Sunflower Bliss

This year's crop of sunflowers has outdone itself !~! The prettiest row of blooms in the entire courtyard has manifested itself at the edge of our lot. Look !~!

Home Looks Good These Days

After flying to Ft Myers in the far SW corner of Florida and then driving back to the Bay Area in the last two weeks, I am ready to walk for the next month.

For a long time, my best friend/soulmate and I have talked of retiring together and now that has happened. We are here together in northern California. Safely, after navigating an SUV across 3200 miles of freeway-just the two of us.

We stopped in Oklahoma and had a Lay Day while getting to know my teenage grandkids. How cool is that?

We saw petrified wood, waterfalls, a herd of wild horses. Enough trees in the green palette to last us a lifetime and the oranges and tans and browns of the desert provided a startling contrast.

So here we are, embarking on a new lifestyle. Sharing a home with my husband, trooper that he is !~! And a tiny service dog named Isabella Louise.

pictures to follow....

Indeed it Is...

I read this every day and believe it with all of my soul.

Sunflowers are Getting Taller by the Day

We have planted a row of the tall, yellow-blossomed Sunflowers again. They are growing at an inch a day.

Yes, an inch a day.

 Sunday, May 22, 2016

 We were headed to a Party-hence the gorgeous dress !~!

Wednesday, May 25, 2016

 Today, Friday May 27, 2016

We need to feed this kid more HGH !~!

She hasn't grown in five days, we're pretty sure.

Throwback Thursday-Piper Retrospective

Piper's sister was in a live performance when Piper was quite small and we could hear Piper laughing all over the theater when she saw Charlie for the first time in costume.

Piper will be eight this summer. Where have those years gone ?~!

An Exciting Week Wraps Up

* New sewing machine arrives to replace the clunker I've used nearly every day for five year. Isn't it amazing what a hundred bucks will buy ?~! I bought the same model as the old one so all the accessories like bobbins and presser feet will fit. It's a Singer 2277. Simple, straightforward, easy to use... So Quiet !~!

* Successful Lemonade Stand with the Littles. A month-long project comes to fruition Thursday afternoon and is a rousing success.

* Fruit trees producing like crazy: cherries, blueberries, strawberries, tomatoes, apples, grapes, lemons.

* Ornamentals: sunflowers, roses, calendula, poppies, rhododendron, hydrangea, miniature roses, wildflowers round the base of the Australian Boxwood, finally new leaves on the Weeping Copper Beech, field irises, night-blooming jasmine, aloe bloomed for the first time ever in thirteen years, jade tree drops pieces and they take root, Red Maple stuns everyone who walks past it, cedar tree stretches for sky-I think she thinks she's sequoia !~!

May is a great month-new growth everywhere and summer rushing in.

Thanks to our Thirsty Neighbors

Lemonade Stand a Rousing Success

 The girls made signs - Lemonade Stand * Thursday Afternoon * By the Office

We hung them on telephone poles at kid height and one by the Office. 

(shown here)

And today was a sunny Thursday !~!

(l to r: Scout, Piper and Ginger)

One dad built the stand itself despite house-hunting on a tight timeframe.

The girls painted it to their own specs.

We picked Atchison Village-grown lemons and squeezed them.

And the thirsty came. 

Over thirty cups were served with the "Kid Special" lemon wedge,
a big spoonful of ice and homemade deliciousness.

And huge Smiles.

Thanks to all who came out and supported us.

Now it's got Borders, Too !~!

The yellow flannel border is also the backing so it'll be soft and cuddly.

It's a Flimsy-What do you think?

Many Thanks to my Holder-In-the-Wind, Scout.

edit: I may detach, flip and re-attach those last two rows.
Those sailboats need to be "not on the bottom row".

Baby Blanket in the Pipeline

The rough draft. Turtles, sailboats and planets. Sunflowers because: Sunflowers.

Some changes have already been incorporated and the top is two-thirds complete.

Our Yard Blooms with Color and Scent

First fruits: blueberries and lemons and apple blossoms.

Photobombing CatCat 2.0 with the smaller blueberry bush.

Scout in the nectarine tree. Already small fruits abound.

(Pic of a pic) Burp with the Tonka we sent him for Easter.

A Few Pieces out for Sale

Ten days ago, I put six of my pieces out for public consumption-first time !~!

A small café, Aky's, near our refinery is owned by a kind and supportive woman who offered to let me put a few pieces into display bags with labels and prices and hang them on her tree of hooks.

I ordered from Vistaprint a packet of four different printed pieces: two-sided business cards, round stickers, rectangle stickers and one-sided 4x6 postcards. I put a postcard into the back side of each bag and a business card and one or two of the stickers on the front of each bag: the square one in the upper right hand corner with the price on it. I will go back this week and see if any have sold. 

Happy Cinco de Mayo

A large portion of why I am here instead of my beloved Tropics is cultural diversity. The Tropics, at least where I was, are a cultural wasteland and completely white bread, mostly Republican and retired. No Thanks.

Even the prospect of not swimming in the warmest salt water ever again wasn't enough after thirty years.

In light of that multiculturalism 

Gratitude - Need to Remember it Every Day

What makes me so grateful 

that I must share ?~!

• My husband of over thirty years.
• My nearby daughter.
• My faraway daughter and her beloved family.
• My sisters-of-other-mothers across the world.
• My home and neighbors.
• My Littles and their amazing families.
• My health care team.
• Our Internets-without them I would be so incredibly bored and not nearly as smart.

What are you thankful for in your life ?~? 

Spring Arrives with a Sunny Smile

A quadruple rainbow by Amanda Curtis. 

Remarkable, don't you think ?~!

Sun coming thru the atmosphere on Pluto;

think how far away this photo was taken !~!

Our first sunset on Mars

incredible, isn't it ?~!

Thanks NASA.