Citrus Saturday

We started our day with an early group hike at Lake Perris State Recreation Area.

It was basically a flat walk without too much new to see.  Terry poses beside the Brittlebush in all its glory. We had bought a state park seniors' pass that was good until the end of the year.

In the visitors' centre, one of the staff was frantically looking for a brochure to give someone.  It sounded interesting, so I asked her about it. "It's only 20 minutes down the road, "  she said. 

A tour of an orchard with sampling privileges! As we arrived the smell of citrus blossoms assailed our noses. 

A volunteer docent led us through the
groves of trees, not paying too much attention
where the actual path was.  He had his own favourite spots.

He pointed to the rows of palm trees surrounding the park, and said, "They're pretty useless, and have to be trimmed continually in case a palm frond hits someone on the head."  They did delineate where the roads were, though.

Canvas sleeves protect from sharp spines

At practically every tree, he stopped, pulled out a very sharp knife from his pouch, and cut the fruit into sections for us.  There were six of us, so it wasn't too difficult.  First he handed us a plastic food-type glove. After a while we could see why, as the juice dripped down our chins and all over our hands. We ate and ate to the point of satiation, so many different samples. If anyone refused a sample, he would just throw it under the trees, as we did all our peels.  Not only did we eat samples, but we were also given bags in which to collect fruit to take home.  We weren't allowed to pick directly off the trees until he said, "Now you can pick one," or he would do it for us.

Navel Oranges

These are the oranges that made California famous.  In 1873, Mrs. Eliza Tibbets got two young Bahia or Washington navel orange trees from the Department of Agriculture.  This orange was sweeter  and more flavourful than the Mediterranean oranges the mission padres had planted along the coast, and their thick skins made them conducive to shipping. Later, we went to a street corner in Riverside, where these two trees are still growing, protected by a fence, and commemorated by a sign and a plaque.

Kumquats look like miniature oranges and are eaten skin and all.  I've rarely seen them in a grocery store. 

Did you know limes turn yellow as they ripen?  But no one likes to see yellow limes!

These are called Lemonade Lemons and are variegated with these green stripes on the outside.  Inside, they are faintly pink, making you think they might be sweet, but unfortunately they don't have a taste to match their description.  They're pretty sour, but we had to try those, too. 

This is an ancient type of citrus that candied peel is made from!  I'm glad they thought of a use for it!

The blood orange was the best!  The first time I saw these sold was in Bratislava, Slovakia, where they had been imported from Turkey. Delicious!

Then we were given another bag so we could gather our grapefruit samples.  We were shown several different kinds, including a sweet light yellow variety, and the famous Rio Reds that we associate with Texas.  We took a few of each, whatever could fit into the stretchy mesh bag.

Then we went to wash our sticky hands.

It was only 30 miles along the freeway to get back to Cherry Valley.

What an awesome excursion, one we hadn't even planned!

Water in the Desert

We spent the long weekend in Yuma, AZ, about three hours away from Cherry Valley, with our friends from Sleepy Valley, from our old neighbourhood. It's Presidents' Day in the US, but Family Day back home. These friends are the next best thing when we can't be with family.

Our laundry dries quickly in the hot sun.

We experienced a heat wave, unseasonable shorts and shirt weather, quite a switch from the rainy and temperate climate in northern California.

Next was a tooth fixed in Los Algodones, Mexico. It didn't take long to replace one of my fillings.

Most of our weekend was spent birding, though. We drove along dusty levees along irrigation canals.

Life giving water is pumped into the fields
earning Yuma the name of Winter Vegetable Capital.

                                     

Here is a field with green and red lettuce, actually there were two shades of green.

                                                               

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                     

Terry in his classic birding pose, by the Colorado River.

Blooming Salt Cedar

A fire blackened the shrubs and the trunk of the palm

 Brittle Bush on the banks of the Colorado River

Debbie and Erica

Uh oh! The camp stove wouldn't light. Roland fiddled with the connection to the little propane tank. We glumly contemplated eating bread and tomatoes

“Lord,” I prayed. “We really would like those burgers!” Everyone laughed in agreement. Finally we heard the hiss of the propane, but it wasn't flowing consistently through the connection. Roland sat and held the tank upside down. Somehow this kept the propane flowing so the hamburgers could cook. “Thank you for the sizzle,” we prayed before joyously attacking the picnic supper.

At the pond, people were sitting close to the edge and fishing. Apparently anything that swam in the Colorado River was here, such as catfish, trout, or tilapia. A girl scooped out a trout with a net, just like that.


As dark came early, we packed up chairs, table, stove and food, and headed for home.

Great Egret

Clinging Vines

On our last weekend at Pacifica, CA, the principal of the school where we had been working took us on a tour of San Francisco.  We enjoyed driving down, not only the famous Lombard Street with its many turns in a short distance, but down another, lesser known street, Vermont Street, that was even windier.

Many of the streets were so steep that cars parked straight across so they couldn't roll downhill.  No angle parking on these angled streets! 

We had driven to Pacifica when we arrived via the Golden Gate Bridge, so I didn't think I wanted to walk across it, but we did, about halfway across.  Since the sun suddenly came out, and the sky cleared, it was a pleasant experience








"Do you want me to take a picture of both of you?"  asked the principal.

If you look closely, you can see scratches on Terry's neck.  They were healing nicely and forming scabs.
That night he started to get terribly itchy, and his neck, arms where he had more scratches developed red patches.  Then his arm blistered.  His face started to swell.
"Uh-oh, I think I encountered something poisonous," said Terry. That was two days previously! He remembered how they had been asked to clear and trim the brush behind a fence.  With his usual enthusiasm, Terry remembered how he had dived into the bush, and how the vines had wrapped themselves around his neck.
Internet research revealed pictures of poison ivy and poison oak.  Apparently poison oak is common in California, and poison ivy grows only east of the Rockies.  All our lives in BC and Alberta we'd never seen any specimens of these plants.

Benedryl didn't seem to do much. Calamine lotion and ice cold facecloths helped to some extent. A week later we were on our way to the next project, and were staying the night at Walmart.  Would you believe Walmart sells aloe vera? Not in a bottle, but a giant two foot spear of it!

The soothing jelly scraped out of the leaf helped for a while.  Meanwhile Terry wasn't getting much sleep because of the terrible itching on his face, neck, chest, and unmentionable parts of his body.
This is how swollen his face looked. He's downright scary!

The time came to take stronger measures.  We decided to go to Urgent Care in Beaumont, near Cherry Valley, where we are beginning our second project.  The swelling wasn't going down, and he could hardly see out of his right eye.
The doctor gave him an injection into his hip, as well as prescriptions for a steroid drug and some medicated cream. The cost of all this was less than the deductible, so we decided to use our Visa card. 
"Transaction denied," said the machine.  After a call to Visa, the problem was solved. Some machines need you to use a pin number, and Americans don't use pins, so the clerk bypassed the instructions on the screen.  Finally we paid, picked up our meds, and drove away in relief.

 
The next day his face looked so much better! And he feels so much better!  Thank You, God.