'Tis the Season???

This year I am really homesick for snow for the holidays. Last year, November and December in Southern California were really rainy and cool, which I liked, but this year, the weather's been warm and dry until a few days ago. All the sun and short-sleeve weather was making it hard to get in the Christmas spirit! Snow isn't likely in this part of the country, so I've had to find other ways to make it feel like Christmas.

The Christmas light displays on the houses do bring on that festive feeling if I ignore the fact that that it's still too warm for a sweatshirt some nights, and that the grass is still green. There is something to be said for being able to go for a leisurely run through the neighborhood to take in the light shows. One block in the neighborhood even has all their lights coordinated to music!

In Minnesota, living in the country, we always put Christmas lights on our house, but no one could just drive by to see them - they really were just for us. And the lights really just served as a compliment to all the beautiful white snow. Now, with no snow to set the mood, the pressure is on to do something more spectacular than just line the roof with twinkling colors.

I do get excited about the Christmas lights in Southern California, and I can't wait to get back to Minnesota to have snow for holidays, but baking Christmas cookies with the neighbor girls while listening to Christmas music helped to bring on the season as well....

Where Did MY Beach Go?!?!

I never thought about the tides, or how they might affect my running, until the tide pushed me off my running course. I know about tides. I know about the moon's affect on the tide. And I know the tides cause the water to come up higher on the beach at different times. But for some egocentric reason, when I found my new favorite running place, it never occurred to me that it wouldn't be just the way I found it (and wanted to to stay) day after day after day. 

"Charlie" and "Charlie"

I love running on MY beach. The thought of it is one of the few things that gets my butt out of bed early enough in the morning to go for a run before work. I love the wide, flat stretch of beach that is perfect for barefoot running. I love the surfers bobbing on the water as the sun comes up. And I love finishing the run on the pier lined with pelicans (they are ALL named "Charlie" according to the fishermen). 

This was exposed beach
two weeks ago...

Imagine my shock and dismay when I went to my favorite running place this past week, when the moon was little more than a sliver, only to find the wide, flat portion of the beach under water. I tried to run on the upper part of the beach, but it means running at an angle and my aging ankles don't care for that. So this week I had to resort to running on the sidewalk above the beach, catching brief glimpses of my beach when the tide rolls out, just before it rolls back in to cover the sand and splash against the rocks. 

I'm coming to terms with the fact that my beach is subject to the forces of nature, and not to take for granted the perfect mornings when the tide is low and the beach is prime for running. Running on the sidewalk is still a good run, considering it's right next to the beach (or right next to the water when the tide is really high). Even from a bit of a distance, I still love the sound of the waves, the colors as the sun rises, and the surfers bobbing in the waves. 

There's something about the ocean that draws a person to it (Jimmy Buffet knows that and has tried to describe it in a thousand ways), so even a lousy day is good at the beach. And even when I have to run on the sidewalk instead of the sand, the view is hard to beat...

Morning storm rolling in...

FINALLY Home Again...

Just over nine months ago, I posted a blog about the fire we had in our garage at our house, and now (just over nine months later), we are FINALLY back in our house!

Night of the fire...

In my wildest dreams, I NEVER would have guessed that we would be out of our house for the better part of 2012 while waiting for insurance to get settled and for the work to be done. There's still some work left to do, but it is mostly on the outside of the house and we were finally able to move back into our house at the end of October.



Front of the house after garage repaired.

It's taken until now to get unpacked and settled back in, and this weekend I am finally really enjoying being back home again! (I noticed I'm saying "finally" a lot in this post, but the word seems appropriate because it has been one heck of a long wait to FINALLY be back home!)




Inside of the garage after fire...

We love our neighborhood! We love our neighbors! We love our house! We love our backyard! So it is such a relief to be back! We moved to California 16 months ago, but we've only been in our house for less than 5 months of that time because of waiting to move in after first arriving in CA, and then because of waiting for repairs after the house fire. After everything we have been through, we are really going to appreciate every moment in our house and not take it for granted.


Inside of garage after repairs...

After living in a different neighborhood for the last nine months, we realize how much fate was on our side when we bought the house we did. The house that the insurance company rented for us while our house was being repaired was in a neighborhood with bigger houses, but smaller yards. In Califronia, the back yard is like an extension of the house and it's used year round, so I will give up space in the house in order to have a usable back yard any day!



