What's New

Since I last blogged, many things have changed, most of them amazing.  Last year my daughter Amanda was trying to get pregnant and was faced with some reproductive challenges.  She chose to get treated in a more natural and more holistic way.  So we all thought it was going to be a long process.

In June of last year while we were, in the car, about to take a drive up to L.A., she told me and my daughter Lauren that she knew what she was getting us for Christmas.....and then she said A BABY!!!!! All three of us busted out crying. I was actually sobbing.  We were so happy.  So I'm a grandma now and a very happy one.  My grandson, Hunter, was born December 10, 2012 and he is a joy.  I can't get enough of him.  I always thought that the name "Grandmother" would make me feel old but once I took a look at him I just felt proud to be his grandmother.  This is my little angel.

 

 

The reason why we were taking a drive to L.A was because my daughter Lauren got engaged to a great guy and we were on our way to look for her wedding dress. She had a romantic proposal in Paris, France. We got very lucky and found the perfect dress that same day in the first and only shop we visited. The wedding is this year and we are so excited. This is Lauren and her very handsome guy Rick.

 

 

 

What I have been doing...

Jobs are hard to find, even part time employment.  What to do about it?  Create your own opportunity.  Last year to took a Tax Preparer class at H & R Block and got hired. So now I do taxes.  I worked my first season this past January.

I enjoyed being around working people again.  Learning something new was challenging but fun.  I learned that tax law it’s really complicated and things change every year.   I have signed up for ten classes this summer plus in December they have a mandatory  tax update class.  I’m looking forward to earning a little money again next year.  I do mean a little money.  The job does not pay much but I enjoy it anyway.

The best part was the people in my office.   I’m so lucky to work around such nice people.  I hope to see them all back next year.

Our Garden

OUR BELOVED…..

Our beloved garden.  We started a garden this year.  It all began with the purchase of five fruit trees.  We were thinking of fruit that most neighbors did not grow. 

In our neighborhood most of our neighbors grow citrus trees.  The majority are lemons, oranges and grapefruits.  The idea was to swap with them the fruit we have for that they have.  We settled on a fig tree, a plum tree an apricot tree, a sweet lime and a tangelo.  Three of them were purchased as bare root trees.  With good advice from our local Home Depot we planted them in January to allow for the proper amount of root growth so that our trees could endure the very hot summers in our area.

I’m happy to say all the trees are doing well and our little fig tree is making us proud by growing some figs the very first year.  The sweet lime is filled with buds.  A good indication that we will have fruit from that tree as well.

I knew that we would enjoy gardening but the biggest surprise was how much my husband would enjoy it too. 

Soon after our trees were planted I mentioned to my husband that it would be great to have a couple of planter boxes and he liked the idea.  He built two planter boxes around March and soon after that he added a third and soon after that he added a forth and now he is talking about adding a fifth and maybe a sixth in the next month or two.  This is music to my ears as I love growing our own vegetables and we need more space.

One of our greatest joys this year is our sunflowers.  I must make a pause to say that I don’t really know what I’m doing but I’m learning as I go.  My husband suggested we plan sunflowers.  When the idea first came to us I had no clue how much space they would need.   I had read somewhere that you needed to plan twice as many seeds as the number of plants you intended to have because not all of them germinate.  In our case, I think, all the seeds germinated because our planters are filled with sunflowers.  As I said, I’m learning so next year I will do it better.

They are super tall and wonderfully cheerful.  Jim is over six feet tall and they are about four feet taller than him.  We love them and so do these little yellow finches that have decided that the leaves make a good meal.  So in spite of the bird attach and the insect attach,  they have survived and they are looking wonderful.

I don't know if you can see the bird towards the top center of the picture but this bird and many of it's friends have been feasting our beautiful sunflower leaves.

                                       

Finally our tomato plants are bearing fruit.  It took so long this year that I was wondering if we would have any tomatoes.  We are now harvesting summer squash and yellow squash as well as radishes, cilantro, tarragon, sage and parsley.  I think the tomatoes I grew from seed are doing better than the ones I bought at the store. 

       

                                    

Our garden likes hot summers but us...? not so much.

Will I Have Good Stuff?

Jim and I went to two estate sales yesterday.  The first one was in this charming condo complex.  The units all had small courtyards in the front and cute patios in the back.  My shopping list includes books, pots for my garden and a wood desk in need of love as I’m looking for a transformation project.

As I walked from room to room a thought came to mind.  Someday, there are going to be strangers   walking through the rooms in my house.  What will they think?  Will they think I have good stuff? I realized I was walking into some of the pages of this person’s life.  Who was she?  I could tell she loved anything country.  Country everywhere, from her kitchenware, to her bedding, to her furniture and her accessories.  I could also see her love of reading.  There were several bookcases filled with books.

