I’ve been getting up very early so have been alternating days between walking over to and along the beach or going for a 40 minute bike ride. This morning it was off to Summerland. Tried something new this morning. I put an earplug in my freeway side ear. It was very helpful in creating a more peaceful ride.
Walking through the salt marsh over to the shore
I love getting up early and walking over to and along the shore. A very special getting out for me during our Covid-19 quarantine.
I’ve started taking my camera along to allow shots the iPhone cannot capture as clearly. The heron and egret shots below show this clearly. Tap/Click to see larger versions and note how the volume of water in the salt marsh can vary from almost zero, as in the shot of the egret, to full, shown with the heron.
Beach walk to Little Dubai
When the tide is low I can easily walk through the 8′ deep outlet of Santa Monica Creek at Sand Point then on to Santa Claus Lane passing the nearby and fascinating multi home middle eastern complex I call Little Dubai.
Kate Wolf Music Festival with The Allens
Tom’s off for AidsLifeCycle 2019, his Twelfth!!
That’s 6,500 miles if you’re counting
That’s 6,500 miles if you’re counting
First let’s watch him as he rides by on his way to Los Angeles, 545 miles, then a few less dynamic images. Click on any to see a larger size and a caption to go with.
Jalama Beach for Jalama Burgers (What Else?)
I took the #20 bus into Summerland this morning and then walked up almost to Carla’s. It had started to rain so she picked me up and saved me a last quarter mile in the drizzle.
Off we went to Jalama Beach for a delicious Jalama Burger, a beautiful drive there and back, and a nice walk on the beach. An interesting part of my day was leaving my reading glasses at home. With my new (cataract removed) eyes it was no problem for the eight hours I was away but I couldn’t use my cell phone or read other small type. A blessing in disguise in retrospect and a very nice get away/outing. Thanks Carla.
And a few more images from the day:
Carol Bornstein’s Birthday hike around the Aliso Loop
Carol was up in Santa Barbara for the weekend nearest her birthday and asked several of us to once again circle the Aliso Loop to celebrate. Here are the lucky eight that made it to the trailhead on a beautiful Easter Sunday morning. Don’t miss the fun video at the end.
And finally, a birthday chorus by the Aliso Loop Players
I finally decided to upgrade my ten year old computer. But after I purchased and received what I thought were all the parts I needed; CPU, motherboard, RAM, and video card I became aware that I had purchased a CPU that required water cooling.
Thus began a one week saga of me getting said water cooler, trying all day one day to fit it in my old case, deciding to buy a new case, discovering that it would be larger than I wished, then, thinking outside the box, realized that the cooler itself would work fine outside the box/case.
Herewith are several shots along the way and a video of me with my new rig.
Early Morning Bike ride to Ventura
I got up early to ride down to breakfast at the Cajun Kitchen and remembered to take my camera so stopped along the way to take a few shots. I’m always fascinated by the flare stack just south of the Rincon and it being early took a few shots of it from far and near. The last three are pretty fun too, a Shasta trailer won by the owners on the television show “Let’s Make a Deal” in 1961!
As I rode by the mouth of the Ventura River I was shocked by how much it has changed since I had seen it over many years as a peaceful sandy lagoon with very few rocks. Click on the images below to see how things used to be then watch my short YouTube for what has happened recently.
Union Pacific was doing a lot of track maintenance and upgrading as I rode by. One of the more interesting units was this track tamper, I think quite fascinating. I found the YouTube below showing how the machine works. Here is the description that with the original YouTube: “The mechanism on the front lets the rest of machine know how much a certain section of track needs to be raised. Then, a claw picks up the rail and ties and spikes poke down into the ballast, pushing it under the track. Once the tamper completed its job, a ballast regulator came through to smooth out the rocks.”