Home again, home again.....! 04-09-11

I didn't leave Mary's until around 1pm and I was dawdling along, stopping to take pictures, buy a latte, get gas, etc., when I called the Poodle Mommy to tell her I was on the road. It was about 4:30, I think, and I discovered that they were off to dinner and a play, leaving Corky at home alone to be checked on briefly. So, I put the pedal to the metal and was in LBeach about 7:15p. I just brought him home with me and he is happily snoring away while I am typing this. Time to take him out for a piddle and get to bed. Here is what I have managed in the picture department tonight.

My first stay at Asilomar (a California State Park) Conference Center was sometime before 1985 when I went with my husband to an engineering meeting.  After that we would try to get a room there when we were vacationing and driving up Hwy 101.  Then in 1991 I attended Empty Spools for the first time and have gone every year since.  There are changes, especially the loss of trees, but great effort is made to keep the buildings, furnishings, etc.,  much as they were in the beginning.  The view above is from the front desk in the Administration Building - a location where people come together informally to visit, play pool, use their computers, stare into the fire crackling in the huge native stone fireplace.  The door in the far left corner is to the small shop with warm jackets, knick-knacks, snacks and lattes! 

Before I leave Pacific Grove/Monterey I try to take one last run along Sunset which follows the beach.  The waves were still rather high, but the sky was mostly blue and some flowers bloom along the sand.  To the right of the picture are some very dark clouds and I learned later that Mary was shopping in Gilmore and was caught in heavy rain.

Today when I was loading the car we noticed a couple Oregon Juncos flitting around and discovered a nest they had built in the wreath on the front porch. 

They hauled in some very long strands and left them dangling down.

If you enlarge this picture you can almost see one baby - a flattened V which is the beak.

Driving on CA156 from San Juan Bautista and over the Pacheco Pass to I-5 there are several stands of ceanothus (also called California Lilac - although it has no fragrance that I can smell) which cloak the hills with blue-violet this time of year.  There are not a lot of wildflowers in bloom on the entire route... could be due to the cold.  It was mostly in the 50s all the way home and the prediction for tonight in my area is about 44F.  Unusual for April. 

I will try to do something with the images I took of Ruth McDowell's class and their work, but I have to get ready for the program I am doing Tuesday for Surfside Quilters Guild and might try for an aqua therapy session on Monday - I already have one scheduled for Wednesday.  Corky will go home tomorrow afternoon and then I will really apply myself to the things I MUST do! 

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