Brandon and Riley...

Brandon came to spend Saturday night with us this past weekend so that he and Larry could attend a Skateboard Demonstration at nearby South Coast Plaza. (Check out one of a couple of hats he picked up at the event.) It was great to spend a little time with him - seems like forever since he spent the week with us back in August. Our "young man" has a new young lady in his life. (We've seen her picture on Facebook.) In typical teenage fashion he wasn't forthcoming with a whole lot of information, but we get the feeling she's a lovely girl. He's certainly quite enamored at the moment!

Larry didn't have his camera on Saturday when he picked Brandon up; he made sure he had it with him the next day, hoping to get new pictures of Ava and Riley. Sadly, it was nap-time and it was decided it best not to risk waking Ava up. Riley had crashed in his swing chair. He's awfully cute bundled up to his nose, sound asleep.

Fall "cleaning"...

Although the thermometer gives no such indication today, it won't be t-h-a-t long (will it?) until we'll be needing some heat in the old homestead. The furnace was serviced earlier today, and this space-age looking monstrosity is (loudly!) sucking away at a few year's accumulation of scary stuff and sanitizing our duct-work. Next week? Clean carpets and upholstery. We'll be ready for winter before we know it!

Autumn has arrived...

With temps here in the high 80's at the beaches, it sure seems more like summer than fall, but it's here folks. Let's start to celebrate the cooler weather, the beautiful colors and the great festivities to come!

Squirrel has returned...

We hadn't seen Squirrel around for a while. And, we felt quite certain that he could no longer get up on our bird feeder since the tree he used to jump from had been removed. Wrong! As I walked past our kitchen window late this afternoon, I saw that glorious tail draping around the edge of the feeder... Larry was able to capture more pictures of him by going outside with his camera with the longer lens. Looks like we'll have to figure out some sort of barrier or that big baby will be eating us out of house and home!

September Sunflowers...

The heat takes its toll on everyone...

We think our dogs really need to learn to relax!

All that prep work paid off...

Does anyone have a contractor story that ends with "and they were finished sooner than we were told"? Well now, we do! By 5:15 on Monday, our beautiful new cork floor was completely installed, shoe molding was all in place, and the crew had done an incredible job of cleaning up after themselves. Do we love the floor? You bet. The pictures don't do the beauty of this cork plank justice, especially how wonderful it looks against our cupboards and paint colors. If you want to see how gorgeous it really is, we guess you'll just have to come for a visit!

The ongoing heat and humidity led us to taking the day pretty slow yesterday, but by late afternoon all the furniture and plants and "counter clutterers" and knick-knacks were back in their places. Our kitchen was our own again and we couldn't be any happier!