Saturday...

Saturday morning dawned beautiful and crisp once again!
I got up and went for a jog. It had been too long. My body was screaming at me!
But all I could focus on was the beautiful scenery.
The sun, just up behind the mountains, casting a contrast to the bright blue sky and the mountainside.
The cool, crisp air.
Oh man, it was awesome.

Do people here take it for granted? Do they appreciate every moment, or does it just become the regular landscape?

Megan and I just looked at real estate in Carmel. Yeah, we thought New York was expensive.
How about a million bucks for a one bedroom?

California dreamin'...on such a winter's day!

So, we headed out for the day.
We arrived at the farmer's market in Camarillo, a cute place with lots of shops.

We bought some fresh hummus and pita chips, browsed jewelry and enjoyed fresh apples and enjoyed looking at all the organic offerings!
We met up with Varden at his booth and watched him in action. I thought I got a picture but I guess I didn't!
He decided to join us for the afternoon after market was over.

You never know what you are going to see at a market! This looked like the parrots we saw up north.

Megan checking out the bird.

A fun shopping excursion!

My children had their best restaurant manners in use...

After an afternoon visit and a somewhat lazy day, the sun began to set and it was time for Varden to return home to prepare for the Sunday morning market in Oxnard (where I went on the sister's trip 2 years ago).

He suggested we grab a quick dinner (obviously he doesn't know us very well!) so we ran over to iHop, much to my children's delight.

Let's just say, I can tell they had been a little cooped up. Gymnasium, anyone?

Quick question...

I asked Varden who ordered the coffee since there was a carafe on our table.
He shook his head that it wasn't him, and commented that it was water.
"That's what they serve in California" is the phrase that I heard, loud and clear.

Imagine the surprise of pouring "water" into Megan's glass and hmmm - unless the water is BROWN here, I think we have ourselves some COFFEE!!!

Hellloooo - isn't this the universal coffee pot???

Friday in Malibu

The day dawned cloudy and I daresay, a bit dreary!
So we headed for the coast, hoping the sun would come out on the other side of the mountain.

That wasn't the case...but it didn't stop the surfers.
Megan got a huge kick out of watching them wipe out. She was in hysterics!
We watched for a while and then went on a star search.
Oh, for crying out loud - if the sun wouldn't come out today, why would a star?????




The sky looks even more menacing in the pictures than it seemed!

I actually originally stopped here, as I thought that those were sharks!!!
But...nope...just surfers bobbing around.

These guys wiped out over and over again, much to Megan's delight!

The fires from earlier this year

Left many of the areas with sparse vegetation. Notice the bottoms of the trees.
This must have been super scary, since this met right up with homes and businesses.
How devastating!
We met a girl who had a week off of school due to evacuations and smoke - her mom said you couldn't even see to drive!

The scorched earth vs. the regular vegetation

A taste of Malibu as we passed through

The scorched mountainside from the horrific fires

Dramatic difference of vegetation vs. scorched earth

If you have never been...the homes are incredibly amazing, perched on top of the mountains

Caught this one by accident!

My BATTERY comes to a close...

I forgot to pack my extra battery today!

We ended up at the Getty museum in Santa Monica, really by accident. What an incredible place.
However, art to a 13 and 10 year old is not as interesting as the other attractions in California.
We saw a couple of photography exhibits, some famous paintings, sculptures and got to try our hand at drawing. I will have to take a photo of that special piece of art and show it to you later.
There was a medieval exhibit (from the Cleveland Museum of Art, of all things!) on display - there were some things from the 500's up to the 1600's, most revolving around Jesus and the early churches. Whoa, that is old.

We then got to meet up with my friend Jean. I met Jean when I worked at Longaberger. She worked in the same department and we grew close with our kids at similar ages. Her husband at the time sang in the entertainment department - "Gussie" is his name.

He decided to move his family to California to pursue a career in music. The move and other things took a toll, and they ended up divorced, about the same time I did. She and I stayed in touch though we didn't see each other for years.

She came through town just before I left Longaberger, and was able to reminisce a bit about life in the basket.
I called her when I knew we were going to California, to hopefully catch up once again.
To my surprise, she had moved to North Carolina in August!
I was sort of bummed, since she was only one of 2 people I knew in California!

She sent me a text message on Christmas day that she had decided to come back for a visit! So we got to meet up with her tonight for dinner and conversation, as much as you can with a noisy restaurant and 2 impatient kids.
It was great to see her, even though we both had to travel over 1000 miles to do so!



While sitting in traffic, what else to do than photograph signs of famous streets?

Arrival at the Getty museum. This taken BEFORE walking through the art galleries. :)

A billion dollars in construction, it is atop a hill in Santa Monica, overlooking the city.

A view from the deck - out toward the ocean, of course!

Our last Thursday in California begins...

We stayed in Lompoc overnight.
There wasn't much there - but I did get gas for $3.13 a gallon - yeah!
I thought we could check out the AFB, but we took a wrong turn and got shut down at the beach in a no-access area.
However, the beach was gorgeous, so here's some shots!

Lompoc, California

Famous for what?

Well, the fields of flowers.
Vandenberg Air Force Base (where they launch test missiles!).
One more winding road to get there.

That's about it!

A visit with a friend

Every now and then, you cross paths with someone.
Almost 2 years ago, I was enjoying my sister's 40th birthday in Oxnard, California...
We were riding a bike by the coast when we happened upon a farmer's market.
For Ohioans in February - imagine the lucious oranges, fresh produce, jewelry and other special treats!
One special booth was giving out samples of apples and incredible homemade salsa.

The man behind the salsa :) was Varden.
We got to conversing about life in Ohio and Longaberger - he knew a consultant and was eager to hear about my "life in a basket".
We ended up having a really nice dinner in Santa Barbara. It was a memorable experience seeing Santa Barbara for the first time, all lit up for the evening.

We have kept in touch and were privileged with an invitation to come and visit his organic farm.
He, along with his brother and parents, manage this farm and the markets almost entirely alone!
I can't comprehend doing this all!


The driveway into his farm, lined with fuji apple trees (about 1500).

We loved the "zebra" stripes!

Introduction: Earl!

Chickens and orchards galore!

Varden explained that the chickens ate all of the landscaping - there was no mowing needed!

Some laid eggs and others were for...eating!

Funny how we live in Ohio but don't get to farms very often!

Here chicky, chicky, chicky!