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Time for a new post.

I've been away. I was in Austin from March 29 to June 18. I arrived the day Diane got home from the hospital and stayed through another hospital visit, many trips to the NICU at St. David's North Austin Medical Center, and finally bringing home the baby!!

I hated to leave my new grandson. He is so precious!

I'm going to try to post some pictures; so if there are some below, I've been successful.


So the pictures work. Now I'll keep adding to this page and little by little you'll see more pictures.

Also, my replies is temporarily not working. I had so much spam that Diane took it down, but it will be back up soon. Meanwhile, enjoy the pictures.

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Well, it's the end of January and I haven't posted at all this month. So much for keeping the blog updated.

The weather's been cold and somewhat rainy. Although we are still well below our normal rainfall, it seems as if we have had a lot of rain. I think it's because of the cold and the overcast skies. Our gas bill certainly attests to the cold weather. It's the highest bill we've had in all the years in this house. I know rates have gone up, but I think we did use more therms this past month. Part of it stems from having a house full of people. Now that I've got the extra rooms cut off from the heating, perhaps we shall see an improvement. I've also turned the heat down and started wearing a sweatshirt. Only time will tell.

Not much else new. I'm working on various baby projects, an afghan, a quilt, a sweater and hat and perhaps booties. A friend's birthday is approaching and I have one small project to finish for that. I won't give it away here, just in case she happens by to read this.

I'm back working out. I had flu and then a cold during this month, so the trips to the gym stopped. But I'm back at it with friend, Marcia. Need to work off the Christmas pounds.

What I really need to do is spend more time using the Dance Dance Revolution for the Playstation 2. That really works up a sweat. I'm terrible at it, but am told that with perseverance, I'll improve. Here's hoping.

Well, that's about it from here. Happy Ground Hog Day on Friday!

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Well, we've had a wonderful Christmas!! David came and sang with the church choir last evening for the two candlelight services. I played with the bell choir in the second service and the entire family joined us for church at the 11 PM service.

After church we came home for the traditional brandy alexanders and Christmas cookies, before putting all the packages under the tree and calling it a night.

This morning we were up early so that we could spend as much Christmas as possible with son-in-law Kris before his flight this afternoon. He has to be at work tomorrow. Bummer.

Diane is staying on until her flight on Saturday at around noon.

It's quiet now and I've already taken the things off my Christmas list that were under the tree this year. I'm now the proud owner of a PS2 and DDR with mat. Craig got Guitar Hero II and controller. Gram and gramps enter the 21st century. What a hoot!

We have an extra for Christmas this year. A friend of Phil and Kris rode his motorcycle down from Oakland after work on Friday and will leave sometime tomorrow. It has been a treat to see him. He was Diane and Kris' best man.

I'm going to try to be better in the New Year about keeping my postings up to date. (That's a New Year's resolution, folks.)

Hope you've had or are having a very special Christmas with those you love.

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The episode filmed at our house will be aired on Friday, March 10th at 9 PM on CBS. When we watched last Friday's episode, we thought we spotted flashes of scenes that might be from our house in the previews. Sure enough, I checked the episode name for the coming week and it's the ONE.

Although they were here filming all day long, I know that it was only a brief portion of the hour-long episode. Much of the show is filmed on a sound stage.

We will be anxiously watching to see what we can identify. The living room was done over leaving only some tables, the piano, and one blue chair with an afghan (made by me) from our original decorating. They even added drapes. So even folks who have been here will probably have trouble recognizing it.

It's a good show. We've watched it from the beginning. Have fun trying to pick out the stuff from our house.

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Today it is raining. There is no wind so the rain falls as though a ruler keeps it perpendicular to the ground. It is steady and the ground cannot absorb it fast enough; a narrow moat forms around the foundation of the house below the roofline where there are no gutters. There is where the puddle noise lets you know that it is still raining even when the rain lets up enough so that you can't easily see it falling.

Occasionally the sky brightens to a lighter shade of gray, but the mountains are completely shrouded in the low lying clouds. It makes one wonder if it is cold enough for snow at the lower elevations and if it is, whether the snow will stay long enough to be seen when the rain stops and the clouds clear.

The brightening sky brings with it a bit of wind hopefully pushing the clouds containing the rain along to another location.

It is a good day to curl up with a book.

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Well, Diane and Kris arrived in Round Rock, TX late last evening after a LONG day driving from just north of Mobile, Alabama. Diane said it was slow going with the truck and her car in tow behind it. She couldn't get up enough speed between stop lights, so the end of the journey was spent waiting for everyone of them.

