The First WalMart - or so they called it:

Looking southwest from the front door

The Key's Ranch in Joshua Tree is a success story of an early pioneer of that area.  In front of the house, they had what the ranger called the First Walmart of the area.  William Keys was a rancher and miner and all around entrepreneur.  In his front yard, he had a little bit of everything a miner or rancher might need to get it rich quick.  

 Keys was the closest thing to a store in the area.  People would buy from him and go off to their holding. And Keys kept an eye on them.  For once they gave up and left, he would go to their place and pick up all the things they abandoned and replenish his inventory - thus selling the stuff over and over (not that Walmart does that -LOL). 

His wife got into the act by setting up a gift shop - but her sales were final - she sold soap, knic-knacks, snacks - not something you could recover.  Here's her store:

My Holiday Blog Post 1/15-17

Back from our desert sojourn.  Our friends have a house in Rancho Mirage and they invited 5 of us to come out for the 3 day weekend and enjoy the desert.  Every time we go they plan something different for us to do.  This time we went to the homes/legacy of two prominent pioneers of this area - William Keys and Cabot Yerxa .  They were colorful characters and it was very interesting learning about them.   Here is a saguaro cactus we took a picture of during our trip.  As we had a late start on Saturday, we drove through Morongo Valley and Yucca Valley to get to the Joshua Tree National Park Visitor's Center and on the way we passed this wonderful saguaro speciment!  It's right there in the middle of town. These take years and years to get this size, so we were thrilled to see them.  At Cabot's museum we found some more.  These are even taller.  Some day I'd like to go to the Saguaro National Park in Southern Arizona where there are many, many of these.  They have these beautiful white blossoms.

This n That #1

We're leaving tomorrow for a 3 day visit to Palm Springs, so not much quilting is getting done.  I did hem a curtain for my DDIL in CO so she can try out how they hang and what length she wants them (got it off in the mail, too), finished my secret block (more on that later) and  unstitched my 4 inchers to replace the large block.  So I'm leaving you with a photo or two:

 Here's Alan at 2 months.  Last weigh - in said 7.9 pounds so he's right up there where he should be if he had been born Dec 20th instead of Nov. 11th. He's so precious!

Then here's a scrappy quilt tip - when I'm making a scrappy quilt I use left over thread and partly filled bobbins to sew them together.  If the quilt is most one color - I'll try to use color in that family, but for truly scrappy quilts, it's whatever partial thread is on hand for blocks making AND quilting.

Down the tracks again

I went on a scouting trip for a future senior trip for our church - I know - a cushy job, but someone's got to do it. I left at 7am, voted, stopped by the post office, then headed for the train depot. Bought my ticket and waited for my friend, Torre.  At 8am promptly we boarded the train and waited for it to take off which it did at 8:15. At 8:50 we got off the train at Downtown Pomona, CA

and proceeded to check out their revitalized downtown that has an Antiques Row of stores (most closed on Tuesday, sigh) and an Art Colony (most opening at 11 - another sigh) but we walked down antiques row and found ourselves on the main drag of the Western University of Health Sciences and BOY has this campus grown.

The big surprise was the statues that looked like real people spread here and there along the walk. Sure would like to know how they were cast! For some of them, you had to get right next to them to see they weren't real people. Guys reading paper are statues. 

Then we headed for the American Museum of Ceramic Art. They currently have an exhibit of Mexican ceramic art for the Day of the Dead (Oct 31st). Wow! We got lucky - they don't open until 12, but the nice guy let us in early. After viewiing the permanent collection

and the exhibit we headed to La Merendera - a Mexican restaurant and bakery for an early lunch at 11:30. Yumm! We then walked off our lunch taking in some other shops and viewing all the Art Deco buildings in this town. Then back to the depot and home by 3pm. A good trip, but probably not for our seniors as it involves too much walking, but it would make a good volkswalk - LOL!

Got home and promptly took an hour nap - I was tired from all that walking in the sun - temps are back to normal - it was in the low 90s.

A Train Trip

My friends Sheila, Sandy, Torre(from left to right) and I took a train trip on the Metrolink to San Juan Capistrano. It's a coastal town near Oceanside and a delightful getaway on what proved to be a "hot" (107) day in Riverside. We took the 10am train and arrived just in time for lunch. Then after the delicious meal at Sarducci's - they're at the train depot - we set off for the Mission San Juan Capistrano (you know the one where the swallows come back every March 19th?). It was just a couple of blocks away from the station. This is the seventh mission of 21 missions along the Camino Real built in the 1700s.

Here on the left is what you see when you enter - the outer courtyard. On right is what remains of then the largest church west of the Mississippi - there was a huge earthquake in 1812 which brought down the Jewel of the Missions. Parts have since been restored from 1982 -present. There was a lot to see as the last time I was there much was cordoned off, so it was a treat to return and see so much of the mission now. We spent almost two hours touring it and visiting the exhibits. There was a fun one for me called Zorro Unmasked - one of my favorite characters. They had excerpts from the Douglas Fairbanks, Tyrone Powers, Guy Williams, and Antonio Banderas films, costumes, and lots of ephemera - Great! Another exhibit were of plein aire paintings of California.

There were some lovely fountains with waterlilies and Koi and others without.

Beautiful gardens amid the working stations at the mission.

 

We saw the St Francis Chapel, the cemetery, the gift shop, the barracks, the kitchens, the library, the winery, the curing vats, a native plant garden, an Indian home and lots more.  What was great was they had an audio tour for visitors, free, with the price of admission.  I was happy to pay for the low admission as  proceeds go toward the maintenance and upkeep of the mission. We then visited the Basilica next door and tourerd the quaint shops in town before heading home.  A great day! I plan to go back soon and take my Mom.                                                

Day Trip #1

Went with 3 friends on the nicest day trip. We went to the Palos Verdes peninsula. It was wonderful. Right on the beach and an hour's drive from home, but light years different from our semi desert area. Our first stop was the Trump National Golf Club - not for golf (LOL) but the the public seashore access that is there. Here is the start of the trail. I was worried that it would be gravely and hard for one of our members to handle but it was all like this. The total way is 2 miles round trip and what a view! That is Catalina Island you can see about 26 miles from shore. We were right by one of the tees, although we could not go out on the course. As we walked along enjoying the coastline and the beautiful flowers (they have made it into a wildflower reserve) we were just enchanted with the walk. And as it was a Monday, we didn't have a crowd surrounding us which was a blessing - parking space you know. The trail ends at the clubhouse. If you are adventurous enough, you can take the gravel trail down and find yourself at a nice beach area - alas too steep for me. From there we went to the Wayfarer's Chapel - a Swedenborgen Christian church built in the 60's. Isn't this fabulous?! Many weddings and other services are held here and the gardens surrounding are so serene and inviting.

Our next stop was the Terranea Resort Hotel that has another great walk along the cliffs and a wonderful restaurant named Nelson's - after Mike Nelson of Sea Hunt tv series. Food was great and the outdoor seating's view fabulous. Here is a beautiful succulent planting just to the right of the entrance to the restaurant.

That's a lighthouse in the distance beyond the fence and just a few hundred feet from it was the Point Vicente Interpretive Center where we learned about the old Marineland, the lighthouse, the Indians of the area and we saw a whale!

Our last stop was to the Malaga Cove Library built in 1930 and has fabulous furniture still from that period still in use and is one of the fine examples of peninsula architecture still open. Outside they have this wonderful fountain - my kind of library.