We awakened to a warm day today. The Santa Ana winds brought the temperatures up at our California home. It seemed like a good day for an outdoor barbecue, so we prepared baked potatoes, baked acorn squash, baked salmon steak and a grilled New York strip steak.
We posed in front of the grill while the meal was cooking on the outdoor grill. Click on the image to enlarge.
Every year since we have lived here, Santa Claus and his sleigh have visited our neighborhood. It’s a tradition sponsored by the Torrance Police Officers Association.
Santa rides atop a float with a police escort. There are sirens, music and flashing lights to announce Santa’s arrival. Santa visits most residential streets. Santa and his helpers hand out candy canes to the neighborhood children.
I took this video last night as Santa and his entouragé passed in front of the California house. Click on the “>” to play and hear the video.
One of the first things we get for the Christmas Holiday is a poinsettia or two in pots. This one is currently on the coffee table in the living room of the California residence. Click on the image to enlarge.
It’s also called Scarlet Paintbrush. I photographed this in late October, nearly a month after blooming season for this plant should have been over. Click on the image to enlarge.
More about this succulent:
Description: low growing shrub, easy to grow.
Stem: Usually unbranched, succulent becoming woody with age.
Roots: Fibrous.
Leaves: Interesting glaucous gray-green arranged in overlapping pairs, leaves are propeller shaped (sickle shaped).
Flowers: Spectacular clusters of tiny bright orange-red or scarlet-red florets arranged in dense cymes, that rise above foliage. Flower heads grow 4 to 6 inches wide and have a pleasant scent.
Blooming season: Flowers starts to develop in June and are in full bloom in August. The flowers open slowly and last for nearly a month when in full bloom.
Verna and I woke up to a rainy, drizzly day this morning. We decided to just stay indoors and watch some of the college football games.
This afternoon, Verna made a special comfort food dinner for us – spinach enchiladas with Tex-Mex rice and pinto beans. Man were those yummy! She uses two kinds of cheese in her green sauce that tops the enchiladas. She made enough that we can have enchiladas for lunch during Thanksgiving week.
We will do our usual thing on Saturday night by watching football, Cops, America’s Most Wanted followed by a DVD movie. Some rainy days aren’t bad at all!
We have been having an extended Indian Summer in Southern California which has resulted in our flowers behaving as though it were actually summer. The Kaffir Lily is in bloom on the patio and the plumerias have only just stopped blooming.
Image: Santana Hibiscus Flower – click on the image to enlarge.
The Santana Hibiscus flower seen here opened up this past weekend. There are more to come on it and our Cherie Hibiscus bush, probably this week.
