Ojai, California

My Ojai apartment. My brother and his wife live just a short 5 second walk across from my front door.

I’ve been here just about 3 months now, and I’ve been putting off blogging until I had some photos to show. I’m living in the guest house/mother-in-law apartment/garage apartment on my brother’s property. People aren’t sure just what that means. It is actually the garage itself, plus a front room and bathroom. Although the front room and bathroom are nice, the garage part was never fixed up as a living space. The walls had bicycle tire marks, cracks and random nail holes. The cabinetry was unpainted (GREAT cabinetry though), there were big areas with pegboard (fine for a garage..) and the windows had never been framed out. So I set about fixing up the place before putting everything away. For at least a month, all my stuff was stacked in the middle of the garage and on one side of the front room while I constructed the window framing, and patched, primed and painted. Here is a before picture taken while the previous tenant lived there, and a series of after images.

Notice the unpainted particleboard cabinets, pegboard, and unframed windows.

Here the windows are framed out to match the Craftsman architecture of the property. The paint is a couple of neutral shades, not white. That gray box is the fridge, a perfectly adequate 4 cubic foot unit. The microwave and spacious oven are also perfectly adequate, along with a hotplate I keep in the cabinet below. I plan to tile the countertop eventually.

To the right of the kitchen is my office. The desk in the foreground is actually in the middle of the room and kind of helps define the spaces. Note the garage door. Have you ever wished you could just open up a wall of your house and bring the outside in? Yep, I do that all the time. The garage door faces the rear, so it's private.

This is my workroom area with an industrial sewing machine and a horizontal file cabinet, in the center of the garage door wall. The sewing machine is for my tool case business. (I've been making cases for oboe and bassoon reedmaking tools for the past 35 years.) The horizontal file cabinet is a handy surface for photography, shown here with a bit of card stock pinned to the garage door for shooting small stuff on white backgrounds.

Catty-corner from the office is my sofa bed that I sleep on. With a memory foam pad, the sofa bed is extremely comfortable. (Without, not so hot.) Note that I have the perfect place for my collection of California Pottery bowls, which I had on the ledge in my kitchen in NJ. I even put Christmas lights at the base of them to provide a similar night light, like I had in NJ. The cabinets here span nearly the whole length of the wall. Continuing to the left, there are 4 more cabinets going almost to the floor, giving me terrific storage space. The china cabinet has rocks in it.

The front room is a lovely space with French doors. Originally I thought I'd make it the bedroom but now I like sleeping in the other room, and this room just doesn't seem right as a bedroom. I mean, the only door to the apartment is here; it should be the living room. The door in the corner goes to the bathroom. Above the rocks is an empty space waiting for a framed photo or something. Oh, and the rocks are on a two drawer teak file cabinet that holds all the bathroom stuff since the storage space in the bathroom is sparse. It worked out perfectly for that use.

The other side of the front room. I'm going to rearrange the shelves to face each other in the corner, and set the double seater on the diagonal. And I'll put away the books and stuff in the boxes so it looks nice.

I absolutely love living in an efficiency apartment like this. One wastebasket, quick vacuuming, only one bathroom to clean, and no kitchen sink at all to clean. I began downsizing as I was prepping my NJ house for sale, and I am not missing anything that I got rid of. Not one thing.

Star, June 1999 – Dec 27, 2011

Star in October of 2011

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I guess it takes a major event to kick-start me back to blogging. I’ve been meaning to write about Ojai and have many things to say about my new home. But first let me memorialize Star, my border collie.

Last night sometime after dinner, she had a stroke that left her pretty disabled. I was across the breezeway at my brother’s for dinner, along with my sister and mother, who had both come up for a visit. All the while, my sister-in-law Rochelle and I were fretting over one of her chickens that Star had chased down and plucked just a few hours before. I felt terrible, since previously Star had merely helped contain an errant hen who kept flying out of the coop. She’d mobilize the hen with her paw so I could grab her and put her back into the coop. We thought it was cute that she was ‘helping’. Anyway, we had all gone for a walk, and when we got back, the hen had flown out again, but this time Star went too far and plucked half the feathers out, leaving the hen cowering under some tall grasses while Star was relaxing nearby.

So around 9:30 after Rochelle and I had fussed over the chicken (in a cardboard box in her laundry room) and squeezed Neosporin on her wounds, I walked back over to my place to make Star go outside one last time before going to bed. But she was not in her usual place, and she was holding her head up, turned at a funny angle, eyes drooping. I tried to lead her outside (never failed before) but she wasn’t budging. Then I tried to help her, but she just couldn’t stand up. She was drooling and her eyes were darting back and forth rapidly. I was thinking seizure, and called Rochelle over. She’s a doctor and gave her some painkillers. I soothed Star, waiting for her to go to sleep.

