A Hand Up has been negotiating for new warehouse space and we finally got the keys this week. Now we are planning on moving out all our stuff and setting up the new warehouse space. We've had about 200 sf in two different storage units. The new space has 1,000 sf. Hopefully we can get a few teams of people organized for next weekend to caravan all the stuff to the new storage space.
It's Friday again and I volunteered at the Thrift Shop. I was temporarily "promoted" to cashier because the usual Friday PM cashier has been out for about a month , caring for her dying son. He passed away last Saturday and it looks like she won't be back for a few more weeks. Next Friday is bag Friday where they clear all the merchandise out so they need someone to take over cashier functions.
S cleared out her supply of books and packed up 10 shopping bags of books to donate to the thrift store. They really appreciated them and they started selling them right away. The books, especially the paperbacks, are in much better condition than some of the books we receive to sell. Many of the books sold this afternoon.
My friend E called and we got caught up on all our "doings". She adopted a "rescued sheep dog" who is deaf. I guess there is special training for owners and their dogs for deaf dogs, a sort of ASL for dogs. Sounds pretty challenging to me.
Friday, April 18, 2008
Thursday, April 17, 2008
Gardens, the cousins and t'ai chi
I can't help but marvel at the beauty that surrounds me. It's pretty mild throughout the winter and many of the bushes continue to flower throughout. You'd think that spring couldn't really "pop" around here like it does in CT but you'd be wrong. Everyday brings more beautiful garden presentations for me to admire and appreciate. Here are a few examples of how things are looking at the moment - beautiful!
T and I went to SLO for dinner with the cousins. We invited everyone to our place but we are all going to a mutual friend's home tomorrow evening and P&S thought it would be too much traveling for Aunt L. So we each brought something to P&S. Delicious lamb dinner with couscous, mustard greens, baby bak choi with black mushrooms and a lemon-lime cake with lemon-lime curd as frosting. I used fresh lemons and limes from P&S's trees and they really make a difference. I really admire KM's commitment to the care of her mother. She has come almost every 6 weeks and stays for a week and takes care of the many things that need attention that the caregivers don't attend to. She stays with her mother and can get a real sense of what's going on.
Picked up a couple more t'ai chi students. The drop-in format seems to work for some. A number of the students have come back a number of times and some have just stuck with it. The drop in students learn the form of the day and join in the full practice with the forms they know. It encourages them to learn more - I hope.
Tuesday, April 15, 2008
A really easy cake - chocolate crispy cake.
Today is tax day and it was also one of the fitness center instructor's birthday. Everyone is very conscious of weight so making treats is a challenge. I remembered that at St. J's lots of people really enjoyed the Chocolate Crispy Cake so I gave it a try here. Although the word is that people just don't eat the sweets when people bring them in, they did a good job of polishing off this cake, along with the fresh local strawberries that someone brought and mini bran muffins. Here's the recipe:
Chocolate Crispy Cake
Prep: 20 minutes plus time to let the chocolate set up again
Cook time: Microwave 2 minutes
Makes: 24 servings
Ingredients:
4 ounces semisweet chocolate, broken into pieces (I use a heaping 2/3 cups chocolate chips)
2 tablespoons butter or margarine
1 bag (10 1/2 ounces) miniature marshmallows
6 cups crispy rice cereal (6 ounces)
1 cup chopped pecans (original recipe called for salted peanuts)
1 cup M&M's (original called for mini M&Ms but I like to use the regular sized ones because there’s more chocolate and less candy coating)
Directions:
1. Spray 10- to 12-cup fluted baking pan (such as a Bundt) with nonstick cooking spray.
2. In large bowl, heat chocolate and butter in microwave oven on High 1 minute, stirring once during heating. (If you have a high powered microwave, you may want to use a lower setting; and if you have a lower powered microwave nuke it a little longer.) Remove from microwave; stir chocolate mixture until melted and smooth. (The chocolate chips hold their form so you can’t tell by looking at them whether they have melted). Add marshmallows to mixture. Heat in microwave on High 1 minute longer; stir until marshmallows are melted and mixture is smooth.
3. Add cereal, pecans and M&M's to chocolate mixture. Stir until all ingredients are coated and mixture is well combined.
4. Transfer cereal mixture to prepared pan, pressing mixture down with fingertips. Let stand at least 1 hour to set chocolate. (In warm weather, refrigerate to set cake.)
5. To unmold, with knife or metal spatula, loosen cake from side of pan; invert onto serving plate. Cut into slices (24) to serve (original recipe cuts into 16 pieces but the pieces are too large). Store in covered container at room temperature up to 3 days.
Nutritional information for each serving: About 165 calories, 3 g protein, 25 g carbohydrate, 7 g total fat (3 g saturated), 1 g fiber, 4 mg cholesterol, 150 mg sodium.
