Beach Time

A recent post showed the lack of snow in the Sierra.  This post shows the coast taken on two different days this past week.  I had dinner and a concert in Pacifica on Saturday. I attended a conference in Half Moon Bay through early Wednesday afternoon so I headed down the coast before the sun set.  Enjoy the pictures!  


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Snowless Sierra Mountains

Normally, the Sierra are covered in 6 to 12 feet of snow at this time of year. As you can see from my driving trip last weekend, the snow is sparse and well below normals. In fact, many of the pictures below were taken on highway 4, which is normally closed to traffic as it is impossible to keep clear because of all the snow. Not true this year!


The real concern is drought. I'd hate to back to our old drought routine but it may be necessary. 


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Christmas In New York

Thought you'd like to see the light show Saks runs on its building in New York. 


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Pat

Happy New Year!

Here is a toast to you and yours for the new year!  Hoping all is healthy and happy for you. 

I envisioned this entry as a wrap up to 2011 with text and pictures from the last year.  Well, I may get that done soon, but not tonight.

Since my last posting, I drove to Scottsdale to see Mary's son Tim and her #3 grand daughter, Charlize.  I brought some items from Mary's estate, specifically the glass chicken that was Alberta's and always a threat as to who would get the "guilt chicken".   I suggested to Tim that he start a tradition that the chicken rotate each year at Christmas. That way, all three of the offspring have to live with it for one year out of three.  I think Tim is considering doing that so he does not have to keep it permanently!  

We also went to the Musical Instrument Museum in Phoenix (click here). What a blast that is!  It has a wonderful collection of musical instruments from all corners of the world.  More impressive was the audio-video setup. You were given a set of ear pieces as you enter the museum.  As you approach each exhibit, you notice a video playing with performers using the instruments on display.  As you get close enough to the display, your earpieces start playing the sound track for the video you are standing closest to.  Absolutely a fantastic way to both see and hear the sound made by each instrument playing traditional songs.  Wonderful! 

It turns out the museum was sponsored by a retired executive from Target.  They told us he debated between Minneapolis and Phoenix for the museum. The market research said more people from around the world would see the museum if it were in Phoenix.  I wish he had put it in San Francisco or New York, it deserves that kind of traffic and appreciation! 

After three days with them, I drove to Tucson for a quick visit with Terry and Barnes in their new home.  It is a fantastic place, that is for sure!

My last stop in Arizona was Prescott to visit a new friend.  Sue is a friend of Laura and she moved from Silicon Valley to Prescott about two months ago and I simply wanted to see how she was doing.  She has a beautiful home (for sale, click here or here) and was a great hostess and we had a nice visit before I hit the road back to Los Gatos. On Saturday evening, I attended a very nice New Years Eve party with Laura and friends of hers from her church and choir.  A very pleasant evening with some wonderful folks! 

I drove Humette (my Honda Element) and that little 4 cylinder engine with a 5 speed manual did a great job on the highways. The speed limit in California is 70 mph and Arizona is 75 mph.  I had no problems with any of the mountain grades and managed to keep with the flow of traffic at all times!  The whole trip was 1,835 miles and I averaged 22.6 mpg.  Considering much of the "flow of traffic" speeds were 80 mph and up, 22.6 isn't bad for pushing a brick shaped, 4,000 lb SUV through the wind.  

One of my goals on the road trip was a silly little thing.  I decided that because my collection of Christmas songs now totaled a handful over 500, I should listen to the whole set during this trip. The Honda came equipped with a place to plug in an iPod or iPhone so I did to listen to my songs. When I got home, I only had 36 left to hear.  As of writing this blog entry, there are two left out of the 506 and I will play those as I go to bed.  I would call that a fitting end to the holiday season--my employer wants us back tomorrow, Monday, so we'll be at work instead of watching bowl games.  

Trivia about my collection:  21 different renditions of Silent Night. Perhaps the most disturbing was the rap version.  Bing Crosby had one great voice!  Louis Armstrong does a mean reading of "Twas the Night Before Christmas".  I love the music of a German song that has not engendered an English equivalent. I have no idea what they are singing about, but I love the way it sounds!  Gene Autrey's original version of Rudolf the Red-nosed Reindeer is a real kick! 

 Happy New Year! 

Pat