Camping 2009

Some forgotten photos I found, from Big Sur this past summer. It seems like so long ago...since Tim & Jill's baby has arrived, Douglas & Al's baby is due any day, the camping equipment is all packed away, and Brian & Susan have returned to Chattavegas. (sigh)

Part of the crew:
Douglas, Annalaura, Smeadie, Susan, Brian, Jill, Tim, Mumsy, Lady D.

Smeadie & Aunt Alyce greeting each other...

Brian & Uncle Earl greeting each other...

We attempted Bocce Ball in the dust field. It didn't last long, and neither did our willing / dusty ball retrievers...
Smeadie & Kona. Smeadie was so careful to not touch either dog after careful instruction by her parents (they were worried about poison oak). Smeadie was so great, talking a lot about how she couldn't touch the dogs and why, and then crouching as close as she could she would coo over the beasts. It was so adorable.


Don't bikes come with warning stickers for pregnant ladies on them...or is that just cigarettes?

We spent a whole afternoon watching the dogs (Kona & Cali) play fetch in the water. It is always a treat to get to be with my brothers at the same time! Here they are conferring on proper photography settings for the animals.
We laughed so hard as Cali (Diane's little black dog) inched closer and closer to the water. She had a strong aversion to the water (freezing & wet), but was obsessed with Kona. Kona was obsessed with catching the ball and impervious to the effects of the water. It made for a fun afternoon. Kona is mesmerizing to watch when she is playing catch. She is focused, persistent, and wet...

The water at the creek was low this year, but the sand was sparkly, so I got over it. Instead of mourning the changes I decided to allow myself to be influenced by my brothers, which meant I took a ton of photos of some things I thought were cool.


No camping trip at Big Sur is complete until we make the trek to the store for our ice cream. The ice cream trek may not be as arduous or impressive as the "man hike" few attempt and even fewer complete, but it does seem to be drawing people in, like people are drawn to ice cream. HAHAHAHA!

Here are our newest recruits, Yvonne & Kellen...
Big Sur feels strange when people who belong are missing. Here are who we missed: Julie, the Hawks, Stacy. In honor of them I will make a moment of "silence" which I interpret to be a blank spot of white on the interweb...

smallish things

I am delighting in small things lately. One of which is the upcoming arrival of my very first nephew. To say I am excited, would be a gross understatement. So, I won't say it...I am going to, however, show you the invitations I made for a shower we are having in honor of his mum.
Here's something you may not know, or care to know... I love quotes. Not insurance quotes, people's quotes. I keep a collection filed meticulously under "quotes", and I can loose myself for minutes at a time (I read quite fast) reading through them.

Here's something else you may not know or care to know... I keep quotes of people I know, not just dead people or poets or politicians. I have a rather large section, in the "quote" file dedicated to my sister Jules. I am sure those of you who know her, know that she does & says the most hilarious things. She also says the most thought provoking and meaningful things. She actually has the best variety of all my quotables.

So, I used two quotes on the invitation, because more is...well...more!

Another small thing I have delighted in lately is Rudy. Rudy is my elfish cousin who answers to many names. It was her birthday recently and I finally saw her in person to give her the gifts I had slaved and giggled over whilst making.

To understand my giggling you need to understand that she and her friendboy found this indescribable painting of a poodle at a garage sale and somehow knew that it was intended for only one person...me.

Unfortunately, I have expressed to my sweet elf-cousin my prejudice towards little dogs and poodles in particular. (No, I am not going to explain myself because it will bring up dark painful memories that I prefer to deal with on a couch surrounded by a counselor and lot's of "how does that make you feel" questions. All you need to know is I loathe them). For those of you who share my aversion to these beloved (really?) creatures, you may want to cover your eyes...

This is me & the first painting I received from said elf-cuz
This is me & the second painting I received
I like to think that I am gifted at mimmicking, and I now have a whole series of photos where I am trying to perfectly mimmick these painted pooches.
The purpose? you may ask.
Ah well, yes, all will be revealed. I might respond

I found this great old phone at the thrift store. I bought it, brought it home, and spent an afternoon cleaning & photographing it.
I also found a superb little do-it-yourself keepsake necklace at Michael's, and decided to share my appreciation of Rudy's thoughtful gifts with some birthday gifts of my own...

side one
side two
It's scary how people can start looking like the things they hate....er, I mean own.
I was so pleased with how they turned out. And I am pretty sure Rudy will wear the necklace, and, thinking fondly of me, will call me on her poodle-cuz telephone.

Music in the park

So, here's the deal with the Central Coast...we love being outdoors, we love music, and we love our friends...er, at least I do.
We, (me, Brooke, Tess & Rachel) have been trying to catch most of the Templeton & Paso Concerts in the Park this summer. It works out great because Wednesday is Templeton's day and Friday is Paso's. What I enjoy most is time with my friends and people watching or listening in on conversations around us.
I have been teaching my "Park Pretties" how to play this great game that AJ & UB got for me. It is called Cinco, (5 in Spanish), and is small and easy to transport. We have busted it out a few times at the park. If nothing it has provided us with some things to talk smack to each other about.
Another fun game we happened upon last Wednesday was this strange photo copy cat contest. Round 1, someone gets their picture taken. The next person gets to take their picture too...
But they have to copy the previous person's look.
It can obviously be open to interpretation of the previous person's look...
Very open...
But of course, It is a fun way to capture some of our quirkier moments.
I refrained from posting all the rounds of photos because most of them were unflattering...which should teach me something about mockery...it makes the mocker seem unflattering...alas, I am unmoved.