Today, with the help of friends, Athena and Clint (and Athena's parents), they are unloading the truck so that it can be turned in tomorrow by 4 PM. Kris found an apartment for them about a month ago when he ventured out to pass around his resume. They will be living in Austin, TX.

I will have a new place to visit. A new adventure.

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Finally have put all of the books in one room. Office Depot was having a sale so I picked up two new bookshelves and now have all available wall space used. However, I now have some expansion room for my books. Some of the shelves only have books one deep, while others have the paperbacks in front and the hard cover books in back. But now on those shelves I have some space on the ends for additional books.

My Star Wars books take up a whole shelf! But at least it's only one deep. I have them arranged in the Stars Wars chronological order as best I can manage with the various lists that are available on various sites. Sometimes the lists don't agree and of course I have none of the Dark Horse comics, so there are story gaps. But as the number of books grows, I can pull the soft cover books to the front of the shelves and still keep them in order, sort of.

I should post a picture. I will, but not today.

Meanwhile, a friend has joined my gym, so now I have a workout buddy. It's mostly for comic relief. We sure have a good time. We laugh a lot. She has a training session today and we are going to the gym together tomorrow. We met last night at 5:30 PM, which is after work for her. It works out okay. It isn't very crowded on Friday nights. The gym people tell us it's Monday night that's crowded with those folks who didn't work out over the weekend.

It's sunny today but on the cool side. And a little hazy. I'm sitting looking out the west facing window and notice that my windows need washing, particularly on the outside. But it will have to wait until I'm sure the winter rains are over or it will look like this right away again.

Tonight we are going to see The Chronicles of Narnia at the AMC Santa Anita. We decided this is one to see on the big screen. We missed seeing Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire when it was in the theaters. Some movies are okay to wait for on DVD and others need to be seen in the theater. We spent quite a while deciding what time to see it and whether to eat before or after, at home or out. Final decision: late movie, dinner at home.

Well, can't think of anything else right now. More soon.

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Since I haven't posted since last year, I guess it's time I pretended to be alive.

I traveled to Indiana and Ohio in late October and early November. I spent time with family there and attended my 40th high school reunion. What a kick! Everyone had a terrific time. I couldn't believe how little the women had changed, and how much the men had. Some of them could have run me over and I would have never recognized them.

Unfortunately many of the local classmates didn't attend. If the locals had come we probably would have had 75% of the class. Many of us traveled from California. There were some there from Florida, one from Virginia, one from Maryland and others from parts too numerous to mention. All in all about 150 of the original 325 classmates were there.

Then came Thanksgiving. We traveled to San Clemente for dinner with my second cousin and family members. And before you knew it, Christmas was here.

Dave was in from Las Vegas and Phil came in from Riverside. Diane and Kris stayed in Savannah and Kris' family visited. I baked cookies and had two dinner parties over the holiday. We spent New Year's quietly at home, warm and dry.

I've updated my books list and still have books to add. But the ones that are there have all the information and picture of the book as before.

I'm currently reading a book about the life of William Shakespeare. It's a little dry, but quite interesting if slow reading. I'm in a book group and it's the choice for January.

Well, I need to do laundry, so enough for now. If you've read something interesting, post about it.

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You can be thankful that my pictures posting skills have waned considerably. This morning I went for my, once every 5 years, colonoscopy and I have pictures! Enough said. It is however a wonderful tool for finding early cancer and everyone over 50 should have one. They've put it up to every 10 years for folks who don't have any problems the first time. But since we have family history, even though mine was fine, I still have to go every 5 years.

The weather here has finally tried to turn to fall. We had some real bang up electrical storms. We already have about 2.5 inches of rainfall for this season. On Monday it hailed. When it first started it was about pea size, but as I watched it, it got larger and larger until the hail was about ½ to ¾ inch in diameter. When it was finished hailing, it looked like we'd had snow.

Currently (7:22 PM Wednesday) the temperature is 59 degrees, but it didn't get above 70 here today. Tomorrow it's supposed to be 71 degrees and stay in that range through the weekend. REALLY nice California weather.

We're watching hurricane Wilma in the weather forecasts. Looking like it will hit Florida and then cross over and go up the coast. More rain for Savannah; hopefully that's all it will be. We never paid much attention to hurricanes before, but now that we have family on the east coast, we are very attentive.

Enjoy the autumn weather, wherever you are. Happy weekend.

