More snow and rain!

The storm continues to hang around and dropped even more snow on our local mountains. I couldn't resist stopping to take pictures on the way to work again this morning. This first shot is of my favorite Ventura landmark, Two Trees, with the snow-covered mountains in the background. The photo below is a panoramic combination of five shots I took from Olivas Park Road, panning from Two Trees on the north to Santa Paula on the south. Remember to click on the photos in order to see the full size; I made the panorama as small as possible in order to make it load faster.

It Rained (and Even Snowed!)

We finally got some rain - a good amount at a nice pace - the first since early December. We got 2 1/2 inches this past weekend and the plants are loving it. The bulbs are finally beginning to send up shoots (the yellow daffodils are usually blooming by now), a dutch iris has bloomed, and one hyacinth is opening.
Although it didn't feel that cold in Ventura, it must have been cold in Ojai and Santa Paula last night because the mountains were covered in snow this morning. It even stayed cold enough to last all day and I could see the snow from our new mezzanine at work.This morning's snow was really beautiful, but the sunrise and morning sky were spectacular!

Sherri Is Off to Sea!

Semester at Sea, that is. A small group of us had a great Mexican meal at Maria Bonita in Ventura's Downtown. We stayed until about an hour before Sherri took the Airporter to LAX. She should be in the Bahamas by now! Sherri will be one of two librarians on this three and a half month cruise through the southern hemisphere. Another really cool thing about this particular semester is Archbishop Desmond Tutu will be the Distinguished Lecturer in Residence for the entire Spring 2007 voyage!

Sherri has started her first blog. Take a look at sojourner and you'll get to read about her travel experiences.

Moving Has Begun!

The truck full of 30,000 new books and media arrived on January 23rd and with a great team of helpers from the library's other branches and a crew from City Corps, many books were on the shelves and most of the boxes were gone by the end of that first night!

The South Oxnard Branch Library Construction Is Almost Completed

Our long-awaited move-in date arrived last week as the building is almost complete! Trees are appearing, final electrical and carpeting work is being done, and blacktopping is scheduled for the near future!Remember that clicking on any of these blog photos will take you to the full photo size, but you can also click on this posting title to see my photo album of the construction progress since I accepted my job in October.

Catching Up: Renata's Birthday

Renata's birthday was made special by David & Lori's visit, so it was neat to have lunch with them and a group from church at Mimi's before they left. After a longer than usual Sunday nap, we visited Jack and Carolyn who opened a wonderful bottle of champagne for the occasion.Since the next day was Martin Luther King Day we got to sleep in and have a lazy morning. We spent the afternoon enjoying a photography exhibit as well as the wonderful permanent collection at the Norton Simon Museum. (This is a reflection of Imogen Cunningham's photos reflected in Ansel Adams' Moonrise, Hernandez, New Mexico.)We drove back to Ventura for a sushi dinner and it wasn't until the next day that I realized I hadn't had my traditional sushi lunch and birthday walk on the beach. It had been much colder (record-breaking lows) and windier than most mid-Januarys but it calmed down a bit and I took a very short walk on Hueneme Beach during my dinner break the next day. Maybe our weather is changing since it actually rained on the first January 14th in memory last year.

Catching Up: A Visit from David & Lori!

We were so pleased to have David and Lori Persons stay with us the weekend they came to Ventura and Santa Barbara. We would have loved to have spent more time and done more things with them, but they are on their six-month national tour of churches that support them and their ministries in Mulungwishi, DRC, and they needed to spend time at our church and then move on. It was a special Sunday to have them visit and David preach. A few of us wore the shirts that had been sent to us from Mulungwishi and a few more were able to have lunch together before David & Lori had to pack up and move to the next stop. To learn more about Mulungwishi and what the Persons are doing, read their Congo Missions - Mulungwishi blog.

Catching Up: Celebrating the New Year

New Year's Eve and New Year's Day were thoroughly enjoyable as usual. This year Craig and Renee came up and after a great dinner at home, the four of us joined Richard and Nancy who had just returned from Hawaii.More goodies, champagne, and games kept us up until midnight, and after a lazy morning, we once again enjoyed Craig's traditional Huevos Rancheros for brunch!

Catching Up: Christmas in Costa Mesa

Since we spent Christmas with Sam, we drove to Costa Mesa for a December 30th Christmas celebration with the SoCal family members. We met at Ruby's in South Coast Plaza in order to have dinner together and catch April on her break from Macy's.