§ The sea...it calls to me.

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THE

SAN DIEGO

BAY

CALIFORNIA













Since I did some scanning of travel photos and such from hard copies of photos, I'm gonna post one now and then. During our younger days when we'd travel about three or four times a year, we continually ended up at one of our favorite cities if we headed west. For the two of us, we have a special bonding in this city. So many things have happened throughout our marriage in this city. It just kept calling us back. Not only is the sea a big part, but the Navy base, the Marine Recruiting Station, the wonderful Hotel on Coronado Island, but there is one place that can be rather haunting too. Especially when the sea blows in a heavy fog....the road along the highway to this point of interest and the light house [last time we were there it was operated by the Coast Guard]. The mist and the quietness of the surrounding area with the faint sounds of the Navy and docking over on the other side, near the city, well...it's just haunting. I've even been there when one of the USN's huge ships begin their journey to the Pacific from here and you can only see a glimmer of the shape of the monstrous ship through heavy fog. It's just awesome. To continue, it's a favorite part of USA for us. This particular area, with the statue of Cabrillo [pronounced Cah BREE Oh], at Cabrillo National Park...has a most spectacular view from the hilltop. Down below, at the shore, the Point Loma Lighthouse . President Wilson proclaimed the area a National Park in 1913.

[on a peninsula on Coronado Island and named after Juan Cabrillo, a conquistador, discoverer, shipbuilder --in the mid 1500s he and his sailors landed near this bay area, claiming it for Spain]

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§ Mission Bells in Shadow

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SHADOW SHOT SUNDAY




This is the bell tower at San Juan Capistrano Mission in Orange County California. We flew into San Diego one year in mid March to rent a car and drive up there to witness the swallows arriving on St. Joseph's Day [March 19th]. I scanned this photo from our trips' album. circa 1990s


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SUNDAY'S SUMMARY

To be honest, I can't even remember Monday. LOL Tuesday, we walked the beaches and enjoyed the larger than normal whitecaps on the sea. A storm was brewing out there somewhere. I found a couple of goodies that I'll write about in a day or two when I have a bit more time...and AFTER I get them cleaned up for show n tell. Right now they're still covered with sand and seaweed. They're more 'mythical' than the sea beans I have readied to show. These that will be coming to a Hootin' Anni blog soon will be a bit on the 'oddities of the sea'. Along with more sea beans [drift seeds]. Okay, that covered the first two days of the week...now, on to Wednesday. I got several e-cards from blogging friends; thanks!! And e-cards and texts from Irene, Erik, and our grandsons. My sister called us and we talked over the speaker phone along with her hubby, Al, and Bud and me. Had quite a conversation. Of course Al...flattery will get your EVERYwhere with me y'know. Just before we all hung up he said "Anni, you have to be an angel to put up with Bud for all these years!". Bud agreed. Actually, I agreed too. roflmao. Bud took me out for lunch to Logans. It's more or less a steak house. And after being a little adventurous in my order, I ordered the steak with cheese and bacon. It was so tender and juicy I foundered!! Along with the two sides of house salad with a vinaigrette dressing, I ordered something I've never ever had before. I think it's more or less a 'southern item'....like grits...but the 2nd side with the steak was french fried SWEET POTATOES!! OMGoodness, were they ever heavenly. Crisp outside, moist and delectable texture inside. And they were topped with a drizzle of butter and sprinkled with sugar and cinnamon! What a great compliment with the salty cheese covered steak! Of course, at Logans while waiting for the meal, we can dine on all the shelled peanuts we could ever think possible. They have buckets of them on each and every table. Later that evening we had champagne and chocolate covered strawberries. Bud had surprised me with a wonderful gift. I really don't want to tell you here, let's just say it goes around my neck. And something I've wanted ever since we moved here. That'll be all at the moment. I know it's kinda teasing, but I want to show you later. A very good day/evening. It rained Thursday afternoon, so nothing much got done. Friday...we were walking early 'til it got way too humid and the sun came up to melt us! We stayed home and read our books. Enjoying the A/C and along with that running...we had all the ceiling fans at high speed. Saturday, I spent all day catching up on laundry. Most of the week evenings, we watched baseball on MLB or Fox-Sports-Houston. Oh ya...I almost forgot, in the past several years, my favorite drama on TV [y'all know it's NCIS -Tuesday on CBS] 'killed off' one of my favorite characters...Mike Franks. But thing is, I've been sorely disappointed in this past season. Next week, this coming Tuesday, the season's finale will be aired. Who knows what'll come of it all. I hope NEXT season will be better.


After several months of drought conditions, Thursday afternoon and into the early evening hours we HAD A NICE RAIN STORM! All too quickly it left our area and blew out into the Gulf. I loved going outdoors afterward and drinking in the cool, fresh, fragrance of rain on such a parched soil! The grass is greening up again instead of the soil that was so deeply cracked from lack of moisture. We can water until the cows come home, but there is nothing like a good steady downpour to quench its thirst.

note: rain photo borrowed from our newspaper