Rainy Day People

It rained pretty much the whole live-long day yesterday. I'd complain except that I know Southern California really needs the rain. I've read two articles in the past 24 hours that stated wildflower blooms would be sparse this year. In Death Valley, where we are headed next, they've received only 14% of the rain necessary for a bloom there. Another article showed some last year/this year photos of the Antelope Valley Poppy Preserve. You might remember we visited there a couple of years ago and saw these fabulous flowers.

So, that said, I know the rain was welcome, and it was a good rain too.

We had nothing on our agenda, and so we lazed around most of the day. I took an hours-long nap in the afternoon, which surprised me. Since I slept fine last night, I figure I must have needed the sleep. It means I don't have a lot to tell you today. I started on the Liberty Sampler though. This one has lots of different stitches, and so it's going to be fun to do.

It uses only two colors of floss, red and blue, so it's practically another redwork piece with a few blue accents. Of course, my helper cat was with me every stitch of the way.

It's our last day in Vista, and we'll start our trip returning home tomorrow. First stop will be a few days in Death Valley before the long slog to Oregon. 

We'll be getting some groceries this morning. There isn't much in Death Valley, and so we need to get some things before heading off into the wilderness. Also, we're having a final dinner with our friends this evening. While having lunch the other day, we told them we'd prepare our world famous Oysters Rockaway. (I can say it's "world famous" because I've written about it on my blog, and I happen to know some of you are out there...in the world...and so it only makes sense.) Here's a picture from a trip to Fort Stevens State Park last year.

Mike will take his portable Traeger grill to smoke the oysters. And it's really sort of an appetizer, so we always serve it with the Linguine Alle Vongole. We picked up the fresh oysters and fresh clams at a local seafood market, and so things are really fresh. 

Aside from that, there isn't much planned before we leave tomorrow. I'll be taking at least a few days off from blogging. I happen to know we won't have internet access in Death Valley. We expect to be home by next Friday at the earliest. If I can get internet access, and I have anything to tell you, I'll be back before then. If not though, you can expect to hear from me again in about a week when we arrive back at the Three Cats Ranch. Until then, stay safe and healthy. Get vaccinated if you can.