Getting into the Christmas Spirit

Citrus ripens in December in my backyard.

The navel oranges a almost ready to pick, they are the juiciest.

Lili had a guest visit her little tent condo... Dean.

Dean with Shannon, we went to see the Christmas Train arrive at the Claremont Station.

Dean, Brandon and Lacey in front of the train.

Shannon decorated the tree, it's a mini-tree.

I baked some pumpkin bread, brownies and lacey oatmeal cookies.

Dining room decorated for a dinner party.

Going to Amanda and Keith's Christmas Party.

The cousins and Melissa. Lacey, Melissa, Shannon, Kristen and Amanda.

Trouble times two.

Our party table.

Carl and I, our 21st Wedding Anniversary.

Rondi, Betty, Sandi, Gloria and Louise.

The men-folk and Ruth. Our once-a-year get-together with retired co-workers from NHRA.

This covers the first half of the month and today is only the 12th. I love the holidays, especially since Shannon and Grant moved back. Looking forward to more festivities.

Kathy



Grant's First Thanksgiving

I hope that everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving.

That your family and friends all gathered together to create a delicious meal.

That you shared the day together, laughing and relaxing and enjoying each other's company.

I got up early and took the turkey out of the fridge, cleaned it and started boiling up the giblets for the gravy. I was in the kitchen all day preparing the Thanksgiving meal. Waaa Waaa Waaa.....

Carl was up in his office catching up on work after returning from an 11 day fishing trip.

Grant drove down to Huntington Beach to go surfing.

Shannon was in my office, scanning her latest art and putting it up on her Etsy shop.

I had planned to have all the meal timed to eat at 4 pm. Everything was on schedule. After cooking for 4 hours, I took out the turkey and let it sit on a tray while I started the gravy. Then, I noticed the pink juices gathering around the turkey on the white tray. The flippin' turkey wasn't done. Damn! I put it back in the oven. With the stuffing already cooking in a dish and the yams cooking. I waited 1/2 hour and checked it. Still not done, but now the stuffing is burned on the bottom and the yams are self-mashed by being overcooked. We ended up eating around 5:30, burned stuffing, I forgot to make the asparagus.

Everyone loved the meal anyway. I have decided that next year I'm going out to dinner.

Grant's first official Thanksgiving meal here in America.

 Our little family of four, plus one dog.

Grant had two servings, wait until the turkey hits him, triptofanes.

Diving in to the meal!

What's Thanksgiving without putting olives on your fingers?

And on your teeth?

Shannon looking lovely.


Next comes Christmas. And Christmas shopping. =)

Kathy

What I Wore Wednesday

Fashion's finest from La Verne.
This is what I wore today, "Around the House". Brown on Brown, and they don't even match. The pants are stretch comfy with a wide elastic stretch waist from LL Bean. The top, brown, with quarter sleeves, slightly too short to be wearing over stretchy pants, comes from Macy's 3 years ago. But, who cares, I'm in the house and nobody sees me.

PS. I have brown slippers that match, also from LL Bean.

Kathy

The Big Day

Shannon and Grant were married on Saturday, October 1, 2011. The wedding took place in Santa Ana, at my dad's shop. It was held in a 50 x 30 ft. tent with tables and chairs, a full bar, a live band, lots of hot rods and we even fired up a front engine dragster during dinner.

The guests waiting for the Bride to arrive.

Shannon and Carl (dad) drove up in a 1954 Chevy.

Carl walking Shannon down the aisle. Her dress was vintage '50's style. Her bouquet was made of pink roses. This is where the tears started for most, but amazingly I did not cry a tear. I was so happy with the wedding.

They took the wedding vows on a black and white checkered dance floor. The ceremony was sweet and somewhat entertaining, as you can imagine with Grant and Shannon. When asked what she loved about Grant, she had told the minister that he was tall and funny.

The Wedding Kiss!

Carl, Me, Shannon and Grant, after the ceremony.

The Father Daughter dance was to Louis Armstrong's "Wonderful World". So sweet.

What more could a couple ask for in a wedding?

Now we have a son-in-law. Yay.

Shannon will do a full blog when they return from their mini-honeymoon. This is just a teaser blog for those who are anxious to see what it all looked like.

