A different view

It is only during winter that the sycamore and maple trees are bare.  And, last weekend, they were bare.  They look so stark against the blue sky and clouds, don't you think?  It was still too muddy and wet to take any of the horses down to the arena, but by this next weekend, it should be okay.  We are having an entire WEEK without rain or snow!

Fog!

We rarely get fog here in the desert.  I only remember seeing it a couple of times in the 40 years we've been here.  I grew up in a suburb of Los Angeles and I remember fog as a kid, but the desert has two 10,000 foot mountains blocking the pass from the coast and a range of 8,000 feet (plus) blocking the western edge.  So, if we get fog, it comes up from the south.

Anyway, I was so excited to see it that I ran out with my camera before breakfast and then hopped in my car after breakfast and I drove around town (Temecula, Old Town).  It was so delightful to see the town enveloped with fog!

 Our son's backyard view...

 Looking down from their back yard...

 Foggy bridge in Old Town, Temecula...

A closeup view...

Aguanga metal sculpture garden

I spent Saturday afternoon, night, and Sunday morning in Temecula with our son and his family.  He enjoys having Mom & Dad come down, buy groceries for Saturday night dinner, and feed them!  Unfortunately, hubby couldn't come as he had to work, so off I went.

Or, so I thought.  I only got a couple of miles up Highway 74 when I noticed cars driving slowly down the hill flashing their lights.  Yup.  A wreck.  A bad one.  Cars were completely stopped and were turning around.  I was able to shout at a couple of drivers and found out that the road was completely closed ahead.  So, I too turned around and went home for an hour.  I passed 2 fire trucks, 3 CHP cars, and an ambulance on my way back down the hill.  An hour later, the road was opened and I was back heading to Temecula.

I have always wanted to stop at the metal sculpture garden in Aguanga, but, with hubby in the car, we never have.  Isn't FREEDOM wonderful?  (hee, hee!)  So, I pulled in and was amazed by the amount of sculptures there.  There were dinosaurs, horses, giraffes, elephants, deer, elk, and a lot of other creatures.  They sell from $800 to $3,000 and upwards.  The artist was there and I talked with him for a few minutes, as the dirt parking lot was filling up with people and cars!  There is even a stagecoach, 4 horses, and 2 drivers!  Further down the road (Highway 79) is an Indian sitting on a horse, but it is up on a hill and I can't located a turnout to stop and take a photo of it...sigh...and cars behind me were too close for me to stop and pull over...maybe next time I'll be able to plan ahead and find a turnout.

Anyway, I wandered around for about 30 minutes.  The grandson would LOVE this place!  There are a lot of dinosaurs to see!

If you want to visit it, it is just about 1/4 mile west of the Highway 74 and 79 junction, on Highway 79, heading toward Temecula.

2 days of school and I already have a sore throat

After only 2 days at school, I already have a sore throat.  I'm going to stop at Whole Foods this afternoon and buy some organic lemons and drink some lemon water.  That's usually enough to knock it out, unless it is something REALLY serious!  Can you believe it?  There's a girl in class who I think has bronchitis, but she sits in the BACK of the room and I'm NOT moving her back up front by ME!!!  Noooooooo!  I'm trying to NOT get sick! (which is nearly impossible when one is locked in a windowless classroom for 6 1/2 hours a day with kids!)

I'm so looking forward to our 3 day weekend and I don't wish to be sick!  Ugh!

The kids were asking why Monday was a holiday, so I started to explain Dr. Martin Luther King and I found a YouTube video of his "I have a dream..." speech from 1963.  Very impressive.  I had never heard the entire speech...can you believe that?  He was an amazing speaker.

Well, back to the grind for 3 more days...

More scenes from the Whitewater Preserve last Friday...

Trains! Two trains!!!

So, I went out last Friday (my last day of winter break) and saw a couple of trains early in the morning, but then I drove out to Whitewater Canyon.  By the time I got back, I saw a train coming toward Palm Springs, and I thought I could catch it at the Whitewater crossing, but that train was MOVING!  I did manage, however, to catch two trains passing each other!  I actually hadn't seen the other one even coming!

