Wordless Wednesday - Bidwell Park, Sycamore Pool

Friday at the Fountain

This evening, Mom and I took the kids - Sarah, Trinity, Chance, and Casey - down to the concert in the park. A country band was playing and I thought that there were very good, but for some reason, the kids didn't really get into it. I kept trying to get them to go into the fountain. Finally, the girls and Case tried it. Trin had the funniest look on her face, I kept trying to catch it, but she was tricky. Her dimples, always her dimples show. So sweet.
The City Plaza used to look very different. It had tall trees and a diamond-pattern walkway. It would be packed for the friday concerts. This time, the park was not even a quarter full. You can see a bit of what the park used to look like here http://www.homeschico.com/Chico/park%20downtown%202.jpg
This little guy looks like he's boxing the water.
Sarah looks so funny here - very Sarah-like expression here. :D Casey looks like he's freezing.

I took some photos of the Chico State Campus, too, but I'll post them another time.

Creek-y Morning

Sarah and I had a creek morning - just the two of us. Yes, that's Casey in the picture, but unfortunately, he was home in Bakersfield - not at our creek. I just prefer to use a picture with him in it. :D Sarah noticed that it looked very different. I explained to her that it will change daily, depending on the water level and the weather. We didn't see very many polliwogs - last week there were hundreds. We did see a couple of large trout. One kept jumping up and when he broke the surface, we'd turn quickly to try to see him. I never caught him, but Sarah did. The dragonflies landed on me - I like to see them up close.
It was eerie outside today. The light was very orange and there was ash floating down. I like floating on a raft in the creek and when I was on my back, I could see it landing on my legs, my chest, my belly. It was creepy. And sad. Our beautiful California is burning all over the place.

People who have never been here think that California is all like LA, but it's not. There's desert and mountains and incredible coastline. I live up at the top of the Sacramento Valley and let me tell you, there are parts of this valley that are not beautiful, but my town is surrounded by orchards and foothills. There's a park that runs up through town, into the hills - that's the park that I always talk about. Anyway, my point is that it looks nothing like the California where the stars live - the sky is usually blue and clear. This latest fire, I hear that it's in Paradise/Magalia area. A lot of people who live up there are retired. Steve's dad lives there.

Bay's out here now. She is sick and somehow thinks that using the computer will help. I need to go outside and see if I can photograph something for tomorrow's Wordless Wednesday. Good evening to you.

Creek and Kitty

Today was a creek day! Sarah and I floated for a couple of hours while the big kids were in Summer school. How lucky were we? She held onto my foot or my raft and I steered - there wasn't much current. We saw some fish and lots of rocks. I took my camera, which thrilled Sarah. Okay, I'm kidding. She is very tired of the camera. I don't need her to pose, just BE and I'll catch what I can.
She wanted to play Truth or Dare. I picked truth twice and she asked me super easy questions. I don't think she gets the game exactly. I gave her two dares. One was to touch a slimy stick that we passed while floating and the second was to put her face in the water. She would only put her face in the water with the mask on. I said, hey that's not hard, but I let her get away with it. She squatted down and dipped her face in. Pretty funny.
She's a great sport.
After we got home, Taylor and Alana brought this little kitten over to meet us. They found it where Alana's mom works - he's a homeless guy. They called him Creamsicle and I came so close to keeping him. He was soft and fuzzy. I resisted. No I am not heartless. I want a kitty, but I want a house first. He was a cutie.

Wordless Wednesday - Sometimes You Gotta Dance

My niece dancing at the playground. I can't look at this one without smiling. Great day.

Mellow Monday

The park was beautiful today. It's still pretty green, but the heat has made some of the grass turn yellow and it smells like Summer. I did a long loop and a short loop. I saw a beautiful boy at the top of the long loop. He was sitting on a bench with a girl and as I rode boy, I thought, wow, pretty boy - lots of brown skin, blue eyes, curly dark hair.
They had the water blocked off and a backhoe was cleaning the floor of the Sycamore Pool. It smelled so strong of fish, but the only fish in sight were tiny little babies, trying desperately to escape the confines of the damn. I wish I'd remembered my camera. It was an interesting view of the pool.

There were a lot of black and red caterpillars crossing the path. I tried my best not to run any over, but they always are there when I least expect them. I'm not sure my camera would do a good job of capturing them, but again, I can't try if it's sitting at home on the counter. I really need to remember to always take it with me.

This is a shot of one of the bridges. It's the first bridge that I pass when I go in - not over, but pass - then when I do the short loop I go over it. I feel lucky every single day that I get to enjoy the park.

Can you see the orb in this picture? It looks like a moon next to the white tree.
I took this underneath the freeway, also in the park. I took two different shots and they each had different light anomalies. None of the other pictures from that day had the orbs. I was so excited when I saw them. First I saw the one that looked like a "moon." I thought, hhm, I don't remember a moon on there, then I looked at the other one and saw that it had even more, smaller orbs. I can't help wondering if they are spirits, which I know might sound silly. It's a really cool spot. It feels sort of like a fort did when I was a kid. You can hear the cars go overhead and underneath it's cool and shady.

When I took this picture on friday, a dad I know came flying onto the blacktop right in front there. I may have said that before. Sorry, if I'm repeating myself. I love how riding a bike brings out the kid in people.