In the middle of the night I heard her stumble across the room to her dog pillow next to my bed. In the morning I tried to get her up and out of the house, but she was not better. I carried her outside, but she had no control of her legs when I tried to help steady her; she just collapsed. Then, she somehow managed to get up on her own enough to stumble forward and relieve herself before collapsing back onto the ground. I then called the vet and made an appointment, saying I thought she had a stroke and it was time for the inevitable.

My sister Marion and my mother went with me. The vet confirmed a stroke based on what he saw and what I told him, and assured me that putting her to sleep was the correct thing to do. I stroked her fur as she quietly passed on.

Star was adopted from Glen Highland Farm in upstate NY, a border collie rescue farm. She was already 3 when I got her, and had very strong herding instincts. Dogs will show you what they like to do, and she loved to round up a basketball. People who saw her play couldn’t help but smile and laugh, so joyful she was. When we moved to California in October, my mother quickly fell for her, and I bought Star a special playground ball to keep at my mom’s house.

Star’s eyesight and hearing started to fade about a year ago and soon afterwards she developed some anxiety issues, but she still played like youngster, and continued to be a wonderful companion. Like Zipper before her, Star will be remembered for a long, long time.

Star's last day.

Last Day!

Leslie lives in Alameda, in the Bay area, in a really nice, little house. Since she has a cat that’s iffy about dogs, we made Star stay outside. She was fine, and enjoyed playing ball in the backyard. Later, she made a little nest for herself and spent the night under the stars. I was going to put her in the car for the night, but she seemed pretty satisfied to sleep outside. Maybe I’m scraping the barrel a bit by posting an iPhone image, but here’s a photo from the morning:

Leslie and I finally got back to a Panera’s (read: civilization) for a coffee and muffin before I finally got back on the road for the last leg of my trip. I thought I might go down the coast, but that would add a good 2 hours to the trip, and I was anxious to wrap it up. The coast will still be there after I settle in Ojai.

Interstate 5 cuts through the middle of the state, and a lot of people hate it. But I found plenty of places to stop and pull over for pictures, and in one case, drive several miles into the hills.

So, if Palouse is America’s Tuscany, is this California’s Palouse?

More scenes off Interstate 5. Peach orchards:

California aqueduct:

Peaceful valley:

Then further into the hills I came upon this:

I finally made it to my mother’s in Downey around 7.

Into California

The Rogue River was no big deal as it passed by the camp, but this tree was pretty cool:

Not sure what its problem was, but the other trees around it (of the same variety) were perfectly normal.

I had phone call from Sandi, my realtor, the day before, and I needed to fax some kind of document to her ASAP. Instead of faxing, I told her I could create a pdf and email it. Since we were camping, there was no wifi, so my mission today was to find a place with wifi and do the deed. We pulled off in Medford, OR and checked around for a coffee place. It turned out to be easier to pull out the iPhone and cruise around parking lots looking for open wireless. We found something outside a health food store, so I parked and took care of business while Leslie went inside and browsed the spices.

When we finally rolled into the San Francisco area, sunset was turning the entire sky a golden color, due to fog coming in off the ocean. We were on the interstate so stopping for a picture was out of the question. But it was awesome.

Lacking any other pictures for the day, here’s one of Star on her perch in the back seat of the car:

Oregon

Today we headed out of Portland to Springfield, which is outside of Eugene. Our horn player friend Andy lives there, making his living as a harpsichord and clavichord builder, and tuner of same. We met him at his workshop space where he was in the middle of a clavichord construction. He’s been making these instruments since he was a teenager when his father, a harpsichordist, helped Andy build his first instrument while in high school. He does amazing work, all from scratch by measuring, cutting, fitting, finishing.

We had a nice lunch together and relived our college days. Now that I’m on the west coast, we’re talking about a reunion with the old bunch.

After leaving Andy, we made our way further south where we happened upon this old covered bridge somewhere along the line:

Finally we landed at the Rogue River and made camp for the night.

Palouse Falls

Once again, I was able to easily roll out of the tent at dawn and start shooting. Palouse Falls faces west, so it’s not a sunrise shot. Yesterday we got there too late for sunset, so the next time I visit the area, I’ll make sure to get there in time. Anyway, here is the falls as it drops into the gorge, and the view downstream.

From there, the Palouse River travels through the canyons for a few miles before it joins the Snake River, which in turns joins the Columbia River, and finally passes through Portland, Oregon before continuing to the Pacific.

We got my car serviced at a Honda dealer about halfway to Portland to make sure that the part that fell off back in Cody, WY wasn’t anything important. It was just a heat shield, so no big deal, unless we were planning on driving over tall dry grass. Um, well, too late now (thinking about those dirt roads in the Palouse). I had my oil changed, a burned out light bulb replaced, and made use of a free car wash coupon, which we sorely needed after the mosquito incident in South Dakota.

