Week 40, 9-25-2016

Thoughts and Quotes: I find the great thing in this world is not so much where we stand, as in what direction we are moving.

                                                                   Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr.

I'm afraid I've lost sight of the direction in which I was moving with this blog, but I wanted you to see some of the "hidden" sights in California. Everyone knows about Disneyland, Sea World, the Hollywood Studios, etc. These are places off the beaten path, but which I feel are worth a look. This post got out of hand, so I'm going to take you to the Nixon and Reagan Libraries next week, along with the painted angels of Los Angeles. 

Gardens of the World

If you've ever taken a trip to Hawaii, you might have booked it through Pleasant Hawaiian Holidays. The company expanded to include other destinations, so now they're known as Pleasant Holidays. The company owners, the Hogans, built these beautiful gardens as a tribute to the cultures of the world. You can see a list of the different gardens under the "Our Gardens" heading on the home page here.

Surprisingly, the gardens are set right in the middle of a bustling community.

My favorites are the Japanese Garden

And the Rose Garden

I loved how the walkway lighting changed in each garden

Lots of benches for resting or just admiring the beauty of the gardens

A place to picnic

A bandstand

And even music piped in through speakers disguised as rocks

Home Show in Orange County 

How about a putting green?

Or an outdoor fireplace?

Or an entire kitchen? 

Maybe a gazebo?

Something for the garden?

The modular homes were very stylish (no flash, so not great photos)

Or maybe something a little more exotic?

The Nethercutt Museum

This place is huge. After you do some exploring on their website here, I'll show you some of my favorite photos.

Note that there are three headlights

Something for the golfer

Or would you like something a little more modern?

I'd like this in white, please.

My favorite piece of furniture

Orchid Show at South Coast Plaza in Santa Ana, CA 

The entry piece was huge

The show is really big, displays and vendors on both levels of the mall

And while you're there, you can eat at the Champagne French Bakery. Just look at the great food here.

Aboard a Container Ship

I'm sure you've seen those huge cargo ships of containers, but I want to show you what it looks like ON the ship. This is how we board.

This is the port

The trucks arrive with a container, which is lifted by a crane.

The crane operator sits in that little part which juts out, and there's a clear

glass window under his feet. Yikes!

These ships are huge. Notice the size of the man in this photo.

The dining room

Captain's quarters. He has a separate bedroom and office.

The kitchen

The bridge and instruments

And where would we be without them? The containers are unloaded at the port and stored, transported by train or truck, and the cargo never has to be unloaded until it reaches it's final destination.

Tasting: This morning we went to the Keeter Center at College of the Ozarks for Sunday brunch.  The students work their way through college and leave with zero student loans. They have beef cattle, dairy cattle, hogs (they cure the hams, make the bacon, etc.), farms, green houses, a mill to grind the grains. The Keeter Center has rustic-elegant rooms for rent and Dobyn's Dining Room restaurant does a big business.

They make jams, jellies, apple butter, and salad dressings. They sell flours and meals from the mill and homemade sausages. They do a big business in fruit cakes and hams at Christmas. You can drop in and pick up a coffee or a pastry or something from the ice cream counter. Or on special days, plants from the green houses or produce from the gardens.

They host special events and also act as a venue for school proms, etc.  

The building looks like a big lodge in the north woods. The fireplace is massive,

and the elevator is made of copper.

The rooms are all upstairs

and come with fireplaces, homemade cookies, and upscale toiletries. The students man the check-in, handle baggage, and do the cleaning. They can work anyplace on campus from the greenhouse to the diary to the dining room to the kitchen. At the pasta station today, one was a Psychology major and the other was studying nursing. 

The food stations are all around the large dining room, with dessert in the middle. We had salad bar, breakfast station, choose-your-ingredients omelet station, pasta station, carving station with ham, and a hot station with tilapia, roast chicken, pork loin, mashed potatoes, roasted potatoes, roasted vegetables. And a wide selection of mini-desserts. My son said that his favorite thing was the butter from the student dairy. I took a photo of the flowers the students raise or buy, and arrange. Each table always has fresh flowers.

There are flowers at the reception desks, and on the dessert table.

I took a photo of my salad

and my dessert

Everything else was standard fare, but I had to show the desserts so all my foodie friends can get ideas.

I mentioned that there must be special racks for the dish washers to accommodate all these small dishes, and my son said that they should open a grade school and let those students wash all these doll dishes.

The veranda outside the dining room looks over the campus. 

The kitchen is undergoing a make-over and expansion. They will probably be able to accommodate more students in their cooking classes, which are open to the public. For sure, we did not leave hungry.

Lots more information here.

Thank you: To Friend Joey who brought this luscious cherry pie for us to enjoy while my son is visiting.

WEAR YOUR AUTUMN COLORS

EAT LOTS OF GREENS

DRINK PLENTY OF WATER

PLANT SOME MUMS

THANK YOU FOR SHARING MY LIFE