Rose Time Has Really Arrived

As I mentioned EARLIER in the month, my roses are taking off.

This first one is my newest, Ketchup and Mustard.

I got it to acknowledge my Husband and I and our life together. I love the way it looks.

Next to it I have my 4 miniature bottle brush plants. They have not bloomed since I got them last year (you can see them HERE) and I was starting to worry about them.

I walked out to the back yard on Saturday and there they are, all blooming. Yay!

This second photo shows off many of my roses.

As you can see they are all blooming and my yard is so happy to see them.

There are (by my count) 10 different roses in this photo.

Spanning decades of planting, in honor of so many people.

I am glad I did this, since it always brings me joy to think of the people who have gone before me.

Another Look At The Wildflowers On The Mountains

If you remember my POST from a few days ago, I mentioned that I had hoped to see some of our mountains filled with wildflowers. Well, I got my wish.

These mountains are on the coast, between Santa Barbara and Ventura and it was quite a sight to see.

All too soon we will be back to our dead yellow grass, so I am definitely enjoying it while I can.

Cat Waking Up

Makenna always makes me want to take photos of her.

This one was taken when she decided to get up and so the first thing she did...was stretch her arms out front of her.

Just like we would do.

Always a treat to watch a cat in action.

Steely Dan At The Santa Barbara Bowl 4/25/17

This was the third time I have managed to see a concert at the Santa Barbara Bowl. The town is known for its money and for the residents and their laid back lifestyle. It is a picture perfect town, worthy of a stay over. That is exactly what we did, this time around.

We booked a night in a beautiful hotel on State Street, in Downtown and managed a quick dinner at Carlitos Café y Cantina mexican restaurant. It was just 2 blocks from the hotel, so we could walk safely and not have to move the car. Parking is an issue in this town. We decided to split an order of fajitas and for a very reasonable price, we were on our way to the Bowl.

The bowl is situated at the bottom of a mountain (no surprise there) and has very little parking. So we ended up parking at a local school ($15) and walked in. The vibe was the usual laid back couples of a certain age and we joined the group, going up the mountain to the performance area.

The band showed up about a half hour after the ticket said they would and without further ado, we were off. A New opening piece was played, which was nice and showed off each of the players. Donald, Walter and the girls walked on, to thunderous applause, and they began the concert in earnest.

Intro (Not sure what it was)
Black Cow
Aja
Hey 19 (Walter does his thing)
Black Friday
Showbiz Kids
Kid Charlemagne
Godwhacker
Razor Boy
Bodhisattva
Daddy Don’t Live in that NYC No More
Do it Again
Joe Tex (Band Intros)
Josie
Peg
My Old School
Reelin’ In The Years
Encore: Pretzel Logic
Outro (not sure what it was)

The show ran just under 2 hours. I think that since it is a residential neighborhood they want to get the people out of the area by 10PM or so. It didn’t totally work out that way, but it was close.

Not to give a blow by blow on each song, but to say that this band was hot, is an understatement. They were really on fire. I don’t know if knowing that there will not be a tour this summer made a difference (Donald Fagen and the Nightflyers are going out this summer with 4 under 25 year old band members) but it seemed a bit bittersweet for this 13 piece band. Even their two massive dates in July, at Citi Field and Dodger Stadium, will be minus Jon Herington, their lead guitar player.

A few thoughts. Aja never fails as the main tune at the top end of the show. Massive kudos to Keith Carlock and his fabulous drum work.

Since most of this tour took place in Las Vegas you had a definite “Vegas” vibe to the set list. Black Friday, Showbiz Kids, Do it Again. All mentioning winners and losers and handles in your hands.

They put Kid Charlemagne in the middle of the setlist, since they closed with Pretzel Logic. I was personally happy with this song as the encore, but I felt it was a bit of a letdown for fans who only know the hits.

At one point (I think it was after they played Bodhisattva) Donald Fagen mentioned that he went off the set list of the evening and basically apologized to the band (using a unprintable word, which made me laugh).

Herington was on fire for the final song of the evening, Reelin' In The Years! OMG, best guitar work I have ever heard on this song. I kept thanking Elliott Randall for teaching it to Jon.

A review of the concert is never complete without a comment on Walter Becker's ramble during Hey 19. He mentioned being rode hard and finished wet, which I had heard before, but I am not sure if I heard it in context of the concert, or a comment by a fan. He also went on about different places in the Santa Barbara area, like Carpeteria a flooring and carpet place (instead of Carpenteria, the city). I think he also said Monticello instead of Montecito, the town. He also mentioned that he no longer drinks and this was the first time I heard that comment.

A work colleague saw my Walter Becker tee shirt a few weeks ago and mentioned that she and her husband were going to see them in Santa Barbara and that they took 2 days off from work. Totally independent of my Husband and my plans. Who ends up just 2 seats from my Husband and I...my work colleague. I should have bought a lottery ticket.

