Robin's Baby Shower...

Margaret was working on Saturday afternoon, so Larry went solo to Robin's "co-ed" shower for baby Riley Brett (due July 8!). The party was hosted by Andrick's cousin, Delina. Among the pictures you can see a "ready-to-burst" Robin, Andrick and Ava appearing to contemplate the arrival of their new member of the family, plus Ava in the arms of her Auntie Nina, Andrick's sister.

The tower of goodies was a gift from Heather and family - the bottom layer is disposable diapers, the middle is cloth diapers with panels of flannel sewn on to be used as burp clothes, and the top layer is "onsies" all embellished with boy friendly stencils. Those flowers on top? Coffee filters tinted with water colors! Our Heather is turning into quite the "Martha" of the family! Sadly, she and David were also unable to join the party as they had to attend a home-schooling conference that afternoon.

We know that Robin and Andrick had a great time at their shower, surrounded by family and friends, all thoughtfully providing many,many of the things they'll need when Baby Riley comes home!

Recycling bottles and cans does pay...

...and so does emptying pockets and wallets of loose change, putting both into a slush fund that we use for small purchases around the house - like a brand new chandelier for our two story entry way!

(Over the years, that fund has also bought us a mini-beverage fridge for the garage, a VCR/DVD player, a television, and our current gas grill!)

Margaret has hated that antique brass, candelabra bulbed, impossible to clean, "builder's special" light fixture since the day she moved in this condo in 1993. And, she and Larry have been talking about replacing it for as many years as he's lived here or more. We FINALLY found a replacement we liked recently, and with the help of a new neighbor in the community who is an electrician, we got our new lamp hung this morning. Today we really are happy homeowners!

"Homeowner's Woes" / "Decisions, Decisions"...

Four years ago we refaced the cabinets in the kitchen, removed the tile counters and replaced them with granite, and put in new appliances. And it was good... What we didn't do was replace one of the ugliest, off-white, more slippery than ice, ceramic tile floors in the world. Silly homeowners :(

Two years ago, we finally could not stand the look of the floor one more minute. (And, Margaret was tired of coming in from the patio with damp, bare feet, skating across the "more slippery than ice" tile and falling into a heap on the floor - fairly regularly!) With an eye towards economy, we decided to have a very attractive (we think) vinyl floor installed. And when the guys from the flooring store said "No problem laying it over the old tile", we were thrilled. No messy demo! And, for a while, it was good...

Until late that November when we heard a terrible cracking sound coming from the kitchen and found that a piece of tile had heaved under the vinyl, leaving a big bulge in the floor right in front of the stove. The flooring dealer/installer insisted that they were not responsible - "The tile underneath must have been laid poorly". They came out and peeled up a section of the vinyl, cleaned out the broken tiles, "leveled" (yeah, right!) the floor and reglued the vinyl. It was "okay", not good...

Fast forward almost exactly one year; the same sickening cracking sound came from our laundry room. The same ugly bulge appeared in the vinyl, this time in front of the washing machine. This was definitely not good!

Now it's several months later and we're ready to do it right; the vinyl AND the ugly white tile will be demoed. In their place? Soft to walk on, easily maintained tiles made from "green" cork. The only questions left are which pattern and color do we like and how soon will we get it done. We'll keep you posted!

Father's Day Grill Feast At The Barn...

Larry celebrated Father's Day this year with a whole bunch of other dads at the barn. Riders and their parents brought scads of food and beverages, and with two grills going, turning out hots dogs, brats, burgers and slices of tri-tip, no one went away hungry! Our stable friends can always find a reason for a party or a pic-nic on the grass outside the ring! The camaraderie among this group of people, kids and adults, is something we both really enjoy.

"Roll out those lazy, hazy, crazy days of summer..."

The summer solstice takes place tonight!

Beating the heat in their back-yard pool...

David and Sophia are having a grand old time in their above ground pool in the back yard. With temps predicted to begin soaring soon, (and our community pool s-t-i-l-l not operational!) perhaps Grandpa and Grandma M will have to head to their house to take a cooling dip one of these days!

Jonathan in "Cap and Gown"...

Check out
Jonathan
as he
graduates
from
his Pre-K
Mommy and
Me
Class!

From the "just too cool" file...

When Larry and Brandon visited the Marconi Automotive Museum on Tuesday, Larry took lots and lots of pictures of cars and motocycles. (We'll spare our readers those!) Then, they found this magnificent creature on display, built from bumpers. It's so unusual that we just had to share!

More good time with Brandon...

We were sorry to see Brandon go home this afternoon - it was a great three day visit and we look forward to his returning for another nice stay in early July. Yesterday afternoon the two guys, both car aficionados, went to the Marconi Automotive Museum, in Tustin, where they spent an hour or so drooling over an amazing collection of exotic race and street cars. Brandon seems particularly taken with this Ferrari!

Tuesday morning we went early to Corona del Mar State Beach Park to see the Tidal Pool Preserve at "Little Corona". Though we were there very close to low tide, the waves were pretty high - Brandon was the only of the three of us who braved the incoming surf and walked out to look into the most active of the pools. (Said he saw three crabs in one!) Larry and I enjoyed standing in the shallows and feeling the sun on our faces and the warm sand between our toes while Brandon explored.

