We're two sisters who are craft book publishers and found ourselves in the midst of an avocado grove. We bought this house where we planned to conduct our publishing business and in the deal got 4 acres of avocado trees thrown in. Now we're not only publishers but ranchers as well! This blog is all about avocados and anything else that strikes my fancy.

Thursday, April 4, 2013

Sepia Saturday #171 California's Version of a Castle!!

California is a fairly new state. Wiping out first the native American population and later the Mexicans, California didn't have enough time to build castles as this one in Wales:


So instead of these old, beautiful relics, we have instead new castles fashioned after the lovely historic ones.

I give you for an example a castle we stumbled upon yesterday on our way back from an Indian casino (ironic, isn't it, that the native Americans who are left are now all thriving from the gambling casinos? What great revenge!) We wanted to take a break from the tedium of taxes and celebrate that we had finally sent ours off to the accountant. How best to celebrate? Go and lose a bunch of money at a gambling casino!

On the way back from the casino what should we behold than this sign along the side of the road:

I thought this would make a great post for this week's castle theme. Don't you love this sign with the attractive reflector light on top.

We drove down the gravel road with lemon trees bordering each side only to come across another hastily made sign. This one was all done up with glittery lettering and seems to be a favorite spot for birds to perch:

Our anticipation of seeing a real Cupid's Castle was building to a crescendo pitch. "Oh I think I can see it off in the distance. It kind of looks like a castle."


Then we got to the gate and entryway and sure enough, each rock column was topped with a cupid. This must be the place.





We kept driving and finally arrived. Here it is - Cupid's Castle:

That little shed in the foreground kind of spoils the effect. But you can clearly see by the turret that this is a bonafide castle. Maybe not quite as gorgeous as Sleeping Beauty's Castle in Disneyland, but for California, it's pretty darn authentic.

Climb the steps and just beyond the welcoming lions (what, they ran out of cupids?), there's the entry to the castle.


Cupid's Castle has seen better days. It seemed very desolate and I doubt if anyone has stayed here in years. If you click here for their website you'd think it was a different place: and it's worth it just to see the owner, Connie win the 2009 Irish Stew Cookoff!!  Cupid's Castle.

We left this fairyland and found our way back to reality - especially when looking in our wallets. What happened to all our money??

Jump over the moat and click here for more castle stories,  Sepia Saturday.




22 comments:

  1. Well.....I like the lemon trees and blue sky !!

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  2. I enjoyed reading that "Connie has the distinct honor of being a direct ancestor of the Queen Mom of the house of Wales in England." She must be ancient - perhaps that's why they haven't had any guests for a while.

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  3. "No money down" Ted and Connie look excellent for their ages. Only you two could scare up a castle in these parts! And only you two could turn a trip to the accountant's into fun. You never waste a trip!

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    1. the only waste was the money we lost at the casino. But I must admit, it wasn't much money. Once I start losing, I close up my purse. I guess I'm not a compulsive gambler.

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  4. A great tongue in cheek post - rising to a crescendpo pitch indeed! Ted and Connie look like a fun couple of hosts but I won't be rushing there soon, not even for Connie's Irish Stew.

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    1. Oh, Nell, I highly recommend a visit there. You can have all the lemonade you can drink, along with your Irish Stew of course.
      Nancy

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  5. I wonder what happened to Cupid's Castle. I am not at all impressed by "about us" page.

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    1. I think they were probably victims of the economic downturn and haven't quite recovered.

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  6. Looks as though Cupid's Castle is past it's prime. Thanks or taking us there!

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  7. Sorry but I think that the old UK castles are a lot more romantic than your Cupid's Castle.

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    1. Yes, but unfortunately it's all we have in the way of castles.

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  8. I would never have thought of putting 'cupid'and 'castle' together if I was constructing this building.

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  9. What a great "take" on this week's theme - a fun post.

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  10. Great fun from start to finish. Why not a 'Cupid's Castle'? After all there was a lot of hanky-panky in those old ancestral homes shown in this week's post.

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    1. Good point, Bob. I shudder to think of the hanky-panky that went on in Cupids Castle.

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  11. Nancy, for sure I want to go there first thing when I visit California; I am so surprised, of all names available, "Cupids castle" not to be missed. Trip adviser here I come.

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  12. Yikes!! Cupid has fallen on some hard times...
    I guess the hardware store ran out of cupids
    and that would explain those lions.
    She seems like an nice person even if,
    her taste leaves a little to be desired...
    Fun post!!
    :)~
    HUGZ

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  13. Oh I should have just stuck with looking at the house. It got progressively stranger as I read down the page about Connie. I'm guessing Connie was the Queen Bee of the Castle.

    Clever post.

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  14. I must admit the house looks better than I expected after seeing the signs. Imagining cupids everywhere certainly helped lower my expectations. I'm a girl who loves a theme, but sometimes that theme can go too far.

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  15. It's nice to know that Cupid really does exist and is living in California!

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