Vanchella Vagabonds

Our current tiny house is not as posh as our last place. It's a bit like staying at your grandparents' place, but as they say in real estate, location, location, location.  You can see our current neighborhood, More Mesa Shores, from Goleta Pier. It is just to the right of John's left glasses lens in the photo above. This places us a lot closer to Emily's apartment and some of our more regular haunts.  The neighborhood has its own private access to More Mesa Beach. Unfortunately, it is a .5 mile walk, then a descent (and corresponding ascent) down a steep walkway, followed by lots of steps. Our knees aren't up to that kind of workout. However, there is a cozy bench at the top to enjoy the beautiful ocean view and sounds, which we have done multiple times. The neighborhood also has direct access to More Mesa. We visited More Mesa with Emily back in Fall 2018, but accessed it from a different spot. She had previously visited with a meditation group and thought we woul...

During this pandemic and lockdown year, I've worked on many different genealogy projects, both big and small. A favorite has been my collaboration with my newly discovered 3rd cousin, Gerlyn Bowman. Back in September, she reached out to me via Ancestry messaging: Hi, I am searching Melinda Williams as she was my grandmother's great grandmother.  I have some pictures to share.  It looks like your research is extensive.  thanks!  gerlyn bowman I recognized the name Melinda Dunton Williams right away, as I had identified her in my research as my 3rd great-grandmother in my Van Dosen line (this is my mother Shirley's father Orlie's line).  I'm always happy to hear from someone who is interested in collaborating, and I was especially intrigued by the mention of pictures. I wrote back to Gerlyn and shared some of my family tree so we could figure out how we are related.  Melinda Dunton Williams' daughter Jessie Bell Williams and Jessie Bell's husband Henry Van D...

  One of our favorite Christmas activities, regardless of where we are living, is to go on a drive to look at the holiday lights. So one recent evening we loaded up Sleigh Marina with some hot chocolate and our Christmas bells and hats, and went on a tour of Santa Barbara neighborhoods that John had found for us. First up, the biggest holiday tree in Santa Barbara, visible from the ocean. Look at the size of that trunk! This tree is a very old Norfolk Island Pine (I knew that before reading about it, thanks to my Seeking, hehehe), planted in 1878 as a 2-year-old sapling. It's 144 years old! This beauty has seen a lot of history and survived many different exchanges of the property, including its current host, a Ralphs grocery store (that's Kroger for our Michigan and Atlanta friends).  Houses in downtown Santa Barbara are older and really lend themselves to pretty light designs. The one on the left reminded me of a gingerbread house. Lots of displays featured candy canes. Cut...