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We went to the 10 PM showing of Serenity this evening. We watched "Firefly" while it was on TV. Then we watch it again on DVD, and got to see the three unaired episodes.

The movie was excellent. Can't say enough good things about it. A must see.
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Well, I decided it’s time to post. I’ve fallen into the blog blahs. Nothing seems important enough to write about. So, you get the random wanderings of an aging mind.

Got back from second trip of year last Thursday. Flew to Ft. Wayne, stayed with my brother and his wife, drove with them to Cleveland and attended 90th birthday party for my aunt. Then I rented a car and spent the week in Cleveland, first staying with friends Marcia and David Luecke in Broadview Heights, and then with school chum since Kindergarten, Linda Hanson Beer in Medina. I had a wonderful time.

During the first part of the Cleveland visit, my high school 40th class reunion commmittee had a meeting and I attended. What fun. I think I could have picked out most of the people on the street. Everyone is a little older (ya think?) but looks much the same as in high school. I think that says a lot for healthy eating, good medical care, and generally an easier life than our parents and grandparents had. Now, I’m really looking forward to seeing people.

Then it was back to Ft. Wayne. I learned stamping. I made two cards! I could get hooked but have enough expensive hobbies without adding that one. So I’ll confine my stamping to visits with my sister-in-law.

I’m playing catch up at home. Getting the house back in order, going through mail and such. The usual.

I didn’t see the weather last night, but it seems muggy here today. (That’s a midwest term for more humidity than usual.) I’m just sitting and I can feel it.

Oh, and my dryer crapped out yesterday, so this morning my wash went out on the line. Ugh! I hope Craig can fix it.

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This is worth a post.

Craig came home tonight and told me that I was not alone in being offended by the Carl’s Jr. commercial with Paris Hilton. This is a first. I am always out of step with the rest of the world. Finally, my opinion is shared, apparently, by quite a few others.

I commented about the commercial when I first saw it several nights ago. Craig was not paying attention, nor has he paid attention since. Now, he realizes he has been missing something. Now, he says he will have to watch it when it comes on.

Until he read all the press on the internet, he hadn’t taken my comments seriously. Surprise.

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Finally, the plasterer is here! They are busy putting down floor protection now. The room will be finished sometime tomorrow. Then we can continue to paint and get the room ready to move furniture. I’ve been waiting since November! Of course, the room has been this way since 1984. MInor detail.

The weather is dry and warm. We’re supposed to have this wonderful weather through the weekend. Maybe some rain the middle of next week. What a delightful change.

Voting today. Get out and vote! We have school board and city council seats on the ballot. It’s really a joke. It never seems to make a particle of difference who gets elected; it the same old stuff.

Going to try to work on my quilt today. Am working on denim squares for a quilt. It’s coming along pretty well. Slowly though.

Guess I’d better get to it.

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It’s raining again. It started about 3:30 PM today with some drizzle and now it’s coming down pretty steadily. I don’t think it’s stopped raining since it started this afternoon.

It’s supposed to continue into tomorrow. It really is getting OLD!

Otherwise things are about normal here.

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This morning I'm being serenaded by a paver outside the house. A truck showed up a little while ago and the guy is removing patches that were put there when they fixed a leaking gas line a couple of months ago. Guess they didn't like the patches. Someone else is doing them again. I'll let you know if they look substantially different when he's through.

The truck is blocking my driveway, so it's a good thing I don't have anywhere to be this morning.

Been thinking that I should post something for a while now. I'm still waiting to hear from the plastering guy. I've left a message and gotten no reply. Maybe it's time to leave another message. They could, at the very least, call back!

Phil is moving to Riverside at the beginning of April. The commute has gotten to be too much of a drag and his current roommate is moving down to Oceanside, again. We purchased some furniture from a friend who moved to Colorado and it is residing in the family room here. The sofa and loveseat look so nice in the room. I'm going to have to get something to replace them when they move to Riverside.

Yesterday I cleaned out the pantry cupboard in the kitchen and the refrigerator. Threw out stuff. Need to to that in all the cupboards and closets. It's getting away from me. We just keep too much stuff.

Since I've lost weight (I have a weigh in tonight so I can't give an exact amount) I also have a lot of clothes that are pretty large. I'm going to have to bite the bullet and go through my closet too. I hate making these decidions. Always kick myself later for something I should have kept. Oh well.

