82. The Bird, Bird,Bird...the Bird is the Word!

It's a chilly Thanksgiving morning here in Tepusquet Canyon!  Bob checked the thermometer outside and at 7:30 a.m. it was 28 degrees! Holy Moly, Batman!  For the first time ever we have been covering plants at night.  The gardenia that we planted between the hot tub and water heater shed is really growing! Imagine that?!  The coffee grounds, planter mix and crumbled leaves recommended really must be the ticket.  At any rate, we've (usually Bob) have been tucking in the gardenia, bougainvillea and the huge fern (I'm so happy :-)) for a warm night.  I thought that the fern would suffer because it has been on the porch for 9 years, but it turns out that it likes being free. It is so very happy waving about on the new gravel, sandstone and grass patio.

Bud, Preston and hopefully Bud's new lady friend and her granddaughter are coming later today to share the feast with us.  Preston usually goes to one of his other grandmother's house for dinner earlier in the day.  To make it special for him to go to yet another fete on the same day we decided to have our meal late in the day...say around 5 or 6 and end up out in front of a nice fire, thanks to Polly and Phil and Mr. Franklin, and toast marshmallows for So-more's.   

It doesn't matter how much time you spend with loved ones, it's what you do when you spend it.  We hope you spend your time well and remember to have fun.  Don't worry about making the food perfect, relax and make the fun perfect!  You can buy turkey dinner anywhere.  Just remember what my Great-Uncle Reese always said, "If you want to have a good time, take it with you!"

                             Happy Thanksgiving!

81. No Run of the Mill Heart's Desire

I've had lots of heart's desires over my life time some big, some small, but until now gravel hadn't been one of them.  It turns out that gravel can really be important in one's life.  We have had a dirt driveway most of the time that we have lived in our cottage, mainly because of the cut in the bank across the driveway.  After many years of trying, we finally have it stabilized with plants and more plants and bender board.  It has been a struggle mostly because of a sweet little bird with a long curved bill that methodically digs up anything we plant.  We turn the soil to plant or seed and the bird says "Yippee! Those suckers have set up the buffet!"  An entire flat of carefully planted Red Apple ground cover on the upper meadow was un-planted by the little buggers.  

When we plant the upper meadow,  we water from the driveway and by the time I made the trek up to find out why I couldn't see any evidence of green it was too late.  Each plant had been dug up and cast aside to perish.  Bird screen just gets tangled in the sage and ends up tearing out what it was supposed to protect.  Finally with perseverance and really big daisies and lavender aided by vinca (which I'm not particularly fond of, but we have a big side yard full of the stuff) we have stopped the constant flow of dirt!  

 Pat, our landlord and friend, ordered up a huge truck load of gravel.  Bob and I were so happy that we danced a jig!  There was more that enough to gravel in our new  patio out our bedroom.  The Franklin stove had been sandblasted and repainted, but was a long way from the patio with rain soaked ground in between.  The stove weighs A LOT but with determination, a plywood road, 2 x 4's and a hand truck, "Voila!"  We laughed a lot and remembered Bob's daddy, Cotton.  He and Bob could move 3,000 lbs of dry cleaning equiptment with two pieces of galvanized pipe and a 2 x 4, 4,000 if they  had a skate board!

After the dinner dishes were done, we fixed a  hot cup of Yeagertee, (farmer's tea from Switzerland full of alcohol) bundled up and sat smugly, with Maggie squeezed between us, in front of a roaring fire! We were thoroughly proud of our accomplishments and happy to be proud graduates of the "Cotton Hunt  School" of moving heavy and odd shaped items with a pocket knife and  Q-tip!  It's good to receive your heart's desires even if they aren't run of the mill!

80. Precious Remembrance

I have been fortunate to have received many wonderful and lovely gifts over my lifetime, but few are as precious as the one I just had the pleasure of opening.  It arrived via priority mail on this rainy, rainy day.  When I saw the return address, I knew what it contained as I had the honor of being involved in a little of the design.  Our dear, dear friends Bruce and Dorothy Lacey made it all happen.  Bruce's cousin, Tamara,  is so very talented in so many ways primarily with copper foil glass windows and very, very special jewelry.  The jewelry is simply breathtaking and each piece is truly one of a kind.  Each piece is individually hand crafted and lovingly encases a tiny amount of your loved one's ashes.  I can't even begin to express how precious this remembrance of Tracy is to me.  There is one for our daughter Trisha and two small pieces that are not necklaces that we will give to Robby, Tracy's son, and our son Bud.  I've tried to photograph one of the pieces, they are both almost identical, which is amazing as glass is so fluid.  They measure about 1" x 1 1/2" and are placed in a ring of silver with the small silver tag that says "made with love." 

