Flying Time ~ Keeping It Almost Simple

Not that I'm flying anywhere yet but the day is closing in fast and we've done some slow whirlwinds of hikes and dinners and winetastings that have sped up the road to the time window. There, is that enough mixed metaphors? 

The Girl and I took a 'round the berry farm mushroom hunt and discovered at least 11 different kinds, kicked out by some days of rain and sun, none of which I know anything about. We'd hoped to go to a mushroom seminar but maybe next year (not that I plan on being here this late next year, but you know about plans).

Random catching up here:

How blueberries look in late fall

There are hundreds of these around!

Where the Turtle will live this winter

Honky Tonk night is a tradition here at the farm.
When it's warm, it is outside, with some serious dancing going on.

Some great socks

The fuel tank finally arrived and my son installed it, once we realized we really couldn't pull the Turtle backwards. She started up at the first cranking and doesn't leak a drop. Well done, Elijah!

The sky show here has a different but equally gorgeous kind of beauty.

There are a LOT of hiking trails really close by, miles of them, leading to mountain tops and sometimes all the way to the ocean. We climbed about 600 feet on this one before the fast coming darkness had us turn around. 

We'd barely gotten started before we saw a man heading toward us, carrying a paper bag. He'd scored some huge and beautiful Chanterelle mushrooms up on the ridge. As we admired them he pulled one out with no fanfare and handed it to me. I felt like I'd been given a gift of a beautiful blossom...and I had.

Some random mushrooms along the way

The Girl with her walking stick

Some friends had hiked this path all the way to Jones Beach, about eight miles. When we heard it was going to be 26 degrees that night, we decided it might be a good idea to be sure they wanted to stay, plus, I'd not seen Jones Beach before. A long and many s turns with many cliffs dirt road goes off the main (one and a half car wide) road (yes, I was ridiculously gripping the door handle - why does that seem to help?), ending at a gate beyond which is a path to the beach. 

The Girl and Sarah being dolphins

This eucalyptus grove is old, but the trees are not indigenous.
In fact, there is a strong love/hate relationship with the tree here,
much like various imported species at home. 

And then there was Thanksgiving. With a number options, we went to the 'closed for a private party' restaurant of friends. Family and friends made up about 40 people to eat food for about 140 people. Two Turduckens, hams, a humble turkey that never got touched and sides aplenty, along with beautiful cheeses and desserts and wines. It was almost overwhelming just to look at, let alone feast on. We did our best. 

Sarah made cornbread stuffing, collard greens and cranberry sauce.
I made deviled eggs with the kitchen sink thrown in. Ali made a spinach and artichoke stuffed baguette. Elijah made a sweet potato dish. 

Just that on my plate, with some duck of the turducken of course, filled me up, much to my 1 in the morning wake up regret of not eating more.

What the eggs got stuffed with - a favorite of The Girl

Just some more beauty

The kids table

This morning was another frozen morning. The deer are in their winter dark coats, seen from the window of the Turtle. 

No photos of the two winetastings we went to yesterday (Whitethorn Winery and Briceland Vineyards) due to bad planning on my part. Needless to say, much good local wine was tasted plus LOCAL OYSTERS! Finally appeasing my oyster jones along with a chat with the son of the oysterman, who will take over the business when his father retires. There are some really good wines out here...

The Girl is hanging on my arm, waiting for me to finish this and check on our mushrooms, so to not have to hear 'is this the last picture?' again, it's time to freeze my ass off enjoy a walk with her.

Have a sunny Sunday! Do something slipperyshiny.

Princess Angel Fairy Kitty Cat
How to dress for a walk with Grandma
(minus the coat and gloves)

Simple Sunday ~ California

Curiosity.

Overcoming fears by 'how?'

Oh teachers! Thank you.

In the Woods, In the Town

This feels like a two day post, but that is only because we started the day pretty early, going to town for errands, and ended it early, around 2:30 a.m., after a crazy fun ice cream party at the local radio station KMUD. 

I'll let the photos do the talking. Sort of like being a ventriloquist but different. 

On the road to Garberville. Luckily, I saw no rock slides.

The varieties of trees makes for mad colors, many fading now, some brilliant.

Loving the reds

A little bit of everything

Another Toyota motorhome in town

 There are more Toyota's in this area than I've ever seen in my life. Trucks, cars, motorhomes, and a lot more trucks. 

There is a redwood grove between town and home.
I'd never stopped there before; it was time!

That is a pretty accurate comparison and this wasn't one of the really huge ones.

We got a call from a friend who is a DJ at the local cool radio station to come to an ice cream party. At midnight. With kids invited. 'We're not dead', I told my son, 'let's do it!' So we did. A boy named Jovial had taken his winning ticket and saved his own money to have an ice cream party. There was a LOT of ice cream. And a lot of music too.

We all screamed for ice cream!

Being welcomed into the studio

The Girl does a little intro on the air

Jovial played a few tunes live
(Walk Like You, from the Jungle Book), Ticket, What a Day for a Daydream
He was, in a word, amazing

And hilarious

Sarah reads a community announcement

The Girl and Jovial rockin' it 

Lots of dancing goin' on 

I won't be surprised if we're hearing about Jovial in the next few years, he's a total natural in front of people and super sweet and funny too. What a combo!

"Hi! It's 1 o'clock and it's past my bedtime!"

It was time to head back home, though everyone was still pretty wide awake. But a nice, long cruise through the dark trees and winding roads can mellow out just about anyone, and it did. 

Redwoods, good people, that local feeling of strong community (KMUD just had a pledge drive and raised 97 plus thousand dollars in support - taking care of the local lives and the locals gave back; they are the equivalent of the coconut telegraph on Culebra, plus music) combine to make something pretty special in a place where 'down the road' might mean down the road, up a mountain, around a few cliffhangers and then a walk to the actual spot. Community caring is what keeps it together and it feels wonderfully familiar. Even with three layers of clothes on. 

If you want to listen to the show, you can go to the KMUD link and hit number 13 for November 21, Early Morning Anarchy and Comedy for Change to hear Jovial play between other moments.

Friday night in the not big city...

Have a supercalifornialistic style Saturday. Do something sub lime.