Solvang

Hello good people, yesterday (Thursday) we farewelled Luke and Khristina as they flew off to New Orleans for a 5 day holiday. We just did some washing and basically relaxed, as you are meant to do on holidays. At 4pm, I had to drive Luke's work van back to office as the other employees would need it for transporting various organs and keyboards. This was an experience during peak hour - a 30 minute drive normally took nearly an hour!

View from back yard

Joshua met us there (he works there a few days a week) and drove us up to Solvang to see the new house he and Sam have bought. We stopped in Ventura for a meal at a Thai restaurant and took enough home with us for lunch the following day. We arrived at Solvang around 9pm, had a tour then hit the sack as we were very tired from all the driving.

Woke up this morning to some wonderful vistas - this is the view from the backyard with the mountains in the distance. The picture does not do the view justice, you'll have to come over here yourselves.

Gazebo

They also have this gazebo that overlooks the scenery and the paddocks at the bottom of their property. If you click on this picture to enlarge it, you can see the vase of flowers that was knocked over in the wind and shattered. I did not notice this whilst taking the picture, only discovered it later and managed to cut my finger picking up all the shards. Down below you can see numerous ground squirrels darting through the grass. Unlike their tree-dwelling cousins, they dig underground warrens and live there.

This is the view from the back of the house, our bedroom is the last set of windows on the

Rear of house

left. Floor to ceiling windows give us a grand vista to awaken to every morning. This morning we flung open the curtains to see the view only to confronted with fog obscuring just about everything. It lifted a few hours later to give us the view above.

I gave Josh a hand setting up his wireless network in the house which took us a few hours of patient work, but every part of the house now can access the wireless network.

"Shed" and Ros

Later we drove into Solvang to purchase some garden supplies for the house and Ros and Josh have been busy in the garden all afternoon.

The house has a shed (really a granny flat) that is built in the same style as the house. Josh is going to set it up as a workshop to work on some of Luke's keyboards so he can avoid commuting down to LA several times a week.

Kitchen

Here's a view of the kitchen. So far, Sam says, she's only used the stove to boil water.

Lounge room

And here's a view of the lounge room. Note the wood panelled ceiling and the face brick fire place.

Tonight Josh and Sam are taking us out for a meal at a local restaurant. Looking forward to that.

Getty Centre

Today we planned to go down to Malibu to see the wildflowers but the best laid plans of mice and men...
First Ros went with Luke and Augie to meet Michelle (Augie's mother) to arrange his passport renewal. Being a child, his only last two years as they change so much as they grow. I went to Shoes off Broadway up in Hollywood to buy some new runners and casual shoes. Luke dropped Ros off there to meet up with me.

I405 traffic jam

We headed off to Malibu, but Luke texted me and said the download for the old iMac had arrived, so as it was on the way, we stopped at Luke's work and I kicked off the computer upgrade, then we continued on our way. We got onto the I405 freeway but halfway there an accident blocked most of the lanes and the information signs said expect a 90 minute delay. As we were just going past the Getty Centre, we decided to go there instead.

Getty tram

The Getty Centre is a museum and art gallery situated high on a hill overlooking the I405. You park at the bottom ($20 per car - exorbitant I reckon) and catch the tram up the hill.

We came here in 2008 and only managed to see the East building. Today we explored the West building. It contained Impressionist paintings, drawings and sketches by artists from 500 years ago, sculptures, photographs, porcelain treasures, tapestries and elegant furniture. We still only saw a fraction of it before our feet and legs gave out.

We did have lunch there, which was also expensive.

Van Gogh's Irises

One of the paintings I saw was by my favourite artist, Vincent Van Gogh's Irises. I had to take a photo of this priceless painting. After leaving there we returned to Luke's workplace for a rest before going out with Joshua to my favourite restaurant, the Wood Ranch BBQ Restaurant where I had my favourite dish, the smoked Tri-tip beef, cooked to perfection along with an Idaho baked potato and a peanut coleslaw. Then it was home to bed.

Working on my holiday

Luke and one of many organs he's fixed

Today we went to Luke's workplace (CVKeyboards) where he works on musician's keyboards such as Hammond organs, Leslie Speakers, Rhodes pianos and more. Many of the musicians who frequent his business are well known, such as Fleetwood Mac, Maroon 5, Kanye West, Lenny Kravitz and many more. Heres a link to Luke's website if you are interested. Click on the video on the home page to see the vast collection of musical instruments he has in his shop.

Luke put me to work fixing (or attempting to fix) three Apple computers. I managed to upgrade their office Mac to the latest MacOS and fixed a few problems with that. Hector, the Office Manager, was very pleased as it made his job a lot easier. The other two I had varying degrees of success with. I have to earn my keep!

