The most wonderful time of the year

It’s that time of the year. I’ve seen them popping up since the day after Thanksgiving. The reminders that Christmas is almost here. Christmas decorations. They’re so high tech these days though. This one has a snowman family inside a globe with snow blowing around them and flashing lights.

When I was a kid, my mom made a life size papier mache Santa and put him standing on our roof. She also inflated a 6 ft. diameter balloon, covered it with papier mache, then put spikes on it to resemble Sputnik. She then put it next to Santa on the roof. It looked as if he had gotten rid of the reindeer and come into the 20th century.

What are your favorite decorations?

It's all about the kids

Tonight was the annual tree-lighting ceremony in front of the Downey City Hall.

It's a fun event for the kids. Santa is there, and one of the center grass areas is covered with snow, where the kids can roll, and make and throw snowballs. But the best part for me was the entertainment provided by the local schools.

The picture above shows the choir from Lewis Elementary School. They really put their heart into a number of Christmas songs. And the audience (mostly parents) was so big it was hard to get close enough for a good picture!

A Christmas welcome

More and more houses are sporting Christmas decorations now that we're fully into December. The decorations range from the simple to the downright gaudy, from casual to truly elegant, from the silly to the sacred. The range is fascinating, and I can't help it—I have to take pictures!

This house has one of the things I like best—outlines. The roof lines, the shrubs, a little bit of everything. It's still pretty traditional, mostly lights, with the Christmas wreath and the candles in the window welcoming visitors.

A very welcoming and cheerful house!

Road trip

The trip home from northern California was actually kind of beautiful along the 5 highway (which normally seems quite dull). We had dramatic stormy skies filled with beautiful, angry clouds. It made for an impressive scene. It allowed me to "see" the highway from another perspective.



“One’s destination is never a place, but a new way of seeing things.”
~Henry Miller

That's a lot of water

As you drive on Interstate 5 between Downey and the San Francisco area, you follow the California aqueduct system for a good part of the way. The Governor Edmund G. Brown California Aqueduct is a system of canals, tunnels, and pipes that carries water from the Sierra Nevada Mountains in northern and central California to southern California.

About even with San Francisco, the aqueduct divides into three branches. The I5 follows two of the branches (the east branch and the west branch) for about 250 miles. At first glance, it doesn't seem like that much water. But the average depth is 30 feet, and the width is about 100 feet. The aqueducts supply water for 25 million Californians and 750,000 acres of irrigated farmland.

Double rainbow

This weekend I drove up to Livermore, which is is about 5 1/2 hours north of Downey, While it rained for most of the drive, about half way there, the rain stopped and all of a sudden there was a double rainbow we spotted off to the side of the road (which I snapped quickly while driving). It was a beautiful gift to see. It was as if the sky was celebrating the end of the rain...and a few minutes later it was raining once again.


“May God give you...For every storm a rainbow, for every tear a smile, for every care a promise and a blessing in each trial. For every problem life sends, a faithful friend to share, for every sigh a sweet song and an answer for each prayer.”

 Irish Blessings quotes

Another tree

A quick look through our posts on trees shows what incredible diversity there is in the sizes, shapes, and colors of the trees in Downey.

This tree caught my eye the other day. It too displays fall colors, although not in the way that we traditionally expect.

Present patience

Just as Joan pointed out the day before yesterday, the signs of Christmas are showing up everywhere. When I came home from work today I found wrapped Christmas gifts on our Family room floor. My daughter spent part of her day wrapping them but there is no tree yet to put them under so here they'll wait. The tall one in the back is mine she says. But I'll have to wait 26 days to see what it is.

Do you try to figure out what your presents are? Do you shake them, roll them or see if the wrapper left a section of the paper loose so you can sneak a peek? I remember when I was young I would unwrap then re-wrap my presents because of my impatience. But I found 1. that the giver didn't see the joy on my face as I discovered their gift and 2. it was hard to act surprised when I opened the gift a second time and the giver sat across from me. I learned to wait.

Patience is the companion of wisdom.
Saint Augustine

Adopt the pace of nature: her secret is patience.
Ralph Waldo Emerson