Thank you all for being so supportive through all this.

Love to All, Kathy

Famous Artist

Something new and exciting to blog about!!!
Hot Rod New Zealand Magazine did a 3 page article on Shannon and her art.


She's getting her name out there, so if you want a portrait, give her a jingle.
Click on the picture one time, it will open then click again to be able to read the text.


Right now she's working on the California Hot Rod Reunion portraits, while planning a wedding. 27 days to go.


Kathy

Welcome to America

They made it through customs! It took 1-1/2 hours and finally they came walking around the corner. Carl and I thought that maybe something had gone wrong. Just way too many people being processed by way too few agents.

The tired and happy travelers, with dad.

That's everything they own on that luggage cart.

Welcome home kids, sign courtesy of Rondi and Neil.

Shannon getting reacquainted with Lili.

Welcome home baskets with the basics, toothbrushes, toothpaste, shampoo, a Tom Tom GPS for Grant, a new hummingbird feeder for Grant.

Getting settled in.

Today, Monday, we've spent the whole entire day out shopping.

Wednesday we're going to Bonneville.

More to come of the adventures of the return to the empty nest.

Kathy

The Big Catch

It took 3 years, but Shannon finally caught the big one and is bringing him home.
Grant and Shannon are on their way home to live in California.

Photo by Tomas Stehlik

I'm looking forward to all the excitement with them being here and planning their upcoming wedding.

Crystal Cove

On any typical Sunday, Rondi, Teresa and I go to breakfast, then we try hard to come up with something to buy. This way we can go on the hunt, to find the perfect thing to buy. We usually go to Target, Bed Bath and Beyond, Home Goods, Costco and numerous other stores, to find the perfect thing to buy. And, we usually have a stash of coupons for our discounts.

This Sunday was different. We hadn't made any plans to get together. It was 10 am, I was sitting at the kitchen table drinking my coffee and reading the jobs section of the LA Times (for the kids). The phone rang and it was Rondi, still lounging in bed watching TV or reading. She said that Teresa was also lounging in bed watching TV. They were game to get out and do something.

I told them that I would come up with something different to do that did not include shopping. It was a beautiful warm day so I thought we need to be at the beach. A nice restaurant overlooking the waves for lunch would be perfect. Then I remembered a news story from last week about a camp area opening up at Crystal Cove. I've always wanted to go see that area so I looked online to see if there was a restaurant, and there was. We headed down the freeway and I was going to surprise the both of them.

We drove to Pacific Coast Highway in Newport Beach and headed south. Crystal Cove is located about halfway between Newport Beach and Laguna. We parked in the lot on the inland side of PCH and took the shuttle bus to the Beachcomber Cafe, paying the $1 fee. It took us down a winding road to the beach below, then we walked a dirt trail and found the cafe.

There is a place to rent umbrellas, chairs, sun block and just about anything.


Families with lots of kids and beach umbrellas scattered all up and down the small sandy beach.


We put our name in for lunch at the cafe and had a 2 hour wait. We explored while waiting. Teresa and I were busy taking pictures.

Crystal Cove was owned by the Irvine company and in the late 1930's a development of 46 cottages were built and lived in along the beach and bluffs.

The State of California purchased Crystal Cove from The Irvine Company in 1979, and declared it Crystal Cove State Park and put it in the National Register of Historic Places.

Looking towards the tide pools.

The original cottages still stand, sort of, and are all being restored. About half of them have been completed and the other half are falling down. It's amazing how close you can lay your towel to the old cottages. Nobody seems to tamper with them. (click on photo to see larger, then click again)

This cottage looks like it's broken right down the middle.

Teresa and Rondi walking in the wet sand. This was the perfect day as far as weather goes.

Me.

Tidepools with critters all around.

This is the Beachcomber Bar, part of the Cafe. I had a delicious Bloody Mary.

An original cottage, restored.


A possible subject for a watercolor painting.

This is the visitor center, another restored cottage. It had pictures on the walls of life at the beach back in the day. Crystal Cove has been the setting for many motion pictures.

All in all it was a wonderful adventure with my two close friends. I can't wait to go back there and take Carl, and anyone else who would like to join us.

Kathy