california, last of catalina, more whining....

thought i'd toss in a teaser for pictures to come. i went a little crazy with the hummingbirds the day after catalina, i'll post more of those in the next few days. i really should be addressing envelopes and writing my christmas letter. spoke to jeff and he's writing his..i'm so behind. this cold bug has put the christmas right out of me. realized that my nyquil is for runny noses and mine is stuffy so that couldn't have helped. bought one of those neti pots that i keep hearing raves about. i never have sinus issues and really just wanted to try for a swim..to clear out the sinuses. i know that would be effective, but i guess in the interest of public safety and all that i'll use the neti pot. hehe. i have hit the inhalers more today as my cough has gotten more wheezey. plan to try and get to the nurse practitioner at the employee health place. when i sound like this i can usually get whatever i want! i'm sure they just want me out of the office.

did make it out for a walk with the pups. rio is limping a bit so i should probably medicate her tomorrow and then leave her at home for the day. not sure i will be up for the full 4 mile walk either. sandra joined us today on her skies and i walked with the girls up the tank trail and then took some back trails back while sandra skied ahead. hopefully, i can get out on those trails soon. the snow looked nice. these two pictures or ella and i were taken on the boat by jeff. the top one is on the front of the boat, where i mostly hung out. it was a bit windy out there and ella snuggled in to keep warm. below is on the back of the boat. cute, eh?

this post greets you when you get off the boats there in avalon.

i think ella had a great time on her first boat ride. i had bought her a sticker book to play with in case it was too chilly. she used it more for the ride back.

on the way over she was no doubt too excited to settle down much at all.

mainland california in the distance.

jeff and ella enjoy the views in the harbor of newport. lots of fancy, expensive homes and boats out there. a few years back me, my sister and her daughter, tami rented little kayaks and cruised around the harbor. fun to get a glimpse into the life i'll never live. no matter, money truely isn't anything, though one can dream. perhaps my next life or a previous one. hmmm...

nothing on tv and so i ended up watching that new sarah palin show for a bit. she reminds me of a friend of mine. she's out there camping, but not really a camper sort. the men around her do the heavy lifting and she is there thinking she is doing her equal share. kinda funny. the men always seem to enjoy doing the lifting for these gals so more power to em. i never had those feminine wiles or perhaps having 5 older brothers taught me to just do it cause they weren't gonna. she shot at her caribou kill 6-7 times, then changed guns and hit the thing right on. they showed them testing the first gun like it was the gun and not her. whatever. it's always nice to see the landscape. not sure i'd want to watch her out there again though. she has that whiney tone in her voice that i find a bit annoying in an hour long show.

all is quiet in balboa. this scene changes dramatically in the summer. i have taken the little ferry across a few times from newport to balboa on bike...always fun.

above is the birds of paradise flower, below the ferry. a bit smaller than our alaskan ferries. i guess the cordova run got delayed by weather. that fast ferry isnt' really meant for rough seas so they tucked into some bay to ride it out. should convince my friend, scott to just fly into anchorage for his shifts here. he likes the ferry as he can shop and load his truck up with supplies for life in a small town.

my brother said the boat owners out at newport have had issues with seals climbing in the boats and doing damage so he thought that may be why so many were covered, could just be off season too.

was sleepy after my walk so i rested and watched, "big fish". strange movie, not bad, not great, just strange. i'm not big on the world of fantasy. some people do like to tell tall tales to keep thier lives sounding more intersting. not much harm in a little tall tale here and there. i suppose a thing like that can get out of hand though. people love to hear a good story though. my friend sandra can tell a story, i'm more of a one liner. i can toss out a zinger from time to time, but i always forget stuff with stories.

jeff and ella get our tickets to ride.

avalon is out there before us...always an exciting sighting.

few missed bits, the yellow boat is the semi-submersible sub with jeff and ella on board. below is another picture of ella with the pink hotel.

gotta find a few new books to load onto the kindle. i saw a list of bbc's 100 books, 100 what books it didn't really say. those sorts of lists always have some classics that i would like to add to the already read list. she blog poster who put the list up said i think on average people have read about 6 on the list. i had 20 that immediately came to mind. i know a few of my very well read nieces would probably double my number at least. got the behind the counter sinus decongestant at the pharmacy today. we'll see if that helps. hopefully, i'll just get myself some antibiotics tomorrow. i've had bronchial pneumonia's several times and this feels a bit like that again. drag, cause that lingers. as i'm getting older though i know that what i recovered from quickly as a youth could be more of a bother now. i want to get back to the pool, but know i'm not there yet. gotta get the breathing under control.

took me forever to fall asleep last night despite all my sleep inducing drugs. i kept drifting off only to awaken with another coughing spasm. hopefully, tonight will be better.....

enjoy the pictures and ignore all my whining. tomorrow should be some wonderful pictures from 1000 steps beach, hummingbirds and sunset.