August Moon

I was working on my computer last night and looked up and saw this lovely moon peeping above the clouds. I thought that the colors reflecting from the setting sun were so beautiful on the clouds. I must admit I did a little "tweaking" in Photoshop to enhance the colors a bit, but Mother Nature did a pretty good job!

CAN you make a postcard from a CAN?

Yes, you CAN. Here are some cards I made for a trade on Fabric Art Traders. We were to use aluminum cans. So here's what I came up with for my cards. It's actually quite easy to sew through the aluminum. This takes recycling one step further, don't you think!

Yesterday we had a visit from yet another mama deer with her very thirsty baby. Junior enjoyed a refreshing drink of water from our fountain, unaware that Casey, our cat, was lurking beneath the fountain. When Casey's presence was discovered, the little deer bolted across the yard to the safety of mom's side.

Mommie Deerest

Mama Deer has been coming by our yard nearly every day with her two adorable twin fawns. She shows them where the juiciest shrubs and plants are in our yard, just perfect for a little snack.

They still have their spots!

Isn't this little guy cute!!! I think he could almost fly with those big ears.

Really Cool Street Art

Check this out - it's really cool!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PH6xCT2aTSo

Some July Photos

Tom's sister, Phoebe, dropped by for a visit a week or so ago. She and her husband live in Silver City, New Mexico. Her daughter, Jennifer, lives in Grover Beach, California, which is about 45 minutes away from where we live, so when she visits Jennifer, she drops by to see us, too.

Jennifer, Mom, Tom and Phoebe

We have been lucky enough to see a pair of orioles in our yard - they come to the humming bird feeder in the late afternoons. They normally don't hang around this area, but seem to like our yard this year! We're happy to have them and hope they stay all summer.

And we always enjoy seeing the deer - even though they eat our plants! This young buck already seems to have a girl friend. But why not, he's certainly handsome!

A perfect July sunset

My daughter, Kristen, has been in Paris to attend a class and just returned home. (Besides being the librarian at St. Mary's Academy in Denver, she also teaches an advanced placement art history class, so this was related to that.) I've been anxiously awaiting her email telling me she's home safe in Denver, and just received it, along with this lovely photo of her. I always breathe a sigh of relief when I know that she's home safe and sound. She had an amazing time.....walking all over and absorbing so much art that she says her head hurts!!!!

Hot Day in Paso

It's pretty hot here - 100 degrees or so. So we jumped in the car and drove over to Cambria where it was a very pleasant 61 degrees! After lunch, we drove up the coast a bit to San Simeon and turned around. At that point you can see the beautiful Hearst Castle way up on the hilltop, so I thought I would include a few photos of Hearst Castle taken a couple of years ago. "La Cuesta Encantade" the enchanted hill, was built by William Randolph Hearst. Julia Morgan was the architect, and it was begun in 1919 and took 30 years to complete. The main "house" has 115 rooms, (56 bedrooms and 61 bathrooms) and 90,080 square feet. There are 2 huge swimming pools, guesthouses and 8 acres of cultivated gardens. Hearst also established his own private zoo, and you can still see zebras grazing on the hillsides as you drive by on Highway 1. The Hearst family gifted the "castle" and some of the land to the State of California and it is now a California State Park and for a fee, you can tour the house and gardens. Hearst used the castle as a "get-away" from his hectic life, and whenever he was there, there were usually famous guests staying as well. For more information about Hearst Castle, check out http://www.hearstcastle.com/

The zebras are about the only animals left from Hearst's private zoo - they seem to do quite well grazing with the cattle.

The huge outdoor Neptune's Pool

And the lovely indoor Roman pool

4th of July Parade in Templeton

I hope that everyone (at least everyone living in the U S of A) got to attend a good old fashioned 4th of July Parade today. If not, join us for the parade in Temlpleton. Lots of kids, dogs, horses, old cars, tractors, farm animals, - a real community parade. Every organization in town was grilling hotdogs and hamburgers in the park. And the weather was perfect....sunny, but not too hot. We're making apricot ice cream this evening, and then we'll be off to view the fireworks at Barney Swartz Park in Paso. Happy 4th.

Make a Smilebox slideshow

In the Garden at Sunset

Make a Smilebox slideshow

PInk Pig Party

Make a Smilebox slideshow

Drive for Show, Putt for Dough

If you three putt, you pay the pink pig every week. Over the course of a year, this little piggy gets very fat, so in June we take the proceeds and throw a party. This year, Rene'e Rahilly opened her lovely house for the eagerly awaited "Pink Pig Party"! We had lots of good food catered by Cahoots, a delicious cake, and enjoyed visiting, soaking in the hot tub, and a spirited game or two of Catch Phrase. The following video shows some of the party.

Do You Know the Way to San Jose?

All good things must come to an end.....yesterday we had to take Kristen back to San Jose to catch her flight back to Denver. We made a day of it by driving the scenic, long way on Highway 1 through Big Sur. It was a beautiful day, and we had lunch at Nepenthe, a first for all of us. (http://www.nepenthebigsur.com/) We stopped at Point Lobos State Reserve, drove through Carmel and Monterey, then headed on up to San Jose. It was a long drive, but the scenery was spectacular!

A Walk Along Point Buchon Trail

Welcome to California

Kristen experienced her first earthquake this morning at 5:30 - a 4.5 centered near San Simeon. It was big enough to rattle the furniture.

Balloon Ride over Templeton

Here's a little video of part of our balloon ride this morning. We took off at Eagle Castle Winery and soared over west Templeton, getting a fantastic view of vineyards and the rolling countryside.

Up, Up and Away

Kristen and I got up early this morning for a hot air balloon ride! What a great experience. More Photos to follow.

And here's what we looked like 25 years ago! Pounds thinner and lots more hair.
Pat, my maid of honor, me, Tom (with beard) and his brother, Eric.


Our beautiful daughters - Stacy, Kristen and Denise.

And my mom.

25 Years Ago

On June 17th, 1984 Tom and I got married on top of Lookout Mountain near Denver, Colorado! So, this is our 25th wedding anniversary! We celebrated by going out to dinner at our favorite Japanese restaurant with my mom (Charlene) and my daughter (Kristen). Here is a photo of Tom and I 25 years later! I'll post some photos from 25 years ago tomorrow!

And here is a photo of Kristen and me! She just flew in today for a visit. Look for more adventures while she's here! We're planning several exciting adventures - one especially that will be very uplifting!

Golf Outing

I had a fun couple of days. Some of the ladies I play golf with went up to Monterey for a couple of days of golf. Here's our gear for only 4 gals for 2 days, one night away! Those golf clubs take up a lot of room!On Sunday we played a lovely resort course in Carmel Valley called Quail Lodge. We joined up with 8 ladies from Chalk Mountain golf course for 3 foursomes and had a great time! Pam and Chris are posing on the 10th green. And Clare and I on the same hole.

This hole was on the back nine - don't remember which hole, but there was a lot of water!

Here's a par 3 on the front nine - more water!

We had a grand day, and capped it off with dinner at the club restaurant. We spent the night near Monterey and got up early to arrive at the Pacific Grove Golf Course for a 8:00 shotgun start. The course at Pacific Grove (show below) is a muni, and quite popular. If you can't afford to play Pebble Beach near Carmel, you can play Pacific Grove!



The back nine has ocean views from every hole. Hard to keep your mind on golf!

And the Pacific Grove Lighthouse is right in the middle of the course! Chris and I are posing in front of it!




There are deer everywhere, and lots of different kinds of birds.

We ended our day with a late lunch at Tarpy's Roadhouse on the way home.