A Two-Year Old's View of Nature

I took my two-and-a-half year old grandson to the nature center near his home on Friday afternoon. We left almost as soon as he got up from his nap because I knew that they closed the gates at 4:00 pm in the wintertime. We hadn't been there since the fall and I wondered if the ducks had come back.

The building which houses the neat displays of snakes, bugs, frogs, and fish was already closed when we arrived, so we went on a hike along the path that goes up the sides of the canyon. He is big and strong now, so he can climb the wood tile steps all by himself. We walked quickly by the "no-touch" Prickly Pear plants. He remembered when he picked up a fruit of this plant last summer and it was days before we got all the almost invisible prickles out of his fingers. We noticed that the Sugar Bushes were blooming, the Black Sage had new green shoots, and the Toyon! Just full of beautiful red berries. But don't eat them. The birds eat them he told me.

Back down by the creek we discovered that the ducks were back, Wood Ducks, with their white stripe down the side. Some were placidly paddling in the water and some were sitting on the bank. "What's a bank?" he asked. I really struggled to explain that word to him. He learned that if he ran to the edge of the bank and yelled at the ducks they would fly away upstream. So we sat down quietly, shhhh, and watched them for awhile.

He climbed around the multiple trunks of the oak trees and we had a discussion about roots. No, the trees don't move once they put their roots down into the ground. The ground had been littered with acorns last fall, but now there wasn't a single one to be found. Had the Acorn Woodpeckers and squirrels gathered them all? While collecting acorns last fall and taking off their "hats" we had talked about seeds and how these big, tall trees had grown from the small seeds. This time we found catkins that looked like little caterpillars. He is very good at finding very small things.

We checked under the platform they use to give nature talks to see if the Bobcat was still sleeping there. Nope. We walked up the path on the other side of the canyon and found the butterfly garden. The big metal butterflies that they have set out here reminded him of umbrellas. His comment reminded me of seeing him standing at my door with his little Thomas-the-Train blue umbrella last December.

We found some old rusted farm tools. He was full of questions now. What's this? What's this? I was at a loss. Uhmm... That's a spring. That's a bolt. Those are wheels. I tried to explain that this was a plow and that a horse would be attached to the front to pull it. It would make a furrow, ditch, hole in the ground and then the farmer could plant his seeds. We examined this tool for a very long time.

We found another "no-touch" plant. This one conveniently had a sign next to it with a picture warning about its presence, Poison Oak. The hummingbirds buzzed angrily at us. No wonder. Their feeder was nearby and it was empty. As we walked along, I would ask him which way he wanted to go next and he would reply, "Follow me, Grandma!" He is growing up so fast. He is no longer Baby C., not even Toddler C. anymore. What do I call him now?

A Respite

Sorry I haven't posted much lately. I've been in a funk about the financial crisis and have been following the dictum that if you can't say anything nice, don't say anything at all. Many days I don't even turn the computer on so that I won't be tempted to check my stock prices again. Suffice it to say, it has been brutal.

But last Friday, my daughter and I took Toddler C. to the local pumpkin patch and had a great time there. He busied himself moving the pumpkins, the ones he could lift, from here to there and just looking at his cherubic face reminded me of the really important things in life.

Other things I have been doing to stay calm include knitting, of course. I have made good but not outstanding progress on the Maltese Shawl. I am on Repeat No. 61 out of 75 (yay!) and am wondering just how long this thing is going to be! And there is still a wide border to be added on all around the edge. Blocking it will be a problem because I am not sure I have the space to stretch it all the way out. Maybe I can do it by halves. There are some mistakes in there but I defy anyone to find them. When I give it to my DIL she can spend the rest of her life looking for them.

Happy Birthday

Does your family have birthday clusters? This week is one for our family with three birthdays and one birth day in the works.

Happy Birthday to Toddler C!

Happy Birthday to his Dad!

Happy Birthday to my Son!

And best wishes to Y. for a safe delivery!

The Ocean

My recent vacation was something of a staycation, like the comic strip character Kathy had, in that I stayed close to home, but my son and family had to travel from Arizona to get here to join us. There is so much to do in Southern California that a staycation is no hardship. We did lots of different things but if our vacation had a theme to it, it was the ocean.

