Are you ready for Ghosts and Goblins???

Brandon Turns 15!

We got to spend an all-too-short evening with Brandon and his family on Thursday night in celebration of his fifteenth birthday. We are so proud of our high school sophomore, who is getting terrific grades in all his classes which include Biology, Sign Language, Advanced English, Geometry, Advanced American History and Golf. As all grown up as he is, we know you never outgrow your love of chocolate cake. Grandpa and Margaret were all too happy to send that right on home with him!






Baby Ava is as cute as ever. She's started clapping her hands this week and was all too happy to show off her latest accomplishment. She's also getting very "verbal", though we still aren't quite sure what she was trying to tell us. We do have every reason to believe that real words are just around the corner for our darling little nine-month old.

Stolen Sunday in our own backyard...

A "stolen Sunday" starts with a chili cheese omelette for brunch at Charlie's Chili on the Balboa Peninsula, ten minutes or so from our house. Established in 1967, Charlie's is a landmark Newport Beach dive; it's claim that it serves "the best Chili Cheese Omelette anywhere" might be a bit of hyperbole, but it is pretty darn good! Charlie's is also a great place to people watch. And, on Sunday, after all the hot, dry air Southern California has been experiencing, it was a wonderful place to let the foggy, ocean air seep into our bodies and our spirits.

Nearby is the home of the Dory Fishing Fleet, another Newport landmark, that been around since the early 1890's. The Newport Pier is a little hard to make out in the fog, but it was as filled with fishermen and tourists as ever.

Driving to the far end of the peninsula, Larry unveiled a park he has discovered while biking on the beach paths. On a clear day it would be a terrific vantage point for photos of the area coast. Even in the fog, we like the images of the father fishing with his son, the landscape across the inlet, and especially of that marvelous, wind and sea-air weathered tree.

We stopped at a local nursery on the way back from the beach, where Margaret picked out, and later planted, some fall and winter hardy annual color plants, herbs and lettuce. While planting, we discovered many signs of the season change. A winter blooming camellia, "Noel" has many buds, as do the pots of Christmas cactus. Nartustium seeds planted in a clay pot on the deck have sprouted, despite the fact that they went too long without water! The giant potted jade plant on the same deck looks like it'll be bursting with tiny white flowers before too long. (In full bloom it looks like a giant snowball, and is usually is at it's peak at Christmas!) A stolen Sunday of day-tripping our local, superb sights and playing in the dirt a little together was a real treat for Margaret, who is accustomed to working at the barn on all weekend days. It was a treat worthy of repeating!

See the pretty fall flowers!

It's already been mentioned here that Margaret l-o-v-e-s fresh cut flowers. For the past three months we've been receiving a "flower share" every two weeks along with fruits and veggies from a local co-op farm. This is the last bouquet of the quarter and we want to share it with you!

News from our house...

Truth be told, there's not a whole lot new here! Margaret survived the five day horse show last week. She been laying pretty low much of this week, letting her sinuses recover from the major assault of dust! Her two littlest "pony kids", mentioned in the last post, are pictured here. See why she loves them and the pony, Ginger Snaps, so much? Too cute! The show tack room photo with so many ribbons on display tells the story of what a successful show it was for all the riders in her barn. There's an annual decoration contest at the Year-End Championship show. In case you couldn't guess, this year's chosen theme was pure Halloween.

Speaking of Halloween, we're hearing lots of reports on the grand-kids Halloween costumes, but have yet to see photos. We'll be sure to post those as soon as we get them.

No definite vacation news to post... We may break up our travels into multiple trips and spread them out over the coming months. Can't believe how fast the holidays and a couple of family birthday celebrations have crept up on us. It might be we'll decide to stay a little closer to home until after the first of the year!

What's new this week...

Margaret's last chance to post this week - The Orange County Horse Show Association Year-End Championship, Oct. 15-19, is the biggest show event of her barn's season. Twenty-two horses have already been shipped to the showgrounds. Twenty-one riders will be readied for a number of classes each over the five day, three ring, horse show. For two of Margaret's littlest "pony girls" it's their first time showing away from home so nerves will be on edge, the kids and their parents! It's a long, hard, but always gratifying week for everyone involved.

Fall started a little rocky on the health front, but the news is all good now. Margaret's throat infection has passed and she's feeling much better. Larry has completed four weeks of physical therapy for a pinched nerve in his neck and has felt great improvement. Another month's worth of PT has been prescribed, which we hope will bring improvement in the carpel tunnel diagnosed in his right wrist as well.

The fires blazing in LA County are far away from our home, but as the Santa Ana winds gusted in our area yesterday, we could certainly see the grey haze in the air and smell the smoke. (The Santa Anas somehow find their way into our stove-top vent causing light grey dust and ash to fall on our black glass cooktop!) Early this morning we swept away the debris that the high winds had dropped in our patio, hosed the soot off the plants and soaked the parched ground. We are grateful that Orange County has been, so far, spared the devastation that our northern neighbors are experiencing.

Look for new posts next week. Maybe by then we'll have decided when we can take our long-awaited, three time postponed (!) getaway to Central California.

New baby pic...

Just got these from Heather... Even though he's not quite two months old yet, it's obvious what a big, strong, young man our little Joshua is becoming. Larry thinks that from the look on his face it's possible that Joshua's been reading the stock market reports.

New kid pic...

Nothing spells autumn like a couple of kids in a pumpkin patch - Jonathan and Sophia had more than a few to choose from!