Odds and Ends from the Past Two Weeks in California

Sun., July 8 - Mon., July 23, 2018

Time to recap the last two weeks in sleepy Southern California . . .

We've spent a lot of time in our backyard enjoying our grandkids. 

Pool Time

Watering Poppo seems to

be THE in thing to do this Summer 

Safety . . .

. . . FIRST!

Hell raisers!

The Italian DII All-Star Game

was coming up soon

The North team roster featured three Varese Skorpions.

DE for Varese

SS/OLB for the Skorpions

I never saw one of these cool posters on-line for our third representative, WR Martino Piazzi.

The water park at Lake Casitas

We joined Vanessa, Mike, Jacob and Mary for a day at Lake Casitas where they were camping.

Mary loving the water slides

  

The boys were into cruising

down The Lazy River

  

Jacob being Jacob

After our day at the water park, we headed into beautiful downtown Ojai for a pizza and . . . 

. . . a concert in Libbey Park

They were good!

Why does it come back to this

on an almost daily basis?

I had a chance to dine with some former Rio Mesa H.S. colleagues . . . 

With Joe Mollica at the

Ventura Cronies Sports Grille

With Martha Jimenez-Ito and

Shi Young Kim at Oxnard's

Cafe Amri

If you are going to take long walks as your preferred form of exercise, you might as well take them at . . . 

. . . the beach in Ventura or . . . 

. . . the beach in Carpinteria

Meanwhile, back in Camarillo . . .

 I got a job as a Life Guard

  

Never too young to learn

to put your hands up when

rushing the QB

Mary LOVES the water

Mary's Third Birthday

Our little princess

 Laurie made the cake

Happy Girl!

Our gifts to Mary

Say AHHH . . .

 Just liked the colors on

the way to the annual

Camarillo Fiesta and Street Fair's . . .

. . . Classic Car Show

Laurie drove a red 1956 Thunderbird

when we first started dating

This one was a 1955 model.

1937 Cadillac

Great old pick-up truck

Laurie about to shop

Again.

Tomas, Nicolas and Martino

after their Italian DII all-star game

playing for the North squad

According to my inside sources, Tomas had a solid game at DE recording 2 1/2 QB sacks!

Playing SS, Nicolas intercepted a pass, broke up two passes, a few good tackles and a few good kick returns.

Unfortunately, WR Martino was never targeted for any pass receptions in a low scoring game won by the South 14-6.

Today I headed back up to the city of Ventura for another 4.8 mile stroll.

Nice Lion

At least I think it's a lion.

One of Ventura's older buildings

Young by European standards.

Palermo?

Why?

A new mosaic near the
Ventura Mission

It features the history of the city and some of its more interesting citizens.

The Top Hat was Laurie's favorite burger joint before it closed for good years ago.

Weird looking, unnamed caballero 

Ventura had a huge fire in 2017

Nearing the beach

A rusty railroad bridge

Dunes

Helping with beach erosion

A surfer-less board

The calming Pacific Ocean

Three surfers done for the day

Always good to walk onto
this pier

Great vistas make the
walking a lot more fun!

A new team picture for the house

Speaking of American football . . .  

Not long until we head to Chihuahua,
Mexico for another Europe Warriors game 

I'll be joined by our son Mike who will help coach the DBs and Varese Skorpions SS Nicolas Principi and WR Martino Piazzi.

Reading Is FUNdamental!

I've had a lot of free time . . .

TRUE!

Nordic Noir at its BEST!

So good that . . .

. . . I read the next book
in the series too

GOD HELP ME!

Mostly Lord, help me hit as many of these spots as is humanly possible next year, AMEN.