The L.A County Fair

Good Lord, it's hot here. I'm actually kinda jealous of those who live in parts of the country where its transitioning into fall weather - here in SoCal we are experiencing highs in the triple digits.

Yuck.

When its this hot most SoCal residences stay inside, go swimming or head to the cooler weather of the coast. Not us. Our family, along with a couple of friends all piled into the car and drove down to the L.A County fair for a day of farm animals, fair foods and trains.

On top of serving fried, cheesecake, oreos, twinkies, red velvet cake and pecan pie...fried bacon donuts,  pineapples and chocolate hot dogs were listed on the menu. 

I limited myself to one fried oreo and one shared funnel cake. That was enough fried food to last me for a lifetime...

I'm glad that L.A County Fair brought back the farm exhibits. Lucas loved being able to pet the cows, sheep and goats up-close. I did feel bad for the animals. It was at least 90 + degrees in the shaded areas and some of the poor critters looked uncomfortable.  In the old outdoor show arena, the fair turned the entire area into one large farm. Kids could watch demonstrations on how our fruits and vegetables are grown, what it takes to be a farmers and how to grow your own garden. 

As the day went on, it did cool down and we enjoyed the forestry services exhibit and the train museum before heading home exhausted.  

Winter of the World by Ken Follett

Winter of the World by Ken Follett is the second installment of The Century Trilogy and picks up right where Fall of Giants left off. The story starts in 1933, with the rise of the Third Reich and includes such events as the Spanish Civil War, the American depression and World War Two, it concludes in 1949 with hints of the cold war to come. 

I really enjoyed Fall of Giants, and was a bit disappointed with Winter of the World.  It felt like the same story - with different historical events. Even the characters seemed to be recycled - same characters different names. I guess I was really hoping for something new and fresh. 

As a work of historical fiction, Follett has done his homework. The historical events and real life characters portrayed have been well researched. I thought the part about Japan's justification for their need to go to war was interesting. It was a piece of unknown history for me. 

I found it interesting that Follett chose to skip the Holocaust and instead focused on Action T4, the Nazi's euthanasia program for the handicap. Perhaps he felt that the Holocaust had been done before and was looking for something new to flesh out? 

As with all of Follett's books, the bad guys are people to go along with the establishment - the fascists, the communists, the old aristocracy and of course the church. If I had to guess, I'd say that Follett is a socialist, and or a labor party member.  

Sex plays a huge roll in the story. Follett spends more time talking about/describing sexual encounters between characters than he dose on the horrors of World War 2. Characters - male and female- have hearty sexual appetites. Women are often described as having firm tits and round asses, and are ready for a romp in the hay or a blow job to go. Too much sexytime does make me wonder if he is compensating for something???  For the most part the ample amount of sexytime didn't bother me. However, when Follett introduced a 13 year old Jewish girl whose parents just died in a concentration camp he goes into detail describing her round bouncy breasts that clung to her thin tight dress. Why did he have to go into detail about her body? Her parents just died in a concentration camp? The size and shape of her breasts wasn't necessary.  

This book is not my favorite. However, the narrative is quick and absorbing, the characters are interesting and Follett provides readers with a front row seat to many memorable historical events of the 20th century. 

photoshoot

On a hot muggy afternoon, I took my friend Allison out near my parent's home for a Guild Wars Cosplay photo shoot. This was my first Cosplay photo shoot and it was a lot of fun. Allison is a fantastic seamstress and a beautiful model. The amount of detail put into this costume is stunning. I'm in love with the green fabric used on the blouse, and leather corset. The natural hills of Southern California make a perfect background for the Guild Wars universe. 

Fiero Concert

I had the pleasure of photographing Fiero over the weekend. The group came out to Riverside to perform at La Sierra University's Hole Memorial for a concert.  The group features Andrew Harrison on the soprano saxophone, Isaac Lopez on alto saxophone, Emma Reinhart on tenor saxophone, and John Hallberg on baritone saxophone. All four members are currently attending USC. I've heard Andrew play many times, however this was the first time I've heard his entire quartet perform. As a group they sound amazing, mixing classical and contemporary pieces to create a truly unique music experience. 

train rides and a birthday

A beautiful day for the beach. Sabbath morning our family boarded the train and road the rails to San Clemente. For a weekend in August, the beach was empty. Not that I minded...I prefer empty beaches...more room to spread out. The tide was high, and the water was refreshingly cool. Lucas enjoyed digging in the sand and wading in the water. He was so busy that he forgot about the yummy snacks packed away. At the end of the day, we were all ready to board our train and head home. I had hoped that Lucas would sleep on the way home, however there was too many interesting things to see outside of the windows. Thankfully, our train car was nearly empty and we avoided bothering other passengers. It was a great way to end the summer and spend my birthday.

Birthdays

With over 840 miles of coastline, California is home to some amazing beaches. For C's birthday, we headed down to Oceanside's Harbor Beach. It was a lovely day. The kiddos played in the sand, digging holes and creating castles. At first Lucas was hesitant about going near the water. He would cautiously walk towards the water, then suddenly run away as soon as the tide came in. Finally, at the end of the day he timidly put his toes in...a wide smile slowly spread across his face indicating that he finally got over the fear of the ocean water.  We ended the day with one tired and dirty baby boy. 

Our Trip to PSR

We celebrated my husband's first bar exam free weekend by heading up to Pine Springs Ranch. About one year ago, Pine Springs Ranch was forced to evacuate due to a wildfire. This would be our first visit after the fire and we were curious to see the changes. This place will always have a special spot in my heart. I was happy to see that with the winter and spring rain, many of the small shrubs and native plants were growing back. Its going to take years before the mountain is covered in pines again, but I did noticed that many small trees had been planted all around camp.

The weather was perfect...cloudy and cool...with an added bonus of rain off and on all day. I'm so thankful that at the last minute I grabbed jackets for Lucas and myself.....unfortunately I did forget Richard's jacket on the kitchen table. 

He was a trooper. 

 Lucas had a blast playing in the mud, jumping in water puddles and kicking pine cones. Camp is his new favorite place.  

One of the buildings that burned down was the fort. The new fort is much bigger, with high walls and stronger gates. In addition to being a place for night programs, the new fort has been designed as an outdoor sleeping area. On a hot summer's night, I could definitely see campers enjoying sleeping out under the stars.  

We ended the day with Saturday Night @ the Ranch where Richard rocked the house on his guitar! It was good to see him back on stage in his element singing about Herman the Pig.  :)