Here’s the original link with the nutritional information (the nutritional info is for 16 pieces in a cake but I’ve found that the cake slices into 24 pieces very easily and those slices are big enough):
http://www.goodhousekeeping.com/food/desserts/crispy-cake-0606
Chocolate Crispy Cake
Prep: 20 minutes plus time to let the chocolate set up again
Cook time: Microwave 2 minutes
Makes: 24 servings
Ingredients:
4 ounces semisweet chocolate, broken into pieces (I use a heaping 2/3 cups chocolate chips)
2 tablespoons butter or margarine
1 bag (10 1/2 ounces) miniature marshmallows
6 cups crispy rice cereal (6 ounces)
1 cup chopped pecans (original recipe called for salted peanuts)
1 cup M&M's (original called for mini M&Ms but I like to use the regular sized ones because there’s more chocolate and less candy coating)
Directions:
1. Spray 10- to 12-cup fluted baking pan (such as a Bundt) with nonstick cooking spray.
2. In large bowl, heat chocolate and butter in microwave oven on High 1 minute, stirring once during heating. (If you have a high powered microwave, you may want to use a lower setting; and if you have a lower powered microwave nuke it a little longer.) Remove from microwave; stir chocolate mixture until melted and smooth. (The chocolate chips hold their form so you can’t tell by looking at them whether they have melted). Add marshmallows to mixture. Heat in microwave on High 1 minute longer; stir until marshmallows are melted and mixture is smooth.
3. Add cereal, pecans and M&M's to chocolate mixture. Stir until all ingredients are coated and mixture is well combined.
4. Transfer cereal mixture to prepared pan, pressing mixture down with fingertips. Let stand at least 1 hour to set chocolate. (In warm weather, refrigerate to set cake.)
5. To unmold, with knife or metal spatula, loosen cake from side of pan; invert onto serving plate. Cut into slices (24) to serve (original recipe cuts into 16 pieces but the pieces are too large). Store in covered container at room temperature up to 3 days.
Nutritional information for each serving: About 165 calories, 3 g protein, 25 g carbohydrate, 7 g total fat (3 g saturated), 1 g fiber, 4 mg cholesterol, 150 mg sodium.
Here’s the original link with the nutritional information (the nutritional info is for 16 pieces in a cake but I’ve found that the cake slices into 24 pieces very easily and those slices are big enough):
http://www.goodhousekeeping.com/food/desserts/crispy-cake-0606
Saturday, April 12, 2008
Corbett Canyon
Today summer was in the air. The winds shifted to offshore and brought warm dry air from the valley. When this happens it brings warm dry air over us and pushes out the "marine layer". The weather mongers actually got it right. It was in the high 70s at our place but away from the shore it got into the hi 80s. T and I explored some of the canyons this afternoon. There is a back way to SLO using some of these canyon roads. We followed Corbett Canyon Road and drove up a number of the side roads into the hills. The country side if full of real horse ranches and many vineyards. The grapevines are just beginning to leaf out and the horse ranches have a large number of new spring foals. The views were wonderful. Here's a picture we took of the hills off Tiffany Ranch Road. We drove to SLO and found Price Canyon Road and took that back. They say it's a good alternate route to the airport if the highway is backed up. However, if the highway is backed up I'm pretty sure this road will back up pretty quickly too.
Avila Beach Fish Market Friday
We've been to Avila a number of times. It is on a section of the coast which is south facing and therefore it's one of the few swimable beaches in the summer in this area. The warm air coming down from the surrounding Irish Hills keeps the fog away. The water at the west facing beaches is pretty cold all year long.
Avila is coming back after having its entire commercial district torn down and excavated to clean up a huge underground oil spill. The cleanup t00k from 1998 to 2000 that's why the entire center of the town is brand new. About 65% of the town center is rebuilt already. The price of our oil dependency has left some parts of the hillside unbuildable because of the pollution from the oil tank farms that Chevron had up there. They have some spectacular views but whoever develops it will have a real challenge. The town was named for Miguel Avila, who was a corporal at the mission in SLO and a Spanish land grantee.
On Fridays they have started to hold a Fish Market in the center complete with vegetable stands, local restaurant offerings, arts and crafts, other produce including nuts and fruits plus live music. Last night they had a decent band playing many popular rock and pop tunes. It was a warm evening and the place was packed. Here is a video of the scene taken from the pier.
Avila is coming back after having its entire commercial district torn down and excavated to clean up a huge underground oil spill. The cleanup t00k from 1998 to 2000 that's why the entire center of the town is brand new. About 65% of the town center is rebuilt already. The price of our oil dependency has left some parts of the hillside unbuildable because of the pollution from the oil tank farms that Chevron had up there. They have some spectacular views but whoever develops it will have a real challenge. The town was named for Miguel Avila, who was a corporal at the mission in SLO and a Spanish land grantee.