We started off by taking the Catalina Express to spend a day on Catalina Island, where the photos above were taken on the Nautilus Undersea tour. I was amazed at how much there was to do over there and plan to go back to do some hiking.

I took my grandson Nick to Redondo Beach which is just a few miles from my home, and he had a grand time. Nick is used to swimming in a pool so I was wondering how he would manage with the waves, but they only added to his delight. This photo was taken in San Diego, but the beaches were very similar. Grandma got knocked off her feet a couple of times!

We then went off to Bolsa Chica to do some birdwatching. These are Elegant Terns, one young on the left and one adult on the right. These terns nest by the hundreds at this preserve and make quite a racket!

We did a few things that were inland, like Disneyland (how could I not take my two grandsons to Disneyland!), but even Legoland had some ocean displays.


For the second week, I rented a condo on on the Bayside of Mission Bay in San Diego so we could all be together there. This was the view (below). The open ocean was only a short two-block walk to the west. We did more swimming, shell-collecting, and got sunburned. (Don't tell my dermatologist.) I buried Nick in the sand and Toddler C. had fun knocking down any sand castles anybody tried to make. My son, Nick, and I went out kayaking on the bay. First time I have ever done that. It was great fun. On our last night, we took the paddle wheel steamboat tour of the bay.


And then there was SeaWorld, about which I have already blogged.

Remember Corky?

As you may have guessed, I haven't blogged lately because I have been on vacation. It's been a fantastic two weeks including a week with my older grandson Nick here in LA and then a week with all of the kids, kids-in-law, and grandkids in San Diego. We did so many different things that it seems longer than two weeks and it will take me awhile to catch up.

One of the things we did together was to go to SeaWorld. It was right across the bay from our condo on Mission Bay in San Diego. In fact, we watched the fireworks from the condo every night at 10:00 pm before going to bed. Any trip to SeaWorld has to include viewing the killer whale show for which they are famous. We sat out in the blazing hot sun on even hotter aluminum benches to see the 11:00 am show called "Believe." The first whale to rise up into the air and make a huge splash was introduced as Corky. Could this be the same Corky that I remembered from Marineland, I thought? The one that made headlines all the time when she gave birth to baby whales? The one that was sold to SeaWorld and taken away from us? Turns out, yes it is.

Corky (Corky II) is now approximately 43 years old, still performing, and from what I could tell, loving it. Orca whales can live to be 70 years old, but her mate from Marineland, Orky II, died in 1988 at age 26, after siring 7 calves with Corky (none of whom lived more than 46 days) and two more with other females. One of these later babies, Orkid, still survives and lives with Corky in San Diego. Corky became Orkid's surrogate mother when the calf was orphaned and now Orkid is very protective of the aging Corky.

There was a big brouhaha when Marineland was sold to SeaWorld in 1987 and the whales moved to San Diego. We loved Marineland and would take all visiting relatives there to see the whales, dolphins, and aquariums. It was right in our backyard, so to speak. However, the tanks at Marineland were small and that may have been the reason that Corky's babies did not survive. Also, since she was captured in the wild when she was only 4 or 5, she didn't know how to nurse her babies. But to add insult to injury, when the whales became part of the San Diego marine park, they were all referred to as "Shamu," SeaWorld's stage name for all their killer whales. So I was surprised and pleased to hear Corky referred to by her own name. After 39 years in captivity, she deserves it.

There were three whales in the show on Thursday, August 7th, but Corky was the only one introduced by name. It was good to see her again. After the show, I bought my younger grandson a plush toy whale and firmly told him that the whale's name was "Corky" not "Shamu."

Catching Up

Does this look like sunny Southern California? Last night the SBAS Dark Sky viewing session was fogged out at Ridgecrest. A couple of us had been waiting for weeks for a chance to use our scopes and set up even though things didn't look too promising at 8:00 p.m. The skies never cleared and I gave up at around 10:30. I think one lone star came out briefly in all that time. This is a frustrating hobby at times.

At least I got to practice setting up although I'll never know if I had perfect alignment or not. And I remembered to bring my dew shield and my watch with the seconds displayed which I usually forget. You need the exact time (and longitude and latitude) to set the go-to mechanism. I also brought a folding chair for relaxing now and then between viewings. But by the time I have all the equipment I need packed in the trunk of my car, there isn't room for much else. And take a look at those monster scopes that some of the guys have! After spending thousands (in either money or hours or both) on the scopes, you need to spend more money for a truck or van to haul it around!

