Visit the kelpforest....

My work family (and people here do seem like a family, especially those of us who've been here a long time) not only made a donation in my dad's name to the American Heart Association, but also sent us a tree seed from Seeds of Life. It's a Canyon Live Oak, a native Californian, as he was, so it's very appropriate. They even grow around Oxnard and Moorpark, where he was born and grew up.

We planted it in its biodegradable pot a couple of weeks ago, and the acorn is sprouting! Very exciting!

I don't know if we're going to be able to plant it here at the house, once it gets big. I'm wondering if maybe the Shipley Nature Center in Central Park might let us plant it there? Then it would still be here in HB, and we'd have a nearer place to go and visit.

Well, I have a cough I believe my dear offspring or possibly my spouse passed on to me, thank you so much. Chest congestion mostly - thank goodness for no stuffy head, although head hurts when coughing. Mostly scratchy throat and lung boogers. Yuck.

Had a furlough on Monday, the kids were off school for Lincoln's B-day, and it's my brother's usual day off, so we decided to go to Knott's Berry Farm - the annual passes there are about 1/2 the cost of Dismalland - which we've been doing off n' on since Angus was two, and we thought it'd be nice to do something different for a year. Turns out they're on a calendar year, not date to date, so they're only good until the end of December, but it's early in the year, so that's fine. No blackout days either.

It's probably been twenty years since I was last there and wow, has it changed. It's been owned for the last 13 years by the same company that runs Cedar Point back in Ohio (they also own Great America up in the Bay Area), so the emphasis has really been put on the roller coasters. The quiet reflecting pond surrounded by trees that used to be between the entrance and Fiesta Village is now a concrete-lined pool with a bunch of rollercoaster pylons in it. What I really noticed all over was missing trees; the whole park used to be surrounded by large eucalyptus, which may be understandably gone. A few years ago there was a plague of lurp insects (a type of scale) that killed a lot of them all over southern CA. Eucalyptus are not native tree here anyway, but large old trees are still pleasant, and the place just felt very open. I do like roller coasters, but in places I'd rather have trees.

Most of the ghost town is still there, although the Mystery Shack is missing - I always liked that one with all the optical illusions. We stopped there to have a snack, and I looked at Avalon, whose eyes had started watering. She gradually went downhill the rest of the afternoon, and by the time we got home, she went straight to bed.

She and I both took a sick day yesterday, and lounged on my bed watching The Princess and the Frog, which I'd missed, and Mushi-Shi, which is a lovely series, but so quiet and soothing if I'm tired at all, I will doze off watching it, in spite of my being interested. I bought a Roku unit at Fry's a couple of weeks ago, and I swear, we've watched more Netflix in the time since than in the last 2-3 years! Quite handy. I do wish I could change the language and watch subtitles though.

Back at work today, and am realizing it's only the 16th but how few work days are left in the month! Ack, where does it go!

Out for a walk around the neighborhood again. Sackboy decides to climb my favorite pepper tree.

Just... a little bit... higher....

Lake Park
Huntington Beach CA
Canon EOS 1000D
22 June 2010

( Farmer's market day... )

To tell the truth, I copied down the mylife_onceaday scavenger hunt list at the beginning of the month, but have suffered travel, stress, Flickr account expiring, lack of computer access (read one computer and 4-5 people wanting to use it) and lack of motivation to keep track of it. Hell with it, let's just say I'm a lazy ass. Given that I did take pics without the list in mind I thought I'd at least go through my April photos and see if any matched up with the prompts.

Angus and I went for a walk downtown; given that I've lived here since being younger than he is, there are a LOT of childhood memories here. The tree above, more horizontal than vertical, is one of several like it I used to climb regularly when my Girl Scout troop had day camp (called Camp Puk-Wudgie) for a week each summer. We'd spend Thursday night in a tent in the park - one time we were kept awake all night by a screech owl in a nearby palm tree.

Ostensibly we were looking for a geocache in the tree, but there were so many people with dogs around we gave up.

Farquar Park
Huntington Beach CA
Canon EOS 1000D
2 April 2009

( other memories, I can't decide... )

14. childhood memory ☺
30. hands ☺
6. damage ☺

My neighbors across the street celebrated Earth Day by having the tree in front of the house chopped down. I realize some trees have to go, but dammit, it makes me sad.

Happy Earth Day. :(
Huntington Beach CA
Canon EOS 1000D
22 April 2009

Today would have also been my grandmother's birthday. She wouldn't have liked it either.

On a walk after work...seen chewing up the neighborhood telephone poles...

Carpenter bees
Huntington Beach CA
Canon EOS 1000D
20 April 2009

( Down the alley... )

Plum blossom
Huntington Beach CA
Canon EOS 1000D
13 April 2009

( Last days for another tree... )

I had to go to the DMV this morning to renew my driver's license. I was shocked that it took less than an hour or so, despite the innumerable people waiting. The parking lot was jammed so we parked in the residential neighborhood behind the office. These blooming plum? peach? trees (I see a small fuzzy looking fruit in there, so I'm going to go with peach) were in a large yard on the way back to the car and I had to stop and look at them for awhile. I am always impressed by stripy flowers (I have a rose bush with similar flowers), although some were solid red. After I took the picture I noticed a man standing there watering the yard, looking at me suspiciously. Oops.

Peach flowers
Westminster CA
Canon EOS 1000D
30 March 2009

Walking back to the car after picking the kids up at school. Gareth couldn't figure out why I'm just randomly taking pictures of tree branches.

Sycamore
Huntington Beach CA
Casio EX-Z80A
6 March 2009

Two of my kids go to the same elementary school I did. In this spot, there used to be a mulberry tree. It was handy for third grade science projects where classes raised silkworms, watched them pupate and then got to see fat silk moths emerge from their cocoons. I liked the mulberries when I could reach them. The mulberry tree was there until last year, when the center finally went rotten and it was cut down. Made me sad to see that empty planter in the middle of the playground. Last fall, flyers were sent home asking for donations to buy a new tree. Sometime in December, this camphor tree was planted and a new planter built around it. I noticed while dropping the kids off today that it's completely dead.

Dead tree
Huntington Beach CA
Casio Exilim EX-Z80A
11 February 2009