Celebrating the Season in the East Bay Hills

As we approach Christmas number two in California, we've almost gotten used to what late fall and early winter are like here.

Sweet gum trees provide some late fall color 

Fall-winter rains encourage greening of the hills

The canyon fills in with clouds 

A morning in early December

"Bird cloud" over the Bay 

Mid-December sunset

Clouds and sun on the Bay side

Moon over Mt. Diablo

Cyclamen outside

A little NorCal evergreen that we can transplant after Christmas

Inside, we've decked the halls:

Much obliged to the Christmas cactuses for their timely blooming 

We picked out a small Noble fir to decorate

Placed it where it can be seen from the street at the end of our driveway

The angel's light blinks on and off

Fully decorated - ornaments from various times in our lives

Lights in the breakfast nook

On a foggy night

Stockings hung 

A great place to cat nap

Table-top tree in our entry-level suite

On the front door

Christmas week photos:

Christmas Eve moon

Our tree at sunset

Sunset the day after Christmas 

Another cloud critter

Winter sunshine

Christmas night moon bow over Mt. Diablo

May the blessings of the season come in abundance to all of you.

The Four of Us Housemates

Ziggy and Sunny

Exploring Oceanside and Carlsbad in San Diego County

Thanks to an invitation from good friends who wanted to check out northern San Diego County as a place to relocate, we made the trip from NorCal to SoCal.

We shared a vacation rental in Oceanside and had fun exploring the neighborhood - especially the beach and the pier.

Leaving the San Diego airport for Oceanside - view of the harbor

The place in Oceanside - front view

The back yard - We spent lots of time here.

Erick gets the fire started to take the chill off the evening

Three nights in Oceanside - Three fires in the pit

The weather was perfect for a walk on the beach at Oceanside:

The entry point

The guys 

Surfer dog

Pelican

Heading back - view of homes along the beach

Just south of Oceanside is Carlsbad.  We had a chance to look around the town and take a hike along a lagoon.

Carlsbad shopping and restaurant plaza

From our lagoon hike:

Bench mosaic 

Sparkling water

Long-billed Curlew

From a distance, mistaken for a long-billed curlew :-)

Hawk in a palm tree

The highway in the background

Wood rat den in the background - they are "pack rats"

Sign showing a wood rat

We visited the nature center after our hike

Fanciful sculpture at the nature center

Back to Oceanside:

We made a couple of trips to the Oceanside pier which is the 4th largest in California  (1,942 ft, built in 1987, wooden) The first visit was at night as we waited for our reservations at a nearby restaurant.

Surf at night from the pier

To wrap up our trip to Oceanside, we visited the pier to watch the sunset.

Surfers making the most of the pre-sunset time

Waiting for sunset

Evening light on the beach front

Worth the wait 

Fading away

After a wonderful, long weekend, we headed back to the Oakland hills via the San Diego airport.  

(Our pre-departure trip to the San Diego Zoo has its own blog post.)

Fountain at the airport

San Diego toots its own horn - and with good reason