FOURTEEN YEARS AGO THIS HAPPENED

 First off a hello to anybody who might stop by.  Because I post at FB and instagram I don't post on my blogs much.  I do like to keep it going and post once in awhile.  It's mainly because i don't really have much news to write about.  But..the biggest news recently was a new granddaughter born on the 19th this month.  We spent three days down at my son's house watching the animals which needed to be taken for walks and fed.    I think that will be the end of new grandchilden being born and wouldn't be surprised if in a few years the great grandparent phase will begin...Hope not too soon.  

So I'm posting an old post from a long time ago of one of my grandkids Jake who is now a freshman.  I was going through an older blog and saw this one.  

Sometimes, I find it humiliating being.........




MacKenzie's brother.

Why did you do this Mac?

 

HELLO AND AN UPDATE

First off, thanks for your comments on the post below.  I read them all and enjoyed them.  I will be visiting u all later.  It's been a busy month.  Oldest son moved temporarily to Los Angeles from Washington state for his job so we have seen them a few times.  The two middle guys are busy but I've seen a couple grandkids because their mom brought them to California.    Youngest son and his partner are giving us another granddaughter. We went to the baby showed and also got to see our second oldest grandson there who just graduated from high school.  So now once she is born in November we will have  five granddaughters and five grandsons.  

 We are on  an  "evacuation 2"  watch/warning  for one of the several fires hitting Southern California right now.  We are fine - as the fires are traveling more  north east but we will remain on Evac Watch until it is contained.  The fire that is affecting our mountains is called the "Line Fire" in San Bernadino County.

After Labor Day our local lake closed the swimming area but boating and fishing can still be done up until we get snow in the winter.  This all means that it will be easy to find parking and walk  along trails with very few people out during the day as they are at work.  I'm a loner - i like being alone on the trails.

So that's all the update I have other than just normal stuff in life, nothing exciting.  

Since the fire began I think about four days ago up here, the sky has been really smokey.  I wanted to go out yesterday to an area called Playground where the paragliders take off over the rim.  I wanted to see if I could see the fire (wrong angle and couldn't see anything really)  and the  smoke was mostly northwest from us.  When we arrived we were just in time to see this guy attempt his take off.  

A DAY BACK IN MEMORY - 2011.

 

A special moment with the grandkids when they are younger.  This was a day back in 2011.   Hunter is now 22 and Cayden graduated high school this year.  I'm glad I have these memories.

 A very tiny praying mantis was found near the park we took them too. Forget the play structures - they weren't interested. What they wanted was to take this guy home and put him in a cage for a pet. I talked them out of it. The praying mantis still is a free spirit, not caged.

The little bug seemed to pose for us before we said one last goodbye and they let it go.

I like this quote by Thomas Berry.

"We see quite clearly that what happens to the nonhuman happens to the human. What happens to the outer world happens to the inner world. If the outer world is diminished in its grandeur then the emotional, imaginative, intellectual, and spiritual life of the human is diminished or extinguished.

Without the soaring birds, the great forests, the sounds and coloration of the insects, the free-flowing streams, the flowering fields, the sight of the clouds by day and the stars at night, we become impoverished in all that makes us human."

Thomas Berry

AND ONE MORE GRANDKID IN NOVEMBER

 My youngest son  (who is depicted in this sketch) with his son Cayden and Cayden's mom) is going to have a little girl in November (not with Cayden's mom) but with his partner.  Now all four of my son's will each have a daughter and son(s).  She will be my fourth granddaughter and I have six grandsons.  

John and Carmen (Cayden's mom) never married but have always had a good relationship between them because of Cayden.  Cayden has like four sets of grandparents all who love him a lot.  He is a lucky guy.  He has graduated this last school year, as has one of my granddaughters and great niece. (my sister's granddaughter).  Time has passed so fast.  Another granddaughter will graduate next year.

This little painting was mostly done by Cayden when he was about 10.  He did the background and wanted help with the figures.  His mom is a day person and dad has always been a night person.  I was amazed at his reason for this painting - wanting to show a strong connection between them all.  Cayden has an absolutely wonderful supportive step dad and a great dad - my son.  He's a lucky guy but also a very sensitive person and I don't think ever got in trouble going through high school.  Unlike some of my sons who really challenged my patience, lol.  

I came across this painting again in one of my folders and it brought back a good memory of creating something together with Cayden.  Eventually before we gave it to each one of them, he wanted to divide the painting in half and each one got half of him.  This was all totally his idea.  

And that's my sharing for today.  Hope u are all staying cool if you are in heat zones and warm if you are in winter somewhere.  

A TRIP DOWN THE MOUNTAIN RECENTLY

We were going down the mountain one day when we rounded the corner on the mountain hwy and saw this man.  I felt sorry that he appeared homeless and decided to  take his belongings and head down to the city below.   

There are a lot of homeless people that find places to camp in summer up in the mountains where its' cooler and in winter they head back down where it's warmer.  I was surprised to see him going down where it's hotter.  