After that, I took my life into my hands and got behind the wheel of Luke's car he's lent us and drove Ros and Augie back to his apartment. Managed it OK thanks to the trusty GPS we brought with us and I didn't turn on the wipers once! (For the uninitiated, the wiper and indicator stalks are reversed in America). We then went clothes shopping at Ross Stores, just a block's walk from the apartment where Ros bought a swimsuit so she can use the jacuzzi down on the 6th floor. The 6th floor is a communal entertaining area with pool, the aforementioned jacuzzi, pool table and two vintage arcade game tables with such games as Space Invaders, Donkey Kong, Pac-man and Galaga. Had a great time trying my hand at these blasts from the past.

Keeping warm

After this strenuous activity, Ros needed a nap and when she felt cold and couldn't be bothered to get under the blankets, came up with an innovative way to keep warm. See picture to the right. By the way, readers of my blog, you can click on the pictures to see a larger version.

We didn't see Khristina yesterday, she left early for work and had to commute down to Orange County, which can be a two hour drive in peak traffic. She came home after we went to bed and left this morning before we got up. She is an estimator and designer for a large building company, which keeps her very busy.

We watched the latest episode of Game of Thrones last night, we have been waiting for two years for this show to return and it didn't disappoint.

Being in a high-rise apartment does give a unique view of the rooftops of nearby buildings and last night the one right next to us had an interesting vista unfolding below us. A very amorous couple in varying stages of undress were getting very busy in what could only be described as an "X" rated activity. They probably thought being on the roof of a tall building afforded them some privacy, but with taller buildings surrounding it, this was not to be. No pictures were taken as this is a G-rated blog!

Orange County Teppanyaki

Did not sleep well last night, an alarm of some sort woke me at midnight and I couldn't get back to sleep until around 4 am. Saturday night in downtown LA is noisy, even from the 26th floor behind sound-proof glazing. All night I could hear sirens screaming down the main drag plus a few noisy revelers.

Freeway overpasses

Anyhow, today Khristina drove us all down to Orange County to a teppanyaki restaurant to meet her father Tim, sister Katie and Tim's wife Dianna (not Khristina's mother). We squeezed into her Ford Fusion EV (electric vehicle) and by squeezed in, I mean me, Luke and Augie all in the back seat, shoulder to shoulder. Still it was a pleasant drive on Los Angeles' freeways, especially when we got onto the expressway. To the right, you can see one of the many overpasses that frightens the hell out of me, and I wasn't even driving!

Teppanyaki chef at work

Teppanyaki as you all know, is the Japanese style of cooking the meal in front of you on a large hotplate. The chef here really showed off his skill at cooking swiftly and deftly. I had the teriyaki beef with fried rice which was delicious. We spent a couple of hours here and finally left stuffed to the gills. No need for tea tonight!

Southern Fence Lizard

After that, Khristina took us to the nearby San Juan Capistrano mission, one of the earliest Spanish missions established in California. I found this little guy sunning himself on a rock ledge inside the mission. It's amazing how close he let me get to take this photo.







Here's Luke, Khristina and Augie inside the mission.

Boiling vats

These boiling vats were uncovered in 1935 and were used to boil down animal fats into tallow to be used for candles and other stuff I can't remember.

Blast furnace

They also uncovered these blast furnaces used for smelting iron. If you look closely at the shadow at the upper left, you'll see a terracotta pipe that was used to push air into the center of the furnace to make it hotter. The Spanish introduced the local Indians to the Metal Age, where previously they had only used stone, bone and wood.

Church vestry

We found this church on the mission, it's not the original that was destroyed by an earthquake, but it's still pretty ornate as you can see from the picture of the vestry to the right.

Ros in undercroft

Here's Ros standing in the undercroft. Beautiful old architecture and the building isn't too bad either.

Goodyeat blimp

Finally drove home late afternoon and passed this famous landmark. It's used during peak hours for traffic reports. A good day was had by all, but we were all very tired so it will be early to bed tonight.

Proud Bird

Airbus A321neo

It's my birthday today, so Luke and Augie took Ros and I to Proud Bird Restaurant, which is located right at the end of the main runway of Los Angeles airport (LAX), so consequently I had many examples of this on the right, as well as many jets taking off. This is the A321neo, a direct competitor of Boeing's very popular 737, although the Max 8's are a bit on the nose at the moment.

Proud Bird

Proud Bird also has many old warbirds on display, like this one in the foyer. The food smelt just wonderful, I had a BBQ Beef Sandwich which was to die for. We must visit the Woodranch BBQ Restaurant while we are here to have my favourite smoked Tri-tip beef.

Bell X1

I won't bore you with all the pictures I took of planes, except for this one, the Bell X1 experimental plane, which I expect all of you know that Chuck Yeager flew to break the sound barrier for the first time on 14th October 1947.
A wonderful way to spend my birthday. Tonight we're taking Augie to see the animated movie The Missing Link, although I don't agree with its premise that there exists a missing link between humans and apes and hence that evolution is true.

