Peppers and Pots

Kathe and Jim had a very interesting day here in Paso Robles visiting Jim's cousin Charlie and his wife Marion.  The two cousins haven't seen each other in about 40 years and just recently connected after a death in the family.  Charlie is the older brother of Gary, the cousin they visited in Plymouth, California earlier on this trip. Charlie has been living here in Paso for many years since graduating form Cal Poly San Luis Obispo.

The cousins spent the day reminiscing about their childhood and the many visits to their grandparents home in Glendale back in the 1950's.  As you can imagine, they had quite a lot of catching up to do.

Charlie worked as an architect for many years after finishing school and now works for the city of San Luis Obispo as a senior plan checker.  He loves his job so much he's planning on working there for seven more years. I could tell they didn't have a dog, but the have four cats.  I love cats, and when they came to visit our house later in the day I had to check them out for cat scent! They smelled really good!

Charlie has a thing for hot peppers! He grows several of the most unusual and hottest varieties in his back yard. He pickles them and has jars of the many varieties that he takes to work for his lunch.  He also collects hot sauces from all over the world and has a huge display of them in his house.
Here is a picture of some bottles that he has collected.

He is also a very serious collector of pottery.  He has some very beautiful pots dating from 400 AD to present day artists.  It was really an incredible and beautiful display of art.  Kathe took a picture but the pots were so much more beautiful than this picture shows.

It was a great day and we plan to come back again and promised to stay in touch.