Spring is in the air!

View of hillslope in my rear garden - lovely blue sky this morning!

I woke up to a beautiful blue sky day! It appears the rainy season is finally behind us. Rain is great for the garden but it kind of dampens the mood especially for Californians who are used to lovely weather year round.

White blossoms on our two almond trees in the rear garden

Unbelievable! We are into the last week of February of 2009 - how time simply flies by and spring is in the air! I love having almond trees in the garden because their lovely white blossoms announces to me that spring is here. I have three by the gate entrance and two in my rear garden.

The house cleaners have left, so have gardeners. It is peace and quiet inside the house and quiet on the golf course as well. I have not seen any golfers this morning either - maybe it is not an ideal day for golfing because the club lounge/restaurant is closed today.

Last Saturday, my H had his haircut and that means we meet for lunch at Bauducco's instead of at the Oaks Mall. Bauducco's is a nice little Italian bakery and deli - they make the best pizzas in town! Across from Bauducco's is a relatively new coffee place with a very interesting name! Yes, Bad Ass Coffee and its mascot is - you guess right - an ass!

All her possessions in the shopping cart

I was running errands before meeting my H on Saturday and noticed the one and only homeless person in our little town. She was already homeless when I arrived here 23 years ago. She appears to be in her fifties or sixties - it is difficult to tell because of her exposure to the elements. She has thick blond hair which I suspect is a wig and her complexion is tan probably from being exposed to the sun for so many years. All her possessions are in the shopping cart above.

What makes her interesting as a homeless person is the following - I have seen her depositing money at our local Bank of America, I have seen her shopping in Bristol Farm and Gelson's - both top end supermarkets in our town. I have seen her buying bread from Bauducco's and bread at Bauducco's is not exactly cheap - a medium size levitation bread costs over $3 because it is priced by weight, not by pieces.

When I spotted her last Saturday at CVS, a drug store. Drug stores in this United States are not the equivalent of pharmacy in Europe - drug stores are typically a general store with a pharmacy in-store where we pick up our prescription drugs. She was shopping in the store and I noticed her heading for the cashier. About 10 minutes later, when I went to the cashier to pay for my items, she was still standing at the cashier's - it was then that I realized she was very slow - she took a long time to just put a purse in her large handbag and I have never seen anyone take that much time to just zip up a bag. After she was all done, she realized that the cashier did not bag a small tube of what looked like a roll of candy - she told the cashier she wanted that too and the cashier said, "That will be 75 cents," to which she replied, "I don't have that much money," and walked away with two bags of her purchases which she had already paid for.

Another interesting thing about our only homeless lady is that she always has the presence of mind to clean herself up and dress reasonably well whenever she goes into stores. There were times when I spotted her on the curbside - looking rather scary and dirty - it is probably her way of protecting herself and keeping people away when she is wandering the streets.

Most homeless people in this United States are either alcoholics, drug addicts or are mentally unstable. She appeared pretty normal and could hold a conversation with some of the staff of vendors and this afternoon, she was conversing with a police outside the CVS drug store - she is frequently spotted in that vicinity. She appears to choose to be homeless although there were times when she appeared to be talking to herself. It must be difficult to be without a home for so many years! Fortunately, our town is small, people are friendly and patient and it is very safe. So, she is at least safe.

My fav sight of snow-covered Sierras in the distant

The last couple of weeks were very cold and rainy - there were several mornings when I woke up to frost on our lawn and on the golf course. When it gets that cold, there is a good chance that the distant sierras would be covered with snow and that makes a beautiful sight when I drive north on the freeway. I used to enjoy the scene when we lived in Ojai and I used to drive back to Westlake Village to run my errands. This year because of the extreme cold and extended rainy weather, the snow covered a larger expanse of the mountains. I decided to drive to the top of our civic center carpark to capture the spectacular view - I love snow.

Directly across from the civic center is the "Garden of the Worlds" - a striking monument to commemorate the various cultures of the world. There is a Japanese Garden, French garden and Water Feature, Mission Courtyard, English Perennial and Rose Garden and a Bandstand. It is a privately owned garden operated by the Hogan Family Foundation. It is Ed and Lynn Hogan's way of giving back to the community. Ed and Lynn are founders of Pleasant Holidays. The garden is open to the public from Tuesday to Sunday, 9:00 am to 5:00 pm.

Snow in the courtyard of a mews house

Earlier this month, on my way back stateside, I was one of the many whose flight to London was canceled due to the extreme cold weather and snow which brought London to a standstill. My flight on Monday night (Feb 2) was canceled and British Airways rebooked me on a later flight that same evening. I didn't feel comfortable flying because ice on wings could be dangerous plus I figured even if they could land the plane, the trains might not be running and even if taxis made their way to Heathrow, they might not be able to make their way to central London. So, I opted to catch the next night's flight which left on Tuesday night and arrived in the wee early hours of Wednesday. I made the right decision because the cab driver told me that only a few taxis made their way to Heathrow on Tuesday morning.

How different London looked with snow everywhere! I love it and took some pictures - I would have taken more but I was too tired and stressed from my trip in Singapore to wander out in the cold. I love snow! Snow everywhere! It is great!

Snow-covered Hyde Park - winter wonderland!