JUMPING AHEAD ON SEASONS - DAILY FRONT PORCH

I was in the mood today (due to the humidity) to post something cooler.  I have discovered since living in the mountains there are three seasons I love - the one I don't look forward to is summer.  Posting a front porch that reminds me of days to come and cooler temps.

Also will be posting some of my photos from the central coast of California - where there are many vineyards as well as beautiful beaches.

First off:  Front Porch in Claremont (about 45 min now from where we live).


This house use to have chickens in the yard and whenever I would walk by it I would take photos.  Lately the chickens don't seem to be around.  I loved how they decorated for halloween (taken 5 years ago).  I still walk by this house whenever we are in the area.  It's right down the street from the Claremont Colleges (this is such a beautiful college town).

Love this front porch - with or without decorations.

Some shots taken out of the window driving from our hotel over to my sister's house.

Because of a lot of road work being done through the main part of San Luis Obispo - we took the back route which is much more scenic.   I love this area!  Can't wait to go back over Thanksgiving.

This bottom photo is taken from the hotel looking out.

DAILY FRONT PORCH - WRIGHTWOOD, CA

Every time I use to walk by this little house/cabin - I admired the shingles on it- it just looked like a cozy cabin to me and one I could be happy in.  It was very close to town - not up a steep hill like where we were living and nearby was the house with the pretty flowers that I posted below.   I posted the bottom pics just to show what a hoarder's yard must look like.  This particular yard in the bottom two pics were several blocks up from this one.  I never could figure out why they had so much stuff in that yard and on their porch.  So today are two porches - this one below and at the bottom of the post the hoarder's porch.

Wrightwood is in the mountains and half of the area is in LA County and the other half in San Bernardino County.  It's a favorite of people coming from LA during the winter to ski at Mountain High.  One thing I disliked about Wrightwood was the seasonal traffic that would be horrendous on the weekends.

For two years I watched this garden grow and then we moved - Last time I drove by in the fall of 2014 it looked like someone had cleared the whole garden out.  Or ..maybe just mowed it down.

OCTOBER 13, 2012 -DAILY FRONT PORCH CLAREMONT AND SAME DAY MORMON ROCKS

First off - to fulfill my daily porch post - I was going through a folder dated 10/13/2012 when we lived in Wrightwood, Ca (another mountain town about 35 to 40 minutes away from where we are now).   Wrightwood is a really beautiful place but for me the drawback was not a lot of things to do there without having to leave the mountain and go through the high desert to shop.  I do like deserts - especially the part of the desert near Mormon Rocks (which was created by movement of the San Andreas Fault and which we lived on Lark St which sits right on top of the fault (scary)....but some of the desert areas we would have to drive through were so dry and ....not appealing.

Anyway we hiked at the rocks (photos below) and then took our grandson home and visited Claremont  where I took these photos which I forgot about so i figured why not post them for front porch post.

This house i always take photos of below because of the garden that is to the right - I love walking by and checking out what's growing.  They always decorate their house for halloween.

Here are some photos of Mormon rocks - which is actually a really pretty hike with great views when you get to the top.  It's nice for me to see these photos again - when we lived in Wrightwood I was limited on how much I could post due to internet plan so a lot of my photos just sat in folders never getting posted.

In the fall I plan another trip to Wrightwood and some other areas that are too hot to the summer to walk or hike in.  

CEDAR GLEN DAILY FRONT PORCH AND DEAN MARTIN

Cedar Glen is a little community that is part of Lake Arrowhead.  It is interesting to drive through these small streets and small neighborhood - all the houses are really quaint and cute and it takes a lot of dollars to buy in this area.  We love to go to Cedar Glen for their famous Cedar Glen Malt Shop and there are some nice antique stores.  The only grocery store serving this area is a local Jensens.

I came across the mention of Dean Martin this morning so I went Youtubing.  I enjoyed hearing his voice again and watching this video.

Time to get back into the routine of walking - must do that today.

