The alerts are telling us: “Be prepared for potential mudslides, debris flows, rocks and water in the roads in all recent burn areas, especially canyon roads. It only takes ½ inch of rain per hour to start a debris flow.”
impending
Author: Hashi
beer clock
My MIL’s home has an eclectic mix of decor items and wall art. I asked for the story behind this clock — when she got it, and why. Did she enjoy the beer? She said it was given to them decades ago, and she has always liked it. ’It’s just fun,’ she said. ‘It’s a rec room thing.’
Google ‘beer clock’ and you’ll see that a lot of brands make them. Because it’s always time for a beer??
fishermen’s memorial
Playing tourist in my (temporary) town.
two trees
After our meal at a Ventura restaurant called Two Trees, we asked the waiter about the name. He told us the story of two oak trees high on the hills behind Ventura, an iconic landmark that could be seen from the harbour. He said the trees burned in the Thomas Fire of December 2017, but that the community raised the funds to replant them. I asked what kind of oaks they were, but he didn’t know.
I did some googling when I got home. Turns out the story is slightly more convoluted. For starters, they were blue gum eucalypts, not native oaks, originally planted in 1898 along with 11 others. Several months before the Thomas Fire, one of the last two trees was felled by strong winds (it was already dead at the time). So then it was just Lone Tree. And maybe a recently planted sapling (sources vary, reported timelines are inconsistent). It seems that the trees have been replanted multiple times over the decades, perhaps most recently in 2018. Venturans consider the trees iconic, and want to protect, nurture and, yes, replace them as needed.
Now I need to look out for this landmark, which I confess I’ve never noticed.
loss
The valley oaks are bare, carrying only the occasional gall. I sat among them and let myself feel my loss. But listen to all those birds!
sleepy girl
olivas adobe
I followed the signs to Olivas Adobe Historical Park in Ventura. The buildings were closed, but the courtyard gates were open so Bodie and I had a bit of a wander. Apparently this bell tower is not part of the original building—Major Max Fleischmann (for whom the bell tolls) added it in 1927 when he restored the property.
oak-covered hill
I arrived early for my meeting, so sketched the view of the water tank-topped hill in Malibu Creek State Park. This hill was the filming location of How Green Was My Valley, which won a slew of Academy Awards in 1941. It famously beat out Citizen Kane for Best Picture, a decision that hasn’t aged well.
electrickery
A breaker apparently tripped, but all the breakers look fine. Or is there another breaker box hidden somewhere else? After intense and fruitless searching, we called in a (highly regarded) local handyman, but he turned out to know less about household electricity than K did. So now we need to get a real electrician. In the meantime, internet has been restored with the help of extension cords, and frayed tempers calmed. What a palaver.
pretty
hashiworks 