TRAVELS WITH MATTIE

Whoa. A lot has happened.  I made a really great turtle friend in the river. I saw a giant gopher snake on the trails with a good buddy. I fixed my front windows. I am still...writing...about...nanoparticles. The sunsets are always beautiful from the cabin front porch. The moon. The Sunset Tree.  Mattie and I had a great, short trip up to SLO for Yeti's birthday, then we got to celebrate the wonderful Jefferson's birthday on the Mesa. I've been hiking, exploring, and learning all about the Santa Ynez River every chance I get. And I'm still... ...writing... ...about... ...nanoparticles... Looking forward to more peaceful days up on the lane and in the riverbed. It's starting to feel like summer. Love, Allison and Mattie

Hi Everyone, Well, I could tell you all about how I made homemade pizzas and they were delicious and I am learning how to cook and it's going totally awesome, which is exciting... ...or maybe I could tell you about how hiking has been the best and I'm making new (human!) friends on Paradise Road, and the evenings are long and getting warm at the cabin, and everything is perfect in the forest... ...or maybe about how my dog is awesome and disgusting, and of ALL the clean pools in the river, she decided to take a break in this one and it was really gross... ...but instead I decided to give you a sense of how I feel about this, even three days later: Happy Daylight Savings, everyone -- come play with us at the cabin. Things are really getting good, and the water will warm up fast. All love all the time, Allison & Mattie "Swamp Monster" Mae

YOU GUYS, THIS WEEK IS IMPORTANT. SO MAKE SURE YOU READ UNTIL THE VERY END.  A lot of awesome things have happened.  Sara and I went on a great hike (Aliso >> Upper Oso >> Riverbed Trails) and made friends with snakes. Sunsets were beautiful with the recent storms.  Mattie and I watched a few of them from the porch. But she's afraid of weather, so she sits just inside the front door. And today, TODAY is where things got really wild in cabin life. It started off normally. Mattie and I woke up, said "hey" to the turkeys, wrote about nanoparticles, ate late breakfast, and I headed off for a hike because I needed to get some things sorted in my head. I left from the cabin and went to the river trails, past Whiterock and Sage Hill, on to Lower Oso and up to Upper Oso, then on to 19 Oaks. I ate a quick lunch (brownies and oranges), then on the way back spent some time in the creek bed along Santa Cruz Trail to hang out with good new...

Still crazy writing this week, but Mattie and I have still been having a great time! We went on a hike with Sam and found beautiful pools in the river... ...made new friends on Paradise Road... ...hung out with our new friend (and Mattie's new boyfriend) Nickel (he rides motorcycles - really)... ...and most importantly saw a WHALE FOSSIL while on a beautiful hike with a good friend on the Romero Canyon Figure 8.  There's a big buddy lurking nearby, and I think he's probably responsible for the tracks I've been seeing behind the cabin. No more nighttime strolls for Mattie.  Happy March, everybody! Love, Allison & Mattie 

There are signs that border the Midland School property north of Los Olivos, posted along the road meandering up to Figueroa Mountain. Some are carefully hand-painted on wooden monuments, and some are smaller and less celebratory and printed by machines on metal plaques. The headlines are the same: "This Land is Protected Forever."  When I see those signs, I wish that they existed at the borders of every remaining open space in California. Heartwarming, and heartbreaking. 

This weekend we had a BBQ! My best buddy Rick came into town on Thursday afternoon. Friday we went on an amazing hike from the cabin, along the Santa Ynez River, up the Aliso Canyon loop, over to Upper Oso, down to Lower Oso, and back to the cabin along the river on the most beautiful trails anywhere.  This guy, posing at the high point on Aliso.  And on Saturday we had a cabin BBQ! Great people, great food, and an epic dance party to end the night. ALL THESE GUYS IN THE SAME PLACE?!??? Cabin BBQ y'all.  Thanks to: Rick, Bobby, Sam, Sara, Adam, Becky, Robby, Guad, Sydney, Jeremy, April, Mary, Shannon, Rahsan, Emma, Louise, Paul, Kaitlin, Scott, Thatcher, Jefferson, Michelle, and Alex for bringing great food and drinks, being generally awesome, and making it such a fun afternoon/evening/night in the forest. You wonderful, wonderful people. More BBQs as we get into warmer weather and longer days! Got in another great hike this morning (the same l...

For the past few days, most of my time has been spent working on a paper.  But in my OTHER time, I have... ...watched my dog be totally confused by brazen turkeys...  ...sipped tea on a warm winter morning from the front porch while the turkeys goofed off in the yard... ...found new trails behind the cabin... ...stalked some big cats... ...played in the new snow on Figueroa Mountain... ...and spaced out with this view of distant dusted mountains from the Figueroa ridge... ...!!!