DAILY FRONT PORCH - WRIGHTWOOD, CA

This house was on the same road we lived on, when we lived in the previous mountain town of Wrightwood.  I use to imagine that his house would suit my sister and her husband just fine - always wishing they would move to the mountains but knowing they wouldn't leave the coast or their daughter and granddaughter up in the central coast.  But - to me - this is a perfect house for my sister.  I love the deck and the surrounding nature.  Wrightwood was a great area to walk and photograph nature - but still....there wasn't enough nature around for me - I needed more and we moved to Crestline which allowed us to easily access all the other mountain towns around us.

I still love this house whenever I see a photo of it.

We had a great visit up at the coast with my sis and family - I did take a lot of photos but haven't been that much in the mood to blog - I'll ease back into it no doubt.

AT FIRST I THOUGHT THIS HAS TO BE FAKE BUT THEN

Not so sure.

DAILY FRONT PORCH AND GOOD VIBRATIONS

Taking a beach break for several days.

(Photo taken Lake Arrowhead)

CLAREMONT, CA JANUARY 2010 - DAILY FRONT PORCH

I probably have photos of this porch that I've taken every few months for years whenever I would pass by.  I'll post these today and if I find more from different angles will include them some time.   It's fairly close to the Village Park which is on the main street going into town.   Obviously looking at it - who wouldn't love this porch (or the house).

Wow, did we get rain - TONS of it.  When a break came late afternoon we went to the lake and it definitely added a few inches to the lake.  The downpour was coming at
7 1/2 inches per hour at one point according to the news - and it did rain really heavy for about a half hour the rest of the time was moderate rain and during the night I think it rained all night.  There were accidents around the mountains roads but nto directly here in town.   I know some mudslides happened because I saw reference to it on the news.

It never did look like a drought was happening up here in the mountains but now it will be even more green.  I hope all of So Cal got this much rain.

MORE BEND, OREGON - DOWNTOWN DAILY FRONT PORCH

(Photos taken May 1, 2015)


Being in Bend was wonderful.  Bend's downtown district is probably three main streets and the more modern part of Bend is like most cities - Walmarts, Targets, etc...all spread out but downtown Bend is where I like to walk.  There are several choices for coffee, art galleries the main one being Red Chair Gallery and downtown Bend sits a few blocks back from Mirror Pond, part of Deshutes river.

Here are a few shots of downtown and the part of Mirror Pond that isn't near as pretty as on the other side of the bridge which I've show pics of before.  (The houses reflected in the water is why it's called Mirror Pond)   I'll probably post them again just because I love the houses so much.  Anyway - here is a part of Mirror Pond area I haven't shown before.

I love the colors on the main street in Bend.

These houses sit back and not reflected in Mirror Pond - in front of them is a park and then part of the river.

This house below  sits across the street from the pond and the houses above  and is closer to town.  I like the front porch and could easily sit there in the morning looking over at the river while having my coffee.

ON TO BEND OREGON FOR FRONT PORCH DAILY

I have SO many front porches I took in Bend, but I think I'll post this series.  It shows (to me anyway) the small town feel of a neighborhood near the elementary school where all the kids ride their bikes home from school and one house even has a rope swing near the sidewalk in front of their house.  I can't imagine anybody doing this in California out of fear of being sued if a kid got hurt on it.  I really loved that they did this and my grandkids every day I would pick them up from school would use this rope for a few minutes.

I really loved the neighborhoods in NorthWest Crossing in Bend.

This whole area reminds me of my childhood, walking to Catholic school every day, walking up to town at lunch time to get hot dogs grilled and then put on a hamburger bun (we have been making them this way for the last couple years)..there's something special to me about hot dogs in the wrong bun.  But I'm left handed that might be why.

After school we would walk home and if neighbors were out I'm sure they waved at us and thought we were cute, lol.....  well I do with the kids in Bend walking home from school.  I have lots more memories but they will come with other posts and photos.

Here is just a few in a series that I would take every day walking home from school with the kids when I was up visiting, both in March and May of this year.