Ave. Center / Ave. snow

Photos taken by my lovely wife.

Lovewell date of 2-19-26

The Bird Way

Read this book twice. Actually the author had success with an earlier book - "The Genius of Birds" - and this was the follow up. As is sometimes the case with follow up books, it was good but... reviews suggest it was maybe not as good as the original. I may or may not read that one. This one had some fascinating material, but - unless you happen to be a bird researcher - the lengthy discourse was occasionally tiresome.

Milk & Honey

One of the soaps I got for Christmas.

Scrabble game of 2-15-26

The Scrabble game of 2-15-26, with a side of Brie.

bite-sized chunks

This book I got for my birthday exceeded my expectations. Not only are "bite-sized chunks" better digested (and therefore better remembered), but the authors managed to include a wealth of interesting, overlooked details. Example: the Mayflower intended to land in the northern part of the Virginia Colony (present day New York City) but were blown off course to Cape Cod. Took me over 60 years to learn that.

Cajun Kitchen Valentine's Day

Beignets and Benedict - a great combo.

Alessia revisited, part 2

For the coffee-and-pastry segment of our meal we had the good sense to relocate outside. The sun warmed us up in just the right way and a good time was had by all. The coffee and pastries were good quality, as would be expected from an authentic European-style bakery.

Alessia revisted

We thought for Valentine's Day it would be nice to revisit Alessia in Santa Barbara which we had discovered the year before. At the time it seemed to be the overlooked gem next to the overly-popular Handlebar Coffee. It's no longer overlooked; in fact it was jam-packed with gaggles of gabbing women. Nevertheless the lunch fare - which we had not tried before - was very good.

Canon Perdido Street

A street with a great name with a lot of history behind it. It translates to "lost cannon" but actually refers to a stolen cannon in the aftermath of the Mexican-American War. The full story is told here:

https://www.kcrw.com/shows/curious-coast/stories/the-tale-of-santa-barbaras-canon-perdido-street 

Douglas F.P. 2026 - part 2

We walked to the bluff and back. It was perfect.

Douglas Family Preserve 2026

It had been a long time since we took these trails. Conditions were excellent.

famous orange tulips

Keeping up with the famous tradition of orange tulips for Valentine's Day, with a side of toaster.

more banana yogurt

This time with stevia. I didn't mind it.

Sorry!

To the best of my memory, I had never played Sorry! before. All board games have sets of rules of varying complexity, and a degree of disorientation is normal and to be expected. Best to just dive in and get wet. Since I also have a history of winning games from a combination of dumb luck, favorable karma and pure skill, I won the first time.

Pinyon breakfast

On account of the early hour it was a blur. There was a very good pistachio croissant however. Eventually I had enough coffee that things got less blurry. Above, a non-blurry image.

Buena Bodega revisited

This time I tried their mediterranean bagel and was pleasantly surprised. Mrs. had the bagel with schmear and an iced banana creme latte. It was a good light lunch.

 

Killers of the Flower Moon

A great book and a great movie, but I suddenly no longer feel the need to own the book. My only reservation is a nagging curiosity about what poison was used in the infamous Osage Murders. I've flipped through the book and done some googling, and what I'm getting is that morphine was the culprit, or possibly laudanum (which is derived from opium and related to morphine).

downtown sunset

What a great scene to encounter upon leaving the restaurant.

more Vegan Chef Challenge

Another item from Paradise Pantry's Vegan Chef Challenge menu. What we have here is mushroom toast with "tofu pine nut ricotta served over Café Ficelle country toast, drizzled with balsamic glaze". It's fair to say that this is currently the Best Mushroom Toast of 2026.