Tootsie Yr2: Thousand Oaks, CA part 2
Well look at that! It is June.
In a few weeks Jameson has a trip to Europe to see the Cubs play and Queen rock.
Coincidentally we will both fly home on the same day, June 26.
Which is actually really convenient. Our flights arrive within a few hours of each other.
Jameson will park his car at the airport, and whichever of us is least tired (probably me) will drive us both back home so that neither of us has to spend $50-$100 on an Uber.
But anyway, that's not for a while yet.
There I go again, looking ahead instead of being in the moment.
-----------------------------------------------------------
Thursday was another slow day.
Here in Thousand Oaks, we are not near anything of special interest.
Residential areas, shopping malls. There is some good hiking if you're into that sort of thing.
I spent the morning indexing Spamalot on my iPad, then running an update.
The nearby Goodwill opened at 9am, so I went over there to turn in the pants I'd bought from the OTHER thrift store, then shopped some more. Found more pants but this thrift store also didn't have fitting rooms (I know it's California but geeeeeeez I just want to see if stuff fits!) but at least they had a return policy.
So I walked home with four pairs of pants, of which shockingly three were a good fit.
One was a unicorn pair; a perfect fit, like they'd been tailored for me.
Another was "close enough", and the third will require both hemming for length and some sort of modification to the waist (they're a size 0 and I'm a 4 but they're high-waisted, so they fit extremely well but are just about 1/2" small in the waist.)
Anyway, on the way there and back I saw more nice wildflowers, took pictures, and looked them up when I got back.
I am still getting used to a new phone/camera, so some of these may not be my best work.
This one is a strawberry tree, so named because of the shape of the flowers.
It also produces a fruit that makes good jam.
Here's "baby sage", which isn't really sage but supposedly smells great if you crush it.
Now I wish I had smooshed some.
Pride of Madeira and Patty's Purple, which look similar.
Pelargonium and Clarkia.
A big bull thistle, which did not look very healthy, but I loved it all the same.
The evening show went well, nothing to report.
-------------------------------------------------------------
Friday after breakfast I had a hair appointment and while the hairdresser was a cool human, I was once again disappointed by the cut.
I am so sick of not being listened to at the hair salon. Maybe I need to learn to cut my own hair.
This time I specifically told the stylist that within a week of getting it cut I always have heavy sections at the back of my neck that push my hair forward and make it very difficult to style.
So she offered to cut it shorter in the back, supposedly to eliminate that problem, and I agreed...but then for some reason she cut the top layer inches shorter than the bottom, so I will still have to continually get the bottom layer cut anyway. It will take months and months for the top and bottom layers to reach the same length again, and at least $50 for each time I have to trim it up, since I'm a woman.
I don't know what the solution is. I am just tired of walking out of hair salons for the past three years feeling embarrassed and ugly. I know I'm horsey-looking, I know my hair is difficult, but I've had it cut nicely before so I KNOW it's possible for my hair to look "ok." But now it's too late and I'm stuck with a cut that I don't like, that cost me $100 to get, and will cost more each time I have to get the bottom layer cut again and again.
If I can't learn to cut it myself, I think it really might be time to have long hair again.
Anyway, after the haircut I had planned to get Italian cream-ice from Leone's.
Greg Leone himself was at the window, serving real Brooklyn ices that he makes using ingredients shipped from NY.
I had to get spumoni flavor, and he'd also made a batch of strawberry Oreo that day, so a scoop of that went on top :)
I've never had "cream-ice" before. It was delicious, light and fluffy and a little creamy (not nearly as much milk in there as in ice cream, just enough to make it decadent.)
Both flavors were excellent but I did like the spumoni more!
Something about chocolate, cherry, and pistachio is magical.
At the hotel I'd received some background check paperwork from my new employer, so worked on that.
Tried to do a load of laundry but both washers were in use, so will try again tomorrow morning.
I was feeling pretty down and sorry for myself when it was time for our show.
