pretty as a picture

Good morning.
I've just returned from my morning walk.
And.....here's some pics......

Above, the little doggy park near on of the entrances to our community. The only grass you'll see inside the community.
Below is a Chaste tree and Bird of Paradise

Every year, just before Memorial Day, our Veterans club puts up flags on all the light poles on the main street that goes through the community of 2025 homes. They also put them on all the light posts in the parking lot of the community building. 

They will stay up through the 4th of July.
We have a very active veterans group. They also have several cookouts and picnics during the year to raise funds for a number of veteran causes.
And look closely and you'll see a full moon.....

A pretty sunrise....

Another cactus blooming...

And I even saw a peach tree loaded with peaches!

I've also seen lemon and lime trees. I would think they would need quite a bit of water. That was the main reason  the apple tree in our back yard died. We weren't here much the first 2 years we had the house and the drip was set for the entire yard. The previous owner must have supplemented the watering. But I didn't want an apple tree anyway, so we had it removed when our backyard was redone.
And now that the weather has gotten hotter, I've had to water my potted plants nearly every day. I think besides the heat, the low humidity is sucking moisture from the plants. But, they're looking pretty good right now. I'll try to remember to take some pics.
That's it for now....

pie and moolah

Good morning.
I just got back from my morning walk.
The weather has been perfect! Sunny and 80's.
Been busy cleaning and baking.
Baked another pie this week.

A black seedless grape pie. They had the grapes on sale for just .88 lb. Usually black grapes are hard to find at any price!
To keep it a bit healthier, I used Splenda for the sugar substitute and a crumb topping instead of another crust. Looks like I could have used a little more cornstarch to hold it together.   :-)

It is very good! Black grapes have more substance and flavor compared to green or red.
And I won $109 at the casino!
We get a promotional mailing from our local casino nearly every month. This month we had $20 in free slot play divided into $5 increments, one for each week. So we go over once each week, stick our card in a machine, load the $5 free slot play and play until we use up the free slot play, and cash out whatever we might have left. Sometimes it's .20. Sometimes, it's $1 or $2 dollars. Sometimes the machine takes it all. Well this week, I  hit 9 matching somethings on one spin, and won $109.00! Cashed it out and left very happy!
So besides the free slot play we occasionally get in the mail and the weekly free slot tournament we go to, over at the Fiesta Casino, we get our gambling fix in without spending a penny!
Now it's time to go out and buy a Sunday paper, and get a raspberry fritter to go with our coffee.    :-)

Venice

Good morning.
I've just returned from my morning walk.
Beautiful out this morning. Sunny and 70.
Back in Santa Monica, here's a very large unusual flowering plant we saw....

It was pretty impressive.
One day, we headed over to Venice Beach. It's a 2 mile walk from the Santa Monica pier, or and easy bus ride, which is what we did.

Venice beach is a very eclectic area. Was a lot of fun people watching

I thought I took more pics, but my phone only has these 3.   :-(
Besides people watching, there were a lot of shops and numerous tattoo parlors. Apparently some people come to Venice to get tats.   :-)
And here's a tree near our hotel....

I've never seen trees with loaded with such pretty purple flowers! But we saw a lot of beautiful flowers and plants here.
So that was our little trip to Santa Monica. Was a very enjoyable trip. Saw a lot of cool stuff, and had a nice time. Most importantly, we got there safe, and got home safe. And no massive highway delays.
Our next big trip will be back to Michigan this summer.

Palisades Park

Good morning.
Another stop during our stay in Santa Monica was Palisades Park. A  long bluff that separates the city from the beach.

You can see the pier behind Craig. The park starts a short distance from the pier and goes about 1 1/2 miles north.

The road below is the Pacific Coast Highway.

The park has numerous overlooks with great views of the beach, ocean, and coastline. It also has walking trails and a lot of unusual plants.

These funny looking trees grow along the ground instead of up.

Then there are these very large smooth barked trees that line a lot of the neighborhood streets.

Had some of the best nachos ever in a small restaurant about 2 blocks from our hotel. And pretty good margaritas too!    :-)
A few more pics tomorrow!

Santa Monica

Good morning.
We've just returned from a 5 day trip to Santa Monica CA.
It took us about 5 1/2 hours to drive from Vegas. There is a lot of traffic in  the LA area, and we had to go around downtown to get to our destination.  But the traffic was well worth it. Santa Monica is very nice. Stayed about 3 miles from the beach, as everything is quite expensive. But it was an easy bus ride down to the beach and the pier. We actually walked down to the beach the first day. But took the bus each day after that.    :-)
They have a huge expansive beach!

