The weather is changing finally and I'm loving it. Long walks, specialty coffee drinks, Pumpkin Spice Latte, Salted Caramel Mocha's...Apple picking, apple cider and the smell of pine trees. All things Autumn are wonderful. We celebrated my grandson's 1st birthday a few weeks ago. Its hard to believe that a year has passed since I first held him minutes after he was born. Such a big boy now and ready to take on the world. So many firsts, my eyes are new again through his. A giant Praying Mantis was very exciting. It looked like a leaf and I'm sure... Continue reading

I'm reading a new book, The Hauting of Maddy Clare, by Simone St. James I'm really loving it. Just watched, The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel, what an awesome movie, awesome cast, beautiful story lines. I laughed out loud and cried at the same time. Even with the great poverty in India, there is also great beauty and generosity of spirit that was captured in the movie. The vibrant colors, beautiful buildings makes me want to visit someday. There have been a few movies that have really touched me and this is one of them, Alamar, is another one. Its the... Continue reading

My honey worked from home today, but that didn't stop me from doing my regular chores, watching the news, having my morning coffee and playing with the "old" dog. I was able to get some shots of ordinary things, but these things made me smile just the same. Jake gets pooped out pretty quickly these days, he's 13 years old and wants to play like a pup, but he can't. He gets and "A" for effort. Lots of gray in his muzzle, he's a good dog. My new favorite coffee cup and saucer in a beautiful aqua color. Bright pink... Continue reading

A lazy Sunday, that's what we like, no plans, no commitments. We can sleep in, lay around in bed, read or watch some tv. We did a little of all of the above. Got up, made coffee, watched some news and peeked at Pinterest, my new favorite site! Got the car washed, headed to Barnes and Noble, but then we saw a sign for a Farmers Market, nothing like a farmers market to grab some fruits and veggies for the week. Bought some beautiful tomatoes, lemon cucumbers, zucchini, cauliflower and artichokes. Could not pass up the hot chili peppers! Bought... Continue reading

I must have sea water running through my veins, I need to visit the sea, ocean, beach, walk on the sand, feel it between my toes. The cold rush of the waves splashing over my feet. The crunch of wasted, broken sea shells, the piles of ocean vegetation I need it like I need air...today was no different, I have been craving the smell of salt air for several weeks and today we drove to a nearby beach. It is calming to my soul, the sound alone fills me with peace and I am calm again. A big smile on... Continue reading

Time to come back to my blog, I've missed it so much, but so much has been happening in my life. Things are slowing down and becoming routine again. I introduced my new home and now its a year and a half later. On the day we moved into our home, our daughter called to tell us she was having a baby...talk about being blown over by a feather, I was speechless, I was numb and my back and feet were killing me with all the moving. I cried, my hands were shaking, mind you, our daughter is an adult,... Continue reading

We finally sold our "big" house and removed all of the last items that were lingering. I just could not get myself to go there and empty it. We have 10 years of memories there and it was hard closing the door. Before I left I stepped in the front door and I said a small prayer that the new owners would be blessed and happy in the home as much as we were. I said goodbye to my Rose bushes and to the pink flowers that my grand daughter planted in her secret garden. I looked upstairs one last... Continue reading

That's the question that I ask myself over and over. So much has happened and is still happening. A lot of soul searching, tears, frustration, anger, fear of the unknown and self-doubt. Lost confidence in myself and my abilities. I won't go into all the bloody details, but just the fact that I am able to come to this place again and put words down, in itself is a positive step forward. I have been taking baby steps over the last couple months and am beginning slowly to feel like my old self. I have not been ill in a... Continue reading

As I walk in my yard my camera in hand. It is now an appendage. My eye scans the grass, the trees, my secret garden for something that was not there yesterday. Aha, mushrooms sprouting up in my backyard. I love their shapes and colors. My dog regularly mows them down as we play frisbee in the backyard. He just doesn't appreciate them as I do. I try to see things from his point of view what a difference it makes. Musical birds, recycled sheet music. I found these and fell in love with them. I am a music lover... Continue reading

Things that I love today: A misty, foggy drive. That first cup of coffee (Starbucks Caramel infused). Reading the morning news on-line. Opening up all the drapes, blinds and windows to let the day and breeze in. My sleeping husbands face. My Jack Russells joy at being let out of his crate to go outside and bark. A brand new opportunity to find something new. We took a road trip on Sunday and ended up at Alpine Lake in Bear Valley. It was wonderful. There was thunder, lightning and rain, our kind of weather. It was so peaceful. Fishermen were... Continue reading

Officially its supposed to be Autumn, but summer is having one last hurrah. It has been so hot this past week high 90's into the 100's. I don't like it over 85 degrees so I'm melting and stay indoors. I do venture out early in the morning to play frisbee with the dog, but he would do it if I went out in the blazing heat and tossed it to him until his legs gave out on him and he puddled in the grass. Right before this heatwave, it was truly beginning to feel like Fall was upon us. The... Continue reading

Many years ago I decided to turn my side yard in to a Secret Garden for my grand daughter Jazlyn. Her favorite color was pink at the time and her favorite things were Dora, Lilo and Stitch and balloons. I planted babies tears on the ground and placed large pavers for her to step on. We also planted creeping lemon thyme so that when you walked on it the scent would be released. I planted a dwarf plum tree (non fruit) for shade. We placed a rod iron cream colored bench for her sit on to read her books and... Continue reading