The guys stood around "chewing the fat" about equipment which they tend to do even if the skies are clear. We are all bundled up because even though the temp only went down to 60 degrees, there was a cool breeze and when you are standing around not moving very much, you get cold fast. A few visitors came up to see the sights, but since there were no stars to see, they got a lesson on telescopes instead.

Earlier in the day, I had my student recital for the end of the year. Everyone played well and the parents were happy. It was a lovely afternoon.

On Friday, I went to visit Toddler C. again. I was happily taking pictures of him (love that blond, curly hair!) when my camera died! This afternoon, I have been searching the web to see if anyone else has had this problem of a half-black picture with their Canon Rebel cameras. Turns out my shutter has died. Apparently, this happens a lot and some people say that the shutter is only good for 10,000 pictures. Since I have owned the camera for four years and have taken 14,220 pictures I guess I should consider myself lucky. One site had detailed instructions for taking the camera apart and fixing it yourself, but do I want to do that? Other sites estimate the cost for repairing the camera at $200.

Well, I thought, maybe it's time for an upgrade, but the repair record for all of the Canon Rebels is not too good it seems. Some people are really angry about Canon's lack of good customer service and especially for their not acknowledging a known problem like this. So maybe I should really upgrade and go to the Canon 5D model. Its shutter is rated for 100,000 shots and I still want to be able to use all my Canon lenses.

Whatever, I do, I feel totally lost without my camera! I have a little Olympus that I can use in the meantime but it doesn't have the capability for close-ups that I need for bird photos.

Speaking of the birds, a Red-winged Blackbird came to my feeder this week! That is a very unusual thing for a blackbird to do. I didn't get a picture of him, not because the camera was broken, but because he was too fast for me. And he showed up two days in a row, too.

Snowflakes in June

I had a very busy morning this morning. Got a lot of things done including mailing genealogy stuff to my sister and my cousin, music to my accompanist, and a condolence note to a friend who recently lost her mother. Then I realized that today is the 10th anniversary of my own mother's passing. I felt I needed to commemorate the day and wanted to write a tribute to her. I decided the best thing to do would be to post photos of some of the gazillion crochet projects that she did over the course of her life. I have already posted about the lovely christening dress she made for me which didn't get used until last year by Baby C. I also posted about the last tablecloth she made which she left unfinished when she died at age 86.

So here are some of my favorite pieces. I'll start with the tablecloths she made for me. The first one was made especially for my round table, back when round tablecloths were hard to find, and features a pineapple theme. The pineapple is a symbol of hospitality.

American colonists began importing the pineapple from the Caribbean in the 17th century. Due to its seemingly exotic qualities and rareness, the pineapple soon became a symbol of hospitality in early America. Because trade routes between America and Caribbean islands were often slow and perilous, it was considered a significant achievement for a host to procure a ripe pineapple for guests. Similarly, some accounts tell of New England sea captains who, upon returning from trade routes in the Caribbean or Pacific, would place a pineapple outside their homes as a symbol of a safe return.

Due to its association with warmth and friendliness, pineapples in America were often used as the “crowning” piece in large displays of food. Similarly, the pineapple symbol was used frequently in the 18th and 19th centuries to decorate bed posts, tablecloths, napkins—anything associated with welcoming guests. Today, the pineapple remains a fitting symbol for the hospitality industry, and pineapple-themed products still abound. From lamps to candle holders to salt and pepper shakers and beyond, the pineapple motif says "Welcome!"

Another tablecloth she made for me is used when I open the table to its full dimensions with two added leaves. Again, it was hard to find tablecloths for such a large table. (But don't ask me the exact dimensions right now. I have forgotten them.)

The next three photos show doilies. I'm sorry I didn't take the time to press these out so they would look their best. They have been stored away for a long time. The third doilie, with the pineapple pattern, is still starched and pressed as my mother sent it to me. Nobody uses doilies anymore but at one time, doilies were placed under all table lamps, vases, figurines, and anything on display to protect the wood underneath. The backs of stuffed chairs and arm rests were also covered with similar lacy designs. The paper "doilies" that are used sometimes today on a dessert plate are an abomination in my opinion.

