Issue link: https://imageup.uberflip.com/i/1543314
Happy spring everyone. May your yards be full of beautiful blooms! The Travel Club is busy planning day trips to parts of Southern California. Places we would like to visit and hope you will also. If there is a place you would like to visit or experience, please feel free to contact us (ohcctravelclub2025@gmail.com) with your suggestions. Here are our upcoming trips: March 19 - We will travel to the Cougar Vineyard and Winery in Temecula for a tasting of their red, white and/or sparkling wines. A tour of the winery, barrel and blending rooms will follow. This winery is located on a hill, so beautiful views of the surrounding area are included! Seats are still available. April 29 - Cheer on your favorite team when the San Diego Padres take on the Chicago Cubs during an afternoon baseball game at Petco Park. The seats are between third base and home plate, section 114, close to the field. This is sold out but waitlist is available. July 4 - Celebrate America's 250th Birthday on the Hornblower Cruise to view the Spectacular Big Bay Boom on the San Diego Bay. Hearty Appetizers are included with a no host bar. This is sold out but waitlist is available. Aug. 4 - Join us for a Travel Club Favorite, Pageant of the Masters. The theme this year is The Greatest of All Time (G.O.A.T.) This will feature living recreations of legendary artwork by artists like Vermeer, Van Gogh, da Vinci, Monet, Renoir, Norman Rockwell, Winslow Homer and Picasso. This trip is also sold out but waitlist is available. Frequently people on a trip need to cancel. Many people on our wait lists actually have had the opportunity to go on our trips. To be placed on the waitlist or to register for any of our trips, leave a check made out to the OH Travel Club, in the Travel Club envelope at the Clubhouse front desk. Add $5 to the price if you are not a member of the club. You will receive an email confirming your registration. We certainly hope you will join us on one of our trips! Written by Amy Blount and approved by the Travel Club Board. Your OH Travel Club Board, Adele, Lynn, Amy, Jeannine and Callie | OHCC LIVING | MARCH 2026 | 29 Travel Club Spring is here, and your Save the Monarch Butterf ly (SMB) Club is ready. Our garden has been carefully prepared to welcome Monarchs and other butterf lies back to our beautiful sanctuary. But how do we really know it's spring? While we rely on calendars and clocks, Monarch butterf lies follow a far more elegant system — one guided by sunlight, temperature, and the subtle rhythms of nature that signal it's time to return. The first and most important cue is day length. Monarchs spend the winter in a state called diapause, a kind of biological pause that conserves energy. As daylight hours slowly increase, this change in light reactivates their reproductive systems, signals that it's time to leave overwintering sites, and triggers the beginning of spring migration. Temperature is the second signal. Monarchs are solar-powered insects that need consistent warmth to f ly, mate, and lay eggs. A few warm days are not enough; monarchs respond to sustained warming that lowers the risk of freezing or starvation during migration. Finally, milkweed provides the green light. Milkweed is essential to monarch survival. Eggs are laid only on milkweed, and caterpillars eat nothing else. Monarchs are finely tuned to the appearance of fresh, tender milkweed leaves and even respond to subtle chemical and scent cues from the plant. If milkweed is not ready, monarchs will wait — or move on. That is why, in March, the Save the Monarch Butterf ly Club and its dedicated volunteers begin planting a wide variety of nectar-rich f lowers (Possibly March 21st depending on the weather). We also carefully monitor the milkweed from the previous year to be sure it has grown sufficiently. If needed, we plant new milkweed, so this most important host plant is ready for the monarchs' return. In addition, we provide specific host plants for many of the butterf lies that visit our garden — thistles for the Painted Lady, cabbage for the Cabbage White, cassia for the Cloudless Sulphur, and fennel for the Swallowtail. We are also evaluating whether to plant a new willow tree for the Mourning Cloak, as our previous willow did not thrive in the garden. Keeping our garden healthy takes, many helping hands, and we welcome volunteers of all experience levels. Whether you enjoy planting, light garden maintenance, or simply learning more about monarchs and other pollinators, there is a place for you. Volunteering is a wonderful way to give back, meet neighbors, and help ensure our Monarch Sanctuary is ready when butterf lies return. Our goal is simple: to be ready when the monarchs — and all pollinators — are ready to return to our garden. Written by Rona Cole Save the monarch butterfly