Good afternoon, my friends. It's 72°F and I'm wearing a short-sleeve shirt as I write this. We haven't seen temperatures that warm since last summer. Certainly it's the first time this trip that I haven't been bundled up in fleece of some kind. It's very nice to be standing still for a couple of weeks after so much driving, driving, driving through terrible weather. The sun is shining, and we're enjoying the warmth.
It was nice going to bed last night and knowing we had nowhere else to be this morning. I spent a luxuriously long time on my slow stitching. I'll probably do some more when I've finished here.
Okay, and let's settle this question of poppies vs. daisies once and for all, shall we? Any wagers?
We married in May of 1975, and we left Vista for good in September of the same year. When we left, Vista's population sat at about 20,000 people. Checking with The Google, I'm told the population in 2023 was estimated to be nearly 100,000 people. As you might imagine, much has changed. The church where we married was a lovely Methodist church. We chose it because I wanted classical pipe organ music, and it was one of just three churches with pipe organs in the local area. Now, the Methodist church is gone...replaced with a Lowe's. But look at this:
Pepper Tree Frosty has been serving North County San Diego residents with delicious shakes, ice cream, and food since 1953! When I was in high school, I made near-daily visits for some of their taquitos and a chocolate malt. We also had a Foster's Freeze, which is no longer in business. Eventually, McDonald's came to town. You can see the very first one in the image above. Getting a McDonald's in our little town was enough of an event that we, in the high school band, donned our pep band jackets and played some celebratory music for the grand opening. This is the sort of thing that only happens in a small town.
I've mentioned this before, but I still love that we raised money for new band uniforms during my sophomore year. During the summer between my sophomore and junior year, the uniforms were delivered. We wore them for the first time so that we could march through the one major intersection in town to celebrate the installation of Vista's 1000th fire plug. And it wasn't just any fire plug. It was chrome-plated! And it was the town's first look at our new band uniforms. They were intended to resemble Britain's Grenadier Guards. Here we are in a parade in Long Beach way back in 1971. Those were heady days.
Driving on, we passed by Palomar College. It's the local community college where Mike and I both attended our first two years of college. (I ended up going for three years after getting terribly sick during my first semester and having to withdraw from most of my classes.) We used to be able to see the Palomar Dome from the road. Now, there are strip malls between the road and the college, but here's an image of the Dome I found online.
(image credit: Mango)
The dome was developed by Buckminster Fuller, and constructed by college architect C.J. Paderewski of San Diego in 1958. While Mike and I attended college here, it was used as a gymnasium. The structure is comprised of geodesics, a series of straight lines on a curved space that intersect to form a triangle. It is extremely strong despite using very few materials. It is silver in color with aluminum alloy panels.
Palomar also sports what is described online as a "legendary" clock tower. The clock tower was only under construction when I was a student there. It was completed in 1975, the year I graduated.
(image credit: Bryce Bradford)
It was financed through fundraising by the Patrons of Palomar College, a non-profit organization of volunteers that was created in 1947. From serving Mexican food at a Fallbrook high school to outfitting the Palomar Observatory telescope, their influence was diverse and well-spread throughout the Palomar region. In 1972, the Patrons decided to start raising money to design and build the Carillon Clock Tower. Final cost of the Clock Tower came to $10,000.
I only bring all of this up to say that we can no longer see the Dome or the Clock Tower, but we can still see the Palomar "P" on the hillside above the college.
Okay, and the rest of our outing consisted of picking up an item from an Amazon Hub locker, and then picking up a few groceries. When we got home, we dispensed the treat and greets, and everyone was happy.
That's all I have for you today. My slow-stitching awaits.
7 comments:
The most beautiful things are not associated with money; they are memories and moments. If you don't celebrate those, they can pass you by. ~ Alek Wek
Interesting walk down memory lane....
Made me think of a conversation I had the other day about National Costumes here in the UK. ....
Scotland has their dancers and tartans, Wales has their Welsh Hats and Shawls, Ireland has their Shamrock and Dancers but us English don't really have a national costume..... Ergo no identity. To the rest of the World we appear to be British..... We agreed the nearest thing we had for a costume was the Beefeater from the tower or the Bearskins of the Grenadier Guards.... Thank you for the confirmation. lol
It's always fun to take a walk down memory lane, though it can sometimes be hard to see just how much everything has changed. My mother still lives in the town where I went to college and every time we go home, it's like, what used to be there? Enjoy your slow day and the nice weather.
Bacon avocados? Who knew!! Wish I could convince Resident Chef that avocados are good but he insists they are simply tasteless mush.
Daisies - how amazing to see so many in one place.
Going back is always interesting and sometimes a little difficult. John and I got married in the hospital chapel where we worked. It no longer exists which is a shame but our marriage is recorded in the church that my Brownie and Guide units were linked to. It also interesting how the view can change as new buildings are built with very little thought to the view of important pieces of architecture.
Smallified, perfect word. I was thinking there would be a Starlink update but who wants to talk about tech issues when you have sunshine and naps?
Being on a holiday trip can certainly be tiring with all that driving, so its good to rest and relax for several days. Your old home town has seen many changes. Pizza Hutt, Kentucky Fried and McDonalds didnt arrive in New Zealand till the 197os, so we didn't have them while I was growing up. Our takeaways up to then were fish and chip shops, and they are still around today.
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