In a perfect world there would be a home and food for every one.  This bothers me that so many have lost their houses or jobs.  The price of houses and the rental prices have skyrocketed.  We were down in 105 or hotter temps yesterday and where in the heck do these people go to stay cool.   

When we saw him we were in our small jeep.  If we had seen him and  we were driving a truck I would have hoped we could have given him a ride to wherever he was headed. 

Hope u are all coping with what I read these days, to be extreme weather in many places, floods, fires, etc.  California has some big fires right now and I think a big one over in the next mountain range is almost contained now called the Vista Fire that started in Lytle Creek and headed toward Mt. Baldy.

I love the Yucca plants in summer.

REMEMBERING A TRIP TO VISIT MY OLDEST SON'S FAMILY

It's been a few years since we have traveled anywhere other than when I have gone up to the central coast of California the last two years to help with my sister and her husband, after her stroke.

Last time we were in Washington for a visit  a couple years ago our son took us to a small winery in Olalla.  Olalla is a really small little town with only a few stores, a post office and a family owned winery.  I thought I would put these up today so I see these memories someday when reading through my blogs.  The tray of food is what my daughter in law made and brought to the winery.  I guess people are encouraged to bring their own snacks while they enjoy the wine experience at this beautiful place. It's only like 10 minutes from my son's house. 

My oldest just turned 50 at the end of March and they were in Los Angeles because of his job so we met at a restaurant down the mountain and had a nice visit.  I'm looking forward to getting back to Washington, Bend, Oregon, where another son lives and Montana where a third son lives.  Thankfully my 4th son just lives about 40 minutes away - he's the youngest and just turned 40 a couple months ago.  I'm feeling kind of old, lol

A ROCK WALL I LOVE

 I see this every time I go over to Lake Arrowhead and we go around the road to get to a certain part of a trail where we walk the shoreline.  Every time I pass this wall I know I'm out of the house and going to have a good time over near the lake.  

 We still have some snow that's melting but another little snow event is coming in at the end of the week.  It shouldn't drop more than 3" at the most and with the angle of the sun and temps warming up it should melt soon.

Our local grocery store is in the process of being rebuilt after last year's crazy blizzard we had.  The roof caved in and the whole store has been rebuilt and in a few months it will be finished.  That will be when we will shop local again instead of going 15 minutes away to Staters in Lake Arrowhead.  

Hope u all had a good Easter and if you had family visiting I know it must have been nice.  I did have one son and two grandkids visit for the week from Bend Oregon, but they were not really at the house much except to sleep. They  have cousins down the mountain on their mom's side of the family and they enjoy being there.  Being teenagers I think our house is rather boring for them.  Heck it's boring for me a lot of the time especially in winter/early spring - snow season.

That's really all the news I have which is the reason I don't blog much...nothing really to write about.

NEEDING TO MAKE TIME TO EXERCISE

 I've been sitting around way too much this winter.  I decided today that besides the fact I can now get out and walk in good weather, I need also  to start an indoor exercise program.

Remembering this morning that I created an exercise routine for my sis, back when we were in our mid 50's, I figured that if I could find them again it would give me motivation to get started.

So I went on a search for some sketches.    Now I can start to get healthy and fit again. 

Hi to whoever stops by.  I thought it was time to update my blog again seeing as it's March.  I meant to do it on March 1, but time got away from me.

As far as weather where I am in the mountains in So Cal, luckily we have gotten only about 7 or 8" inches of snow all winter.  We have mostly had a WHOLE lot of rain.  All the lakes in the mountains up here are at full capacity as far as I know.  I've only gotten over to our lake and Lake Arrowhead recently and hope to get out more and once the dry weather comes to get back to walking and hiking.  

Toward the end of January I had taken these photos over at Lake Arrowhead.  It's always so beautiful at that lake.

I know up north has really gotten hit with a major blizzard the last few days.  I feel for them big time.  Not fun stuck on highways with huge snow fall. 

Hope is well with you and your families.  It's a crazy time in the world.  

Here are some photos from the latest snow storm we had which although it wasn't a lot of inches of snow it was so cold that the snow stayed on the trees for several days.

The last photo was taken over at our local lake where I was just checking how much water was flowing under the bridge to travel down the creeks to the large Silverwood Lake Reservoir  in the high desert.

HI ALL WHO MIGHT STOP BY

Is your year starting out like you hoped?  My year so far is filled with thoughts of getting out to various places and seeing something different than mountain trees.  I'm ready for a road trip but don't see that happening any time soon.  

 I think in a few months I will be going back to the central coast to offer some support to my niece and family in taking care of my brother-in-law with  Alzheimers.  They do need a break at times and it's something I can help with here and there.

So here's where my thoughts have been.  On the road.  I would love to have an RV and just take off whenever the mood hits.   But...how in the heck do people afford the gas.  At least in California it's still so expensive. 

These are photos are people travel up the 101 in California.