THE LAST DAY OF FUN

Sunday morning we were late for breakfast.  First early, now late.  But, they let us eat anyway.  After reading the paper cover to cover and Husband watching the Little League World Series or some such nonsense, we decided to try the trail through the Fitzgerald Marine Reserve.  Down the lane and make a right, then another right and onto the trail.  It’s clear why the little town we are in is named Moss Beach.  The trees are all covered with moss……….

I haven’t seen moss like this since I was in Louisiana about a hundred years ago.  Walking along the steadily climbing trail, there are many ferns and on the left, a tall stand of what we think are cypress trees but we don’t really know what they are.  Whatever they are, they are remarkable and stark as the only greenery is 30 ft above the ground.  

The salt sea air is cool and damp.  If you look back, you can see the inn

 

 

 

 

Soon, we reach the bluff where we can look out over the ocean or down on the beach and the little people and the seals!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The trail edges the bluff and lest you step too close to the edge, there is a stern warning….

 

Good advice!  As you walk along, to the left are groves of trees – the same kind we saw walking in.  I was reminded of the beginning lines of the poem Evangeline describing the trees of Louisiana….”the murmuring pines and the hemlocks stand like druids of old.”  These trees are quite majestic and we wondered who planted them and when.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

As we make our way around the trail, we are now heading west and south.  The ocean view is so calming.

There are fallen trees that have been trimmed smooth and placed along the trail so one can sit and contemplate or just rest.  We were enjoying the fog and the gray ocean and the cool breezes that were buffered by the trees.  As we began to turn south, we could see far below on the beach a couple of houses!  How would one get down there – we later saw log steps of sorts cut into the hillside that led down to the beach but surely this was not the only access?

Look closely and you can see – or click and enlarge the photo. What must it be like to live so close to the ocean?  Wonderful, I think.  Until you have to go to the grocery store!

You can just see the roof of one of the houses, but there is another to its right.

The walking made us hungry so after noodling around a bit in the garden behind the inn, we drove into town.  I had a date with that beautiful soup!  Black bean it was and Husband had the corn chowder.  We shared an heirloom tomato, fennel, red onion and feta salad with basalmic.  Truth be told, of the entire weekend, that corn chowder was the best item!  $5 a bowl!  HA!  

 

We came back to the inn intending to stay away from the afternoon appetizers, BUT there was hot artichoke dip and a flourless chocolate tort.  Well, can I just say that tort was to die for?  Wonderful dense chocolate flavor but light at the same time.  We really weren’t hungry when we pulled into the parking lot at Cetrella.

We shared a lobster/corn bisque and I ate a couple of bites of lobster!  My first meat (on purpose) in about 20 years.  Meh.  Stuck in my teeth.  OK, but really not as good as Husband’s corn chowder earlier in the day.  We had a good meal and the service was impeccable and we were more than stuffed.  Reminded me of Thanksgiving dinner overload.  I couldn’t even take a bite of the piece of tort Husband had hidden away in our room for later.  I have to say this – I think I’m sort of “over” the fancy restaurant thing.  The food is good but there’s a kind of expectation or responsibility that makes it not as fun as little holes in the wall with passion flowers blooming on the patio.  Just sayin’. 

Monday morning came too early.  Look at the view from our room……..who would want to leave this?

But, leave we must.  Back over the hills and down to the heat and bright sun of San Jose.  Back at my desk by 11:00 am.  It was a great weekend with a rocky start and a smooth finish. When they have their 2 for 1 nights in the winter, we’ll go back and revisit the beach and the benches on Main Street and see what winter delicacies are available in the little hole in the wall places we like.

PART 2 OF A BIRTHDAY ADVENTURE

Red faced and sputtering is not a good look for anyone. The inn staff was gracious and tried to assure me that worse has happened; i.e., the couple who drove 3.5 hours to meet another couple at the inn and arrived a full MONTH early! The young man who arrived ostensibly for a wedding but apparently he was the only guest as there was no bride nor groom to be found, nor wedding party, etc.

So, they offer to call another B&B in the area to see if they have a vacancy for the night. They call Goose and Turrets. Goose and What? Say the last word fast and it brings to mind a rather unpleasant barnyard scene. We get the address and Husband enters it in his TomTom. Can I just say that he really LOVES this toy? As in his top 5 favorite things? And then we’ll just let it go at that. We pull up to this place and granted, I’m still verklemped from being in the right place at a totally wrong time that I’m not 100%. I take a photo of the sign.

It looks quaint, doesn’t it? Inside is like something straight from Dickens. What you cannot see in this photo are small cannon (painted red to coordinate with the door) on either side of the porch. Inside, very high ceilings and every inch of wall covered with some memorabilia or print or photograph or skin of some long-dead animal. Really. There was a large dining room table, fully set for breakfast, and walls fashioned of furniture. As in the back of the buffet formed the hall way into the kitchen. Our room would be through the dining room and down a narrow hall, bath on the right, closet on the left and room across from the closet. Oh, dear. And for this step back in time the little old woman commanded the sum of $175 per night. There was a spinet piano against one wall with a piece of sheet music by Elgar. Despite the promise of a fresh peach cobbler at tea time and a full breakfast tomorrow, we passed. I felt badly for the woman, she was very nice and by her accent clearly Southern in breeding. I’ll bet she makes a dynamite peach cobbler. But, it was just too unique for me, too dark, too cluttered, too, well, creepy. So, we ended up at the polar opposite in many ways……Harbor View Inn.