Her garage revealed her love of Christmas.  It was filled with Christmas ornaments and Christmas decorations.

At some time in her life she must have loved to entertain.  She had a huge set of dishes and lots of cookware, serving dishes and more.  The woman running the estate sales said that on Thursday they had brought the entire content of a storage unit and she had sold two thirds of it the same day.  How much stuff do we really need?  What was left from Thursday filled the entire house.  It’s no wonder she needed a store unit.

The second estate sale was completely different.  I could see this lady had excellent taste.  She had beautiful furniture, some very interesting accessories, beautiful classic clothes and various leather bags, some very cool retro furniture too.   Interestingly enough, her possession did not reveal as much about her as the previous house.

So I wonder?  When I’m gone and strangers walk through my house, what story will my possessions tell about me?

Will they be able to see my love of travel?  Will they be able to see how much I enjoy gardening, baking,  reading  and cooking?    Will I have good stuff?

What will your things say about you?

A Retired Rabbit

As you know, Jim and I live in a 55+ community.  This means that most people here are older and retired.  Life is so peaceful here.  I truly enjoy it.

One of the things that I enjoy so much during my morning walk is the frequent sightings of wild life.  It is not unusual to see beautiful ducks just hanging out in front of a neighbor’s house, nor is it unusual to see a coyote early in the morning, just cruising one of the golf courses.  But the most often seen animal is the rabbit.  I must see twenty to thirty or more rabbits any given day.   They always look “On Guard” ready to run off at the slightest noise.  Except for this particular day when I spotted the “Retired Rabbit”  he looked like he was just enjoying a beautiful cool morning.  I could not believe my eyes so I had to take this picture.

Life is good my friends.

It's Raining Fruit

I noticed an interesting thing in our neighborhood.  Most people have some sort of fruit tree and most people have three or more.  Take us for instance, we moved here less than a year ago but we are the proud owners of five fruit trees.  All of which we planted earlier this year.

The unusual thing, in my opinion, is that people  have them as ornamental trees.  Everywhere I go I see fruit on the ground.  It’s a shame. 

Last year, we noticed that two houses down from ours was a vacant house with an orange tree in the front yard right by the sidewalk.  Towards the end of the year the tree was covered with beautiful oranges.  No one was picking them and soon they started to fall from the tree.

I decided that we would make use of them.  Next thing you know, my sister and I are picking tons of oranges from the tree.   Over the next couple of months my friends and family also became the beneficiaries of the fruit from the abandoned orange tree. 

Last Saturday, while coming back from my morning walk, I saw this lady cutting some branches of a grapefruit tree and she had several grapefruits on the ground.  I asked her if I could buy some of them and she replied that I could have them as she was going to toss them in the trash.  She said they weren’t good.  I took a couple to try them.  As soon as I got home, I cut one up and they were sweet and juicy and delicious.  I then went back and asked her if I could have the rest?  By then, she had put them in the trash.   I could not believe it, beautiful fruit in the trash.  I pull them out of the can and brought them home and made a pitcher of grapefruit juice.   Who knew, one person’s trash is another person’s breakfast juice.

Another tree I see here a lot is the Olive.  They are everywhere.  There is one near our house shaped like a mushroom but the olives go to waste. The other day I was walking by the golf course and something hit me on the head.  It was an olive.  Just look at the sidewalk.

I need to come up with an idea.  Maybe I can bring them home and brine them.  I’ll have the give that some thought.

Garage Sales

Back when I lived in the San Diego area, I would often see "Garage Sale" signs on the weekends.  Not so in our new town.  Here the sales begin on Thursday and continue through the weekend.  But that's not all.  I get the feeling that they are a social event in our  neighborhood.  I know this for a fact.  I had a garage sale soon afte we moved to this house in an attempt to get rid of many unwanted items.  Not only was it a success but we made some friends at the same time.  A couple with kids stoped by and stayed for around two hours, just chatting with us.  Another neighbor stayed for about half hour and many others stayed around for a while too.

Around a month ago, my mother, who lives a few blocks away, had a garage sale too.  I went over to help and the same thing happened.  Three different people came by and each stayed at least one to two hours.

That being said, I have to share with you a wonderful find that I came upon on a Thursday morning during one of my walks. 

This beautiful chair is one of two that I purchased at a garage sale for $10.00 each.  They are made by Nichols & Stone and new, they sell for around $395.00 each.  All in all, a real bargain.  I just love them.