We had clouds every morning that would burn off later in the afternoon. Temps were only in the upper 60's which is normal for them this time of year.

The beach stretches from Pacific Palisades just north of Santa Monica all the way down to Venice.
And of course, one of the highlights of Santa Monica is the pier....

Built. I think, around 1906. It has an amusement park on the pier along with restaurants, shops and bars.
And also great views of the beach!

I'll post more when I get a chance......

beach scene

Good morning.
Just a quick post today.
Having fun on the coast!

another flower post

Good morning.
I've just returned from my walk, and I have some more pics to share.....

This is the biggest, I think Agave, that I've seen around here. It's a beautiful specimen!
The yellow flowers are on a Lantana, which you'll see several colors in the following pics....

Then, I forget the name of these bushes, but they get loaded with red, white, or pink flowers...

And the tree behind is a Desert Willow.
So not a lot going on. Enjoying the weather, doing some grilling, and busy planning a coast to coast Panama Canal Cruise for early next year.

taco pizza and a pannama canal cruise

Good afternoon.
A couple of days ago, Craig made a taco pizza.....

Used picante sauce instead of pizza sauce, and also green onions and black olives....

taco seasoned ground beef and of course....cheese!!!

After it was cooked, added chopped lettuce and tomatoes. Tasty!
Been looking online at cruises again. Trying to talk Craig into a Panama Canal Cruise.
That would be a 14 day cruise from Florida through the Canal and end in LA.
So I've been looking at all the different cruise lines and ships and dates. It's a lot more complicated having to take flights into consideration along with the cruise dates. But There's no rush.
I also helped a neighbor with her drip irrigation system. She had a small tree put in and they only had one drip on it instead of 3-4. So I added a couple more for her.
And I'm still walking every morning and sometimes with Craig in the early afternoon. I do about a 40 minute walk early and a 25 min walk later.
And right now the weather is great! Low 60's in the morning and mid 80's in the afternoon. And nearly nonexistent humidity. Perfect!
Now I think it's time for a cocktail on the patio.......

Happy Mother's Day

cactus in bloom

Good morning.
Just got back from my morning walk. A nice cool 60 this morning.
Here's some of the latest pics from my walk.....

Quite a lot of cactus blooming right now in very vivid colors.

And below is some type of yucca.

And I don't remember the name of this tree, but it has green trunk and branches and gets loaded with yellow flowers this time of year.

And below is why I'm glad I don't have one in or near my yard...

The ground gets covered in yellow. A mess to clean up.
We've had a couple of very brief power outages the last couple of days. Just a few seconds each. But long enough that I have to reset clocks. No one seems to know what has caused them, and all our power lines are buried. I suspect they are working on equipment somewhere and had to briefly cut power while adding or replacing something. But for some reason, it has caused a neighbors garage coach lights to flash.
To give you some background....
When they built our houses, they installed a special light switch by the front door that turns on and off the garage coach lights and the  front porch lights. Also on the switch is a button you can push that will cause those lights to flash. It's suppose to be used during emergencies. It allows first responders to quickly find your house. Well, I wanted led lights and the flash switch wouldn't work with those, so I replaced the switch with a timer switch. So my coach lights come on at dusk and go off at dawn. That's what I wanted. My neighbor, want her lights to do the same, but still wanted the emergency option, so she found light bulbs that were dusk to dawn and would work in the coach lights. Well, for some reason, when the power went off and back on, it tripped the switch into flash mode. I first noticed it when I went out for my morning walk yesterday. Well, she's back in Minnesota. Fortunately, she gave me the garage door code, so I was able to go over and reset the switch. Well last evening, the power went off and on again. I didn't notice because i had fallen asleep in the chair, and Craig had already gone to bed. By the time I woke up to go to bed, there were 2 tucks out front with flashing lights. It was our neighborhood watch, and Securitis from our master community. They thought someone was in distress because of the flashing light. I went out and explained the issue to them and reset the switch. I'll inform the owner of the issue and see if she decides to do anything about it.
So besides watching her house, I'm picking up mail for another neighbor who's currently gone and the paper for another neighbor that's out of town for the weekend. And I don't mind because it gives me something to do.   :-)
I love retirement!