Oct 31: Catching up on the blog

I've had a number of inquiries about my lack of posting a new blog. Happily, I seem to be too busy to get to it. My move to Laguna Niguel was a wonderful decision. I am spending a great deal of time with my more than a friend, Fran, the Rahns and my Dana West Yacht Club new friends. I decided to catch up.

October 31st

My daughter, Rebecca, and I were looking for a fun get together. Rebecca bought tickets for us to go to the  Pantages Theatre in Los Angeles to see Hamilton. 

View from the rooftop restaurant

We went to a rooftop restaurant before the show. It was a very nice restaurant with a fun view of the theatre area.

The food was excellent!










The streets were very full of Hollywood activity. We saw many star "Stars" on the sidewalks outside and up to the theater. 





Once inside the theater it was very impressive. We weren't allowed to take pictures once it started but here are cool pictures of the ceiling and the stage.

 I continue to enjoy Karen and Craig Rahn, my boating friends I met in Canada who live 15 minutes from me now.  Here are a number of pictures from our trip to Big Bear Lake, California.

The ride across the mountains to get to the lake was beautiful.

We stayed in a rustic, very fun lake house owned by Karen's niece. 

We did a lot of hiking. The trails were a little strenuous but offered beautiful views. Here are just a few pics.

I spotted a pine tree with thousands of holes in it. Our walking brochure explained the holes were from the acorn woodpeckers. Here are the interesting details. Acorn Woodpecker

Fran has brought a great deal of joy into my life. In addition to our shared passions about boating and fishing, Fran is a cyclist. I mean a serious cyclist! 20-30 miles, three days a week. Trying to keep up with her on my hybrid bike was a challenge, even for 20 miles. I was going to buy a road bike, but Fran talked about 40-50 mile trips! So I went for an E-bike. I really like it. I only use the power on big hills but that's where I need it.

One of many favorite bike rides is along the Santa Ana River. A bike trail goes from the ocean at  Huntington Beach to the L.A. Angels stadium, and beyond. Our rides so far have been about 30 miles round trip. Here are a few pictures and a link to interesting information about the river. Santa Ana River

Fran left, observing the bird life,
and bike trail above to the right

Bike/pedestrian bridge over the river

There is a great variety of birds in the river, especially closer to the ocean. We saw Bufflehead ducks, American Wigeons, Egrets, Great Blue Heron, Osprey, Hawks, Coots, as well as numerous other birds. Most were too far away to get good pictures, but fun to see.

White Pelicans

American Wigeons

Sora Rail -  uncommon to see
Yellow Rail

Egret

Great Blue Heron

We turned around at the stadium, about 15 miles

The Reynard, Family, Vince, Fran's brother and
 me, (Carol, Vince's wife took the picture)

I was invited to Fran's family Thanksgiving celebration. Her three sons, their families, and Fran's brother and wife, were in attendance. It was the first time I met a number of them. They are a very fun and welcoming group. I contributed scalloped oysters and butter creams which were both a great hit.

We all gathered on the deck to watch the sunset. The sunset view from Fran's deck is stunning.

Sunset from Fran's deck

The Thanksgiving dinner was wonderful. Fran wondered how to get 16 seated and her daughter-in-law came up with the idea of benches for the grandkids. It worked well.

Unfortunately, I only took a picture before the people and food arrived at the table!

As usual, there were a few upkeep items for Fran's boat. One was a leak under the sink in the head. (Nautical bathroom). Fran's handyman replaced the faucet, but there was still a leak coming from somewhere. The hard part is getting into the small space. Upon inspection I found the problem. The drain was very old and had been repaired with electrical tape. Not a long term fix. It was difficult to find a drain assembly that fit on the boat, but after a couple tries I succeeded!

 It was difficult to find a drain assembly that fit in the small space under the sink. After several purchases I finally found a flexible drain which worked.

Old Princess Stove

In addition to the sink, Fran wanted to get rid of the old range and stove which no longer worked. I had done the same on my trawler so I assured her it was not a big deal. 

Removing the worthless old stove also allowed the installation of  storage shelves which was needed.

I added an induction burner which will be eventually be covered with a butcher block cutting board. The middle shelf slides out because it is quite deep. The bottom shelf is not deep enough to warrant rollers. A former patient of Fran's from birth, is a carpenter and he will make the door and butcher block top.

The shelves are actually level even though they appear slanted in the picture. The top is temporary until the much nicer butcher block top will replace the piece of plywood. 