Before we knew it, it was time for lunch. We went into Newport Dunes, an enormous water recreation area nearly at the mouth of Newport Back Bay. We took a long walk around the marina, looking at all kinds of boats. Then we ate our lunch on the patio of the park's cafe overlooking the boat launch. It was an absolutely perfect late spring morning to be on the water.

A long overdue visit from Brandon...

It's been way too long since we've had Brandon visit us for more than just a couple of hours! Larry picked him up early Sunday morning. We drove south for a quick visit with "La Bella", before heading over to the horse show grounds on the other side of San Juan Capistrano to watch a $30,000.00 Grand Prix Jumper Class. It was Brandon's first time to see the big jumpers in person and we think he was impressed.

Once home, our fickle little gray princess, Nica, attached herself to Brandon and has been in his lap as often as possible since!

On Monday morning Brandon asked his grandfather if we had any jobs that he could do around the house to make a few dollars to buy replacement parts for his skateboard. You can bet we jumped on that offer in a heartbeat! It took some time, but our industrious fifteen year old managed to clear all the "mystery plant" out of the wood mulch in our little side garden. Between that, plus some walk and garage sweeping, and a great job of cleaning up the kitchen after dinner last night, he earned a trip to the skateboard job to pick up the needed parts!

"Let's go fly a kite..."

...and ride a bike, and shoot some baskets, and play Yahtzee, gin rummy, and dominoes...

Black Phoebe...

... or, the King, as Margaret had taken to calling him, because every time we look out our side kitchen window this little guy is perched on top of something - the bird feeder, a sprinkler head, our puppy whirly-gig, St. Francis' head. (You get the picture!) Larry did a bit of internet investigation and learned that this curious little non-migrating western states native really is called a Black Phoebe, and he's a member of the "tyrant flycathers". By nature, they perch on a fence, a branch, etc. and wait for their prey to fly by, then they are off to "dine"; once they've snacked they return to their look-out station and the whole process starts again. (And here we thought he just had a bit of a superiority complex...) Anyway, he's a real cutie.

The carving is complete...

After working some more on the details of our "natural" sun/moon face, Larry packed up the dremel and put it away for good today. Now we've got to look through the wood stains we have stored away and see what colors we can use to bring out "Stumpy's" highlights! Kind of a silly project, but we're having fun!

Sharing our space with the song birds...

We've had so much fun watching the finches and other song birds that swing wildly through the vines that surround the finch feeder, taking their turns to eat. (And we're ever so grateful when they flit into our hibiscus and feast on the white flies!) As we spend more time on the patio, they are less and less worried by our pressence, making it easier to photograph them. Larry loves this shot of a yellow-breasted male watching Larry watch him! The little female, we think, is drinking from the very first piece of "garden art" that Larry bought for the patio even before he moved in. It so reminds us of the benevolent, befuddled, wild-haired Ed Wynn in "Babes In Toyland", with of course, a bird perched on his balding dome.

"Tiny Dancer"...

Sophia has been taking dance class once a week (one half hour each of tap and ballet) for several months now. As the spring session was about to end, we decided we should visit her class and see her progress. Could be that a star is born!

"I'm Walkin'..." (well, almost)

Time with all our kids...

Visiting Sophia's dance class gave us the opportunity to spend time with all three kids and Heather. It definitely gave up the chance to see just how soon Joshua is going to be walking everywhere! Yes, today it is still "take one step and fall down", but that's not going to last much longer. He was awfully cute sitting on Grandpa's lap and cuddling with his mom. Jonathan brought a collection of his favorite animals to keep him occupied while "Sister" was in class.

The Sherman Library and Garden...

Two different people told us in as many days recently that we needed to visit the Sherman Library Garden, located in Corona del Mar (part of Newport Beach) just a few minutes from our home. Now that we've been there we know that it will be a high-priority "must-see" place to visit with out of town guests. The two and a half acre garden behind a small research library is absolutely beautiful.

We were really taken by the bird and animal sculptures found around the grounds such as the pelican and cranes pictured here. Up close you see that they've been created out of materials that include small pebbles and shells - they are rustic, yet incredibly realistic.

We'll surely go back to this small treasure "in our own backyard", perhaps even to have lunch at the patio restaurant there. We suspect that the gardens are decorated for the winter holidays. Might be good reason for yet another visit!

Enter the tropics...

The tropical greenhouse at Sherman Gardens was spectacular, especially the cascading waterfall in a koi pond with some of the most magnificent of these fish we've seen both in size and colors.

Bromeliads, ginger and exquisite orchids were among the many plants blooming profusely in this temperature and humidity controlled enviroment.

Rainbow colors and pools of water...

Two more of the wonderful sculptures at the garden - the flamingo and the otter add wonderful whimsy to this particular pond, which was also home to at least three large turtles.

Ferns and fuschias...

Staghorn ferns are almost prehistoric looking. In the Fern Garden there were three of the largest we've ever seen.

Desertscapes...

We'd never seen an "Orchid Cactus" before; it's somewhat like the Christmas cactus we've all enjoyed, but the blooms were much more spectacular.

Packed into quite a small space, the cactus and succulent display at the
Sherman Library Garden was still incredibly impressive.