It's September today. Where has the summer gone? My favorite time of year is just a few weeks away. Autumn makes happy. The colors, the smells, the brisk cool air. Scarves, hats, gloves, boots and sweaters. I love the reds, oranges, yellows and browns of Autumn. Leaves spinning in the wind and birds flying overhead starting their journeys to warmer climates. I know its not here yet, but the anticipation is building. I have all my "Fall" decorations packed nearby ready to come out and be displayed, pumpkins, harvest wreathes, candles that smell like pumpkin spice. My Harvest banner that... Continue reading

Hello out there. Its been so long since I've been here. So many times that I opened up this page, typed a line or two then closed it up again. I don't know why. I write everyday, but was finding it hard to put it here for whatever reason, but yet I look through all my favorite blogs every single day. I get so inspired by everyone's creativity and imagination. All the artwork, craftiness, photos, paintings etc., So much has been happening. We went on a long car trip. A total of 5,000 miles and it was just fabulous. We... Continue reading

I love to bird watch and my backyard bluebirds sure do put on a show. I also love that I have so many buzzing bees in my yard. Lately, I have had big carpenter bees hovering around the lavender. They are so clumsy looking all heavy bodies and wings that look as if they can barely carry them. The sound is loud as they do a flyby past my head. My dog Jake ever the hunter tries to catch them as they buzz past him. I've told him no several times, but the other day he did get one in... Continue reading

Just got back from a very fun trip to Virginia City, Nevada. What a blast, walking through the old, crumbling town. I love the signage, patina, chipped paint and general feel of this old time city. Such history too. We took a train tour through the town and then proceeded to walk through the town. We went into an old Catholic Church and found such beauty. Stained glass windows, beautiful benches, carvings. It is still an active church for the residents. We walked into a bar and my husband told me I had to register...didn't understand that until he showed... Continue reading

It doesn't take much to get me to smile and lately just a dropped word or a commercial, a snippet from a magazine gets my mind whirling. That sounds like a great idea, why didn't I think of that?! A bird bath in front of my office window...I can do that. Some pretty glass rocks added to my birdbath for color. I had barely had it out and filled with water before the bluebirds found it and began enjoying it. It made me so happy to see them sitting on the edge drinking and splashing it on their heads. A... Continue reading

I don't know where to go with this today. I have not been in the mood to post anything, but I've done a lot and taken loads of pictures, but just getting the words together that's my problem lately. Each day I attempt to put words down, but then I draw a blank. Its gets frustrating and then makes me even more frustrated. Maybe its not so much about writing a story as just putting a few descriptions of what I am doing or what I have seen or done and then add a photo...They say a picture speaks a... Continue reading

I love it when family comes to visit. All of my family lives in the Bay Area and we live in the Central Valley so its only weekends that are available for a visit and only occasionally so when we do get visitors we like to have fun. My brother, son and niece came for a visit and we had a bbq, went for a bike ride and a walk, stopped by Bass Pro Shop again, since they seem to have some kind of "free" event every weekend and besides its such a fun place to walk around in and... Continue reading

Quite by accident, wait, I forgot to say hello, Hello! We were driving down the highway near our home when we saw a lot of people at our nearby Bass Pro Shop so being naturally inquisitive (nosy), we decided to pull into the parking lot and see what all the hullabaloo was about. I'm so glad we stopped, they were having a contest, DogSplash...The first thing we noticed obviously, were all the dogs, all kinds of dogs, labs, hounds, Jack Russell's, Golden Retrievers, my favorite and then we saw the giant swimming pool with a long deck off the side.... Continue reading

It's been a few weeks since my last post, but I've been so busy with stuff. This past weekend was so beautiful, got up to 80 degrees and time to pull out the sun hat and sun block. Looking out my window this morning you could not know that it was so gorgeous yesterday. I woke up to the sound of rain tap-tap-tapping my window and the smell of rain coming through the open window. I love the smell of rain and the sound of it too. It's so peaceful and makes everything so quiet. It's raining hard and my... Continue reading

Another trip planned on the fly. What should we do this weekend? Let's go to Pismo Beach. Okay. This is usually how our weekends go. It's very easy to pickup and go when its just the two of you (us). I over packed on Thursday night and woke at 4:30 am on Good Friday, jumped out of bed, gee, when does that happen! I brushed my teeth, showered, got dressed then woke my lazy honey. He only needs 30 minutes to get packed and ready. We arrived in San Luis Obispo (SLO) around 9am and the town was just starting... Continue reading

Here I am again today. I found something really cool, well, I knew it was there but wasn't really sure what it did. Today I found the macro button on my camera and well, I've been going absolutely nuts playing around with it. Who knew? I guess that's what instructions are for, but I didn't read them completely. So many beautiful things a flower up close. Now I know why a honeybee loves to buzz and stick its face in a flower. I can see ridges in leaves that I never knew were there. Just ordinary things are not ordinary... Continue reading

I've hit a dry spell and can't seem to get out of it. Today I picked up my old journal and began to doodle in it with different colored markers. I also decided to "blog" the old fashioned way and began to handwrite my thoughts. There was something tangible as I held the pen against the paper and let the words flow from my fingers. I liked seeing the ink flow and the look of my writing on the paper. I do continue to take my camera everywhere I go. I carry it in my purse because I never know... Continue reading

Boy, oh boy, did I get the bug today. Here I was minding my own business, just reading a magazine and I came upon this article; The Meaning of Cleaning, and the first picture I see is a sink full of sudsy water and dishes floating in the water. I love washing dishes, its very theraputic for me. I love my hands in the warm/hot soapy water with a washcloth rubbing and wiping each dish clean. I kind of daydream and before I know it I'm done and now time for rinsing. Don't get me wrong I don't like all... Continue reading