Cazalea offers a deeply personal narrative, inviting readers into a family day at his wife's ancestral home in Southern California. While the post beautifully captures moments of family, history, and the appreciation of a cherished property, it subtly showcases his choice of a Seiko dive watch. This blend of personal storytelling and watch appreciation resonates with the community, highlighting how watches accompany life's most meaningful experiences.
Yesterday my wife and I went back to her ancestral home in the foothills south of Los Angeles. It was a gorgeous day - shorts and t-shirt weather from dawn to dusk.
About 50 years ago her dad bought an abandoned caretaker's house on a Spanish Land Grant property. Ponies had been living in the main rooms! In addition to the real stables, it had formerly been accompanied by a huge greenhouse, whose foundation now encircles a large pool and related outbuildings.
Although my father-in-law has continued to maintain and upgrade it, the house is now likely to be what's referred to as "A Scraper" because it's a pretty old and basic layout with a lot of land in a desirable and expensive area. He's 95 and we don't know how much longer the family will retain this property ...
So we are trying to make frequent (though exhausting) trips to the homestead. There were about 30 family and friends over for a visit.
One of the most enjoyable moments was checking out the youngest nephewโs first car purchase ever โ a 1990 Ford Camper Special 5-speed manual shift, straight 6 engine, long bed, dual tanks, with Eddie Bauer trim. It was fun to hear this energetic 30-year old doctor say โI really wanted the truck but I donโt know how to drive a stick shift ... but after some hesitation, I figured if Uncle Mike and Dad can drive one, I can learn.โ
Imagine now Grandad is 95, Mr & Mrs Cazalea are 65+ (the rest of our generation are younger), with 5 grandkids (the tiny tots shown below) who are now in their 30's with about 8 kids between them ... Grandma and brother Phil (with tie) are no longer with us.
I'm now at the stage where I stay in the shade, out of the pool, sit near the cooler full of beer, and reminisce. And wander around the property that I've been married into for about 45 years.
THE GREENHOUSE
One of my favorite spots at "The Ponderosa" is the redwood greenhouse. With wonderful aromas of earth, fertilizer and flowers, it's usually quiet and cool even when kids are squealing at the top of their lungs in the pool. There's not much planting action going on today, but it still has that smell I love and associate with my grandmother's house too.
The architecture is classical southern california, with redwood walls, lots of overhanging vines and ferns, and stoneset walls and steps.
Stag-horn ferns were very rare and expensive when I was a child, but we have a dozen or more giant specimens in the family now. Perhaps they like warm climates like ours.
There aren't many flowers going in November, but I took a walk anyway
My blue-dial Seiko diver makes a nice contrast against yellow flowers,
red BOUGAINVILLEA brachts.
and orange berries.
at one point there were 14 cars and a motorcycle in the driveway, but at 4 we evicted all the friends and hangers-on, and settled down to a quiet family meal for 24, with roasted chicken & baked potatoes. Since I was doing much of the cooking, there aren't any photos.
When all the food was consumed and or packed up, we jumped in the car and drove home. About 120 miles in 120 minutes - not bad for SoCal nowadays.
As I was preparing this article, I realized that no watch can keep track of the passage of decades, but we, by owning watches for a very long time, can remember the events and people connected to them.
Thanks for reading along,
Cazalea