With a haircut that I don't like, and bug bites all over my face (something is ATTACKING me here in CA), I felt ugly and avoided eye contact on the way down to the pit. Some people said my hair looked nice; others said things like, "It looks like you got half a bowl cut!" As a person who values honesty, the blunt comments didn't hurt as much as you might expect (and of course I agreed with them so that helped take the edge off.) I just wish...I don't know. I wish haircuts were a good experience, instead of something to lower my self esteem.
If wishes were horses, beggars would ride.
The show went well. This audience, at least, was responsive, unlike the previous crowds.
-------------------------------------------------
Saturday. We have two shows, and then we have Sunday off!
I still don't know what to do with my Golden Day.
In the morning I did laundry and watched anime.
Both shows went well. We were all impatient to wrap it up, I think.
It felt odd to do load out but not pack my luggage.
Also, we have one cast member with covid and our drummer has a bad cold.
I wonder whose illness I'll catch first!
---------------------------------------------------
Sunday, a day off!
I had a relaxing morning, and stole some food from the free hotel breakfast to bring on the travel day.
(bagel, single-serve peanut butter, utensils.)
Around 10 I decided to check out a nearby botanical garden, and that turned out to be a GREAT choice.
If you saw the "egg flower" in my previous post, here were acres and acres of them!
My new favorite flower :)
The garden is about 33 acres total, divided into sections like Herbs, Australian Garden, Butterfly Garden, and Rare Fruits.
I think I covered all of it but the Kid's Discovery Garden (yuck) and saw some amazing plants that I have never encountered before.
Also, I found more Baby Sage and crushed a leaf. It did indeed smell wonderful, like black pepper and mint.
Some general wide shots of scenery and trees:
A sampling of the flowers that I saw today:
Sticky Monkey Flowers in red and gold:
Two types of Mallow flower:
Two types of Aloe:
Fragrant Sage and Jerusalem Sage:
Hollyhock and Peruvian Lily:
Red Valerian and Fairy Duster:
Apache Plume and Swamp Mahogany:
Coyote Mint and Sweet Acacia:
Some fruit trees: pomegranate, black cherry, quince, pineapple guava.
Loquat!
Golden Trumpet beans!
"Old Man Cactus" (hand for scale)
I took many more pictures but can't upload everything, or there'll be a zillion photos :p
There were lots of people in the garden on this cloudy Sunday afternoon, walking dogs or introducing their kids to plants. Twice I was asked for directions because I was carrying a paper map (I am terrible at directions but shared the map at least.)
It was lovely and fun to wander here, and discover new and beautiful plants. Very glad I made time for this before we leave.
From there I treated myself to lunch from the hot bar at Whole Paycheck and went back to the hotel to upload photos and chill.
After letting my phone recharge I decided to take another walk to a canyon that was only a half mile away.
There were two trails that you could take, a high and a low.
Started with the high one for those vista views.
A bee busy with a flower.
A jackrabbit a few yards ahead of me.
Partway up I turned back around to do the lower trail that followed the small river through the canyon.
Soon I heard rushing water, and came upon a waterfall.
There was a lot of algae and it didn't smell great, but it was still pretty.
Further down there were little pools and eddies, and calm water with tiny fishes and frogs and such.
I had hoped to see some reptiles but no luck this time, though I heard something "sploop" into the water as I walked past.
Going back was harder as it was a steep incline, but I huffed and puffed and made it without taking any breaks, so there.
This lizard giving me judgemental sideeye at the trailhead.
With that it was back to the hotel for the night.
A simple dinner of leftovers and cheap grocery store sushi, and working on Foodie Finds for Madison WI, and fueling up the rental car and returning the keys before heading to bed.
----------------------------------------------------------
The travel day is going to be a long one, with an hour drive to the airport + a four hour flight to Chicago + a several-hour drive to Milwaukee. I've packed lots of nonperishables since all meals will be at the airport.