Los Angeles 2019

After an (almost) uneventful flight, we arrived in Los Angeles on Friday around 5.30 pm PDT (Pacific Daylight Saving Time) which was 4 hours before we left WA! Changing time zones has some peculiar effects. In reality it was 8.30 am Saturday morning WST so it took us 19 hours all up. Flying the Boeing 787 Dreamliner across the Pacific was new, the first time we have done this in a twin engine plane. The 787 can happily fly on just one engine, so it is still a very safe flight. We had exit row seats so no clambering over one another to visit the loo or walk around. We both managed to get a few hours sleep on the long haul.

Downtown L.A.

Luke collected us from the airport and drove us downtown to the new apartment he shares with his girlfriend Khristina. The views are spectacular from up here.

We're on the 26th floor of a brand new building so it is only about 30% full. Last night we saw about 10 police cars, two fire tenders and the police helicopter circling the city obviously looking for some offender.


We also have a view towards snow-capped mountains to the north of the city as you can see to your right.

We slept like logs last night and have awakened refreshed this morning. Luke and Khristina are taking us to Proud Bird restaurant/museum near LAX for my birthday. The museum has vintage planes on display that will satisfy the pilot in me.

Luke & Augie

Here's a shot from inside the apartment with Augie fresh out of the shower and wanting to be excitably in the picture, with Luke making coffee in the background.

More photos later on when we get back from Proud Bird.

Santa Barbara - of Hummingbirds and Woodpeckers

Dinner after movie

Apologies for not posting recently, I have been hit with the dreaded "lurgy", sore throat, cough, headache and basically feeling like death warmed up. We're now in Santa Barbara, but the night before we left, we all went to see Dunkirk at the movies (awesome, awesome movie, highly recommended) then went to a Chinese restaurant afterwards. Here we all are, Josh, Sam, us two and Luke and Khristina.

View from Josh & Sam's front window

The next day we drove up to Santa Barbara, once again taking our life in our hands on the interstates, it took us around two hours to get to Josh and Sam's place. Here you can see the mountains from the front window. Their place is on an incredibly winding and narrow road, which is very busy during peak hours. They have a lovely four level house built into the side of the hill.

Court House

The next day, Josh took us on a tour of downtown Santa Barbara, stopping at the historic court house, pictured right. It's not
the oldest building in SB, but was constructed in keeping with the old Spanish style brought in by the early missionaries. Note the clock tower also for a later view

Inside court house

Here is the inside of the court house with its very colourful chambers depicting the early missionary activities. This is only the first floor of a long climb to the clock tower. Ros very wisely chose to take the lift. Josh and I decided we needed the exercise.

View from clock tower

And many stairs later, here is the view of Santa Barbara from the clock tower. Santa Barbara was first settled by Spanish missionaries and soldiers in 1782. In 1812, a powerful earthquake and tsunami destroyed the town but it has since been rebuilt. Today it has a population of around 91,000 and is a very popular tourist attraction. Josh and Sam moved here because Sam got work here as an orofacialmaxillary surgeon.

Sam's workplace

The next day, Josh took us to Solvang, a town about an hour's drive from their place, where Sam works two days a week. To the left you can see Sam's name with her qualifications following it. DDS is Doctor of Dental Surgery and MD means she is also a fully qualified medical doctor, which is fortunate for me as she could prescribe and supply some antibiotics for my lurgy.

Solvang

Unlike most of the region, Solvang is Dutch in origin and you can see by the picture on the right, complete with windmill. It's ironic that while we were in the Netherlands we never saw a windmill and had to come to California to see one! It is also a very touristy town because of all the traditional buildings you can see in the picture.

Hummingbird

Just a little way out of Solvang is a wine shop with a bird feeder outside of it, where hummingbirds are known to frequent. Wouldn't you know it, the day we were there, there was hardly any - this little chap was sitting in a tree nearby and it took many photos with extreme zoom and much experimentation with over-exposure to get this shot. Remember that this bird is about the size of your thumb. Note the very long beak which enables them to reach the nectar of flowers while hovering in front of them.

Perched on bird feeder

Finally patience paid off and it alighted on the bird feeder long enough for me to get this shot.

Hovering

This is the humming bird hovering whilst drinking from the bird feeder. Its wings are beating so fast that in this exposure, they're invisible. You can here the faint, high-pitched hum as they hover and their movement is fast and accurate. This little one would dart forward a few inches to drink, then dart back the same amount of distance to contemplate - their control of flight is absolutely masterful, evidence of their masterful Creator.

Woodpecker at bird feeder

Hummingbirds were not the only avian creatures to be attracted by the bird feeder, here you can see an enterprising woodpecker trying to get a drink, hanging virtually upside down. This is the very first woodpecker I have ever seen.

Woodpecker

Here's a clearer picture of the same woodpecker. Note the red plumage on his head and the short, sharp beak used for drilling into trees. Woodpeckers have incredible shock-absorbing structures in their heads that enables them to withstand the incredible shocks when it rapidly pecks at the wood on trees - another wonderful design, don't you think?
Tomorrow (Friday 4th) we are returning to Los Angeles before driving down to San Diego.