Tess & I were hanging out downtown and came upon the Teass House. I know not what it houses, if one can enjoy tea there, or if they in fact do not know how to spell teases / teas's / the ass.
But I do know that it is pink and was built in 1929.
I also know that in my village if you want to talk about your home or where you came from, the literal phrase is "the place of my ass" or more succinctly "ass place".
So, I guess this could be home sweet home Tess!

A Cousin Visit

My cousin Celeste & her husband Stephen came for a weekend visit.

Grandpa especially enjoyed their visit...remembering Celeste every time he saw her & being able to really converse. It was a special treat for him, and a special treat for me to share that alert time with him.
Mumsy took us for a tour of the Ranch. Celeste loves animals and it was fun to see her in that environment.Another fun thing was the fact that Stephen commented on how much my mom (Mumsy) & Celeste's mom (Aunt Constance) look alike. I don't think either of them think they look alike, but it is more probably their mannerisms.
Celeste & I enjoyed finding out the things that we have in common too. It is a special thing to share ancestry and for all our disfunction we are a fun bunch of people.
I drove them to the beach on Celeste's birthday. I got a speeding ticket on the way. EEEK! But it was probably deserved, especially if you consider how many times I have been pulled over in the last few months. Three.
We happened upon this dead jelly fish that had washed up on shore. It was fascinating...
I don't think the photos do justice. The top squishy part was dirty but still completely see-through. I tried to flip it over with my feet, because I'm not sure how stingy a dead jelly fish of that size can be and because I wanted to see the stingers.
It didn't work.

We walked a little more, skipped stones & drew in the sand...
it was a beautiful day.

We went out to a great little Italian restaurant in SLO, and came home late to a surprise birthday cake from the Hawks.
We played a fun game that Celeste brought that I cannot for the life of me remember the name. I do however remember the people's names in this picture, that it had to do with trains, and that it was fun...
Tess was gracious enough to be our DD for a fun afternoon of wine tasting.
This is us at Eberle (which means "wild boar")
Finding that out did help me to better understand all the ugly boar sculptures, paintings and fountains we came across.

Yes, we are posing in front of a boar-spewing-water-water fountain.
Why? you may ask.
Like I said on facebook...why not?

Why? I did ask.
Because Tess loves to torture Kona. She was actually successful in getting Kona to pull her around on the little wheeled dolly. Very funny but a little mean I am afraid.

A bird for Susan

Mumsy & I made a sweet little pin cushion bird for Susan's birthday...
I should clarify that by "Mumsy & I made" I mean, of course, that I picked out the pattern, we both discussed the fabrics, & Mumsy technically did the "making" part. But, I was there the whole time! (almost)
See, proof I was there...these are my fingers.
The happy little bird at the first run-through. We shortened the beak, because it helped it's cuteness factor to have a daintier face.
I really liked the colors and especially the surprise red dot on the tail. I hope it turns out to be something beautiful & useful.

Mini Em

Annalaura & I threw a baby shower in honor of Emily's baby girl C.G.. It was fun that she had already arrived when we gave the shower, because so many of us wanted to meet her.
Here are my two sweet, beautiful friends...


My three favorite parts of the weekend were down time with the Wilkins, being with Em & holding her tiny C.G., and seeing Em's face when she opened our gift...

I may have forgotten to mention that I, with the help of Julie, have taken Emily's mild dislike of cats and pushed it over the edge to pure unadulterated loathing.

The trick you ask? Well, step 1 is to have a mind like mine. Slightly obsessive and a little immature. Whenever I see anything feline, I immediately imagine Emily and her cute nose turned up in disapproval. (sigh)
And so, step 2, I buy her the cat things I find. You would be surprised at how many cards with cats there are in this world. Finally, step 3 is persistence. It has taken years...birthdays, Christmases, Easter, Hanukkahs, any time I might be thinking of her...and Ta-Da! she absolutely detests them.

We also made C.G. a yellow onesie with an owl on the bottom & it said "Smarty Pants", and a purple onesie that said "Daddy's lil' biker". I just hope that Em will let C.G. wear the cat one.

Carol, C.G., Annalaura, Brenda & me

I love being around women who are good at hostessing. I feel like a sponge and long to be cool, calm, and collected and able to make marvelous delicious things to boot. Annalaura & I wouldn't have made it without these two!

Here is one of the joys of my weekend...time with Smeadie, as I call her. She started calling me "Friend" this weekend & I couldn't figure out why. Then I realized Annalaura & I call each other that. So cute! Also, at one point she wanted to be "Sminda", as Annalaura calls me, and wanted me to be "Smeadie". I hope she remembers when I see her at Big Sur. I love name-calling games!

Kimwood Ranch

I was able to go with Tim & Jill to the ranch where Jill grew up. The one where she ran wild and free, played horses, and tortured her baby brother Ryan.
Her Nana Lily lives there and was so fun to get to know.

I cannot believe how good Kona is in the car...even when the car ride ends up being like 6 & 1/2 hours. Tim rolled the window down for her when we drove through San Francisco. People acted like they had never seen a dog before...it was so cute. Well, Kona is so cute! Here she is smiling to her adoring fans in San Fran...


We meandered back through the Kimwood property (which is GInormous)on the toughest little mule I have ever seen. (I mean a mean green motorized machine). We decided to commemorate our trek to the back edge of the property by doing what?...of course, a jumping picture. This is Tim, Jill, me, Kristy & Kona...



Kristy & I horsing around...


The whole gang (minus Nana Lily) jumping...
(Tim, Gary, me, Jill, Gay, Kristy - & Molly & Kona are confused in the foreground)


Nana Lily, Jill, Tim & me