On Fridays they have started to hold a Fish Market in the center complete with vegetable stands, local restaurant offerings, arts and crafts, other produce including nuts and fruits plus live music. Last night they had a decent band playing many popular rock and pop tunes. It was a warm evening and the place was packed. Here is a video of the scene taken from the pier.
Thursday, April 10, 2008
Warm weekend coming up
The weather prognosticators have been whipping up the news about a warm weekend coming up - into the 80s inland and the 70s on the coast due to "offshore winds". They tell me that this type of forecast brings many people to the coast from the valleys with their RVs. California is big RV country. There are many RV parks in Grover Beach and Oceano, the 2 towns on the shore next to AG. Our development doesn't permit parking RVs on the premises so people who own them have to find offsite parking. One of the families is actually moving out of the development just around the corner where they will be able to park their $1/2 million RV next to the house. Many of the people who own RVs also own motorcycles. Those they can park on site.
Now you'd think that with the pretty repetitive weather patterns here that the weather people could get it right, right? Well, they have about the same batting average as they do in CT.
On a separate topic, there has been discussion about the permissibility of portable basketball hoops with folks some for and some against. I guess the decision has been made that the rules will now require homeowners to clear portable basketball hoops with the architectural committee before putting it up.
Now you'd think that with the pretty repetitive weather patterns here that the weather people could get it right, right? Well, they have about the same batting average as they do in CT.
On a separate topic, there has been discussion about the permissibility of portable basketball hoops with folks some for and some against. I guess the decision has been made that the rules will now require homeowners to clear portable basketball hoops with the architectural committee before putting it up.
Wednesday, April 9, 2008
The Morros aka the Nine Sisters
As we drive between San Luis Obispo and Morro Bay we pass many hills known as The Peaks of the Nine Sisters (sometimes called the seven sisters depending on how many peaks are counted)
There are actually over 21 major and minor peaks in the Morros, but there are nine major peaks, hence the name The Nine Sisters. Morro Rock was named in 1542 by Portuguese navigator Juan Rodriguez Cabrillo, who explored the Pacific Coast for Spain. Cabrillo called the rock El Moro because it resembled the head of a Moor, known for the turbans they wore. The nine major peaks are: Morro Rock, Black Hill, Cabrillo Peak, Hollister Peak, Cerro Romauldo , Chumash Peak, Bishop Peak, San Luis Mountain, and Islay Hill. Two other hills - Stunted Terrace Hill and the submerged Davidson's Seamount are omitted. The Nine Sisters are often referred to as the Morros.
The Nine Sisters are a series of ancient volcanic peaks over 20 million years old. They form a backdrop for the Cities of San Luis Obispo and Morro Bay on the Central Coast of California - forming a divider between the Los Osos Valley and Chorro Valley covering approximately 40 square miles.
The Nine Sisters are arranged in almost a straigt line and are formed from the plugs of long-extinct volcanoes. They are a great example of the volcanic process though they have not been active for over 20 million years. As recently as 18 to 20 thousand years ago the sea was 300 feet lower than it is today and Morro rock stood on dry land. After the last glacial retreat, the sea rose again and Morro Rock was surrounded by salt water. A causeway to Morro Rock was made in 1933 through the Works Progress Administration. A causeway was created with materials blasted from the rock.
There are actually over 21 major and minor peaks in the Morros, but there are nine major peaks, hence the name The Nine Sisters. Morro Rock was named in 1542 by Portuguese navigator Juan Rodriguez Cabrillo, who explored the Pacific Coast for Spain. Cabrillo called the rock El Moro because it resembled the head of a Moor, known for the turbans they wore. The nine major peaks are: Morro Rock, Black Hill, Cabrillo Peak, Hollister Peak, Cerro Romauldo , Chumash Peak, Bishop Peak, San Luis Mountain, and Islay Hill. Two other hills - Stunted Terrace Hill and the submerged Davidson's Seamount are omitted. The Nine Sisters are often referred to as the Morros.
The Nine Sisters are a series of ancient volcanic peaks over 20 million years old. They form a backdrop for the Cities of San Luis Obispo and Morro Bay on the Central Coast of California - forming a divider between the Los Osos Valley and Chorro Valley covering approximately 40 square miles.
The Nine Sisters are arranged in almost a straigt line and are formed from the plugs of long-extinct volcanoes. They are a great example of the volcanic process though they have not been active for over 20 million years. As recently as 18 to 20 thousand years ago the sea was 300 feet lower than it is today and Morro rock stood on dry land. After the last glacial retreat, the sea rose again and Morro Rock was surrounded by salt water. A causeway to Morro Rock was made in 1933 through the Works Progress Administration. A causeway was created with materials blasted from the rock.
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