The Birthday Of My Brother Jimmy

When we came home from Idyllwild, we had a quick turn around.

We then headed for Pasadena for my brother Jimmy's birthday.

There is a short video of some of the celebrations along with some of our escapades from throughout the year.

Happy Birthday My Brother

As you can see, Rick and Anne are equally crazy.

Happy New Year to all of you.

I'm looking forward to some new adventures in 2016, and perhaps some new ventures too.

All the best from Sheddington Enterprises. (More on that next year)

Felice Anno Nuovo

 and 

Ciao Bella

Norm 

Driving Idyllwild

Driving On The Mountain

We took a couple of little side trips from Idyllwild and I thought that you might like the video of the mountain roads.

Click for the video.

When I was trying to think of suitable music, this one suddenly sprang to mind.

It is really evocative, it took me back to when I was a kid.

The neighbors of my parents would take me with them on day trips along with the lady's mother whom I called Nana Dixon. Back then everyone you knew was a relative.

On these trips out to the Yorkshire dales or wherever we would sing this song, sometimes with our own made up words. Not always terribly polite!

As my cousin Elizabeth just said to me the other day, "Everyone was your mother"

All well and good but it also had a downside, you could never get away with anything.

Here's wishing you a very Happy New Year.

Wherever your travels may take you.

Anne and I already have some plans for 2016, check the blog for updates.

Ciao Bella (That's a clue)

Norm

Christmas Card Edition

Here's a special edition of the BLOG dedicated to Christmas cards.

As those of you who look at the BLOG regularly know, I featured my favorite Christmas card of all time recently.

This year brought a new crop of "Special" cards.

So here they are in no particular order. The comments are below the cards.

This one is world class.

Seems like the Aristocracy think in the same way.

Bet you can't guess who was the recipient of this card.

With this one you need to see the inside too.

When I first landed in the USA I had the good fortune to meet some wonderful people.

They quickly appraised me of the way things work here.

It was summed up thus:

"Money talks and bullshit walks"

I guess Santa thinks the same way.

Ciao Bella

Norm

Christmas Day

A quick update from Idyllwild.

We spent a very pleasant Christmas Eve looking around town.

We even met a famous local politician named Mayor Max.

Max is a very large Golden Retreiver and is without doubt the most trustworthy and perhaps the best looking politician you could wish to meet.

Finally I got that Belgian beer I was hoping for!

Madame settled for a cappuccino.  

Then we headed back to the cabin and quickly had a roaring fire going. 

When we arrived at the cabin we found gift from the management hanging on the door.

Chocolate, cookies, winter drinks and a couple of coasters.

A nice touch.

We were then set for an exciting night of Trivial Pursuit and old TV shows.

On Christmas morning we awoke to a light covering of snow.

Just enough to make everything look wintry but not enough to cause trouble driving.

This was the view from the cabin window.

Today it will be noon before the temperature gets above freezing.

Buon Natale

Day 2 In Idyllwild

The rain has passed over for now, so we decided to take a ride down to Palm Springs.

This route would not be good for anyone who was afraid of roads which are steep and with precipitous drops at the edge of some curves.

And boy does this road have some curves,we started at the blue dot and took highway 243 to Banning and then on to interstate 10 towards Palm Springs.

The drivers we encountered today were very good, any one who was slow or driving an RV pulled into a passing place (lay by to those on the other side of the Pond) to let the rest of the field pass by. Some people of course want to drive at 100 miles an hour no matter where they are or what the conditions are like.

The weather change was as dramatic as the scenery. It was 44 in Idyllwild and 74 in Palm Springs, extremely strong wind in Banning and flat calm in Palm Springs.

This was the view from the little patio where had lunch, right on Palm Canyon Drive.

Downtown Palm Springs is undergoing some extensive changes. Whole city blocks have been demolished and new buildings are taking their place. The outskirts of the city are still struggling with lots of vacant store fronts.

As we headed back up the mountain the weather started to close in with the potential of rain.

Here I am with the heavy weather gear, hat was a gift from our friend Cherie, the scarf was a gift from another friend Linda, the lumber jack shirt was a gift from Madame.

By the time we got back into Idyllwild, the sun had broken through so it was very pleasant but still cold.

So we took a walk around town to take in the sights, and of course meet other dog lovers.

Then it was back to the cabin for a spot of relaxation before going out later in the evening.

We went out to a Wine / Beer bistro with a heated patio for a little something to eat.

Of course being an upmarket place, they did not have the blue collar Belgian beer that I normally drink.

