August 31, 2011

• California Trip #1

  I had such a wonderful  time in California.

  I don’t have as much time as I would like to tell about all the details, but I’ll try to soon post all the fun stuff.

                       

  I stayed with my youngest sister, Nancy.  She took me to my old house (a house belonging to my bio-parents) and I was in awe of the tall hills.  Not much has changed with the house except it used to be pale yellow, and the cement steps from the driveway to front porch are new.  AND, we never left up Christmas lights, nor did we ever put up ANY Christmas lights.  That is the new owner’s creative addition to the house! 

            

  I’ve been in Oklahoma long enough to be impressed with the hilly area I once called home.  To think I walked those streets to and from school.  I’d NEVER be able to do that now, not without a vigrous bodybuilding work out a few weeks prior to the attempt.

          

                                                      

                 
  She took me to the old high school, just down the hill and around the corner from my old house.  They’ve given it a fantastic face lift.  It used to look like a gray penitentiary and the new color and softened, curved, additional buildings give it a nicer look.

          

  The theater, band room, and choir room used to be small, small, small.  It was called the little theater because it only seated about 200 people.  The building is now a 2 story building that includes art rooms and the theater is a “state of the art,” super hi-tech theater.  I couldn’t get inside the building, but Nancy took my picture in ftont of the huge oak tree by the theater.   When the school was built in the late ’50s, they poured the road around the tree to preserve it.

            

  Nancy’s yard was awesome.  Everything was green.  The front yard has a variety of different colored rose bushes (trees) to divide their property from the neighbor’s front yard.  I didn’t get any pictures of that, but the sidewalk to the front door is so fragrant.

                  
  When you go out the back door, to the backyard, there is a lemon tree (tall) directly ahead of you.  I had forgotten about it and saw green balls on my first glance.

                       

  Then I saw the HUGE lemons.  We NEVER see lemons like that in Oklahoma.  One lemon was larger than my hand could grasp.

           

  She also had a lovely arbor and bench with a grape vine curving up and over it. 

           

  As Nancy & husband Bruce tied up the newest growing branches, I saw clusters of grapes under the leaves – the grapes the birds hadn’t found. 

                            

  They were still sour and not ready for picking, but she held a large cluster for me to take my picture.  It looks like a picture for a vineyard, doesn’t it?
   

  The pictures were taken Saturday morning.

  In the afternoon, Nancy and Bruce had the family over (they live scattered throughout the San Francisco Bay Area and my Mom & oldest sister are closer to Lake Tahoe) to visit me (a mini family reunion) and it was so good to just be in the room breathing the same air as my family. 

             
                                                          (My mom and sister-in-law Kerin)

  I’ll gave to tell more later.  I MUST get ready for school.  No time to proof this.  Still h having trouble with the keyboard keys sticking and not typing some letters.  Trusting you get the drift of this message!

  Be Blessed  ~ 

  • 10:19 am
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