I have all of my life been someone who is open. I am open to people, ideas, plans, you name it. If you want someone to be enthusiastic about doing pretty much anything that is fun, interesting, challenging, etc. then just call on me. I’ll be right there to encourage you, cheer you on, and…

Liz and Ron have added a lot of features to our orange grove since they moved here but these four additions are the biggest improvement of all. Introducing: Finn, Jimmy Jet, Leroy and Buttercup. They are all young male alpacas who have come to live at our orange grove and be neighbors with the chickens…

Here in the orange grove in Ojai, we spotted a baby opossum outside our gate. Well, let me rephrase, our dogs saw this little ball of fur that we finally figured out was the baby of the mother possum we had seen just a few minutes before. The little possum hid inside the wheel well…

We are having a bona fide rain shower up here in Ojai this evening with real lightning and thunder! What an unexpected treat. The rain is drumming a steady rhythm on the roof of the Airstream and every once in a while, there’s a flash of lightning and a peal of thunder. This is accompanied…

Spoiler alert. Do not read if you hope to watch this movie without knowing prior information on what happens. I am in rest and recovery mode from my illness so I watched The Many Saints of Newark this afternoon, the prequel to The Sopranos. Being someone who came very late to The Sopranos party –…

The woman in the center of the photo is Maureen. She and the young man in the aisle behind her run the dining car on the Southwest Chief, the train traveling from LA to Chicago and back weekly. Maureen told us that she’s worked for Amtrak for eleven years and that when she gets off…

We have made it home at last. Hooray! Here is just one more sweet moment I wanted to share from our Amtrek experience today. We were allowed at Barstow to all de-train and walk around to get air and a bit of exercise. Because the train was behind schedule, a group of people took their…

Today, while lounging in my small but cozy private compartment, I overheard the steward, Terrance, talking to some other passengers a few compartments away. He was saying to them that one of the biggest regrets right now for him is that passengers who don’t know each other are not required to sit together in the…

We are on the train headed by to LA. We have that one victory for today. Unfortunately, I’m suffering a bit from the rocking motion of the train. Hopefully, after a good night’s sleep, I’ll feel a lot better. No fun traveling when one is sick. No more from me tonight. Heading back to bed.

Let’s just say that on this long-awaited trip to Chicago, I never envisioned a miserable bout of food poisoning. However, that’s just exactly what I had, starting last night and going through most of today. The culprit? Not sure, but the only food I ate that Ray didn’t was a salad for lunch covered in…