More Flowers On A Trip North

We drove up to Santa Barbara Tuesday, to go to a Steely Dan concert.

Along the way, I am sure we will be seeing hills full of whatever wildflower or scrub bush, this is.

I hear that wildflowers are doing well further north, so I am hopeful for some pretty hillsides.

By the way, the big news of Monday is the fact that several dates for Donald Fagen and the Nightflyers officially came out.

Check it out HERE.

Chicken In Milk

Al Roker saw this in the NY Times and he decided to make it for his family, for Sunday dinner.

It intrigued me enough to go looking for it and I found it (finally) on Jamie Oliver's website...no subscription required. :-)

Note that his recipe is in English measurements and I translated to American.

Chicken In Milk

Ingredients

3 or 4 lb chicken
sea salt
freshly ground black pepper
olive oil
½ stick cinnamon
1 good handful fresh sage , leaves picked
2 lemons , zest of
10 cloves garlic , skin left on
2 1/3 Cups milk

Method

Preheat the oven to 375°F, and find a snug-fitting pot for the chicken. Season it generously all over, and fry it in a little olive oil, turning the chicken to get an even color all over, until golden.

Remove from the heat, put the chicken on a plate, and throw away the oil left in the pot. This will leave you with tasty sticky goodness at the bottom of the pan which will give you a lovely caramel flavor later on.

Put your chicken back in the pot with the rest of the ingredients, and cook in the preheated oven for 1½ hours. Baste with the cooking juice when you remember. The lemon zest will sort of split the milk, making a sauce which is absolutely fantastic.

To serve, pull the meat off the bones and divide it onto your plates. Spoon over plenty of juice and the little curds. Serve with wilted spinach or greens and some mashed potato.

This is angel talking again:

I tried it for my Monday lunch and it was good. Probably even better at that first dinner, but not bad as leftovers.

Chimney Bluffs

My Water Post For Today.

An Oswego Grad who went to school about 10 years after me, John Kuko, shoots lots of photos in and around the Rochester area.

Chimney Bluffs is actually somewhere west of the school, between Oswego and Rochester and we at the school, call it ours.

My Husband and I visited it with a friend, the late Anne Riggs, and loved it so much.

John usually shoots stills, but because of the beauty of Chimney Bluffs, he took those stills and combined them into a video.

Showing off the difference of the photographs, as the sun started going down and when it made its final goodbye.

These three are still photos I took off the video that John made.

I could not choose just one, so I give you them all.

I hope you enjoy Lake Ontario at sunset, at Chimney Bluffs.

Armenian Genocide Rememberance Day (2017)

Tomorrow is Armenian Genocide Remembrance Day and it is celebrated on April 24, 2017.

"Genocide Remembrance Day or Genocide Memorial day, is a national holiday in Armenia and is observed by Armenians in dispersed communities around the world. It is held annually to commemorate the victims of the Armenian Genocide from 1915 to 1923. In Yerevan, the capital of Armenia, hundreds of thousands of people walk to the Tsitsernakaberd Genocide Memorial to lay flowers at the eternal flame. The date 24 April commemorates the Armenian notables deported from the Ottoman capital in 1915, of hundreds of Armenian intellectuals and community leaders, most of whom would be executed, which was a precursor to the ensuing events." (With material from: Wikipedia)

I happen to work among one of the biggest population of Armenians, outside of Armenia.
Los Angeles: 64,997
Glendale: 53,840–80,000
Burbank: 8,312
Pasadena: 4,400–10,000

When April comes, I begin seeing cars with the Armenian flag flying proudly.

They will not forget and in our current environment, it is even more important and right for them to do so.

An Engineer Friend Is Laid To Rest

My Husband and I drove over 2 hours, to get to Riverside National Cemetery. Our friend and coworker, Danny Mossbarger was laid to rest on Friday.

I took the day off from work and we set out after our gym class.

Traffic was bad (what a surprise), Riverside is very congested but we made it onto the line of cars, just a minute before 1PM.

We were taken to a Committal Shelter, a short distance away and a group of veterans led the procession to the shelter. They set off a 21 gun salute, before the ceremony began.

There was a clergy person who talked a bit and then asked one of Danny's brothers (He has 7 brothers!) to speak a few words.

There was a short prayer and then the military took over again.

2 Army members opened and then folded the American flag (since my friend had been cremated, the flag was not draped on the casket). It was then presented to his long time partner, Cathie, with these words.

U.S. Army: "This flag is presented on behalf of a grateful nation and the United States Army as a token of appreciation for your loved one's honorable and faithful service."

I always want to cry at this point in the ceremony.

He will be laid to rest in a Columbarium wall around the edge of the cemetery.

Godspeed to you, Danny.

A Little Fog In My Life

A foggy end of a busy week.

This was Wednesday morning.