 One going one way...the other one pulling away...

 Going toward the big rail hub center at Colton, maybe?  Or, going UP the Cajon Pass...

I love seeing trains!  Both hubby's father and grandfather worked for the railroad in Pennsylvania.

Back to school

Ugh.  It's back to school today.  How could 3 weeks go by so quickly?  Fortunately, however, I have a full week this week, and then a 3 day weekend!  Thank goodness for federal holidays!  (hee, hee!)

Then, we have 2 three-day weekends again in February!  Whoopie!

Now that my retirement goal is nearing, I'm frankly going to take it easy for the rest of this school year.  I'm NOT going to panic over our stupid pacing schedules for language arts and math.  I'm NOT going to panic over TRYING to get the kids ready for the stupid state tests (what do they REALLY measure anyway?).  I'm going to take days off when I'm sick.

Those are my resolutions.

Beautiful view of the San Bernardino mountains from the Whitewater Preserve.  I drove up there twice this past week.

Windmills, clouds, and mountains

I wasn't feeling well yesterday morning, but I heated up some water and drank some Whole Foods 365 Vitamin C mix and by afternoon I felt well enough to go for a drive.  I didn't want to waste an entire day sitting at home, especially when there was a break from the El Nino storms!

I headed out toward Whitewater and Cabazon, hoping to find a train.  There were NONE.  ZERO.  NADA...must have been the midday slump.  I read online that 40 trains pass through our valley every day.  Well, I'm telling you...at 2 p.m there are NONE!

So, I took photos of windmills.  And, our valley has LOTS of them.  I don't remember there ever being so many!  They seem to be multiplying.  There are GINORMOUS ones, medium sized ones, and small ones.  The huge ones are right out of "War of the Worlds"!  They cast shadows across the road and make a humming noise.  I stopped at one point and just sat and listened to one (however, it was extremely windy and that also made noise...)

I was out & about for a couple of hours.  While it was good to get out, I was disappointed to not see any trains.  I may take a drive this morning and see if any are running.

Here are some photos of the windmills:

 Another day of beautiful clouds...looking up toward Morongo Valley...and Highway 62.

 One of the larger ones...They make a lot of noise and their shadows cross the roadway...kinda creepy.

 These are out off Dillon Road.

 Some of the smaller windmills...

 Medium ones and smaller ones...

These are up on the hills above Whitewater...

Mountain and storm clouds~SkyWatch Friday~010816

I took a 5 1/2 hour drive yesterday in my car around the valley.  The El Nino storm had broken up slightly (it started up again later...) and I wanted to see all the snow on our local mountains, Mt. San Jacinto and Mt. San Gorgonio.  I wasn't disappointed.  SkyWatch Friday for January 8, 2016.  To visit SkyWatch Friday, please go to this link:   http://skyley.blogspot.com/2016/01/skywatch-friday-7-january-2016-edition.html

 North face, Mt. San Jacinto

 A nice view of the trees up there

Looking up Snow Creek Road (which was closed, due to mud)...

I like to LOOK at the snow, but not be IN IT!

HA!  I do so enjoy looking at the snow on our local mountains without actually being IN it!  I'm not even going to ATTEMPT to get up to the horses, as I read on Facebook that the CalTrans plows were out, removing rocks and debris from the road and it snowed in Pinyon anyway.  Pffffttttt!  And, school was closed in Anza due to a snow day, so forget it.

I did, however, take a 5 hour trip from Palm Desert all the way out to Cabazon today and this is what I saw:

 The morning view of the snow on the San Jacinto mountains above Palm Springs, CA.

 Windmills and clouds...

 The Whitewater River was flowing and the preserve was closed due to poor road conditions.

 Even the dinosaurs were surprised to see snow!  They are in Cabazon, right off the freeway.

And, I found a couple of trains going to Yuma, I suppose...