LA Zoo and Rehearsal Dinner

Friday 13 October, the Colvers met us at our Airbnb where they left some napping stuff for Evy and a change of clothes for the evening's activities. The drive from Alison's home in Glendora was just a bit too far away to keep running back and forth. We all piled in their car and drove down to Griffith Park where the LA Zoo is located. We had a fun day before returning to our quiet little cottage for a nap for Evy. After a rehearsal for the wedding, which flower girl Evy attended, we went to Brig and Michelle's for a very large family Mexican dinner.

 Ready for an adventure on a beautiful  California morning

 Momma and Dadda Colver

 Evelyn was enthusiastic about the meercats

 Kris and Katy were happy to skip the reptiles

 Komodo dragons are Meags' favorite

 Off to find a lunch spot

 Katy brought a delicious lunch

 Evelyn fed Philip the giraffe

 Group shot

 Not just a zoo, but a botanical garden, too

 At the dinner with H&C and Michelle and her mom

 Lots of mouths to feed

 Oivia and Ricky

 These guys turned out some tasty tacos!

 Evelyn liked the little votive candles that didn't burn her fingers

 Pensive Ollie, jubilant Aunties Meags and Em

These guys had a happy reunion

Another fun day with more to come. This is all for now.

OXO

D.

The Los Angeles Foothills

With Audible playing, the trip to LA on Thursday 12 October was a snap. Our Airbnb was located just blocks from Brig and Michelle's house in one direction, and Descanso Gardens, the wedding venue, in the other direction. I always forget how beautiful California is, but it is wonderful. That's likely why everyone moved there. After getting settled, we headed down the foothills to Pasadena to meet the Colvers and Reeses for a bit of play at Central Park followed by dinner. Old Pasadena is great with vintage architecture, wonderful mature trees, and an excellent array of good food to choose from. We chose ramen and finished the evening with some excellent pastries from Taiwanese bakers at 85°C Bakery Cafe. It was good to see Alison, Gorden, et al.

 Our Airbnb was located on Crescent Avenue

 This Craftsman beauty stands at the top of the street

 This Monterey-style Beaux-Arts house was our next-door neighbor

 Our place was more modest, but very comfortable

 Cozy Acorn Airbnb

 This was an unexpected surprise as we arrived

 The patio was for the use of lodgers

 Kris in the kitchen

 Comfortable bed

 Evelyn is a climber

 Fine old building on the corner of Green and Fair Oaks

 Lots of food choices in Old Pasadena

 Alison and Sir Thomas Tom

 Whole crew

 Green street after dark

85°C Bakery Cafe: delicious Asian/French pastries

This was a nice start to Olivia and Ricky's wedding weekend. More to come, but this is all for now.

OXO

D.

Back to Mesa

On Monday 9 October we returned to Mesa for a few more days with Grandmother Boynton. She suggested that I might enjoy walking at the Riparian Preserve, so on Tuesday before sunrise, I headed south to Gilbert. The preserve consists of a number of large ponds that are filled with clean (post waste treatment) effluent. Gilberts water supply is a deep underground lake and these ponds allow the water to filter down through the earth and replenish the supply. The ponds are rotated so the algae can't build up and stop the filtration, so not all the ponds have water at once. The place is quite wild and natural and at the early morning hour was cool and beautiful. It actually put me in mind of the London Wetland Centre. The name, Riparian Preserve, makes me smile a little because of Hyacinth Bucket's riparian entertainments. Tuesday night Kim arranged for the extended family to meet for a final summer picnic. It was dark by 6:00 PM, but very pleasant. Wednesday evening we took Grandmother to the Angry Crab for a bucket of shrimp and crab legs.

 Riparian Preserve

 Ditto

 Ditto

 Ditto

 The Superstitions at sunrise

 This is the view from the Gilbert Library

 Desert-scape

 The sun touched the prickly pear cactus

 The color looks quite different without the sun

 A wonderful tunnel of trees

 Heron? Crane? Someone knows, just not I

 Connor with Kyle and his fiancee, Ashlyn Nichols

Shrimp and crab's legs

We left Mesa on Thursday 12 October and are now enjoying California. There will be more, but this is all for now.

OXO

D.

Peoria Weekend

We drove to Peoria on Friday 6 October to spend the weekend with the Youngs as they began their fall break. Since traffic was abominable, we met in Glendale for supper at La Piazza Al Forno. On Saturday, Gavin had a work-related dinner, so the rest of us had dinner at The Cornish Pasty Company in Scottsdale. We arrived early enough to do some serious browsing at the Poison Pen Bookstore nearby. Since it was an English dinner, I made a sticky toffee pudding for dessert. I am still tweaking my recipe and am close to getting it where I want it. Sunday we went to Westgate for some retail therapy and then grilled burgers for supper.

 Italian food in Old Downtown Glendale

 I officially added palo verde to my narrow list of passions on

a morning walk on the arroyo

Murder mysteries are their specialty

 Al fresco supper at The Cornish Pasty Company

 Dickie's sticky...

 Carmel sauce and custard

 Taste of England

 Westgate

 Committed shoppers

Goodbye for now -- see you during the holidays

We went back to Mesa, the Youngs bought a new car and headed to the mountains for their fall break.

That's all for now.

OXO

D.