I get up an hour later on days I am going to the gym and so this is what greeted me, when I went out to get the newspapers.

A rare occurrence here in Santa Clarita.

Los Angeles gets fog quite often, but our area, not so much.

Nice to see.

My 43rd Order From Abundant Harvest Organics

I'm still standing, in regard to getting orders from Abundant Harvest.

They have just updated their website and changed some things and I would feel bad leaving them right now...so I am still there. :-)

What came in my box this week.

Mercotts (a cross between an orange and a tangerine)

1 Basket of Strawberries

1 head of Cauliflower

15 Rainbow Carrots: orange, purple and white (parsnips)

1 head Red and Green Lettuce

1 bunch Collard Greens

4 Sweet Potatoes

1 tiny bunch Oregano

2 Green Onions

5 Rutabagas

Being it was Easter weekend, we used the Collards and the Green Onions, right off the bat.

The fruit will be eaten.

We used up the last of the other sweet potatoes, so this batch will have to wait a week or two.

The cauliflower will be no problem and the carrots, too.

The only thing I am unsure of are the rutabagas, but I see some recipes, so I think I will be OK with them.

See you next time.

The San Andreas Fault & Lake Palmdale

On our trip to the Lancaster area, we had to drive up the 14 Freeway. Usually we get off the freeway one exit before this spot and so we miss it.

Since we were in no hurry, I asked if I could pull off at the Vista View.

It has a fabulous view of Lake Palmdale and (of course) my first thought was "Water Post".

It ends up that from that vantage point, you see the lake, the California Aqueduct and one other thing...The San Andreas Fault.

If you look at the first photo you can see a cut in the hill off in the distance, where they put the 14 Freeway. In that cut is the fault line and so it is probably the most famous view of the San Andreas Fault.

The lake was formed back in 1924 as a water source for Palmdale and it uses the hill of the San Andreas Fault as its border.

Due to the way the mountains align, that area is extremely windy, as my Husband and I can attest.

BTW, in case you can't read it, the plaque says the following:
"One of the most outstanding geological feautures in California, extending for over 650 miles from Point Arena, North of San Francisco, to south of San Corconio Pass. Between twenty and thirty miles deep and more than a mile wide in some locations. The faulted sandstone and shale, contorted and sheared may be seen by looking northward from this point, where the Antelope Valley Freeway cuts through the upthrusted ridge to the north. This fault is responisble for two of the greatest earthquakes in California history. The 1906 San Francisco earthquake and the 1957 Fort Tejon earthquake. The giant shear was named in 1892 by the noted geologist, Andrew Lawson."

We had no plans to visit this Vista Point, but I am so glad we did. It was a worthy detour on our poppy tour.

I hope you enjoy.

Sweet Potato Casserole

I had sweet potatoes to use. I decided to try this recipe, which is similar to something that a relative of mine makes.

This comes from All Recipes.

Yummy Sweet Potato Casserole

Ingredients

4 cups sweet potato, cubed
1/2 cup white sugar
2 eggs, beaten
1/2 teaspoon salt
4 tablespoons butter, softened
1/2 cup milk

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
1/3 cup all-purpose flour
3 tablespoons butter, softened
1/2 cup chopped pecans

Directions

Preheat oven to 325 degrees F (165 degrees C). Put sweet potatoes in a medium saucepan with water to cover. Cook over medium high heat until tender; drain and mash.

In a large bowl, mix together the sweet potatoes, white sugar, eggs, salt, butter, milk and vanilla extract. Mix until smooth. Transfer to a 9x13 inch baking dish.

In medium bowl, mix the brown sugar and flour. Cut in the butter until the mixture is coarse. Stir in the pecans. Sprinkle the mixture over the sweet potato mixture.

Bake in the preheated oven 30 minutes, or until the topping is lightly brown.

Lake Palmdale

My Water Post For Today.

This is Lake Palmdale. It supplies water to the local orchards in the Antelope Valley.

It is located at an extremely windy stretch of Palmdale.

Due to that fact, they have a windmill there, to create energy. Unfortunately it did not seem to be working the day we visited.

The lake is located right next to the California Aqueduct (two bodies of water for the price of one, woot!). :-)

More on the Lake, later.

I hope you enjoy.

Easter (2017)

Happy Easter to all who celebrate this glorious holiday.

I did get my Bread and my Meat Pie completed and I thought they came out particularly lovely this year...but I am just a tad prejudice. :-)

In a good thing for me, my Husband did all the cutting and assembling of the meat pie ingredients this year and all I had to do was mix the dough and roll it out. Not a problem, at all.

I also had to make a run to Trader Joe's for 2 dozen eggs, because I ran out.

Thankfully, they had plenty of eggs and I came home successful. The place was jammed though. Sigh...

On today's menu, we will have a small leg of lamb and some turkey parts. I plan on stuffing and sweet potatoes, along with some vegetables.

We will not starve.