July 2: Lamps in the Dusk

We have two of these lamp posts in our yard. A friend sent me an article she wrote for our small-town newspaper on the history of these lamp posts that can be found in the yards of several of the older homes in Pine Valley. Manufactured in Ohio in 1926, the lamps were installed in downtown El Centro, the largest city in the Imperial Valley (between San Diego and the Arizona border). Removed for more fashionable lamps in the mid-40s, they were sold for $100 apiece, and many home owners in our town bought them for their yards. I love the looks of these beautiful lamps and am glad we own two of them.

June 29: From Our Community Garden

Timothy and Benjamin have been working for over a year in our small town's community garden, Pine Valley Community Gardens. After working all morning there today, they brought home this bounty--several kinds of lettuce, two kinds of radish, beets, carrots, and a giant leek. Jonathan and I washed the veggies since the other two boys grew and harvested them, and then we spread them across a towel to dry.

These beautiful organic veggies made the most delicious salad tonight!

Day 39: Parking Place

My parking place next to the post office where we pick up our mail daily. Our town is too small for house delivery, so the post office is the place to run into neighbors galore....

Boys....

Timothy quickly picked up this 3 1/2 foot gopher snake earlier this month in our front yard when we were returning from our final Class Day. He has such a love for reptiles and amphibians.

Day 75: Copters in the Meadow

Rescue copters just outside our fence today, taking accident victims to the hospital in San Diego.

Day 26: Hail, Yes!

We woke to some fairly extreme weather this morning. Our front lawn and the meadow appeared to be covered in light snow at first glance, but upon further bleary-eyed examination, we determined that the white stuff was not snow but very fine hail. It melted and then later in the morning we received another hail-masquerading-as-snow deluge.

Day 9: Winter Sunset in the Mountains

One of the most beautiful things about living in the mountains is the sunsets, especially in the winter when the trees are stark and leaveless. So striking.

Day 6: A Small Town's Holidays Wishes

Just after Thanksgiving, the Holiday Elves of our small town (and we know who you are!) decorate our main street. In front of the popular 1950's diner, "Happy Holidays" is strung across the highway to be enjoyed by every passerby on foot, bike, motorcycle, car, truck, or bus. Gold-colored garlandy stuff by day and sparkly lights by night, this sign remains up through Epiphanytide to wish all, residents and visitors alike, "Happy Holidays."

Late Summer in the Mountains

I love watching summer turning to fall. The crisp bite to the air. The apples ripening on the tree. The night temps dropping into the forties. The leaves changing colors, falling, gathering on the lawn. The long shadows the clouds make on the mountains surrounding our village. Summer, my least favorite season, is fading, and fall and winter are on the way. Cosy fires in the woodburning stove. Curling up to read with a steaming cup of British tea. Lighting candles to dispel the cold and darkness, watching the flames flicker and twirl. Wrapping myself in my favorite moss-green velour throw. Sleeping in a cold room while snuggled into flannel sheets under the welcome weight of blankets and quilts. The joy of snowflakes falling on my face and watching the kids and dog play in the snow, stamping their feet on the front porch.

It's all on the way, and even a hot day like today promises all the welcome things I love about autumn and winter.

Thunderheads

One element of San Diego County weather in late July and most of August is the piling up of clouds upon clouds in the eastern skies. San Diego County is a bit of an oddity weather-wise as within 50 miles the elevation goes from sea level up to mesas, down into inland valleys, then out to mountains of 6,000 feet elevation. On the backside of the mountains, the elevations drops again to an elevation of 500 feet across the California desert to the Arizona border. But as moist air from the Arizona summer monsoons twirls over the desert and then up over the mountains, the resulting thunderheads can be seen across the entire county.

E. took these photos from inside my little '91 Toyota as we climbed up and up in elevation, nearing the 4000 feet of elevation in which our small town resides. The clouds often deluge the small mountain towns in summertime, sometimes extending even into the inland valleys, but despite amazing clouds that look so promising of rain, we've had very little precipitation this summer, and no downpours at all. Our town is brittle-dry, unfortunately ready to spark into the terrifying fires that endanger our area each September and October when the Santa Ana winds sweep westward across the county, bringing air so dry that humidity drops to single digits.

So we continue to pray that gorgeous clouds such as these will dump buckets o' rain on us very soon to prevent our town from being quite the tinderbox it is at present.

Play Rehearsal....