She also made a couple of bedspreads and afghans for me and my daughter, but I don't have photos of them. She made dresses, tops, sweaters, and booties for everyone in the family. Here is a photo of a concert black dress she made for me many years ago and a charming dress for my daughter and her dolly. She also made stuffed animals for all the babies in the family and a set of little teddy bears that were mascots for my niece's gymnastics team.

I will not part with any of these creations even though I may not be using some of them right now. But the ones that my children remember the most with fondness are the snowflakes shown at the top of this post. My mother would make these up off the top of her head and send them to everyone. Some I have used as Christmas tree decorations, but the ones in the photo have long black threads attached to them so I can hang them in the window in the wintertime. Pretend snow. Makes me feel like I'm home again.

Clean Up, Clean Up, Everyone, Clean Up!

That's the little chant my daughter sings to get Toddler C. to help with cleaning up his toys. She makes a game of it and it works! He helps to fill the toy box and the plastic bins with a smile and a song. I've been chanting that little ditty all morning and all last week, too. I was way behind in getting rid of the clutter around here. But since I want to have my other grandson come and stay with me for a week this summer, I have to clean up what used to be his father's bedroom and what is now the den.

I started with the books. There are books everywhere in this house due to the fact that I am a biblioholic. My husband had his fair share, but I way outstripped him. When my son's bedroom became the den, we installed huge bookcases along one wall. I thought I would never fill them. Hah! They are overflowing as you can see. Most of the shelves have books behind the visible books. And I am ashamed to admit, all those books are mine except for one lone shelf way at the end up at the top where my husband had a few books. But to be fair, he had an office at work where he could hoard his stash and I have found boxes out in the garage filled with his college textbooks. We also shared many interests, so the books on astronomy, birds, and quantum mechanics were read by both of us.

I even have books in the pantry—cookbooks, what else? Now that I am a low-carber, I don't have shelves and shelves of packaged goods like cereals, cookies, crackers, etc. anymore, so I filled the shelves with cookbooks. Then they are handy when I need them. The living room has a fancy bookcase filled with art books. I never could resist buying the beautiful coffee-table-type books they sell at exhibitions on the exhibition. I will have much more restraint in the future because now there is no more room.

OK, I know the obvious is to throw some away, or give some away (to whom?) I am doing that. Just this morning, I threw away about five books I bought in 1973 on how to get yourself published. Blogging on the Internet has taken care of that urge. In fact, the Internet has taken care of a lot of research problems. I don't need any of the directories or encyclopedic type books anymore, because I get that information from the web now. Besides, those kinds of books are out of date before they even get printed. And now there's Google Books.com, where you can find all kinds of goodies. I recently found some out-of-print genealogy books there that I was able to download as PDFs. I am keeping my huge, unabridged Random House dictionary, though. I don't want to have to fire up the computer just to look up one little word.

Speaking of the computer, I am cleaning that up, too. Literally. Here is a link to Microsoft's tips on cleaning your computer. At first, I thought they meant disk cleaning and de-fragging, but they mean actually opening the thing up and using a Q-tip to clean the dust out of the inside. But I am doing the disk-cleaning and de-fragging, too. It's so much easier than other types of cleaning. You just click the mouse on OK and the computer does the rest.

Once you get started, says my daughter throwing things away gets easier. I'm not so sure. It isn't as easy as it used to be to throw things away. I feel obligated to re-cycle, and then there is hazardous waste to consider. You can't just throw things in the garbage bin anymore and be done with it. In fact, I have a book on how to simplify your life by Scaling Down, which tells you what to do with your stuff. Even though I have no plans to move anywhere, I found the book helpful. Reading it also allowed me to procrastinate a bit longer. But now, where do I put the book?

The garden needs cleaning up, too. The spring growth has made many plants too large, so they need pruning and cutting back, and the weeds have taken over my herb garden. But that's another post.

Did I mention all the music I have collected over the years?