I joined the Dana West Yacht Club as a member. There are many people trying to join, and the club can only handle so many people. So for now, they are only accepting boat owners. My situation was a little tricky. I have two boats, one in Florida and one in Canada, but none at Dana Point. After attending yacht club cruises and activities, my friends went to bat for me and I was allowed to join. It is important to me because it is a wonderful social network. I have attended many dinners and functions with the Rahns and Fran, but I wanted to become a member in order to participate more fully. The club is maintained through member volunteers. I signed up for a serious cleaning session. Virtually everything inside is cleaned, dusted, waxed etc. I volunteered to do some ladder work. I had fun cleaning the large Marlin. In addition, I cleaned a lot of dust off of the overhead pipes and the model boats above the bar and the burgees. I was able to meet more new friends.

The Marlin, wall and pipes I cleaned

My birthday is December 5th. The Rahns threw a birthday party for me and invited some of my newly acquainted yacht club friends. We had a great dinner and a lot of boating conversations, given we were all boaters!

I decided it was time to retire Wendy's Hyundai Elantra. It served me well but was starting to have too many issues. I had driven a 2020 Toyota Rav 4 XLE when I was in Philadelphia vising my niece, Mary and family. I really liked their car and I was able to find a 2020 Rav4 XLE that I really like.

There is a holiday boat parade in early December at the Dana Point Harbor. It's difficult to get good pictures at night but here are a few. The parade runs two nights and we were able to observe it both night from friend's boats which were strategically located to see the parade from the water.

   

I had a wonderful Christmas season. My friends are definitely into Christmas presents. My artistic friend, Karen Rahn, offered to help me wrap my presents. Thank you Karen!

Karen, (holding a bow on her head)

Presents all beautifully wrapped!

I had my Christmas decorations up right after Thanksgiving. I enjoy Christmas!

Karen also supplied me with a Christmas wreath for my door, in addition to my snowman.

I liked my door decorations, but the neighbor lady won the prize for most fun!

And then there was helping the Rahns with their decorations. I knew from past experiences, that they go all out. First, 20 some boxes are handed down out of the attic. 

Then we moved them into the house and they took it from there. 

Some of the following pictures are from last year because they were better. I did not begin to capture everything, 3 full sized Christmas trees and numerous very fun and creative art pieces from many decades. I truly enjoy seeing all of the interesting artifacts.

My favorite!

I also helped Fran with her decorations. First we picked up her tree. I asked if we should take my car and tie it on my roof rack. She said, "No, we just put it on the bike rack!"  What a great idea!

I also helped her get her decorations out of a crawl space under the house. It is accessed from the middle of the stairs. I was going to find a step stool, a ladder? Next thing I knew, Fran climbed in like a monkey! Very impressive! She handed everything out to me. I put the lights on the tree and she took it from there. A lot of her fun stuff went to the boat.

We decorated Fran's boat and entertained a few people during the holidays on the boat. Nice to be in Southern California!

There were a number of festivities. One was the Laguna Beach Holiday Street Festival. It had many Christmas decorations, many vendors/shops and live music. There were people of all ages. Fran, her family and I all joined in on the fun. 

Daughter-in-law Joelle pushing
Chloe in her festive stroller

John's son Jack, enjoying the view
from on top; John is about 6ft. 6 inches tall.

John's son Jack receiving
candy from Santa on a Segway

The Rahns, Fran and I also attended the San Juan Capistrano Mission Lighting festival. The Mission, which started Orange County,  dates back to 1776. Here is the interesting history San Juan Capistrano Mission History This link provides many pictures Mission Pictures

Karen Fran and Craig appreciating the many burning candles in front of some of the remains from the
great stone church that collapsed during the 1812 earthquake

We heard a wonderful harpist in the onsite very ornate Basilica

As we strolled around the grounds, we came across an accordion player playing Christmas songs. I particularly enjoyed it because Jim, my brother-in-law is an accordion player.

Fran, Craig and Karen - to the right in back, is the bell tower holding the original bells from the old stone church which collapsed in 1812. The old bells in the new tower still ring on special occasions.

There seems to be no end to the interesting history around Laguna Beach. It is widely known as an art community. The Sawdust had a Winter festival which we attended. It even had it's own version of snow! Out of respect for artists' wishes I don't have pictures of the art work which is wonderful. Everything including photography, oil paintings, watercolor paintings, sculptures, jewelry, glass blown creations and more. There is a wonderful history behind Sawdust. Sawdust

All this fun and it wasn't even Christmas yet. In addition to what is listed, Fran and I generally got 2 to 3 bike rides in a week. I really enjoy living in Southern California. 

I believe this blog is long enough. It is a lot easier to keep up with the blog than to catch up! I hope to put another one up tonight. However, I'm headed to Flagstaff to see Linda's kidney brother Tom, tomorrow February 19th. I'll return February 22nd. Then Fran and I are flying to Toronto, where Randy and Cindy will pick us up and take us to their home 200 miles north. The goals are ice fishing on Lake Temagami, hiking/walking in the national park, watching Liam and or Mea play hockey, building a snowman, sled riding and visiting with the whole Petersen family. We return home March 6th.