, mashed potatoes and green bean casserole at my place. Because it is only a six minute drive to Matt & Wendy's, that allows us to use both ovens at the same time. Wendy made yams, dressing, pumpkin pies and a peach/blueberry pie. We all liked the buttermilk brined turkey recipe last year so I made it that way again. It turns out very moist and tasty. Everything was excellent and we fortunately had a lot of leftovers for the entire weekend. 

A while ago my sister Terri was looking for my Mom's cheesecake recipe. It was always a holiday favorite. After checking with everyone we could think of, no one had it. Hmmm. So my other sister Julie started looking at recipes to try to duplicate it. She found one and sent it to me. After a little experimenting, I made one that turned out great.

 

We also put wild mountain blueberries on top which made it even better.

Unfortunately, I didn't think to take pictures at the dinner table. 

We played some Mario Kart, which is always fun. I even held my own! We also typically watch a movie. Rebecca picks the movie and always does a good job. This time she suggested the Netflix series, Wednesday. It's a take off on the old Adams Family show. We really enjoyed it. We ended up watching 6 episodes.

The next day we took the dogs to the Encinitas dog park. It's a very nice park that is fenced in. The dogs all run around playing with each other. They are all very friendly. Surprisingly, Trevi seems to like playing with the bigger dogs best. 

Wendy provided out Thanksgiving project. Turkey ginger bread cookies. They actually tasted pretty good. 

I'm still working at personalizing my place. Mychael sent me some more items from Yesterday's Dream and it was fun getting them up.

In particular I like the cross stitch fish pictures Linda spent a lot of time creating while we were travelling the Great Loop. 

A few years ago Rebecca and I spent a week living on a sailboat in Greece taking sailing lessons.  We sailed on the boat around beautiful Greek Islands. Every morning I am enjoying seeing the picture of Rebecca and me on the sailboat we sailed on. Wendy helped me frame the picture and I hung it right next to the sink in the bathroom.

There are some other photos I am having enlarged so I can add them to my collection.

I am back to being Rebecca's plant care taker. The surviving succulents came back to me on my last trip to her house. After three years I think I can see a little bit of growth! They're still cute, but as I keep saying, "Why don't they grow?" Karen Rahn, my succulent adviser, tells me they are just fine, even the tall one with no leaves on the lower stem. I guess it wants to be a tree?

Rattlesnake Plant

Rebecca also gave me a Rattlesnake Plant that was in dire straights. I repotted it because Rebecca learned it was root bound. I also had to trim off a lot of brown edges on the leaves per U-tube instruction. 

Rattlesnake plant at night

When I got up during the night recently, I noticed the leaves of the plant were standing almost straight up and were also kind of rolled up. The next morning they were flattened out again. I asked Rebecca about it and she explained, "That's why they call it a rattlesnake plant, because the leaves curl up over night." The leaves should be longer, but I had to trim the dead parts off. I think/hope it is coming back.

As far as plants go, I put some mint stems I got from Wendy in Water to see if I could start my own mint plant. Sure enough, a few days and it was looking good. I planted it and now it looks very nice on my window sill. And I have all the mint I need. It makes great tea. 

Maybe it likes the great view of the ocean out my window!

I am intermittently continuing my interest in art. Karen Rahn loaded me up with enough books to last a year! I signed up for a Watercolor and More art class at the Encinitas Community Center. So far it is focused on the More rather than Watercolor. We did a class on using leaves as stencils and then painting around them. I wasn't sure how much I was learning but I actually did pick up some information. Next week is going to be origami. Again, "What about the watercolor?" But the people are nice and origami should be fun. I'm thinking Christmas ornaments?

So I decided I need to move ahead on my own. I know Karen will ask, "How is the sketching and watercolor going?" I hate to say "Well, not so much happening." So Matt graciously printed a copy of Guppy, my Canada boat, so I could sketch it and then paint it in watercolor. (I don't have a printer but I have wonderful kids to help me out!)

One of the first things Karen taught me is that a white eraser is your favorite tool for sketching. When I started out I naively thought, well you just carefully sketch it. Turns out you sketch it, erase stuff, sketch it again, erase some more sketch some more, and repeat as necessary!

I have about 3 hours in creating this sketch. It started out centered on the paper, but after numerous erasures and changes it just kind of travelled across the page and the anchor platform became shorter. Lesson learned! Start with a larger paper than you think you need.  Overall I am quite pleased with it. Painting it will be another whole challenge.

I know I've mentioned that my landlords, Scott and Mara who live downstairs, are wonderful people. They have had me over for dinner and/or cocktails. We enjoy swapping stories about boating, surfing and their trips to Italy. They surprisingly invited me to dinner at a Mexican restaurant. I say surprisingly because it seems since COVID nobody does that anymore. We went to dinner at a wonderful Mexican Restaurant established it 1945. We ordered a drink and they proposed a happy birthday toast to me. Turns out Scott remembered from last year my birthday was coming up. Like I said they are wonderful people and also fun.  Tony's Jacal Mexican Restaurant

These pictures don't completely capture the entire atmosphere but check out the link above. I had a seafood enchilada that was the best I ever had.

Now it's time to get my Christmas decorations up! Matt, Wendy and I are going to Balboa park tonight to see their Christmas decorations. Pictures will follow!