The going rate wasn’t THAT much better than Goose but I didn’t feel as if there was an eyeball following my every move from behind some fake photograph or some cast off relative in the Turret! Anyway, Jim is wearing his Silverton CO shirt and, wouldn’t cha know?, the innkeeper used to live in Evergreen! Why, the morning of June 7, 1975 after they spent their first night in their new house, they awoke to 18 inches of fresh snow. “I turned to my wife and said, ‘What have we done?’” Ya think? Anyway, we get the key and find our way to our room. The building has a fresh coat of paint and our room is exactly across from the ice machine! What a plus! We walk in and, well, it is a non-smoking room but it was not ever thus. Thank God there are windows that open and so I crank one and let in the ocean breeze. We are, after all, directly across the highway from the ocean. We drove into Half Moon Bay and had dinner at a Thai restaurant we’d eaten at years before. Good food. Back to the room and TV. I awoke during the night perplexed by a recurring sound.  I confirmed that it occurred every 10 seconds, but what the hell was it?  Then, I realized that it was the computer-age version of a fog horn.  I’m all for technology, but really, that puny computer noise was a poor substitute for a real fog horn.  The mattress the next morning was edging over Husband’s side of the bed as if it were trying to make an escape.  And, let me say here and now, that a bathroom is NO PLACE FOR A FULL LENGTH MIRROR. Especially if it’s directly across the room from the large one over the sink………really, ugh. We were headed for breakfast at the world class 3 Zero Cafe but the innkeeper insisted the little cafe next door was delightful. So, we walked over in a heavy fog and lined up at the counter to order. Clearly, this was a neighborhood place as everyone knew everyone and we might as well have been wearing bright red shirts emblazoned with the word, TOURIST. Nevermind. Hot chocolate was available….

Dare you to not smile back. The food looked good and the biscuits were as fluffy as clouds. I just want to make a note to the chef cook, here. When you are combining eggs and veggies, the ratio should be such that the eggs outnumber the veggies, particularly if there are mushrooms involved. If not, you find yourself with eggs that are gray. Gray is not a color for food. Ketchup, the great equalizer.

Next time we go, 3 Zeros is definitely on the “must do” list. I hear they have a killer brioche french toast.

Still, the place was not without its charm. An old guy at the table next to us was showing off his IPhone, to a friend, another comes up to say hello and he’s off to return his daughter to college that morning. There is a small “stage” on one side, slightly raised and with a clever sign above the table and large speakers.

If you click on the photo, you will see that the second line reads, “Half Moon Earelevant Publishing Company.” We headed to town for a stroll up and down Main Street. There are park benches every 20 ft or so, and so when I duck into a shop (as I am wont to do) Husband has a place to sit and contemplate the great ideas of the universe.  And, of course, talk to the old guys who invariably want to talk about his Minnesota t-shirt.  Because 99% of the time, he’s wearing a Minnesota t-shirt.  As we cooled our heels in front of the bank, some guy stopped to remark on Husband’s shirt and wouldn’t cha know it?  He played baseball for Savage (MN) in the 50s!  You’d be surprised how many Minnesotans now live in NorCal.  We couldn’t check in at Seal Cove until 3pm, so we had some time to kill.   

A walk along Main Street in HMB doesn’t take that long, but there are some interesting sights:

I do love the Vespa!  

 

 

 

 

 

 

We didn’t eat lunch because we had eaten rather a late breakfast and we had early reservations at Cafe Gibraltar but we did sneak into the back patio at Chez Shea (I know, it’s a bad name but great food) to get a cold drink.  And there we found trellised walls covered by passion vines in bloom.  I was happy to see honey bees buzzing from flower to flower. 

On the way out, we passed the counter where the orders were ready to be picked up and I stopped and admired this soup

 

 

We took a drive up Hwy 1 to Pacifica where we saw the construction site for the Devil’s Slide Tunnel. Impressive if it does look like a giant strip mine right now.  Pacifica is a cute little seaside town.  I saw this panel truck on the way in and wished I could get a shot of the sign on the side, but it drove away.  Then, Husband pulled into a parking place on a bluff right next to it!  Here’s the sign – I love it – even if I don’t exactly get it……..

We sat awhile and enjoyed the ocean view.  Here’s a couple more photos:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We drove back and parked again on the cliff by Moss Beach Distillery and listened to NPR – This American Life – and held hands.  There was a huge ship on the horizon headed for the Golden Gate and the Bay.  It might have been a tanker or some kind of barge – perhaps it came from the Orient – it had large white lettering on the side and moved resolutely north and east.  As we sat, it disappeared to the north and like the ship that reached its destination, we finally checked into our destination.