Oak Canyon

I took Baby C. (now Toddler C.) to the Oak Canyon Nature Center last week when I was babysitting him. It was one of those suddenly hot days that we had here in LA, but it was nice and cool under the shade of the oak trees. We had a grand time. The Center has a room full of exhibits—bugs, snakes, turtles, etc.—that fascinated him and there were several groups of school children being guided through which fascinated him also. Because of the school children's visit they had extra stuffed animals out on display and Toddler C. got to "pet" the bobcat, raccoon, and owl, and touch a real snakeskin that its owner had shed.

We crossed one of the many bridges that span the creek that runs down the canyon and were lucky to see a wild Mallard family with about 7 baby chicks in the water. On previous visits to the center, we have seen Wood Ducks who are regular winter visitors to the canyon, but they were not there this time. They may have already left for the summer. Toddler C. has very sharp eyes and can spot a "birr" long before I can. He can usually see the Wood Ducks hiding near the shady banks when I can't. We saw lots of lizards, too, which I tried to explain were not birds.

We climbed a path that goes up the hillside by steps, some of which were very steep, and so he needed my help getting up. He thought that this was a lot of fun but by the time we got to the top, he was tired and I had to carry him down the other end of the trail. Along the trail we found some lovely Caterpillar Phacelia, but I didn't have my camera with me and I was not about to go all the way back down with Toddler C. to get it. (He wasn't the only one who was tired.) Luckily, we later came across more of it and now that he was comfortably sitting in his stroller, Toddler C. patiently let me take all the pictures I wanted.

Bush Monkey Flower. This covered the hillside and was very pretty.

Black Sage. This was everywhere the sun shone.

This last one is Milk Thistle which is not a native. It comes from the Mediterranean region and is considered something of a pest in the West. While it is an ancient medicinal herb, it is toxic to livestock.

Favorite Things

I think I have been really good about not posting too many pictures of my two grandsons, but this one of Baby C. that my daughter sent me yesterday is just so cute! My daughter labelled it, "My Favorite Things" (and from the looks of it, eating is one of his favorite things, too.) She says that to make the photo complete, he would need to be holding a cell phone, a regular phone, a camera, and an iPod as well. Buttons are just so fascinating! When we go for walks in his neighborhood, he tries to climb the steps to every door to ring the doorbell. Taking his picture has become almost impossible since I let him push the buttons on the back of my camera to see the photos come up on the LCD display. As soon as I take the camera out, he tries to grab it.

A few weeks ago, his favorite things were pots and pans. I gave him a couple of old pans from my kitchen, real grownup pans, not little toys, and definitely not plastic, and he acted like I had just given him the Crown Jewels. He spent days carting the pans around the house, moving them from here to there and back again, putting things inside, and clanging the lids. He loves to be held up high to see what's cooking on the stove except he is getting awfully heavy. His first word was "hot!" Maybe he'll be a chef, or a doorman, or an elevator operator who pushes buttons all day long.

The Morning After

I spent the morning cleaning up the house after the little tornado known as Baby C. hit yesterday. Boy can he move fast! I had two boxes full of toys for him to play with while he was here, but he wasn't particularly interested in those, he went after the real knickknacks and other things that I have around the house. It took three adults to watch him, try to predict his moves, and grab things out of his reach before they got thrown on the floor and broken.

After I got the house back in shape, I kept on going and decided to organize my UFOs. I purchased KnitPicks Options needles last year and even though the set came with two 24-inch cables and two 32-inch cables, plus the two 40-inch cables I bought extra, I never seem to have the right size available when I need it. KnitPicks also provides little screw on caps so that you can use the cables as stitch holders and that was my downfall. I had so many unfinished projects on holders that there weren't any cables left to work on something new. (Yes, my mother tried to teach me to finish what I started before going on to something new, but sometimes I just can't resist.)

A couple of weeks ago I started the Maltese Shawl for my DiL on a 40-inch cable, the only one that was free, but that cable turned out to be too long and it was getting in the way. I wanted to switch to a 32-inch cable. The Opaque Sweater which was almost finished still needed one of the 32-inch cables and the back of Sorrel has been held on the other 32-inch cable since last winter. So I worked on the sweater until the cable was freed and then for some reason got out Sorrel to have a look at it. After I realized there were only a few rows to go before the back was finished, I went to work and got it done. Why is it that we put things off sometimes that really only need a few more minutes of concentrated effort to get completed?