In other news, my high school class is having a 40th reunion on November 12. Shouldn't be publishing the number of years. It really dates me! But after 40 years, it's nice to just still be around to be able to attend. Several of us who live out here in California are planning to attend. Also friends from Florida will be there. Should be a lot of fun to see these folks after all these years. There are no definite plans yet. Just the date so far, but expect there will be more information as the committee gets things rolling along.

I'll have to be thinking about having a few things to wear that will be warm enough for Cleveland in November. There could be a foot of snow! Burrrrrrrrrr.
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Well, it stopped raining and the sun came out. It's been sunny now for two days. Today it is 75 degrees. I think the California weather is back.

We had 15 consecutive days of rain. We were about to build an ark.

Having the sunshine is very energizing. I got dusting and vacuuming done today, along with some laundry.

In just a few minutes I'm off to the DMV to get my driver's license renewed. The last couple of times I was allowed to renew in the mail. Now, I think, they want to see if there really is a Karen Cheetham. Certainly they want a new picture. Boy will they be surprised to see that it still looks the same. Heh.

Made an appointment. Wouldn't dream of going to that zoo without one. Hopefully it will be fast and painless.

Then on the way home I'm stopping off at the newly remodeled Ralphs store near me. It is really quite nice. Big, bright, lots of stock. More like what I've seen in the midwest and the east coast. Just need bread and salt. How's that for a combination.


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This morning's newspaper reported 5.17" of rainfall for yesterday, bringing this year's total to date to 27.17". We're only half way through the measuring period. (Average rainfall is 20.4".) It's still raining now and we don't expect it to stop until tomorrow. Other than a LOT of rain, Pasadena has not had any major rain problems. But elsewhere, it's a mess. A house collapsed in Studio City yesterday. A man and his two children were trapped inside, but rescued.

Some folks spent the night in their cars up near Big Bear. A tour bus got sideways across the highway in the deep snow and blocked everything in both directions. When they began to clear it, it started raining and turned everything to slush and rushing water. Then it froze again last night, I think. What a mess.

It's nice not to have a reason to be out in this. I have to renew my driver's license on Wednesday at the DMV and Thursday I have a doctor's appointment, but it's supposed to be clear. Today I will spend the day sewing or crocheting or house-cleaning. All are indoor sports!

When it finally stops, it's going to be SOOOO quiet.


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I had a whole explanation about this picture written and it went away on me while I was busy in another file. Guess it times out. PFFT!

These parrots were in our tree today, eating the chinaberries and making both noise and mess. Got a few pictures and this is one of them.

Forgot now what else I'd written, but it must not have been important.

Enjoy the parrots.
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I lost another .6 pound this past week, bringing my grand total to 2.4 pounds. But I’m going in the right direction. This diet is pretty easy, although I am spending a lot of time in the kitchen making soups and vegetable casseroles and such. Just finished putting together a “Spicy Black Bean Soup”. I’ll report how it tastes and if you want the recipe, I’ll share.

Hopefully, (I say that because he was supposed to come yesterday afternoon and didn’t), the plastering guy will come by early this evening and give us an estimate on the middle bedroom downstairs. We need to have mirrors removed and then the plaster has to be fixed. We will paint the woodwork that hasn’t been stripped and painted, and then probably paint the walls. It’s much easier to paint than to paper (and cheaper) and since I want that room to be the new library, much of the wall space will be covered with bookshelves anyway.

Then, I will have to rethink the family room. I’ll have newly uncovered wall space and perhaps I can rearrange the furniture. We’ll see. First the carpet will have to be cleaned or replaced. Haven’t decided which yet.

As you can see, there is much to do. It will be an interesting autumn.

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My daughter and her husband celebrated their third weeding anniversary today. Since I was gone so long on my trip, I didn’t have a card ready and waiting to mail and so we just called them instead.

It was pretty late there when we called (10:15 PM) and Kris answered the phone. Said that Diane was on the couch in the living room checking her eyelids for light leaks. But he went and got her on the phone and the four of us chatted until Kris gave up because the phone he was using was too loud when Diane was talking. We’ve had that trouble here too from time to time. Don’t know what it is about the connections sometimes.

They are having some rain too. But not anything like we are here in California now that it’s decided to rain. It started Monday evening. It’s been raining pretty much non-stop since. We’d gone 181 days without measurable rain. Now things are pretty wet!!

Checked back in at the nursery school library to find that they had new books to add to the list. Nevermind that there isn’t much room for them. I have two boxes here at home to add. Decided to put out a new acquisitions list for each teacher. They are familiar with most of what they already have in the library, but I think it would be helpful to know what has been added (and where to find it).

