Almost There! Venus and Jupiter Converge

Almost there! My daughter, Rebecca, took this picture using a tripod this evening, and it shows the convergence of Venus (the brighter of two planets) and Jupiter which despite its size is dimmer given its remoteness. And, tomorrow (July 1) they are expected to align themselves in a single image. The picture was taken in Canberra, but is no doubt similar everywhere.

AS

Pass of Oaks

Last weekend, we travelled three hours or so by road to the town of El Paso de Robles (tr. Pass of Oaks). Emily and Greg wanted to treat us to a weekend away in a pleasant place to celebrate our imminent 70th anniversaries, so they booked two nights in some lovely accommodation through airbnb, and that turned out to be the homestead at a vineyard high on a hill west of the town. And to get all 6 of us there they had to hire what looked like a tank! Well, it turned out to be a large 8-seater Ford which Emily drove there and back. This post recounts some of the events of the first day or so of our trip.

Here's Emily at the wheel of our 'tank' - though I have to say that it was well appointed. And I was inn the second row, alongside Ella and Flynn. Dot managed to squeeze into the third row whose remaining two seats were folded down to accommodate a mass of luggage.

California is in the grip of a devastating drought, but amazingly we had a shower on the way down, which created this lovely rainbow. With a great piece of timing we arrived just on sunset so that we could marvel at the vista from our house's verandah - with the sun painting the sky in soft colours.

Our house was well appointed - here, for example was our bedroom.

And the following morning we awoke to the sight of circling eagles no doubt looking for prey

Our first destination was the Sculpterra winery for a lengthy tasting of some eight wines, many modelled on those of France's lower Rhone valley. I liked many of those I tasted, but alas for Dot, many were reds whereas she likes whites. The vineyard's name hints at one of its key features - an extensive array of excellent sculptures, including this door with a dog looking through the window which attracted Ella's attention.

Some exhibits, like that above, were allegorical, but others depicted wild-life. Ella loved the telescope. Look also at the manicured gardens.

In the afternoon, we roamed around some of the town's lovely old buildings - Paso Robles is home to about 20K people, so it's slightly larger than Armidale and has similarly retained its charm.

One of the leading residents was the renowned concert pianist, Ignacy Jan Paderewski, a Polish patriot and eventually Prime Minister after WW 1 who visited this part of California.

Just down from our house was this large solar energy 'farm' which we debated before heading off to an olive oil production facility for our final tasting of the day - various types of olive oil! The views from this hill-top were also lovely, though Ella and Flynn could not take part in the tasting ceremony where the ins and outs of making olive oil were debated.

The plantation we visited also had sculptures like these insects.

After a nice evening meal in a nearby Mexican restaurant, the kids played in a very 'large' toy house across the street before we headed off home to put them to bed.

We loved day #1.

AS

Strange Trees in Gilroy Gardens

Apart from being a lovely destination for kids, Gilroy Gardens holds interests for adults and especially those with green thumbs, The gardens are home to a collection of spectacularly sculptured trees, many of which are shown here. The founder in particular had a lovely way of shaping them in weird forms. Have a look and tell me what you think.

AS

Kids in Heaven

Following Ella's birthday party we all headed off to a local theme park - not Disneyland but Gilroy Gardens. For young kids this was a perfect choice - lots of rides tailored to their age amidst a beautiful garden setting. This first post shows the kinds of rides available for them as well as some of the prominent themes.

The entrance walk was imposing.

And we were greeted at the end by garlic. Gilroy prides itself as the garlic capital of the US, and, of course, there were rides in little cars shaped like garlic.

Ella and Flynn gave that a miss and headed straight to the automobiles. Here's Ella driving an ancient Chevrolet and Flynn at the wheel of another antique vehicle.

Then we were gently propelled downstream on a plastic raft like the one in the background here

 
And this passed pedalos dressed up as swans and ducks.

There was, to Flynn's delight a period piece locomotive hauling passengers around the outside of the gardens and we all went for a ride.

Then Ella rotated around a rotten apple core aboard a worm, While Emily and I enjoyed a wild ride on an extremely fast kind of roundabout.

Getting near lunch-time, Ella fancied a ride in an artichoke, another prominent local crop. That was before she found a genuine old Wurlitzer merry-go-round and here you see her poised elegantly on a nice horse.

The train once again with a lovely background of waterfalls, and here we are riding it.

Then we took off for the water park, for which the weather was perfect.

Then it was ice-cream time and back to the car for the journey home.

AS

Ella's Fourth

The last Sunday in May saw Ella's fourth birthday extravaganza, beautifully set up by Emily. She ordered balloons, made crepe decorations over the kitchen hatch, and sorted out the numerous presents to put in a large pile - before of course party guests added to the total.

Early in the morning we saw the arrival of further party equipment in the form of a jumping castle, which was a huge hit with kids, especially as they could turn the power on and off and expand or deflate the contraption. They also supplied a large folding table and 12 micro-chairs suitable for 4 year olds

The party theme this year was butterflies. Ella produced some her own to festoon the wall. I thought that the third one here was terrific and could have been painted by Picasso. The cake itself took the form of a brightly coloured butterfly and Ella loved it.

The balloons incidentally have lasted a long time and 3 days on are still proudly flying in front of me. And so to the main actions of the day. Opening the presents, all of which went down well;

Entertaining her group of friends.

Jumping in the castle.

And, finally, blowing out the candles on the cake - made difficult by a blustery wind intent on doing that first!

It was a very successful day.

AS