I've never been to Milwaukee before and am looking forward to it!
In a few weeks Jameson has a trip to Europe to see the Cubs play and Queen rock.
Coincidentally we will both fly home on the same day, June 26.
Which is actually really convenient. Our flights arrive within a few hours of each other.
Jameson will park his car at the airport, and whichever of us is least tired (probably me) will drive us both back home so that neither of us has to spend $50-$100 on an Uber.
But anyway, that's not for a while yet.
There I go again, looking ahead instead of being in the moment.
-----------------------------------------------------------
Thursday was another slow day.
Here in Thousand Oaks, we are not near anything of special interest.
Residential areas, shopping malls. There is some good hiking if you're into that sort of thing.
I spent the morning indexing Spamalot on my iPad, then running an update.
The nearby Goodwill opened at 9am, so I went over there to turn in the pants I'd bought from the OTHER thrift store, then shopped some more. Found more pants but this thrift store also didn't have fitting rooms (I know it's California but geeeeeeez I just want to see if stuff fits!) but at least they had a return policy.
So I walked home with four pairs of pants, of which shockingly three were a good fit.
One was a unicorn pair; a perfect fit, like they'd been tailored for me.
Another was "close enough", and the third will require both hemming for length and some sort of modification to the waist (they're a size 0 and I'm a 4 but they're high-waisted, so they fit extremely well but are just about 1/2" small in the waist.)
Anyway, on the way there and back I saw more nice wildflowers, took pictures, and looked them up when I got back.
I am still getting used to a new phone/camera, so some of these may not be my best work.
This one is a strawberry tree, so named because of the shape of the flowers.
It also produces a fruit that makes good jam.
Here's "baby sage", which isn't really sage but supposedly smells great if you crush it.
Now I wish I had smooshed some.
Pride of Madeira and Patty's Purple, which look similar.
Pelargonium and Clarkia.
A big bull thistle, which did not look very healthy, but I loved it all the same.
The evening show went well, nothing to report.
-------------------------------------------------------------
Friday after breakfast I had a hair appointment and while the hairdresser was a cool human, I was once again disappointed by the cut.
I am so sick of not being listened to at the hair salon. Maybe I need to learn to cut my own hair.
This time I specifically told the stylist that within a week of getting it cut I always have heavy sections at the back of my neck that push my hair forward and make it very difficult to style.
So she offered to cut it shorter in the back, supposedly to eliminate that problem, and I agreed...but then for some reason she cut the top layer inches shorter than the bottom, so I will still have to continually get the bottom layer cut anyway. It will take months and months for the top and bottom layers to reach the same length again, and at least $50 for each time I have to trim it up, since I'm a woman.
I don't know what the solution is. I am just tired of walking out of hair salons for the past three years feeling embarrassed and ugly. I know I'm horsey-looking, I know my hair is difficult, but I've had it cut nicely before so I KNOW it's possible for my hair to look "ok." But now it's too late and I'm stuck with a cut that I don't like, that cost me $100 to get, and will cost more each time I have to get the bottom layer cut again and again.
If I can't learn to cut it myself, I think it really might be time to have long hair again.
Anyway, after the haircut I had planned to get Italian cream-ice from Leone's.
Greg Leone himself was at the window, serving real Brooklyn ices that he makes using ingredients shipped from NY.
I had to get spumoni flavor, and he'd also made a batch of strawberry Oreo that day, so a scoop of that went on top :)
I've never had "cream-ice" before. It was delicious, light and fluffy and a little creamy (not nearly as much milk in there as in ice cream, just enough to make it decadent.)
Both flavors were excellent but I did like the spumoni more!
Something about chocolate, cherry, and pistachio is magical.
At the hotel I'd received some background check paperwork from my new employer, so worked on that.
Tried to do a load of laundry but both washers were in use, so will try again tomorrow morning.
I was feeling pretty down and sorry for myself when it was time for our show.