This afternoon, the day before the final production of Twelfth Night, the cast met at the library community room because the town's clubhouse was in use for a party of some kind. So here's the cast lined up listening to final directions....



Jack, a student I tutor, as Malvolio and E as Lady Olivia, on the back deck of our town's library.

I'll have photos from the play on several of my blogs tomorrow night....

Apple Blossoms

The apple blossoms on our Pippin tree were the most beautiful we've seen in our seven years in the mountains.

The Bite of an Angry Lizard

One of T's favorite activities is catching various local reptiles, keeping them for a short time to observe them, and then letting them go back to their native habitat (whether that is in the meadow, under the house, beneath a rock, or in my flower beds). He discovered this fine alligator lizard in my vinca beds under the boys' bedroom window and kept him in a large Red Vines container (bedded with dirt and grass) for a couple of hours. Upon release, the lizard definitely had payback on his mind.



Did he ever! I think this instance of "payback" requires Neosporin and a band aid. But will it stop T from catching and observing them? Never.

Retreat: Sunday

Julie was one of the four speakers, or as she prefers, "sharers," this weekend. Her testimony is one of God's saving grace and merciful protection -- so inspirational to hear how He has worked in each life.



This weekend was a wonderful time in the Word as well as a blessed gathering of friends for fun and prayer.



Sunday worship rocked! I loved all of the hymns sprinkled in amongst the GOOD praise music -- the stuff that goes far beyond 7/11 songs (7 lines sung 11 times).

Retreat: Saturday

A group of friends came over to our house (as we're only two miles from the camp) to see Keith's stained glass window. When they saw the treehouse, they were up the ladder and leaning over the railing in a trice -- including May, who will keep on climbing trees until her 90's, I'm sure.... (L 2 R: Susan, Diana, Julie, May, Linda -- and four of the group stayed on the ground, taking photos of the brave conquerors of the treehouse.)



A first-time group photo of 46/50 of us, I believe. A few weren't here for the photo, but the vast majority were. We had such gorgeous weather for our retreat -- spring in our town just doesn't get better than this.



My two best pals at church, Kitty and Diana, and myself, after lunch in the dining hall. We're all laughing at Kitty's joke about trying to stick our small chests out for the photo.... :)

Retreat: Friday

This weekend was my 14th retreat with the women of Lake Murray, a time I look forward to each year with much anticipation. This year was another wonderful time with some great memories:



In our dorm, I left Diana a path to the bathroom so she can locate it easily in the night; each heart is a handwritten note of encouragement that she'll get to the toilet without, um, incident.



The camp is gorgeous in the late afternoon sunlight.



My two friends from here in town, Teri and Sheri, enjoy our retreat as well -- Teri's first year with us, and Sheri's third year. They were part of our group this weekend, and I really enjoyed having them here.

It's such a great weekend ... the only downside is that time passes so quickly when we're all together at camp.

Tuesday: Town in Bloom

The trees along the main highway going through our town are in full bloom. There's a mass of them in the post office parking lot, and a row of half a dozen on the "main drag" plus another grouping next to the library. I don't know what kind of tree they are (will have to ask Judith sometime as she's made friends with most of the trees in town), but they are certain harbingers of spring in our little mountain town.

Sunday: A Mass o' Daffs

Sorry for so many daffodil photos -- they bloom for only two weeks out of the year, and I want to capture them in all their glory as I won't see them again until next March. I love the way that they fill up half of my front flower bed under the porch -- they are truly glorious this year, thanks to the abundance of rain this winter.

Signs of Spring

This afternoon I noticed that our little peach tree, planted last year, was covered with blossoms. I've never had a peach tree before and so have never seen peach blossoms -- they're beautiful!



My daffodil bed reaches the length of our front porch. They only bloom like this for a couple of weeks a year, so we must enjoy them while we can...

A Toad Named Trevor....

Last night after dark the boys decided to explore the makeshift pond, the result of a rainy winter, as we've been hearing the unusual music of frogs each evening. Apparently B almost stepped on this large toad which T caught and immediately christened "Trevor" (after Neville's toad in the Harry Potrer series). Today I got to see Trevor for the first time, and he IS a beauty.



T kept him overnight in a small "aquarium" made from an old Red Vines container and allowed him to remain in there most of the morning before returning him to his natural habitat.



Here are two galoshes-clad boys, B watching as T releases Trevor into the pond after enjoying his company for about 13 hours, most of it overnight. Trevor is a very cool toad, a wonderful memory of the essence of boyhood fun.