January Blues?

 

 

The days have been beautiful, sunny yet crisp during the early January days I was visiting Northern California.

 

 

Its beautiful to think that even on the west coast in Northern California, they can have such wonderful and moderate winters so you can actually enjoy being outdoors. Today there were clear blue skies, rolling hills and miles and miles of vineyards.  (Or is it just the days that I was lucky enough to have perfect timing to visit?)

 

 

 

Spending the day up at Sonoma County up at the Russian River Valley at Martinelli Winery for a simple gathering  and potluck is a wonderful way to spend the day and visit with old and new friends.

I really enjoy the day visiting, eating some delicious foods and drinking some amazing Sonoma Valley wines and just admiring the amazing views on this day.

 

 

It’s fun trying out all the old farm equipment, even if most are antique and rusting away.

 

 

Wild turkeys roam the entire county, even though these are family pets.

 

 

Ah yes, eating is a fun pastime and the cup cakes were too good to pass up!

 

 

Such a nice visit, I’m glad I got to visit and enjoy the day here at the Russian River valley.

 

Time for Playland at Ocean Beach

I just love trains….

 

I always come back to the conservatory of flowers during the holiday’s so I could visit the holiday train exhibit – its one of the pleasures of visiting San Francisco during the holidays.

 

 

This years exhibit was geared towards the old Playland which originally was along the ocean front of San Francisco and had its heyday during the forties and fifties and ran all the way to the early 1970’s. The exhibit was a lot of fun seeing recreated parts of the ocean front and the huge cliff house along the edge of the cliffs.

 

A close up detail of the many trollies from the city going to Playland.

 

 

The ornate Cliff house, hugging the cliffs of the city and facing the expansive ocean beach into Playland.

 

 

I never saw the large victorian Cliff House here, I think it burned down in 1907, just one year after the great earthquake of 1906. It must have been the place to visit while in San Francisco back then.

 

 

As usual the place is packed with children coming to see the train exhibits and jostling to have fun at the toys and props that they can play and climb on.

 

 

How do you make this go, I’m sure this kid is wondering?

 

 

I love these special exhibits and am fortunate to see this when I visit during the holiday’s. Hope you enjoyed the visit also!

Happy New Year From Hawaii Island

Its such a beautiful day today, in fact the whole week has been amazing with beautiful blue skies. 

Even so this is our rainy season and the weeks prior were filled with non-stop days of drizzle, slow rain to bucket loads of rain coming down in one day. It wouldn’t be unusual to have a day with over ten inches of rain in just one location.

 

But today. it’s a gorgeous day and we do go outside to enjoy the day and just sit to watch the magnificent views.

Happy New Year to all from beautiful Hawaii!