With a haircut that I don't like, and bug bites all over my face (something is ATTACKING me here in CA), I felt ugly and avoided eye contact on the way down to the pit. Some people said my hair looked nice; others said things like, "It looks like you got half a bowl cut!" As a person who values honesty, the blunt comments didn't hurt as much as you might expect (and of course I agreed with them so that helped take the edge off.) I just wish...I don't know. I wish haircuts were a good experience, instead of something to lower my self esteem.
If wishes were horses, beggars would ride.
The show went well. This audience, at least, was responsive, unlike the previous crowds.
-------------------------------------------------
Saturday. We have two shows, and then we have Sunday off!
I still don't know what to do with my Golden Day.
In the morning I did laundry and watched anime.
Both shows went well. We were all impatient to wrap it up, I think.
It felt odd to do load out but not pack my luggage.
Also, we have one cast member with covid and our drummer has a bad cold.
I wonder whose illness I'll catch first!
---------------------------------------------------
Sunday, a day off!
I had a relaxing morning, and stole some food from the free hotel breakfast to bring on the travel day.
(bagel, single-serve peanut butter, utensils.)
Around 10 I decided to check out a nearby botanical garden, and that turned out to be a GREAT choice.
If you saw the "egg flower" in my previous post, here were acres and acres of them!
My new favorite flower :)
The garden is about 33 acres total, divided into sections like Herbs, Australian Garden, Butterfly Garden, and Rare Fruits.
I think I covered all of it but the Kid's Discovery Garden (yuck) and saw some amazing plants that I have never encountered before.
Also, I found more Baby Sage and crushed a leaf. It did indeed smell wonderful, like black pepper and mint.
Some general wide shots of scenery and trees:
A sampling of the flowers that I saw today:
Sticky Monkey Flowers in red and gold:
Two types of Mallow flower:
Two types of Aloe:
Fragrant Sage and Jerusalem Sage:
Hollyhock and Peruvian Lily:
Red Valerian and Fairy Duster:
Apache Plume and Swamp Mahogany:
Coyote Mint and Sweet Acacia:
Some fruit trees: pomegranate, black cherry, quince, pineapple guava.
Loquat!
Golden Trumpet beans!
"Old Man Cactus" (hand for scale)
I took many more pictures but can't upload everything, or there'll be a zillion photos :p
There were lots of people in the garden on this cloudy Sunday afternoon, walking dogs or introducing their kids to plants. Twice I was asked for directions because I was carrying a paper map (I am terrible at directions but shared the map at least.)
It was lovely and fun to wander here, and discover new and beautiful plants. Very glad I made time for this before we leave.
From there I treated myself to lunch from the hot bar at Whole Paycheck and went back to the hotel to upload photos and chill.
After letting my phone recharge I decided to take another walk to a canyon that was only a half mile away.
There were two trails that you could take, a high and a low.
Started with the high one for those vista views.
A bee busy with a flower.
A jackrabbit a few yards ahead of me.
Partway up I turned back around to do the lower trail that followed the small river through the canyon.
Soon I heard rushing water, and came upon a waterfall.
There was a lot of algae and it didn't smell great, but it was still pretty.
Further down there were little pools and eddies, and calm water with tiny fishes and frogs and such.
I had hoped to see some reptiles but no luck this time, though I heard something "sploop" into the water as I walked past.
Going back was harder as it was a steep incline, but I huffed and puffed and made it without taking any breaks, so there.
This lizard giving me judgemental sideeye at the trailhead.
With that it was back to the hotel for the night.
A simple dinner of leftovers and cheap grocery store sushi, and working on Foodie Finds for Madison WI, and fueling up the rental car and returning the keys before heading to bed.
----------------------------------------------------------
The travel day is going to be a long one, with an hour drive to the airport + a four hour flight to Chicago + a several-hour drive to Milwaukee. I've packed lots of nonperishables since all meals will be at the airport.
I've never been to Milwaukee before and am looking forward to it!