Second Helpings

Ojai and Beyond

After our brief toilet interlude, I’ll return to travel reports and the next stage of our journey which took us to Ojai and the fabulous home and company of Sheila and Lance.

We travelled from Los Angeles to Ojai in separate cars, the men took the coast road and Sheila and I took the freeway. It gave us chance to have a chat, indulge in a few laughs at her talking car and call ccstring, who is as charming and funny on the phone as he is in his ‘glob’ here.

In the past when Sheila has sent me a message from her phone saying she’s just turning into the drive and will be online in about ten minutes, I’ve never really got my head around it. Now I understand. From their house sign, the road climbs steadily around numerous bends, with the most fantastic views and it takes a while to actually arrive at the ranch, park in the garage, pet the excited pooches and cross the house.

There aren’t enough adjectives to describe the house, grounds and surroundings of our next five days in paradise, so I will allow the photographs to speak for themselves. Of course, it was during our stay my camera decided to go on the blink, but I managed to capture now treasured pictures with disposables and eventually a new camera.

It was certainly a time of luxury and relaxation for us after all our hectic travels and if I carry on thanking Sheila and Lance for the rest of my days, it could never be enough. We saw so many beautiful landscapes, birds, creatures, flora and fauna, ate so many wonderful meals and experienced so many new and fabulous things it would be impossible to list them all.

During our stay we visited Sheila’s old house, the shop she used to run, the organic market in Ojai, shopping outlets and Macy’s in Ventura and a special treat in the form of a hairdo at Jo Paulo’s. Lance kindly took hubby to his office and opened up a car museum and model railway so he could tour them with Cesar.

I also had the opportunity to meet two more of my cousins who live in California. Fred and Kathy Ann are two of six of my dad's deceased brother's children and it was a joy and pleasure to spend an afternoon in their company. Another experience I never thought would become a reality.

On our final day, Lance drove us to Santa Barbara, with many fascinating stops, interesting commentaries and comical moments along the way. While in the back of the car, Sheila and I spoke to several WDC members on the phone, all of whom sounded very warm and friendly, despite their varied and strange accents. We visited the pier and ate lunch in the warm sunshine, before returning to the ranch for the shock result of American Idol.

I’m not a morning person, but waking up to such beautiful surroundings made it a pleasure to rise and wander in the peace and sunshine. We were indeed very lucky to be looked after so well, in such a lovely place by such equally lovely people. Sheila had gone out of her way to make sure our stay was a very comfortable and enjoyable one and again all I can do is to keep on saying thank you. If anyone had told me joining this writing site would lead to such wonderful things, I'd never have believed them. Never give up on hopes and dreams.

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