I HAVE QUITE A COLLECTION OF BEAUTIFUL HOUSES PHOTOS FROM THESE LAST SEVERAL MONTHS

One day recently I was down in Redlands, about 30 minutes from where we live - and took several photos of houses I liked.

Yesterday got to spend a lot of time with two of my grandkids from Bend, Oregon, Mackenzie and Jake.  It was a great day but very hot.  Their grandparents where they are staying live fairly close to where we use to live before we moved up to cooler areas.  I'm not sure I would ever want to deal with heat in the high 90's and over 100 again.  Hot weather has settled in and from all reports I've read is here to stay for quite a while.   I was so glad to get home to cooler weather but woke up to it being really warm today.

I love this top photo - It sits on a beautiful street in the historical district - a favorite place of mine to walk.  The City of REdlands is known for growing citrus and there are still many groves around private residences and of course the farming of citrus crops is still a big industry in this area.

When we first moved to Southern California in 1960 from Kansas, the new house my parents bought was in a modest new tract home community which had previously been an orange grove.  Every house still had several orange trees on the property (and not much of anything else other than dirt).  I can still remember waking up every day to the smell of orange blossoms when they were blooming in spring.  

Are you staying cool?

FRONT PORCH, REDLANDS, CA

When walking recently in Redlands, I came across this beautiful house.

FRONT PORCH - REDLANDS, CA

I'm still seeing white most everywhere I look - very slow melt going on - only the snow on the trees has melted but my yard looks as white as it did after the snow storm the other day.  I will probably see white for awhile - we just don't get enough direct sun to melt it - but the temps may go up to the 40's so that will help.  In a few weeks I'll be at the coast for a week visiting my sister so I'm content with snow for now, knowing what's in my near future ..which makes my heart do a happy dance to be up there again.

Today I wanted color to go with the white.  I love this house we passed one day when walking around Redlands which is just down the mountain and a little bit east on the freeway.  Takes about 25 to 30 minutes to get there so it's a nice day out when I want to get off the mountain and not have to go too far to walk.  It's a rather small porch for such a big house but the awnings really work to set it off.

and then I came across another white house with Red awning.

Right now there isn't much color at the lake - other than the browns and whites of winter.  Not shown in the pic are the beautiful Cedars and Pine trees that are of course always green but covered in snow, the other day when I took these photos.  Now the tree snow has all melted - it's been  snow raining  for two days around here  as the snow melts and falls off the trees.

A few more days and I'll be down the hill again to warmer weather when we make our monthly Costco trip.

FRONT PORCH, REDLANDS, CA AND OUR LITTLE SNOW STORM

Recently walked by here in a neighborhood in Redlands.

We did get snow and more is expected next week.  We didn't get that much but there is still some on the ground.  I had never experienced Thunder Snow and lightning in a snow storm - it was quite spectacular - and then the winds came last night - heavy winds.

We are heading up the mountain to another community and I'm sure we will encounter a lot more snow at a higher altitude.  

There are two cats playing - a black one which is hard to spot and an orange one.

So this was our big snow storm - ...lol

This first pic is just 2 houses on the left down from my house.   So we probably got 1". I'm glad we didn't 'get a lot because a bigger one is coming next week with 6 to 8 inches or so they say.  However, this road here - is pretty much ice - I'm glad we have a jeep because people were actually sliding on it.

The last time we had ice like this was the first winter we moved in.  It took days to melt - and it was about 3" thick.

FRONT PORCH, REDLANDS, CALIFORNIA AND BIRDS FROM MAGNOLIA BIRD FARM

Whew!  What a fun day yesterday.  We headed down the mountain to take my good camera in to get fixed and hopefully they can fix it vs. me having to get another one.  I took an older camera with me because I knew we would be going to Magnolia Bird Farm.   This farm is a huge building - so many birds - I thought I had crossed over from death into a heaven of my own making.

I took a lot of photos and was so surprised when in some photos the bars that were so close together like an inch and  a half or a little more - actually disappeared in the photo.  I could only put my camera close to the bars but not inbetween them so I expected to get bars in the photos.  I love how they disappeared and allowed me to take some pretty pictures.

Time was flying because I was having fun (it only drags when one is draggy and depressed and then time s-l-o-w-s down big time). so..... realizing we still had to get to Costco and back up the mountain to pick our grandson up from the bus stop I reluctantly had to leave.  I will definitely go back  at least once a month, maybe by myself next time so i can spend all day at this place.  We didn't get a walk in through the neighborhoods in Redlands which I would have loved to do and will do soon...but I took a few shots from the car.

A lot of people might not like the idea of bird farms.  I don't have an opinion one way or the other except I would like all birds to be free but that isn't the case..... so I'll enjoy them in whatever state they are.  I get very weary of all the negative comments from people on FB or other social media... when they see what they consider an injustice and always have an opinion which I notice is usually rude and snarky.   Someone with a "cause" is a righteousness I prefer to stay away from.  But, if u have an opinion about poor little birds caged and being sold for profit, please use your name and don't reply anonymously.

I have lots more photos with beautifully colored birds that I didn't even know existed.  Can't wait to show more.