Inside of garage after repairs
(with empty moving boxes stacked up for recycling)

The other neighborhood was also not nearly as friendly as this one. We've only lived in this neigborhood for five out of the last 16 months, but we have made GREAT friends, and all the neighbors say hi and wave when they see us. In the rental neighborhood, we rarely saw anyone, and we only spoke to one of our neighbors a couple times over the entire nine months. It felt like such a sterile neighborhood with no personality or warmth - only barking neighbor dogs and letters from the association because someone let their little dog poop on our front patch of grass while we were gone on vacation and we didn't pick it up fast enough!


Inside of house after smoke damage repaired...
 

Enough about the rental neighborhood - the only thing that matters now is that we are back home to a freshly painted house with brand new garage doors. We still have some work to do to make it completely home (pictures on the wall, etc), but I'm loving every moment here. 



I've turned into a Grandma Driver!

I've always been one of those drivers in the farthest lane to the left, cruising with the big boys. My number one concern was always "How fast can I get there?" As long as those slow people in their Priuses stayed in the right lanes and out of my way, all was good. Never in my life did I imagine I would be driving in the slow lane because my competitive nature just wouldn't allow it.

But my 80 mile daily commute and skyrocketing gas prices made me rethink my car choice. In Minnesota, where hills are minuscule compared to SoCal, tire tread and the ability to handle snow are bigger concerns when buying a car (SUV) than MPG and bumper to bumper traffic.

The commute, the hills, and the price of gas convinced me to get a Prius, and it turned me into one of those smug drivers, moving at old-lady pace, oblivious to all the people passing me. How did this happen, you might ask? Toyota took advantage of my competitive nature and put a display in my Prius that tells me when the car is driving in Electric Mode (best), in "Eco" Mode (good), or in Power Mode (gas guzzling). Then along the bottom of the display, it shows how many miles per gallon the car is averaging on this tank of gas. When in Power Mode, the indicator light turns red and the MPG falls. 

All of this brings out my competitive nature. It's like being in a video game where the goal is to keep the light from turning red, keep the MPG from falling below 50, and the enemies are quick-starts and going too fast on the long uphills. Now I understand why all those other Prius's are in the slow lane on the way over the foothills - they are all playing the MPG game! And winning at the MPG game takes away the sting of being passed by 70% of the people on the road. 

Did I mention that I fill up my tank once a week for less than $40 and drive 500 miles before I have to fill it up again? That helps to ease the sting, too.

Fall - Still My Favorite Season

Fall is my absolute favorite time of year in Minnesota. I love the colors, the smells, the feel of the air. I also love fall and early winter in California because that's when the rains come, there is change in color (more green), and the air, especially in the evening, cools down nicely. Lucky for me - this year I get to experience autumn in Minnesota and in SoCal!

The peak colors in late September and early October in Minnesota are amazing, and they pass in the blink of an eye! The golds, yellows, rusts, oranges, and reds build for several weeks, and just when you think the leaves can't possibly get any more vibrant...they fall of the trees. And it happens overnight. Trees with branches full of bright leaves one day are bare, brown skeletons the next. But that day before the leaves fall is the most spectacular day of the year! Especially from the vantage point of my parents' farm house on the hill, where the views are endless. We climbed to the catwalk on the top of the house, three stories and an attic above the ground, and for as far as the eye could see was trees, leaves, and water. After being in southern California for the last year with thousands of people in every direction I look, I felt truly free in the midst of that vast wilderness with no sign of a soul for miles.  

After four days in northern Minnesota, Mom and I left the Midwest autumn behind and returned to blazing sun and temps in the triple digits in southern California. Full autumn has not yet arrived in SoCal, but the nights are cooling down, promising gentler weather ahead. Though the last weeks have been "unseasonably warm" (seems the same as last year to me!), the fall rains should be on the way and I can't wait to be chilled for a while! The air will get crisp, and though there will be some trees that change color and lose their leaves, most things will turn greener and more colorful with the rain. 

Minnesota has a fall migration of local wildlife and it's not unusual to see hundreds of geese and ducks flying overhead as the move toward better weather. I didn't think about how it might affect the wildlife in southern California when the weather changes, because the change isn't so extreme, but as the deep ocean waters get colder, the whales start to move in closer to shore and pass by SoCal on their way down to Mexico. It's a great time for whale watching, so we took cruise off the coast of San Diego today, hoping to see blue whales.