Please visit Tamara's web site and see for yourself the wonderful pieces she creates!
http://glassmajik.net

79. Shooting Stars

The other morning, or night, if you will, we set the clock for 4 a.m. and traipsed to the hot tub to watch the Leonid Meteor showers. They were to be visible in the eastern skies after moon set and before dawn.  We lived at the beach for so many years and there was always a cloud cover and city lights so we couldn't see them.  But out here the sky is usually pretty clear and it can get REALLY dark, so some years they are spectacular.  One year comes to mind about 10 years ago when we had just moved out here we were having a little dinner party. We moved out to the front porch in hopes of seeing a few shooting stars.  That year the event was earlier in the evening, around 10 p.m., as I recall.  As we searched the heavens a few smaller ones  were visible and then all of a sudden a most spectacular meteor arched across the sky right in front of us.  You could see pieces falling from behind and it was ever so bright.  It's beauty made us gasp.  We went back inside because we knew we couldn't top that.

This year they must have been lower on the horizon and behind the ridge of the canyon because we saw only a handful of what I would class as shooting stars. The  kind we see on any given clear night.  Shooting stars always make Bob a little saddened because he feels that something very special has ended before his eyes.  I've always had a sense of excitement and pleasure being able to look up at just the perfect time to witness the event.  I sometimes wonder how many other people on earth were able to look up  at just  that moment  and share it  with me...a  hundred, a thousand...or  just me.  We were just a little disappointed, but warm and happy we tumbled back into bed.  It certainly wasn't a waste of time, besides sometimes it's fun to make your own shooting stars!

78. Does Any One Have a Calendar?

Sunday was exquisite and just a little bit...interesting. The sun shone and life was fine!  Any where we go with Polly and Phil is always sure to be fun.  The Halcyon store fair was much larger than usual and boasted twenty or more booths complete with Tarot card readers and an Angel Channel-er.  Crystals, organic cosmetics, bird feeders, bat boxes and dark chocolate covered tiny pieces of brandy cheesecake!  That's right even down to the graham cracker crust.  Talk about labor intensive!  We ate hot dogs and drank lemonade that reminded me of my daddy's.  The lemonade was a mixture of lemon, orange and grapefruit juices they called a Twister. My daddy always added the juice of a couple of oranges when he made his summer pitcher full of lemonade on bar-b-que Sundays.  It makes a little sweeter, more like lemon-orangeade.  Very refreshing. 

Two artists really caught my interest.  Cynthia's larger framed pieces that aren't on her web site were particularly impressive. Her work is done in Femo clay.  She makes wonder buttons, too!
Crimson Heart Studios

Tuscan Road Designs
Holly had some nice designs in her
booth.  Her web site has a nice and
reasonable selection.

 After lunch we headed to Tiber Canyon to be wowed by truly fine glass blowing demonstrations and  artisans of a different variety and, of course, warm hugs and kisses from Will and Chris.  As we pulled into the canyon we began to be just a little nervous because we were able to get front row parking.  NEVER possible.  We parked and ventured out to the barn when Will met us in his grungies.  Lucy and Ethel burst out laughing!  Excitement had sucked us into it's vortex!  The classy affair is next weekend!!  One bad thing about being retired is you're never really sure what the date is and don't really care for the most part. The good part is that we will meet up with Fred and Ethel there next week end for more fun, food and friendship!  I was able to get my olive oil bottle refilled with the fabulous elixir from  the Lemon Olive Oil Goddess! 

Don't forget to check out Tiber Canyon !

77. Fun, Friendship and Olive Oil

What gorgeous weather we had today!  After we fed the Stowell's menagerie, we headed to town to get a few pieces of sod for our little back patio.  The quail fence is complete and painted now.  We wanted to have part of the area in grass and sod is so inexpensive and quick that we headed for Home Depot to buy a few pieces.  Some how while we were there a new table saw managed to follow us home.  Bob's old one died a horrible death and just to replace the motor was $150. plus tax and shipping.  That doesn't seem to make much sense.  So, there you go.  If I intend to get any more wood projects out of the old boy, we had no recourse but let the saw follow us.  I have no intention of letting him sit on his laurels.

We have a few pieces of sand stone for the remainder of the patio area.  Not sure what to put between the stones.  We've thought of gravel and there is a creeping moss that is pretty.  The Franklin stove that Polly and Phil hauled down here for us is coming along nicely.  Bob is sand blasting the rust off and painting it black.  It is a beauty and we are pleased as punch to have it.  We are anxious to try it out.

