Thursday, April 5, 2012

Very special visitors!

We had very special visitors from Waukesha,WI... Shane and Nikelle were here from Thurs- Tues night.  The first day only Nikelle was here and Dave had to work so Nikelle and I went to the beach. This is Nikelle's  (and my) idea of a perfect day. Ocean, a little sun, sand, diet coke, and a good book!


Nikelle on Oceanside Pier. It was a little cloudy but  we still managed to turn Nikelle a little pink!

Surfers at Oceanside

Riley and Cassandra spent Friday night and Saturday with us too.

Goldfish Point in La Jolla


I never get tired of watching these seals at Children's Pool in La Jolla. These are babies born this year.

The family minus the younger son. The day was overcast and our visitors were shocked that it wasn't warmer.... the sun did appear at about 4:30 PM

The visitors

Yes, we tailgate in CA too- at the beach at Torrey Pines State Park

Hiking along the cliffs

Not very sunny but sort of a neat monochromatic scene.


Always happy to be near the ocean!

Nikelle and Shane

Patterns in the sand

Shane and Dave

On the way back from the beach the guys humored us and let N and I take photos of San Luis Rey Mission



A new day. Sunday after lunch we went to the Wild Animal Park in Escondido

10 month old gorilla born at the park


King of the beasts





We saw this cheetah run 100 meters in just over 5 seconds!  Much too fast to get a photo of the run! Amazing! 0- 40 mph in 3 strides. 

We took the tram tour so we could get closer to the big animals. Shane only wanted to see the animals that " could eat me"!



Monday morning's hike a Elfin Recreation area - you have seen this place in prior posts.  That is the ocean in the background.

Saw this little guy along the trail. These are the ones I see on our patio all the time.

Dave insisted we refuel at the best donut shop I have ever been at.  

After donuts we drove up the coast to Crystal Cove State Park

One of many cute little houses you can rent right on the beach. These were built in the 1930's  and are being remodeled and updated.


Beachcomber restaurant right on the beach



Happy Nikelle! The guys were too wimpy but Nikelle and I went in the freezing cold water to cool off.  Pretty much like Lake Michigan cold!

Strolled around Laguna Beach

Supper with special friends Ron and Terri in San Clemente.

My Crate and Barrel patio furniture arrived while the kids were here. I love it!

Centerpiece picked from my yard.

The last day- boo hoo. I took them to Ocean Beach on the way to the airport. Eating super sweet California strawberries while sitting on Crystal Pier watching the surfers.


My boy and my devil's horns hair!

My girl :)

Their visit is done and I head back home through the foothills at sunset.  Wonderful memories will have to sustain us as we wait for Tristan to come visit us in 3 weeks!

Thursday, March 29, 2012

The Unveiling.... interior house photos

Dining room


Kitchen through doorway

Living room- featuring artwork by Tristan above the  fireplace

Other side of living room


Entering front door- bedroom hallway to the right, dining room to immediate left 

Gorgeous tile medallion

Half bath

Guest bath- and yes that sign does point toward the beach ( which is  12 miles  away straight as the crow flies)

No towel bar in bathroom so World Market provided this shelf. Dave loved the fact that he had to drill new holes in the shelf to hang it. I guess the distance between studs is different in India?!

Primary guest room- book early for best choice of dates :)

Secondary guest room

This guest room features Tristan's artwork and the basket of tourist info.

Built in shelves in Dave's office

Dave's office

The fireplace he uses to keep toasty

Master bath

MY whirlpool tub


Master bedroom

Shared fireplace with Dave's office.

View from kitchen window

Dinette nook

Sitting room off of the dinette and kitchen- otherwise known as Kristi's  beach office

Awesome coffee table I found at the secondhand store. Dave wanted to know what was wrong with the other coffee table?

Other side of sitting area. Shared fireplace with living room.



Obviously the kitchen

5 burner gas stove top. 


Baby iceplants. These will become ground cover.

My latest find.

