Saturday, December 19, 2009

Bluffs, Birthdays and Bikes....


Looking west along the Ellwood Bluff...

Shades of gray....

Post- rainstorm puddles!
Hi all,
It’s a quiet Saturday morning here; another beautiful day. Last week’s torrential rain is just a memory. Of course, we missed most of the worst weather as we were out in Santa Barbara celebrating Sue’s birthday.
Happy Birthday, Sue!
After I get done blogging this morning, I’ll head outside with my shovel to refill the ditch around the new pipe drains. Last Saturday’s rain washed all of our hard work away!
Walking back to Sue's...
Our Santa Barbara trip was great. We enjoyed family time with Sue, Nan, Muhsin, and Dana. Along the way, we had rain, wind, and some nice sunny weather on Sunday morning. We celebrated a birthday, did some shopping, told old family stories, discovered a Monarch Butterfly Preserve, and on the way home captured a few cacti (do you recall the original Cactus Hunter blog 4 years ago?)

An old seawall, slowly being reclaimed by the surf...
And of course, one of the activities we never fail to miss when we are out to S.B. is a walk on the Ellwood Bluffs near Sue and Dana’s house. This wonderful preserve has been protected from development, and is a wonderful place to enjoy the great outdoors in peace and quiet.
Bird of Paradise...
In riding news, I was able to commute to work twice this past week. It’s still a bit odd, being able to ride to work in December, but, it’s better than ride commuting in July when it’s 110 degrees! I have added a new handlebar bag to the Surly LHT , which has made carrying all my basic stuff for work a lot more efficient. The security guard at the center still gives me quizzical looks when I pull up, but perhaps, he’ll eventually get used to the idea. With over 400 controllers assigned, I have never seen another bicycle on the property since I arrived last August. My workmates seem to think it’s utterly crazy to ride one’s bike to work when it’s 35 degrees! But of course, the lovely 58-degree afternoon ride home is the payoff.
I will no longer have to go hunting cactus, I'll just walk out to the backyard!
That’s all the riding and traveling news for today. Now, to go shovel some sand!
Jim


7 comments:

Dan's Mom said...

Jim, thanks for all of the wonderful images. I have added the first one as my new screensaver. And the one of Nan and Sue is quite heartwarming. I hope Dan remembered to call...

Anonymous said...

Hi Jim,

Beautiful photos of your trip -- so glad you and Kathy can now come to SB in a few hours (and we can visit you, too)! We did have a great time celebrating Sue's birthday : )

Anonymous said...

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Kate said...

Lovely pictures of the reserve, Jim. And yes Pat, that was a lovely natural double portrait; I'm sure I would have blurred it under such low light conditions. Were they kind enough to 'freeze' for you or something?

Jim said...

Katherine,
Just a "dumb luck" long exposure, aperature wide open. nancy might have stopped moving briefly, but otherwise, just a dumb luck keeper.

Thanks for al the nice comments..

jim

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