Tuesday's Orts

If it's Tuesday, it must be time for orts to land on this spot!

• Friday night Grant took me out to dinner. A friend and his band was playing in a restaurant/bar the next town over--I was pretty excited just to get 10 miles away from home in a direction not towards work!  The restaurant (Garman's Pub) is owned by a kid I used to babysit for years and years along with his brother.  When I met the family, his divorced single mom was dating her boss and they then got married and moved to a big house.  I later worked for said boss in his optometry business, and he drove us from our wedding to our reception in his Rolls Royce.  It is a small world indeed. The food and setting were great at Garman's and we enjoyed the entertainment.  Grant had a Boxty and I had rosemary chicken. 
• I was so tired Friday night after we got home about 9:00 that I told Grant I might have to take a nap before going to bed.  I managed to stay up to 10:15.
• There are two dogs somewhere in the neighborhood behind ours that rile each other up at night.  Bark bark bark bark bark, goes one deep voice, and yip yip yap yap yip yip goes a higher one.  It sounds like a Fox News show because they are not listening, just each barking over the top of the other.
• Traffic rant:  Drivers blocking traffic to a turn lane because they fail to notice that they need to move up two or three feet to allow another car to go around them.  Dolts!
• On Sunday I took four quilts down to the Fairgrounds to enter them in our County Fair.  I was surprised to see no line at the Home Arts building.  The gentleman helping me said other volunteers told him entries were way down this year, which is so sad to me. I entered the Rick Rack Road quilt, a mini patriotic pinwheel, the red and white Broken Dishes tablerunner, and the Christmas tree skirt I made for DD Elaine.  I'll let you know what happens.
• Our fairgrounds is popular with vendors since it is right on the ocean; unlike the inland fairgrounds, it is temperate most days and cool at night.
  
  
  

This is the backside of the grandstand.  Beside the fairgrounds is a newly renovated and restored bike/walk path and permeable parking lot to reduce runoff.  They added that nice seat-height berm to protect from storms and also made a big wide sandy beach. It was a very windy day and the kitesurfers were out in full force. The man on the right was inflating the bar on his kite, a sight I had never seen before. 

Walking along, I came upon this village of rock statues with a winding path.  There was no signage or explanation but it looked pretty fun.  

Here's the real eye candy.

Just one more shot...

These girls and their horses rode up out of the fairgrounds from a horse show to the beach.  I'm pretty sure a few of those horses were Arabians.  One got spooked when a helicopter passed overhead and the passenger bareback rider got thrown.  She was okay but neither girl could get back on the horse, he was too excited.

Here is the mouth of the Ventura River.  Pretty icky looking just now.  This river is a mere trickle due to a backcountry dam that may one day be removed to allow the silt and sand that builds up the beaches to return.  Unfortunately, that will cost millions to remove.  I have lived in this city my whole life and I think this is the first time I have actually stood at the mouth of the river.  You can see a train trestle bridge crossing the river in the middle of the photo and the citrus groves skirting the hill far behind.

A gorgeous late afternoon day in Southern California.  Am I lucky or what?