When I worked on Sorrel last winter, I was having trouble with the yarn and finding which needles were best for working with it. The yarn is a one-ply Rowan Tapestry in a weird combination of soybean protein fiber and wool. It splits very easily. The Options needles were too pointy and split the yarn with every stitch. I tried bamboo and found that the yarn wouldn't slip and slide very easily with those. Today I discovered why. The size needle called for is a US6 and the pattern is from the UK where they use a 4mm needle. I only realized recently that the standard US6 is 4.25mm and my bamboo needles are this size while the Options size 6 is 4mm. The bamboo was not a perfect match. Why didn't somebody tell me?!! By luck, I recently purchased some Addi Turbos in size 6 just to try them and these are 4mm. Not only that, they are metal and therefore smooth, but are not as pointy as the Options. Perfect for Sorrel!!

Now if I could just find the size 10.5 needle tip that I seem to have misplaced...

Getting Caught Up

I'm a little behind in my blogging. Time to get caught up.

My two grandsons had terrific costumes this year for Halloween. Baby C. is turning into a real charmer, as you can see. He's at the stage right now where he likes to point. His octopus costume was a big hit with everyone. Nick, dressed as the Grim Reaper, was scaring all the little kids on his block and even his own friends didn't recognize him!

Here in L.A., the skies are blue again but still very hazy. We've been having morning fog every day which sometimes lifts by noon and sometimes lasts all day as gray skies. The second round of Santa Ana winds we were due to have this weekend didn't materialize, fortunately. But unfortunately, the air quality has remained only moderate since the fires have been brought under control.

Baby Boom

Baby C. celebrated his first birthday over the weekend and there were lots of babies at the party. The guest of honor had a really good time and seemed to realize that this was all about him when we sang "Happy Birthday." The other babies, who ranged in age from 8 weeks to 4 years had a great time, too. Moms and Dads were kept busy chasing after all these tots, but it was a lot of fun.

Baby C. wasn't too sure about the birthday cake, but he ate it all! Even though my daughter removed the frosting, there was still plenty of sugar in there. But a birthday without a cake is unthinkable!

Things

My weekend in Arizona gave me the chance to get caught up on some of my knitting and crochet projects. I finished the knitting and crochet part of Gedifra 706 from Highlights 051, but I still need to block it and sew the pieces together. And I have started Gedifra 848 from Highlights 061. The Top Soft yarn is so much easier to work with than the California Like that I used for the 706 pattern with all the little ribbons attached to it. And it is very soft! I did enjoy using my dusty crocheting skills for the flowers in California Color, though. I'll show photos in a few days.

My 10-year old grandson and I also finished his Pikachu which we started at Christmas time. Generally, I would get a piece started for him and he would finish it. At the end, I did all the sewing together so if it doesn't look like the Pikachu you know, it's my fault, not my grandson's. There weren't any pictures with the pattern probably due to copyright concerns. Anyway, he is delighted with the results. He was so pleased with himself that on his own he went looking for more free patterns on the Internet and found the delightful Things pictured above. After getting him started on his first one, he took over and finished it by himself including the sewing. (I think his Mom sewed on the button eyes for him.) He has now become a crocheting expert, has the pattern memorized, and is churning out Things for everyone!

Meanwhile, my daughter sent me a picture of Baby C. in the raglan sweater that I made for him. It finally fits him!

Spring!

Baby C. and I went birdwatching this morning at the nature center near where he lives. Spring is certainly in the air and the birds were singing their hearts out. On our short walk, we heard and saw a Bewick's Wren and a California Thrasher, both expert singers. We also saw Acorn Woodpeckers, Yellow-rumped Warblers, Scrub Jays, and House Finches. Most surprising of all, a Warbling Vireo is making a nest under the garage roof eaves just outside Baby C's front door.

In my backyard, the White-crowned Sparrows left town almost two weeks ago. That is very early for them. They didn't even sing to thank me for all the sunflower seeds I gave them before they left.

Just about everything that should be blooming at this time of year is blooming including my new arugula plant. That has been, in Kathy's words, a most satisfactory plant, providing me with leaves for my salads all winter long.

The redbud is putting on a spectacular display this year, as is the azalea.

And the freesias smell wonderful.