Chickened out and had my hair cut at Supercuts on Monday morning. Took a book with me in case I had to wait, and guess what, got right in. Never fails. So now my bangs are a little short, but they’ll grow.

Jumped on the Weight Watchers bandwagon yesterday evening. Been wanting to do that for a long time. Extra incentive; friend Karen is going too. We can attend meetings together. I need the cheering section and not to be able to talk myself out of going.
Day 1 was uneventful. The point thing is going to take some getting used to. But I’ll manage.

Will be posting some pictures soon.

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I haven't posted in a LONG time. I'm visiting relatives in Ohio and Indiana and am on a long trip. Also plan to visit an old school friend.

Now I'm at my sister's in Columbus and today we are going to rack wine. I'm learning about making wine. Won't ever do it myself, but it's fun to help.

Monday afternoon I helped shim a frame to be able to pour a cement floor in a shower on which a plastic water shield will sit before the pan goes in, etc. Won't be here for the whole process but by the time I visit again, it will be done.

Have some pictures that I will post when I'm back in Calfornia. When I visited my brother in Ft. Wayne, we drove to Indianapolis and visited my niece and nephew and went to the stable where my niece keeps her horse, Carona, a dapple gray. Pictures were posted earlier on this site.

I have a picture with me and the horse. Yes, I was up close and personal. You'll see.

That's all for now. More later.


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Well, it's 3:30PM Tuesday and most of the stuff is finally moved from the old to the new "office". I'm trying to separate office stuff from craft stuff and sewing stuff. Think I pretty much have the office stuff out.

Now I can tackle organizing what's left in the room so that it can be moved out so that we can work on that room. Almost have it down to manageable bites. Still some sorting and pitching to do. Trying to get rid of stuff as I go. Need to get some file storage boxes and some metal bookends at Office Depot tonight.

Walked early today. It was a little hotter than I'm used to and I really worked up a sweat. It's 89 degrees out there and that's already probably cooling from earlier!

Now I'm looking at an area rug for the office room floor. It needs something, but I don't want to spend too much. Needs some brightening up. Paneling on three walls and the wood floor make it pretty dark, especially with navy curtains on the windows.

Will keep you posted on the progress of the shuffling of 'stuff'.
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Here's a smile for Monday from www.FamilyJokeADay.com. Actually, it's from a while back, but I'm gonig through old emails and purging stuff. Thought this was too cute not to share. It reminds us all of how things change over time.

HANDWRITING
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In school one day, a teacher asked my six-year-old nephew why his
handwriting wasn't as neat as usual.

He explained, "I'm trying out a new font."


On other topics, Kris and Diane escaped the wrath of Charley, the hurricane that passed over them over the weekend. Things were closed and Kris had to cancel shooting, but the weather was bright and clear. "Just like a spring day", says Diane.

So now to wait and see about the other two storms that are forming. Diane says this is supposed to be the worst hurricane season in about 20 years. As long as they are dry and safe, that's all that matters to me.

Got the wallpaper down, the wall painted, and the furniture moved. The front downstairs bedroom is now the office. Still much debris to deal with; plan to get rid of as much as I can. The room from which the furniture came is a mess too. That room needs to have mirrors removed from one wall, and plaster repair done before we can move on to fix it up. Has been in need of work since we finished remodeling in 84 (?). So long ago, I don't remember for sure.

Would like to hang some pictures in the new office. Have several framed posters from National Parks which would be nice to hang. It looks a little bare the way it is. Maybe an area rug on the floor would help too, as long as the chair would roll over it.

Weather warm here. More normal temperatures for the time of year, but by no means setting any records. Plenty dry though. Have to get out and water the plants today so that they don't all dry up and blow away. West garden in the back yard seems to be doing the best. Think it gets enough sun (early in the day) and enough shade in the afternoon. The North garden gets too much of the really hot sun and the zinnias are having trouble coping. The ageratum has pretty much given up.

Put some new plants in my terra cotta pot on the front porch. Some of the plants were pretty leggy and had pretty much bitten the dust while we were on vacation. The new plants are doing well. I put in a couple of snapdragons and some impatiens.

Well, finished cutting my hair and getting shower before getting on the computer to write this. Now the morning's shot and I have to think about some lunch and doing something with the wild looking mess on top of my head.
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Okay, I guess I’d better post about the vacation.

Don’t have pictures yet; I’ll post them later. But I can give links to the websites that we used to select places to stay on our trip.

