La Cuesta Encantada

Driving over Hwy 46 from Paso Robles to the Pacific

If thou wouldst have me paint
The home to which, could love fulfill its prayers,
This hand would lead thee, listen!
A Palace lifting to eternal summer
Its marble walls, from out a glossy bower
Of coolest foliage musical with birds –
And when night came . . . the perfumed light
Stole through the mists of alabaster lamps,
And every air was heavy with the sighs
Of orange groves and music from sweet lutes,
In the midst of roses!
Dost thou like the picture?

From the play, "The Lady of Lyons" by Sir Edward Bulwer-Lytton

Some background: My sister's bucket list includes a visit to Hearst Castle near San Simon, California, so, over holiday break, we dropped in! I won't post all my photos here, there are so many! just enough to remind me of the fun we had. The script quoted above is hanging in Hearst's private quarters and La Cuesta Encantada translates to The Enchanted Castle.

Okay, this is funny. After driving for miles and miles Lesa asked me why there were so many black tanks parked in all the fields... Uh, tanks? Those are cows. Or, for you, we can call them beef tanks, or milk tanks, but really, you should get your eyes checked...

Always happy to see the Pacific Ocean!

View from almost the top!

We arrived!

Our tour guides were theee best!

Neptune Pool

Everything grows here! roses all year round!

Not exactly the Elgin Marbles but so many impressive European treasures everywhere. Oh, Versailles, Le Louvre, Chenonceau, Giverny, I was reminded of all of them!

Tennis anyone? I took this photo not for the courts, but rather, the mountain range in the background. Our guide told us the property line is somewhere over there...

Beth and Lesa at the indoor Azure Pool, real gold everywhere!

Oh, my... !

I really wanted to jump in but our guide told us the state of California is so broke, if I did, they'd sue me, so, I stayed with the herd.

We had two interior tours, one in the afternoon and one in the evening. The castle was decked out for Christmas so we enjoyed the festive mood. No flash allowed and visitors must stay on the ugly brown carpet runner, so, photos are limited.

The night tour included California State Park employees and museum volunteers who dress as characters who visited the mansion. We met Clark Gable and Bill Hearst himself, as well as his 34 years younger Hollywood mistress, Marion Davies!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Randolph_Hearst

http://www.hearstcastle.org/

Holiday Boat Parade

Have yourself a merry little Christmas,
Let your heart be light
From now on,
Our troubles will be out of sight
Have yourself a merry little Christmas,
Make the Yule-tide gay,
From now on,
Our troubles will be miles away.


Beginning at the yacht club on Bellingham Bay and going to the Alaska Ferry Terminal in Fairhaven - that was the route for the Parade of Lighted Boats. Well, it was a bit disppointing, because I think there were only six or seven boats, but the holiday spirit is definitely alive and that is a wonderful start to the festive season. It's December already!

Mt. Baker Red Cross auctioned gingerbread houses as a fundraiser. We arrived too late to bid but enjoyed the many delicious looking displays. My favorite, Hansel and Gretel.

Autumn Ice for Recovery

Those Who Love (Sara Teasdale)
Those who love the most,
Do not talk of their love,
Francesca, Guinevere,
Deirdre, Iseult, Heloise,
In the fragrant gardens of heaven
Are silent, or speak if at all
Of fragile, inconsequent things.

And a woman I used to know
Who loved one man from her youth,
Against the strength of the fates
Fighting in somber pride,
Never spoke of this thing,
But hearing his name by chance,
A light would pass over her face.



We started November with ruptured rotator cuff repair which meant Daryl spent about two weeks on the couch, practicing being a good patient. He did very well! Of course, as soon as I wasn't looking he tried to do things for himself, which meant his shirt was unevenly buttoned for four days but we figured no one cared... Here he is post op day two, using his mouse with his LEFT hand! While on Percocet there is no signing of legal documents, no point arguing with your housemate, and no internet shopping. I only had to talk him out of bidding on a house in Michigan at Auction.com for $5,000.00. As it was, I enjoyed every minute of Daryl's convalesence, even if he doesn't remember it...

Can't see it so well in this photo but in each door is framed a neighbor dog, Chief on the left and Crash on the right. They stared at Daryl propped up on the couch a lot, till I gave them duck breast jerkey and they went home.

Icicles hanging off the dock! Temps dropped into the teens at night and stayed in the 20s for a few days. The pellet stove definitely got a work-out, until the power went out, which it did multiple times. It was kind of isolating but fun - feasting, napping, laughing.

First snow fall of the season! A very brave loon, which can just barely be seen, hung out here, though I can imagine he was sooo cold.

Morning Moon

I've been sneaking out of the house before daybreak each morning to attend a microbiology class. Once again, not my favorite thing to do but I'm hopeful having the class on my transcript will lead to me being qualified to teach more classes. For the first time in my life I'm getting an A in a science class. This has never happend to me - imagine how funny it feels to do well in a class in which I have absolutely no interest... Hmmm...

E. coli anyone? Klebsiella pneumoniaea? No? Well, then, how about some Staphylococcus aureaus... I grew it myself!

Am I the only person in this class who gets the irony of the phrase "streaking for isolation?" The instructor intends for us to streak these petri plates with bacteria that can only grow on certain mediums, and so, we are streaking for isolation, but I imagine myself running naked through an empty meadow far up the Cascade mountains, literally streaking...for...isolation...

Here is the moon just this week as I left the driveway. It followed me all the way to school, then left me on my own.

Wild Geese (Mary Oliver)

You do not have to be good.

You do not have to walk on your knees

for a hundred miles through the desert, repenting.

You only have to let the soft animal of your body love what it loves.

Tell me about despair, yours, and I will tell you mine.

Meanwhile the world goes on.

Meanwhile the sun and the clear pebbles of the rain

are moving across the landscapes,

over the prairies and the deep trees,

the mountains and the rivers.

Meanwhile the wild geese, high in the clean blue air,

are heading home again.

Whoever you are, no matter how lonely,

the world offers itself to your imagination,

calls to you like the wild geese, harsh and exciting --

over and over announcing your place

in the family of things.