TUESDAY TRAILS (AND HIKES)

So trails will be the Tuesday subject.  They won't always be about grandkids but some of my favorite hikes were with them or with my own kids when they were small.  

The reason this has been a big Love in my life is we lived in the foothills of Southern California for almost 30 years.  Right behind our house was a trail that lead into a canyon and farther up the trail a  waterfall.  For many years there were no houses behind our house  We were told that it would never be built on as it was forest land.  Well we believed the realtor and she was wrong.  Years later they started building these extremely expensive big homes  which didn't really bother me but we never thought that would happen.

After 2006  my guys were grown, the grandkids started appearing and we both took early retirement so we could enjoy life while young.  We watched these kids a lot and if it wasn't for us, they would not have had near the experiences hiking and exploring because their parents worked full time jobs and as we all know the weekends were usually catching up with house stuff. 

So this is the first granddaughter that came along.  Holly whose parents moved to Mill Valley in San Francisco. Years later they moved to Olalla, Washington an area I love to visit.   We often went there to watch them or when they came down to our areas we would take her hiking at times.  She just had her 19th birthday yesterday.  

This area was at the foot of  Mt. Baldy and  a favorite of the kids.

MEMORIES FOR MONDAY

 I decided to name each day of the week with a title so I'll get back in the groove to post.  I have soooo many photos from the past that I love and rarely come across in all my files.  Today will be a memory of my first grandchild Hunter when he was a kid and we watched him quite often while his parents worked.  

We had an atrium in which was screened in and I could let our sweet Cockatiel roam freely.  Sadly when Hunter's mother got him a bird she had his wings trimmed so Ewe-ee never could fly.  Hunt named the bird.  This bird loved Hunter and always wanted to hang with him.  He couldn't fly to him but he was jump off and walk across the deck to Hunt who would pick him up.

Do you ever look back and see adorable little things you picked up at a dollar store or somewhere and other than during that time which was in 2004, I've never seen them again.  Did someone take them?! I have no idea but it would be nice to find them again, like a lost treasure.

So this is my Monday Memories and hopefully I'll find something for other days of the week.  I enjoy visiting you all and miss seeing your posts more often that I do. 

and then some other random photos of the bird and Hunt.  

Oh yeah, ..I had gone inside for a few minutes and come out to find Hunt with my clippers and asked him why he had them.  He was just going to trim some plants for me...  uh NO!  put those down.

And I was right there so that candle wasn't dangerous, lol.  It just looked that way.

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