Tomorrow is Sunday and we are going to take the day off and go to a couple of local craft shows with our friends, Polly and Phil.  Not just ordinary run of the mill holiday craft shows though.  One is held at the Halcyon Store and Post Office, a metaphysical, crystal selling hot spot where you can buy just about anything along those lines.

 http://halcyonstore.com

Then we are off to Tiber Canyon.  This one is really a treat.  Their enormous barn was built with no, that's right, NO NAILS!  Will and Chris are artists in the true sense of the word.  They are glass blowers, metal workers and run a very successful olive oil business complete with the olive orchard.  They have a magnificent place for weddings and the occasional intimate concert under the amazing canopy of oak trees with the stage banked with huge eucalyptus.  Besides all of the above they still manage to keep a sense of simple beauty in everything with a large portion of "old hippie".   They are dear old friends from Bob's long ago glass blowing days. 

 

 http://tibercanyon.com

They have the most wonderful lemon olive oil and the mandarin orange is fabulous.  Do yourself a favor and buy a sampler of their four flavors.  It's $20 I think.  Check out the website.  You won't be sorry.  I love the lemon on a baked potato with nothing else but salt and pepper! OMG! Their craft  fair is an  amazing event  that  we try not to miss.  As you can see, they are not  the usual "craft fair" artists.  The day will be filled with fun, friendship, and food and if I'm lucky a bottle of lemon olive

oil just might follow ME home.

 Will and Chris

76. Feeding Time at the Zoo

The weather in our canyon is simply lovely this morning with that fall feeling in the air.  It would be hard to describe the feeling to someone from say, Saudi Arabia, who has never had the sense of pleasure that the cool breeze brings when it passes down the road through the oak trees.  I'm  sure they, like most of the middle east, have their sense of season's passing, but I'll bet it is mostly hot and hotter.  The fall breezes here fill you with the most delicious feeling of well-being and makes me particularly happy to be alive.

We are caring for our neighbor's, the Stowell's, menagerie for a couple of weeks.  Our Maggie loves it because we have to walk their dogs morning and evening and she gets to accompany us.  My thighs will thank me when it's all over because their road is like a mountain goat trail.  I know it's working because the climb isn't as difficult as it was when we started.  We love Maggie and are so happy to have her, but Rudy and Cheryl have ducks, chickens (two lovely black Crested Bantam),  two Basenji dogs, eight finch, fish, turtles and let's not forget about a bizillion humming bird feeders.  You can't miss feeding time at the zoo.

The Basenji are a breed from Africa and are called "barkless".  They can make sounds but don't bark

like a normal barking dog.  Newt and Maggie are very old so we keep our fingers crossed that they

stay the course until Rudy and Cheryl return. One of the finch went to meet it's maker last night.

They are old and inter-bred so we were told to expect that that might happen.  Still...I felt bad.  I wrote a short obituary on the calendar. Bob tends the out of doors animals and I take care of the rest.  I'm not crazy about cleaning out duck ponds and chicken pens, but Bob is ok with it, so, there you go!  It's all about team work.  So, we've got that going for us!  With lettuce that has seen better days and a couple of like apples from our crisper drawer in hand, we head out to tend to the masses.

75. OOOO, Those Visuals!

Sometimes life and economics interferes with everything.  It has been too long since my last post and for that I apologize.  We went to Pomona for the Engineer's exam which has a half day of orientation and two twelve hour days on concrete.  It becomes abundantly clear that we are aging or at the very least that we are really out of shape.  I'm choosing to think that we are out of shape.  I don't feel my age until we do something like that or, of course, when I catch myself in a mirror.  Then it comes crashing in on me how much I have aged.  I'm ok with aging I just don't like being reminded.

My skin is a dead give away.  I'm happy, really happy that I have lost thirty pounds, however, if I was wrinkly before I'm really wrinkly now.  It's a small price to pay for the increase in energy and the ability to get out of the recliner without having to rock back and forth to build up momentum.  I guess you have to take the bitter with the sweet and it feels soooooo good to slide on jeans that have hung on the closet door waiting patiently for me to get small enough and brave enough to try them one more time.  Close your eyes and feel pure bliss when the zipper just slides up without having to lay on the bed and suck it in and pray for success in zipping.

At this weeks  Weight Watcher's meeting the leader passed out a poem  penned by the ever prolific Anonymous and I think most every dieter could agree to.  I hope you get a good laugh like we all did.

                                                A Dieter's Prayer

                              Lord, grant me the strength that I may not fall
                              Into the clutches of cholesterol.
                              At polyunsaturates, I'll never mutter,
                              For the road to hell is paved with butter.
                              And cake is cursed and cream is awful
                              Satan is hiding in every waffle.
                              Beelzebub is a chocolate drop
                              Lucifer is a lollipop.
                              Teach me the evils of hollandaise,
                              Of pasta and gobs of mayonnaise.
                              And crisp fried chicken from the South...
                              Lord, if you love me, shut my mouth!