La versión en español está después de la versión en inglés.
I had a great workout and stretching session yesterday afternoon. I have to admit I felt fit and healthy (for a while). More today! I decided against taking the train to Plaza Mayor. It was too late in the day and too hot. Missed out again this morning on the Roman baths (known as the Torreblanca Hot Springs), but they’ve been around for more than 1,700 years. They’ll wait a bit longer for me. I also just discovered today that they’re open Friday–Sunday from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., and not just until noon as I had thought.
When I walked home from the health center the other day I cut through a city park as I often do. Have you ever seen a pepper tree (Schinus molle)? The first one I ever saw was at Mission Santa Barbara in California. They’re not related to the pepper available commercially and are sold as pink peppercorns (and often blended with commercial pepper). Don’t eat the fruit, though. It can be poisonous to animals and can make children ill. Anyway, the park I walked through has a grand pepper tree that I stopped to admire.
I loved the trees at the mission, took scores of photos when we lived there, and threw away all the photos when we moved to Spain. My mother saved a bunch of peppers when we took her there in the early 2000s. She kept them in a bowl until I threw them away in 2016. I’m glad she didn’t try to use them.
Another interesting memory I have of Mission Santa Barbara: The first time we were there was in 1982 when we lived in Marina del Rey. At that time, the area around the mission was sparsely populated, almost desolate. We walked up to a fence behind the mission where we viewed an enormous long, empty valley. A sign posted on the fence said it was the San Andreas Fault. Wow! The mission that now stands is the fourth construction. The first, built in 1787, was replaced by a larger second one which was replaced by a still larger third chapel. That one was destroyed in the Santa Barbara earthquake of 1812. The fourth was mostly completed by 1820 and its towers were severely damaged by a 1925 earthquake.
When we moved to San Diego in the early ’90s we drove up to Mission Santa Barbara and almost didn’t find it because a major, overbuilt suburb had grown up all around it. The fence was gone, as was the sign, and houses were built all along the San Andreas Fault. Scary.
Ayer por la tarde hice un gran ejercicio y una sesión de estiramientos. Debo admitir que me sentí en forma y saludable (por un rato). ¡Hoy más! Decidí no tomar el tren a la Plaza Mayor. Era demasiado tarde y hacía demasiado calor. Esta mañana me perdí de nuevo los baños romanos (conocidos como las Termas de Torreblanca), pero existen desde hace más de 1.700 años. Me esperarán un poco más. También acabo de descubrir hoy que abren de viernes a domingo de las 10:00 a las 14:00, y no solo hasta las 12:00 como había pensado.
El otro día, cuando volvía a casa caminando desde el centro de salud, atravesé un parque de la ciudad, como suelo hacer. ¿Has visto alguna vez un pimentero (Schinus molle)? El primero que vi fue en Mission Santa Barbara, en California. No están relacionados con la pimienta que se vende comercialmente y se venden como granos de pimienta rosa (y a menudo mezclados con pimienta comercial). Sin embargo, no comas la fruta, ya que puede ser venenosa para los animales y puede enfermar a los niños. De todos modos, el parque por el que caminé tiene un gran pimentero que me detuve a admirar.
Me encantaron los arboles de la misión, tomé decenas de fotos cuando vivíamos allí y tiré todas las fotos cuando nos mudamos a España. Mi madre guardó un montón de pimientos cuando la llevamos allí a principios de la década de 2000. Los mantuvo en un recipiente hasta que los tiré en 2016. Me alegro de que no intentara usarlos.
Otro recuerdo interesante que tengo de Mission Santa Barbara: la primera vez que estuvimos allí fue en 1982, cuando vivíamos en Marina del Rey. En aquella época, la zona que rodeaba la misión estaba escasamente poblada, casi desolada. Caminamos hasta una valla que había detrás de la misión, donde vimos un enorme valle largo y vacío. Un cartel colocado en la valla decía que se trataba de la falla de San Andrés. ¡Guau! La misión que ahora se alza es la cuarta construcción. La primera, construida en 1787, fue reemplazada por una segunda más grande, que a su vez fue reemplazada por una tercera capilla aún más grande. Esa fue destruida en el terremoto de Santa Bárbara de 1812. La cuarta estaba casi terminada en 1820 y sus torres resultaron gravemente dañadas por un terremoto de 1925.
Cuando nos mudamos a San Diego a principios de los 90, fuimos en coche hasta la Misión de Santa Bárbara y casi no la encontramos porque un enorme suburbio había crecido a su alrededor. La valla había desaparecido, al igual que el cartel, y se habían construido casas a lo largo de la falla de San Andrés. Da miedo.
• Nuestra casa adosada en Santa Bárbara.
• Una foto horrible, claramente tomada por mi madre. Pero divertido.
• Encontré una foto de la Misión de Santa Bárbara. Mi tía Sylvie y mi madre con algunos pimenteros al fondo.
• Moose quería atención. Yo quería una foto. Él no estaba contento.
• Estaba en el suelo abrazado a Moose. Dudo no estaba contento.
Before you know it you will be back at the gym every day. I had not seen a pepper tree. Interesting. There was a Cinnamon tree at Leu Gardens in Orlando, the Leu’s traveled the world and collected exotic plants long before the USDA existed.
David:
Once you’ve seen a pepper tree, you’ll always be able to immediately identify them.
That’s quite an attractive tree – apparently the wood is so durable it was used for saddle-making.