After driving along the Columbia River into the sunset (and arriving in the area too late for Multnomah Falls), we found a Super 8 outside Portland and called it a day.

Palouse, Washington

I woke up at dawn and bushwacked my way out of the camp area onto a farmer’s field with my camera gear. I got lucky with pink clouds and nice landscape views.

The wheat was mostly harvested throughout the region, so I was looking for stripey patterns left by the harvesters, and brown plowed fields. The sky threatened rain all day, creating a misty horizon in this view:

We happened to camp next to the mayor of Palouse. He chatted about the area, and pointed out that the farmers had agreed to remove their fences to make it easier to work every inch of the land. This subtle detail helps the photographer get good uncluttered scenery.

We drove west, the rolling hills giving way to canyons, to Palouse Falls, a park with a campground. The sky gave a good show, and I stopped for a shot of the last light kissing the horizon right before it all disappeared.

Palouse Falls is a stunning canyon falls, but it was dark by the time we got there. I’ll save the morning photos for tomorrow’s posting. Throughout the evening and night, a train passed through a canyon adjacent to the park, blowing its whistle in the distance. It was wonderful.

More of Idaho

Today we drove up the western side of Idaho along the scenic route. We followed the Payette River much of the way, with rolling hills and the occasional farm.

We entered the Pacific Time Zone shortly before passing into Washington. Soon enough, we were in the Palouse district, famous among photographers for its rolling hills. I took some really nice images from the car window, but unfortunately the shutter speed was too slow at that time of day and they’re all blurry. I should have just made Leslie stop the car.

We went to Kamiak Park, a county park, on one of the high points in the region and set up camp. The nice thing about camping is that you’re right there for sunrise, like I was for Devil’s Tower.

Idaho

We awoke to hang gliders landing in the field adjacent to our hostel in Teton Village. Tandem hang gliding and para gliding is a popular tourist activity in the summer. We decided not to hang around the area, but to head on out to Idaho and catch some sights along the Snake River and camp in Twin Falls. We calculated that we’d have enough time to hit southeastern Washington for the rolling hills of Palouse, regardless of the less-prime season to do so. Then we’d turn south and take three days to get to southern California in time for my 40th high school reunion.

Taking interstate 80 through Idaho Falls, American Falls, and Twin Falls, I figured we’d surely see something good. We stopped at American Falls which has no falls. Apparently they moved half the town and dammed up the river a long time ago and lost the falls. But one interesting feature is a left-behind silo that sticks out of the reservoir. Okay, maybe not so interesting.

After day’s worth of driving we hit Twin Falls, home of Shoshone Falls (and evidently some other falls somewhere). We found a cheap campsite in the Thousand Springs area along the Snake River. Thousand Springs refers to an aquifer that emerges from the cliffs on the north side of the Snake River.

After so much desert and barren ground, Star was pretty happy to score some real grass for a change.

Deeper into the earth are geothermal waters. This particular campsite is an adjunct to a year-round indoor swimming pool heated naturally by these waters. They also have hot tubs you can use by the hour. I was anxious to see the Shoshone Falls, which wants late day sun. While I went to the falls, Leslie stayed behind and took in a hot tub session, which she said was awesome.

The falls were farther than I thought, and I almost turned back as the sun set along the way. But I figured I’d gone this far, I might as well at least try for the last bit of twilight. With long exposures, I got the silky water effect so desirable with waterfalls. It was just about dark for this shot, which took 8 seconds at f4.

Yellowstone, Day Two

We woke up after a night of freezing cold and continued our loop back into the cauldron area. Several geyser areas provided worthy photo opportunities. The bubbling mud holes yesterday were pretty interesting, but the colors and clarity of the pools today were breathtaking.

I don’t understand why the steam on Grand Prismatic Spring is so colorful:

The Sapphire Pool is crystal clear turquoise, and very deep:

This fella decided to cross right in front of our car!

Finally we arrived at the Old Faithful area with a couple of lodges and the visitor center. We ate an ordinary lunch at the Old Faithful Lodge and watched an eruption of Old Faithful. We hung around for the next ‘showing’ so I could take pictures of it. I set up my tripod on the porch of the lodge, which was high enough to get a view of all the people watching the geyser show.

We left Yellowstone in late afternoon for the Tetons. As we approached the Teton area, we happened upon a Buffalo Jam, which is a traffic jam caused by a herd of buffalo. People pull over on the side of the road to gawk and take pictures.

The Tetons really need morning light to appreciate, so I only took one token photo as we entered the general area. At Jackson, we investigated lodging and ended up at The Hostel, which is a commercial version of a youth hostel, except they provide bed linens and towels, and don’t assign you a chore in the morning.