They did have a beer made in Fort Bragg which was OK considering it was only $7 a glass!

The glass had the logo of a famous brewery in Koln or Cologne depending where you originate.

I asked the waiter if they had that beer, no just the glasses, pity it's good stuff, Reissdorf Kolsch (no umlaut on my keyboard)

Madame and Missy enjoying the patio.

As you may imagine, in a place with so many trees, they have no problem finding a Christmas tree.

This one has to be close to 100 feet high and is of course still alive and growing.

Then we took the long dark spooky walk back to the cabin.

The moon was just breaking through the clouds over the ridge of pines to the south of us.

Before we went out, I had prepared the fireplace for our return.

So getting it going was no problem for the Leopard Lady.

You really don't need the fireplace, the wall mounted gas heater is more than adequate, but the effect is very pleasant.

More soon,

Ciao Bella 

Norm

Idyllwild Day 1

We left HB in heavy rain, and drove up to the mountains in rain which increased in intensity the higher we went.

Of course the truck was loaded like a Sahara camel!

If we ever take more stuff, I'll need a trailer.

Rain all the way.

We checked in to the Inn and started to make the cabin home.

As you can see Missy was at home right away.

Look who else showed up for the party.

The very well travelled Mr. El Leopardo.

More soon.

Ciao Bella 

Norm

Christmas Trip

We're Headed To The Mountains!

We've decide to take a trip to the local mountains for Christmas, Idyllwild to be precise.

It's only about 100 miles away and at 5,400 feet elevation, but a world apart.

Click on the link below for more information.

Idyllwild

We are staying at the Idyllwild Inn and taking Missy, she has stayed there with us in the past and the town is very dog friendly.

Missy and Jake hanging out on the deck earlier this year.

We have one of the cabins at the back of the property with a deck surrounded by pine trees.

As you can see the word "Cabin" is something of a "Misomer" they are like a small house really.

More soon from the mountains.

Ciao Bella

Norm

Birthday

Growing Older But Not Up!

This is about my birthday cards:

It seems that there's a bit of a theme, like getting older, I dread to think what next year will bring.

I have a selection of the cards here, the names of the senders are not included so that we can protect the identities of the guilty parties.

Of course with one of the cards the sender is pretty obvious,

HMM! I wonder who could have sent this one.

I think that this is the only one which refers to beer, now there's a change.

I think that this one suits me perfectly.

Just Like That!

Next year send two, then I'll be twenty years younger.

See what I mean about the age thing?

This one arrived in a plain brown wrapper, hardly surprising really.

No words necessary with this one.

Just a lonely old dog at the beach by himself.

What more can I say?

Except

Here's my favorite Christmas Card

Ever!

Ciao Bella 

Norm

Solvang Motorcycle Museum

95 Really Special Bikes.

Click on the link below to go to the museum website.

The Museum

There were only four people there for the special opening of the museum. 

The lady who is the assistant to the owner opened up for us an gave a brief history of the place.

 This is the legendary Mike (the bike) Hailwood, who despite winning multiple TT events and the Italian Grand Prix died at the age of 40 when he and his young family were hit by a truck making an illegal turn. Hailwod and his 9 year old daughter were killed. The truck driver was fined $150.

This is a highly modified Vincent meant to do one thing.

Go very fast!
That is the biggest SU carb I have ever seen. It probably would pull enough gas to power a 747.

I like looking at oddball shit and this is certainly oddball.

This is a small version of a rotary aircraft engine, the crankshaft  also front axle stands still and the cylinders revolve around it.

That's got to be some kind of GYRO effect!

You would not want to ride it, but this is such a great looking bike.

The MARS built in Germany.

A V8 Moto Guzzi twin OHC with 8 sets of points to time.

How about that for a challenge.

As shown in the picture it does not have the "DUSTBIN FAIRING"

This is what it would have looked like back in the day.

This is a very good looking AJS 7R called the boy racer, a very fast machine and becoming increasingly collectible.

This is a rotary engine Norton similar to the one they had in the museum.

For some reason I don't have a picture of it.

However, it struck a chord, the classic stick in the mud, British Motorcycle industry were slow to move to multiple cylinder machines despite the Japanese onslaught.

Then they take a humongous leap of faith to a rotary engine which was miserably inefficient and a complete dog. Apart from which it looks like crap. OK miserably inefficient might be a stretch but they were very prone to seal wear and needed frequent and very expensive rebuilds.

The one in the museum had zero miles on the clock, not surprising to me.

These are just a few highlights from the visit.

Enjoy.
Ciao Bella
Norm