Jx
PS That “terrible photo” is quite sexy of you – but what is SG wearing?! [Cue AbFab quote: “It’s LaCroix, sweetie!”]
Jon:
I had no idea about pepper tree wood for saddles. SG is wearing a bathrobe his younger sister made for him to replace another she had made for him years earlier. He still has it! It’s Leann, sweetie!
Boud here, wondering if developers are required to disclose they’re selling you a house on a major earthquake site??
Boud:
There are loads of laws surrounding quake zones.
Oh Scoot, you should know by now that you can’t please any of the cats any of the time, LOL! Glad you’re feeling better too… I’ve been up to my ears in stressful crapola lately, but will email you soon to catch up.
Tundra Bunny>
I’ve been meaning to email you for days now! And I CAN please one or the other (or even both) of the cats from time to time. I give them their treats and their happy… until they finish their treats.
They’ll develop anything, won’t they? Even quake zones.
Kirk:
I remember the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake that damaged or destroyed much of the Marina District in San Francisco. It was built on fill, so is more unsafe than other areas. It’s even more built up now. Granted, they’ve used more technology but it’s still fill!
I remember driving up from San Francisco to Point Reyes National Park some years ago. Ones of the roads leading to the park was called San Andreas Fault Drive. Think they used to talk about that area potentially being separated from the mainland in an earthquake. Not a comforting thought. But then for all the times I worried about earthquakes when I was out west, it was the DC earthquake where I got bounced around my office and had damage to my house. Never know with certainty where they’ll hit.🤷♀️
Mary:
We’ve experience a number of earthquakes here that occurred off the coast of Morocco. But, so far at least, nothing like the shakes we experienced in California.
I wonder how easy or expensive it is to insure a house built on the San Andreas fault?
Debra:
Oh, if you’ve got the bucks, you can get the insurance.
I do not think I have ever seen a pepper tree. HOWEVER, I have seen pink stucco houses with tile roofs and I have wanted to live in every one of them!
Speaking of living in houses- uh. Who would agree to living in a house on the San Andreas fault? That just seems so wrong.
That last shot of Dudo is hysterical. Look at that face! EXCUSE ME?!
Ms. Moon
Ms. Moonsigh:
That townhouse was a bit too pale Pepto Bismol for me, but I do like pink stucco and tile roofs. Our house in San Diego was white stucco with a tile roof, and it was a classic. Dudo has an unusually expressive face. I missed the shot when his lids were slightly lowered. If looks could kill.
I’ve often said the same about cats- if looks could kill. God, we’d be so dead.
White stucco with a tile roof is also very fine.
Ms. Moonsigh:
Had we stayed in our San Diego house longer, I would have liked to have changed the color of the stucco to something softer. Still, it was a beautiful house.
Nice to return to find you in good spirits and not the gin!!!!! I enjoyed the pictures toady while I STILL continue to get caught up…at least before the next trip. Why anyone would risk living along the San Andreas Fault is beyond me. No sympathies from me if something happens. Your just asking for trouble at that point, knowing full well it’s a major fault line. Not to mention, it’s been wayyyyyyy to quite out there. I fear the calm before the storm might be brewing.
Mistress Borghese:
We experienced a number o earthquakes when we lived in California. When I worked at UC San Diego, I remember hearing “Earthquake” calmly (and often) called out and everyone getting under their desks. People were usually under their desks before the call since we all felt it. In Santa Barbara, I watched 50-foot palm trees outside the gym sway until their tops hit the ground and then do the same in the other direction. Nope, I wouldn’t live in a house ON the San Andreas fault.
Can’t please everyone/cat, I guess! lol
Those pepper trees are enormous!
Jim:
And those weren’t even the biggest of the pepper trees. I remember one at the mission that was much bigger and beautifully balanced.
Moose has great Resting Bitch Face but Dudo? Oy, the punim on that cat!! So expressive.
Bob:
I just missed Dudo with his lids slightly lowered. If looks could kill. He DOES have an expressive face.
My brain read “grand pepper tree” as “ground pepper tree.” Please pass the salt.
Walt the Fourth:
Doesn’t ground pepper grow on trees?
Dudo looks massively alarmed, while M has put on his disapproving face.
Raybeard:
I didn’t catch the boys perfectly. Dudo looked really angry and Moose looked even more disapproving.
‘Perfectly’ enough for me, though of course it’s always nice to have context.
I’m not sure I’ve ever seen one of those trees. They’re very distinctive!
I don’t think that photo is horrible! I can see why SG might not like it, seeing he’s captured in his bathrobe, but you look fine!
Steve:
Unlike us, SG wouldn’t care about being caught in his bathrobe at all.
Building on a fault is foolish.
Then again so many people live in the shadow of active volcanoes and on shores where hurricanes hit.
Urspo:
I’ve lived in quake zones, in hurricane zones, never in the shadow of a volcano (I wouldn’t). My biggest fear would be living in Tornado Alley. That’s so foreign to me.
I’m envious of your fitness I am x
John:
This year has been especially frustrating on that front, but I try. I know it keeps me going both physically and mentally.
I’m always impressed how you continue to try to be as active as you can be, despite the challenges your health brings. I have been laid out so many times for so long, and it is always a struggle to get back to regular exercise, but here I am, again, giving it a go. Stay strong and as healthy as possible, my friend!
Sassybear:
It’s lately gotten too easy for me to just do nothing rather than workout. I’m giving myself pep talks.