Random thoughts

For awhile now I have been keeping a mental list of amusing (at least to me) things to write in this blog. I usually stick to a subject matter but these bits are just screaming to be released so here goes (and no I do not have voices in my head).
 - You know you live in CA when the refuse company gives you a wheeled recycle bin the same size as the garbage bin! And you know you are being a good Californian when your recycle bin fills up sooner than your garbage bin. And of course the cans and plastic bottles you are squirreling away in your garage because THEY are worth 5-10 cents each!
-  I love the cute little lizards/geckos that always scurry away when I disturb their sunbathing on our patios.
-  Dave has now come to realize that when I head to Joe's Hardware I will come home with at least 1 plant in addition to the paintbrush, D-con, picture hangers, or whatever else I went for.  I can't help that they make me walk through the garden center to enter the store! And who can resist all the flowers that are annuals in colder climates are perennials here.... Fallbrook apparently is the magical place where all plants grow- Calla lilies, Easter lillies, Pointsettias planted outside- really?!
- I am the proud owner of a San Diego county library card. So to checkout your items you scan your card and set your entire stack on the special counter. And all the titles pop up on the screen! How cool is that!
This is a picture from our India trip showing these people trimming the grass with hand shears! I am kind of like them now.... there is a curved area around the fountain wall that the mower can't get so I use the hand shears. If the grassy part of the yard were bigger it would be worth the effort to get the weed whacker out.

- Did you know that paint loses it's sheen over time? Let's just say that I have spent much time and effort trying to match the paint in this house. I really like all the paint colors so I just needed to touch up all the spackled holes, scuffed baseboards, fireplace mantels, etc. Well, let me tell you that there is no paint sheen halfway between flat and eggshell- so please don't comment on the shiny spots on our walls. I did totally repaint the main guest room because it looked diseased!
- I was warned about the creeping fig.... it is the vine on the front part of our house. Apparently if you don't show it who is the boss it will overtake you and strangle you in your bed some night. I have mastered it for now but everything grows year round out here...
- Apparently I am an oddity out here because I clean my own house and do my own yard work.... a young hispanic man pedaled his bike down our driveway when I was out in the yard. He said "I am looking for work." After trying to talk to him I realized that was all the English he knew. So I figured Estaban was not going be able to help me figure out how much fertilizer to use on my palm trees. Thank you but I will do it myself!

Now it is Thursday so I guess I best finish this post...

- Any ideas where I put my 2 biggest salad bowls and the toilet brush? The toilet brush may have gotten tossed at that the last place. The salad bowls were unpacked but where are they?
- I love my bathtub. And that is all I have to say.
- Usually when I go to the grocery store and am horrified about how little I got for my $. When I go to my produce stand under the blue tarp I am pleased at how much I can buy for $15.00 : 8 avocados, 1 bunch of little bananas, 2 bags of lemons, 1 bag of limes, 3 passion fruit, 2 mangos and 10# tangerines!
- We have been drinking fresh squeezed lemonade by the gallon. I decided I needed to make a lemon meringe (sp?) pie. I have made many pies in my day but this was the first lemon.... turned out awesome.  It probably turned out so well because it was Bonita's special recipe. We shared it with Ron&Videll and Duane&Verla. R & V used to live 3 miles away from us in Waukesha and babysat our boys. And we went to meeting in their home. Who would have thought that they would be living in AZ and visiting us in CA?!
- That is all for now- I must food gather since Shane and Nikelle are coming. Very excited!


Saturday, March 24, 2012

From mountains/snow to ocean/sand all in 1 day!

 For all those who were afraid we would miss having 4 seasons here in CA.... We drove less than 1 hour from our house and we were at 5000 ft elevation and there was plenty of snow! This is Mount Palomar  - to get to it we drove straight east through several Indian reservations and groves of citrus. The road was especially fun in the Mini- of course the driver always enjoys it a bit more than the passenger. Dave did mention that he liked my sound effects. I wonder how genuine he was?
Snow started at about 4000 ft.

It was a very cloudy day with drizzle when we left home but now at 5000 ft we were above the clouds. Those are all clouds behind Dave. On a clear day you can see the ocean!

Stunning self portrait- ha!

Snowball fight anyone?


False advertising- never saw the mountain lion...

Scorched tree from the fires in 2007?

All alone on top of the world

Starting to clear a bit-more ground visible.

Smallest post office I've ever seen!

Then over to Del Mar for the sport show and a nap by the ocean.
How cool is that to see snow and the ocean all in 1 day?!