We weren't so lucky as to see any whales (the "unseasonably warm weather" has kept them in deeper waters) but we did see hundreds of dolphins, which is an amazing sight in itself. They truly are playful creatures, and they travel in HUGE pods. All of them together reminded me of the schools of minnows that can be seen by the hundreds in Minnesota lakes, but the dolphins are far more playful and amazingly beautiful in such large groups. 

I miss fall in Minnesota when I'm not there, but fall in southern California is growing on me with all it has to offer--and my new mission is to be out on the ocean at the right time to see the fall migration of the blue whales. But as much as I love fall, the best part was spending it in both places with my parents - walking with my dad in the woods around the farm in Minnesota, and finding the pod of dolphins while out on the ocean in SoCal with my mom. 

Cows vs. Goats (and Surf Boards)

My commute to work in Minnesota brought me by several cattle farms. I felt like I got to know those cows that I drove by 8 or 10 times a week. They were mostly black, some had white spots, and a few were more of a dark brown, but I could tell the difference between them after years of following the same commute. I even watched some of them grow up! I loved the new crop of baby cows each year, and though a few of them disappeared, most of them frolicked in the field all summer, providing entertainment on my commute.



Bad photo of the goats, but best I could do while driving...

My new commute in California is about the same distance (37 miles), with the difference being I don't have any cows to keep me entertained. But I do have goats! There is one little fenced-in pasture of goats on the edge of Oceanside. The pasture is about the size of our backyard in Minnesota, but the goats do frolic and bask in the sun. The only problem is that it is right near a busy intersection with single lanes of traffic going each way, so I can only get in a few quick glances most mornings, and none at all some mornings.

The other morning, I got a closer view of some other goats - two rather large ones were grazing along the side of the highway. Four lanes of heavy traffic heading south out of Temecula at 80 miles an hour didn't even seem to faze them, noses to the ground as they chewed down the grass on the shoulder of the road. About the time I was worrying that they might get hit by early morning commuters, the traffic report came on the radio warning drivers to beware of goats grazing along the southbound 15.

I didn't see them the next morning, so I'm assuming they managed to find their way home. However, I did hear an announcement on the morning traffic report that drivers should beware of a three baby goats romping around on the northbound lanes of the 15!

The goats are definitely the most entertaining/interesting thing I've seen on my morning commute since the surf board that was blocking a lane one morning. (I imagine someone got out of their sport pick-up at the Oceanside pier and had their whole day ruined!)

To Lifelong Friends...

(Dedicated to my "trail-talk" gals - you know who you are).

Almost every day on my way to work I see three older Asian men either walking along the avenue or sitting on a bench and chatting together. They never seem to be in a hurry, and everything about them seems gentle and calming.

When I first started noticing them, all three were ambling along the sidewalk, hands gesturing in easy conversation. This was probably six months ago, the first time I noticed them, and after days of seeing them walking along the same sidewalk, just like clockwork, I found myself looking for them every morning.

Then one morning, a couple months later, one of the men was leaning on a cane as he walked, but still they strolled together along the sidewalk, though the pace had slowed. They seemed to spend more time sitting on the bench to accommodate their friend with the cane, watching the morning go by, sometimes conversing, sometimes just quietly enjoying one another's company.

At the beginning of the summer, only two of the men walked the sidewalk, never missing a day despite missing their companion. It saddened me to think one of them might be gone. I never hear what they are saying as I drive by, I only see their faces and gestures, but I recognize the bond of close friendship, and I feel a connection with them. I have two friends from Minnesota who are my best walking friends, and when together, we share everything from the trivial to the traumatic. We only get to walk together about once a year now, but as soon as we start out we instantly slip back to the easy companionship that we've always known. I imagine these three men are similar in their friendship, and it just isn't quite the same if one of the three is gone.

I smile whenever I drive by them. I enjoy their easy friendship and I think about the important friends in my life. So the day that I saw the two men walking slowly up the sidewalk toward their bench pushing the wheelchair of their third friend, I got a bit teary! 

Photo taken as I drove by, so not the quality I would like it to be...

The three men are an important part of my morning routine, now. I wonder about them when I don't see them, and I feel contented when I do - two of them sitting on the bench and one in the wheelchair, enjoying each other's company.

Dog Beaches...

I have no doubt that the toughest part of the move to California from Minnesota for Laird is the constant requirement that he be on a leash, and the lack of wide open space to just be a dog. So today, we went to a dog friendly ocean side city. 

Del Mar is a quaint, picturesque city on the coast with beautiful beaches, great restaurants, and upscale shops; but it's a town with a twist - it's VERY dog friendly!  More than just friendly, they actually cater to dogs. Dogs are allowed on the streets, on the beaches (couple exceptions, but not many), and at the sidewalk sitting areas for restaurants. 