We began on Sunday morning, July 18th. We headed out about 10 AM in our rented GMC Yukon (black), loaded to the gills. We packed not only our luggage, but several Rubbermaid Action Packers with food and camping and hiking gear. Anyway, we were off and headed for Yosemite. We stopped at a rest area on hwy 99 around 1 PM and ate sandwiches that had been made ahead of time. Then on to Fish Camp, CA, a little wide spot in the road just south of the park gate on hwy 41. We stayed at the Apple Tree Inn in a cabin similar to the one pictured on the website. There are three rooms in each building, two down and one up (over the middle of the other two). We had one downstairs room and my brother, Charlie, and sister-in-law, Lynn, had the other downstairs room.

We trundled back and forth to Yosemite for 3+ days and did the requisite vistas and waterfalls and general valley sightseeing. Craig made the four mile hike to Glacier Point while the three of us took in valley sights and drove up to meet him at the end of the trail, for an overlook view. We even drove to Tuolumne Meadows and climbed up 300 feet to get a 360-degree view.

Thursday we headed out for Grass Valley, CA. We took the AAA-suggested route of hwy 49, which was lovely, took us through many small foothills communities and was full of extremely tight switchbacks that required that you follow the speed limit signs of 15 miles per hour. It took us about three times as long to go this way, but Charlie and Lynn got their fill of scenery.

We arrived in Grass Valley around dinner time and had pizza at a local place after checking in to the Holbrooke Hotel. Friday we toured the Empire Mine, now a state park, and got a look at the gold mining equipment etc. Grass Valley had a stree festival on Friday night with booths of crafts and vendors of various items and a pared down version of a farmer's market. We bought fresh tomatoes, peaches, nectarines, cucumbers, and garlic.

Then Saturday morning we were off to Woodland, CA to the Best Western Shadow Inn where we did our laundry from the first week and then visited daughter Diane's friend Trina and her husband, Mike. They have a lovely older home in Woodland that they have many plans for and more energy than we old folks do. They've already put up a 6-foot vinyl fence around the entire backyard to meet the fencing requirement for their pool and spa. They have a room above the two-car garage that they want to fix up and they are already removing wallpaper (and plaster) in one of the upstairs bedrooms.

Trina and Mike fed us a lovely dinner of grilled steak, tomatoes, and asparagus. We nibbled on crackers and wonderful cheese while visiting when we arrived and while we waited for the steak to be done, they grilled bread and made bruschetta (sp?). YUM!!!

Next morning, we set off for Napa, CA. We stayed at the Best Western Inn at the Vines and spent the first afternoon touring and wine tasting. The second day we visited the Napa Museum, another tour and tasting, and drove up to the north end of the vallye to Calistoga and stopped to see the Old Faithful Geyser of California. We ate an early dinner in Calistoga at the Callistoga Inn and Restaurant and then drove back to the motel.

Next morning we were off again, this time headed for San Francisco via the Golden Gate bridge. The bridge was shrouded in coastal fog that was just beginning to lift, but hadn't quite cleared the top of the structure. We could see Alcatraz and all the hillsides and buildings. Lynn's brother, Kelly, gave us directions for parking in the city and met us for lunch and took us to the Thirsty Bear where we had much too much to eat (and Lynn and I took half of our sandwiches with us; the guys ate them later).

From there we drove to Monterey, CA. We stayed for three nights at the Spindrift Hotel right on Cannery Row, about three blocks from the Aquarium. Our room overlooked the water. In fact, if you dropped a stone from our window, it would have landed about 10 feet from the water on the sand of the small beach below. The window seat offered a great place to sit with the window open, the breeze from the bay, the sound of the lapping water as background, for reading a good book. And I did!!

We drove the 17-mile drive to Carmel-by-the-Sea and ate lunch, as well as spending time on two days at the Aquarium. We also walked to Fishermans' Wharf (about a mile) along a pedestrian/bike path. They have a free trolly that goes around in Monterey, so we hopped on that and rode through town to get a feel the area. A fun way to see the place and avoid the traffic.

Friday we left and stopped in Big Sur for lunch at Nepenthe. Unfortunately our view was not like in the pictures. It was too early in the day; the coastal fog had not lifted enough. By the time we were leaving, it was beginning to get better. But the restaurant was designed by a student of Frank Llyod Wright and was interesting in itself. We wandered around their gift store too. Some interesting things.

Then it was HOME!

So, there you have it. All the details from our trip and maybe some ideas for a trip you might take some time.
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I'm back from vacation. There will be an update shortly. Watch this space. :)
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