The Grotto Trail

It's been a rainy week with sick kids.  Nathaniel was sick from Sunday to Thursday.  Then after being in the house so long he felt well enough for a little walk.  During a break in the clouds we went to a small canyon where they have a Chumash Indian cultural center.

 The whole area was filled with California Live Oak whose branches reached down to the ground making large dome enclosures.

 Seems like something is always blooming around here.

 It was good to get some fresh air after almost a week indoors.

 This is a Chumash reed hut.

 Nathaniel imagined having this to play in with his buddies.

 Saturday, during another break in the torrential rain, we drove way up into the Santa Monica Mountains to Circle X Ranch.  Our hike took us down along a stream, past a couple waterfalls.

 It was called the Grotto Trail.  Very muddy after the rains.

 The water went through giant boulders.  We did a little rock climbing, but with our muddy boots and the wet rocks, we were pretty conservative.

It's very pretty after a rain - bright clear colors.  A lovely place to hike if you can stomach the twisty narrow mountain road to get there.

Birthday presents

All shiny and new

Early and late peaches, apples, a nectarine, and a 4-in-1 grafted plum.



Meyer Lemon and Oro Blanco grapefruit

 Chris and I often get gifts from our parents that are a combo Christmas and Birthday gift. My cookware set was creeping ever-nearer to the end of it's 25 year warrantee (which seemed like a lifetime warrantee when I got married) and our silverware started disappearing about the time the boys started helping scrape the plates.  I think a lot of forks went into the garbage and the spoons into the disposal (we were short on forks, the spoons were gouged up but I think we still had a full set.)  Now we have a shiny new set of pots and pans and silverware.  We feel so fancy now.
  Our yard is getting more and more bare (it's a lot of work and the yard looks worse the more work we do.) But it was really fun to go choose birthday trees at the nursery.  They have been planted close together in groups of the type of fruit they will bear.  The idea is that our family doesn't need a whole mature-tree full of apples at one time.  So, you get a few trees with a different harvest times, plant them close together and prune them so they don't grow very big.  Then you get a more usable amount of fruit over a longer time.  We'll see how it works.
Thanks!

Paradise Falls

January is a great month for hikes in S.CA.  Blue skies, not too hot, and lots of your neighbors around to share the experience.  Hiking around the Conejo Valley seems like a community experience.  I guess we aren't really looking for solitude and the people are very nice (and they clean up after their dogs) so its alright.



Chris and Nathaniel on Stagecoach Bluff

   We hiked about 3 miles Saturday.  This park has a lot of roads and trails and many of them are relatively flat so I think this will be a good place for running.  It's only about 4 miles from our house.



Picking a prickly pear

   We tasted a ripe prickly pear (and all got sliver-sized cactus spines stuck in our fingers for the rest of the day for the trouble.)  It was actually really good.  I'm tempted to go with some gloves and a bucket and get a bunch to make jelly with.  I always loved my grandma's jellies made from wild currants, elderberries or chokecherries.  Maybe it's time for some foraging.


Falling...




Lots of water in the falls.




View from the top

 Time for friends and family to come visit and go for a hike.