We started the day at the Dog Beach at Del Mar. During the months of July and August, dogs have to be leashed and are restricted from some areas of the beach, but for the other 10 months of the year dogs are allowed on almost all the beaches and can be off the leash and under voice command. (Dog heaven!) Even on the leash, Laird was sold on Del Mar. He was happy to be included in the day, but he really perked up when we hit the beach and he saw other dogs every where.

Waiting for his burger to arrive.

He immediately headed toward the water, but wasn't too happy when his first big gulp of cool water was salty. As soon as another dog came frolicking up to him, though, he forgot about the salty water and tried to play. Several tiny dogs tried to take him on, and he had some in depth sniffing sessions with a few other German Shepherds. For the first time ever, we saw some Shepherds nearly as tall as Laird, but when measured shoulder to shoulder, he still reigned as king. 

The highlight of Laird's day was splitting a burger with Braden at Smash Burger, where dogs are welcome on the patio. And not only did Smash Burger have a full water dish next to their front door, but Banana Republic did, too! Every where in Del Mar it was apparent that the city truly welcomes dogs. They even have a bakery for dogs (luckily, Laird didn't realize what it was when we passed it).

Laird collapsed on his bed as soon as we got home and has hardly moved since. 

Another good day...

Shark Hunting

Eight hundred leopard sharks descended upon the beach in La Jolla last weekend. Apparently this happens every year. The sharks, mostly pregnant females and pups, come into the shallows to feed on shrimp and other little invertebrates. 

To a Minnesota native, this seems like good reason to stay the heck away from the beach! But news videos and pictures of people wading in the waves among the sharks got me curious about this strange phenomenon. Turns out that leopard sharks are harmless.

Leopard Sharks at beach in La Jolla on August 10, 2012
 (internet photo, not mine)

It took time to convince Braden and Fritz that the sharks don't bite and that we should go see them, but since  the videos were on the news Friday evening, and we couldn't go until Saturday I wasn't sure if the sharks would still be there. 

My shadow as I miss yet another pup swimming by...

Lucky for us, there were still leopard sharks at the beach, but, unlucky for us, there were only about eight left instead of eight hundred. Braden and I did manage to see four leopard shark pups darting around in the water. They would ride in on the tide and swim right by our legs in the shallows, then swim back out with the tide before returning a few minutes later on the tide again. The pups were only about twelve to eighteen inches long, and though there weren't any adult sharks and definitely not eight hundred sharks, it was still exciting to have the little shark pups swim around us. 

I tried to get photos with my iPhone by standing in the water, but I ended up with lots of photos of the sand under the water and nothing else. Out of all the pictures I took, only one captured a leopard shark pup in it, but you have too look really, really hard to see it. It's in the middle of the photo near the top...

I'll admit it's not a very good photo, but I swear I was really that close to a shark! (Ok, a harmless shark, but it was still a shark!)

One year down and many more to go...

In honor of completing our first year in California I decided to do Top 10 Lists...

Top 10 Things I Love About California

1. Pearl Drive - It would have been a very tough year without the great friends and neighbors we have on Pearl Drive.

2. Mountains - I love looking in any direction and seeing mountains in the distance (I understand why Fritz misses the mountains so much when he's not here.)

3. Grapes, Avocados, Citrus Orchards & Roses - My commute to work feels more like a drive through a European countryside when the hillsides are in full bloom with orchard colors. And the roses grow so easily here that even I have a beautiful rose bush. 

4. Wineries - But I don't recommend trying to visit more than three in one day. (I can explain more in person, but I won't put it in writing...)

5. Ocean Sunsets - There is something so captivating about the ocean waves extending as far as you can see, especially when the sun is setting.

6. Cool Ocean Breezes - The days are definitely hot in Murrieta, but the nights cool of beautifully from the ocean breezes.

7. Palm Trees with Christmas Lights - I couldn't wait to get out running in the evenings after work last November and December to see all the Christmas decorations. They were surprisingly festive despite the lack of snow, and I am amazed at how good palm trees look wrapped in lights! (Still don't care for Santa in surf shorts - something about that is just wrong.)

