Here and There Blog

In meetings all week so enjoy the beach!

Slight loss of charged camera batteries led to the time delay in part 2 for Hosp Grove. Laziness has been corrected and the blog continues. The entrance to Hosp Grove West is marked by this sculpture of Mother Earth, Father Sky.    The trail even includes a fun little bridge.  And you do wander around some pretty large eucalyptus trees.

In 1908, F.P. Hosp & Partners planted 40,000 eucalyptus trees to create a grove as a way to meet lumber supplies for the railroad. In 1987 the grove was aqcuired by the City of Carlsbad as an open space with urban hiking and picnic areas. The main area of the playground and tables is accessible but the hiking is all dirt and does go up and down hilly terrain. For most people this is an easy loop. Across from Hosp Grove is the Batiquitos Lagoon which is currently closed for restoration. When the beach is foggy this small trail is a great exercise alternative.

October - must be time for the fog to come in and linger all day along the coast.  Even the birds and surfers are obscured. Can't wait for the sun!

The crows came when the tangerine tree was full. Swooping down from the sky, cries of “caw! caw!” alerted us to the attack. Faster than we could run, the crow was back up in the air, orange sphere in its beak, a ridiculous Halloween sight reminiscent of pumpkins and black cats.  This was always followed by the inevitable shudder from my father as another prize was lost to nature. No other tree was like it in our yard, which was full of orange, lemon, fig, plum, apple, and other varieties of fruit that sustained us for decades. The yard was modest, not a farm but a ¾ acre property where the scale balanced more to garden and less to house. We all had our favorites but mine was the tangerine tree. Full of fruit when citrus season occurred, it was impossible to imagine a shortage of food. The tree produced hundreds of the sweetest, juiciest tangerines I have ever eaten. My mother’s kitchen was filled with rows of citrus, Easter baskets doubled as fruit baskets. In this...

This sign wasn't here a few months ago!s I guess the bears are wandering down for good eating before winter hibernation. Note to self...don't become dinner.  The creek trail is as inviting as ever and fun to see the change from the summer.

The air has the crisp feel of winds rustling the leaves off the trees. Homes are displaying pumpkins on the porch in anticipation of Halloween. Along Mission Creek, the trees are slowly turning yellow. Only a few glimpses of red peek out from the yellow. The seasons change in their own time here.

Today is the perfect October day. The sun is warm, skies are clear, a slight Santa Ana wind is blowing. The tourists are gone and the locals have a beach town to themselves. Above the flower fields, the walls still remain full of color with the Pacific looking every bit a movie set back drop. The flowers know it's Oktoberfest and pumpkin leaves are the fall foliage of the coast.

Today's photo was several bright green palm trees against the backdrop of a bright blue sky with random rainclouds. I might have had something thoughtful to say but I somehow deleted the photo. The back-up was a picture of a salmon ironwork above the salmon river in Ketchikan. I somehow deleted it in the editing process and thought the secondary photo of the dead salmon wouldn't hold up on it's own. So let's talk Totem. I confess, I've been to the outside of this building twice and never went in. I'm sure that inside are wonderful displays of 19th century totem poles. The arts and crafts section must be fascinating but I like to be outside. These totem poles looked pretty cool to me. The Totem Heritage Center preserves and promotes tradtional arts from several different cultures in Alaska. Still with me? I saved the dead fish. The river was full of ones that just got tuckered out going upstream. 

When life is nothing but work and work what to post? After coming home from a fantastic Alaska cruise everyday life seems so....normal. Ah but the ocean is there and I answered the call. So from 5:00 pm here's the late afternoon look of Carlsbad.  The birds are calm, the military ship sails on and the surfers paddle out to wait on the water for one last ride before sunset. Normal in Carlsbad is good.