8. Farmers' Markets and Roadside Produce Stands - Cheap, fresh, delicious. 

9. Old Town Temecula - Quaint, touristy, eclectic and it reminds me of my hometown in MN. 

10. Gin & Tonic While Floating In the Pool - Need I say more?

Top 10 Things I Miss About Minnesota

1. Family & Friends - They are what makes a place feel like home.

2. Horses - Especially on a frosty morning when everything is crystallized and their breath is white puffs.

3. Lakes - Water everywhere and in abundance is easy to take for granted.

4. Lots of Green Trees - It's wonderful to be surrounded by trees and green, knowing overpopulation and urban sprawl are problems somewhere else. 

5. Paved Trails - We are really spoiled in northern MN by the paved trails that make biking, running, and horseback riding so great. Miles and miles of trails through the woods, by lakes, with no stoplights or traffic jams. 

6. Lunch at Village Square - Nothing better than spending an hour with Fritz and Joel (and sometimes MB, or Joe), sitting on the patio mulling over the menu, even though each of us know we are going to order the same thing we always do. 

7. Small Town Hospitality - I love that the local deli will make up a salad to order, put it in a nice bowl instead of a plastic container and trust you to just leave it by the back door next time you pass through town. (Thanks, Green Scene!)

8. Five Minute Commutes - And that's if you get behind someone pulling a boat, otherwise it's four minutes to town.

9. Crisp Fall Days - The colors of the trees and the crisp air is absolutely exhilarating. Best time of the year to run, ride, and just be outside. 

10. Snow!!! - Late night snowshoeing while the snow is falling by the light of the moon. It's like being in a beautiful dream.

`

"Home" to California?

"You're on your way home, then," the security officer at the Minnesota airport said to me as he looked at my California driver's license. I nodded, but my heart was in my throat because that is exactly what I was feeling - that I was a visitor in Minnesota on my way home to somewhere else.
I love traveling - new adventures, cultures, experiences - but for 42 year, Minnesota was always my home base. Fritz and I spent two years in Germany, but even then, I always knew that it was just for a finite amount of time, and then we'd be going back home to Minnesota.

For this first year of living in California, each time we went to Minnesota, then returned to CA, it felt more like we were off on an adventure for a while, and it would be just a matter of time before we touched down in MN again.

But this time the trip back to MN was filled with squeezing in visits to family and friends, spending as much time as I could with my parents, and trying to soak in as much MN nature as possible. The valley where we live in CA is beautiful, but when I sat in my back yard in MN with the lush green trees, chirping birds, and the crisp smell of the lake in the distance, I felt like a weight had been lifted and that I could truly breathe again.

But, as usual, the trip was much too short and before I knew it, I was waving goodbye to the little town in northern Minnesota that had been my hometown for 15 years in order to return "home" to California. I worried that it would be different returning to CA now that I was feeling a bit displaced because of seeming like a visitor in what used to be my home state, but a surprising familiar feeling settled in my limbs as I crested the hill above the valley where Temecula and Murrieta lay nestled among the Southern California wineries, and there was some comfort in being home again.

I still consider Minnesota to be the home state where I'm from, but when I go home now, it's to California (even if it still feels a little strange to say it).

One of the Best Kept Secrets of Temecula: The Farmer's Market

Both Fritz and I were so excited when we stumbled on the local farmer's market in Temecula. And even more excited when we found out the market takes place EVERY Saturday! Every chance we get, we bring friends and family with us to explore this little treasure. It's become a Saturday morning tradition, and best breakfast in town.

The fruits and vegetables are so fresh, so cheap, and so good, but every weekend we seem to discover something new - artisan breads, eggs, fresh flowers, and (my personal favorite, best prepared on the grill) 10 lobster tails for $20! We've purchased oil paintings, and can't wait to get back in our house so we can buy the winecask plant holders.

If you go, don't bother to eat breakfast - most tables have samples and by the time I make the full circuit, I'm full! The hummus table is my favorite with a dozen or more different flavors of hummus that the vendor is more than happy to let you sample in multitude on squares of pita bread. The 3 layer dip is the best - spinich, sundried tomatoes, and feta. If you don't tell the vendor to stop, he'll just keep loading up the samples on pita bread and shoving them into your hands. (It works - I've never left his booth without buying something!)

Minnesota has a great farmer's markets also, but the season is a bit shorter than in Southern California. Even my little Minnesota town of Walker has a fabulous farmer's market in the front lot of the Green Scene organic grocery store and deli. So if in Walker this summer, don't forget to stop by the farmer's market. But if you miss the chance in Walker, then come to Southern California any time throughout the rest of the year and we'll bring you to our year-round farmer's market.