We had dinner at Cafe Gibraltar and had a good meal – a bit uneven – but good.  The presentation of Husband’s meal was unique:  a copper bowl with a hinged lid.  Inside was a kind of chicken stew.  The stuffed squash blossom appetizer was wonderful and we enjoyed ourselves.  A nice end to a pleasant day.

Husband and I are good friends and have been married for 27 years.  Do not assume that advancing age necessarily brings a lessening of passion – we are still crazy (about each other) after all these years. Sunday coming up – but now yoga.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU! AN ADVENTURE IN 3 PARTS

PART ONE:

August 24th is Husband’s birthday.  A couple of months ago, I decided I would take him up to Moss Beach to Seal Cove Inn for the weekend.  We’ve been there before and like it a lot.  I made reservations and then sort of counted the days – weekends away with restaurant food we shouldn’t eat and shopping are much appreciated. Friday rolled around, off at noon and home to take off for the weekend.  Driving up 280 is really pretty………you drive along through rolling hills studded with oak trees.  Then, by Crystal Springs Reservoir, oblivious to the fact that the San Andreas fault runs right under this body of water.

Taking a left on Hwy 92, you go up and over 280 and head west.  This is a 2 lane road with lots of curves and if you get behind a slow truck, woe unto you.

Part of the road goes through forest, then open space over not mountains but pretty big hills climbing, cresting and winding down.  Just when you cross over the reservoir, on the right, is this little boathouse.  It’s been there for at least 27 years because it’s been there since I’ve been here!

 

 

Taking pictures through car windows isn’t ideal, but you can see that it’s very picturesque, yes?  I’ve always loved the little house.

The BEST thing, though, about driving up 280 is the fog that creeps over the mountains.  I’ve always been mesmerized by the sight and always smile and have to remind myself to pay attention if I’m driving.  This photo doesn’t do it justice, but you can see what I mean.

 

 

See?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Once you crest the hill and come down again, various flower farms and Christmas tree farms, a winery and pumpkin fields line the road on either side – they really are beautiful in the spring and summer.  Into Half Moon Bay and turn north up the coast for a few miles.  Left on Cypress and past the flower farm……..

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

And the next right turn is Seal Cove Inn………….

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

At the end of the road, you turn left and there it is.  I love the architecture and the masses of lavender.  It was originally built and operated by a travel writer and I’m guessing she loved France.  What do you think?

There is a bubbling fountain in the little round garden to welcome you.  If you click on the photo, you can see the detail better.

Let me just say that it’s really best if you actually arrive on the date of your reservation……….not such a good idea to arrive a full 24 hrs too early!  The irony of this is that all day I’d had a kind of niggling feeling about the trip – not the usual excitement but I can be moody……….and at the law firm guess who keeps the calendar for court appearances, bar association meetings and appointments?  Yep.  That would be me.  

Stay tuned for Part Two………

IT’S ALIVE!

Today for lunch, I decided to try a new Japanese restaurant a couple of blocks from the office.  K went along and we ordered take out items.  I got the stir fry udon noodles with veggies.  She got a ton of stuff, goyza, tempura, fried tofu and we got soybeans for free because we waited and waited and WAITED!

As we walked back to the office, we kept smelling something that was just fishy….ick.  When we got back to the office and unloaded the bags, the fishy box turned out to be mine!  Let me just say that I have a curse with take out food – famous for ordering veggie something or other and actually getting chicken something or other.  Almost always last to be served when we eat out at lunch.  Anyway, I’m thinking, here we go again – what is this stink and can I eat it?

Opened the styrofoam box and AIYEEEE, the food was moving!  Several pieces of something sliced thinner than paper thin was actually WAVING at me from the top of the mess!  My boss leaned over and took a look and actually jumped out of her chair.  Pretty soon there were 6 women staring incredulously into the box.  The somethings continued to wave.  We decided it was the heat of the food rising and the little pieces of really really thin whatever were just being moved by the heat.  Or not.  Whatever, I summoned some courage and took a bite.  Very salty, weird noodle texture but seemed not to be moving on its own.  

I really wished I could grab my camera and take a short video but no one at the office (except J) knows I have a blog and I just didn’t want to get into it.  I think I’ll give this place a pass in the future, although the fried tofu was good as was the piece of tempura K shared with me.  Soybeans are always appreciated.  

I guess you had to be there.

I AM NOT MAKING THIS UP

I had gone to bed a bit early and Cait was home from work a bit late the night before last.  We were asleep and she knocked on the bedroom door demanding to know if we had seen, “the big box in the tree!”  Whaaaa?  I got up and went to the door with her and, sure enough, there was a big box wedged between the house and the japanese maple.  I confess this picture is a recreation because I was so stunned it didn’t occur to me until the next day just how really crazy this was.  

Anyway, it contains this, only as you might suspect, it’s broken.  Pottery Barn is so cool about this stuff – a new one will be here by the 25th and I’ve been instructed to dispose of the original one because it’s glass and they don’t want anyone to get hurt.  And, you may have noticed that, well, it’s a STEAL! Nice.

Husband calls me the QUEEN of online shopping and swears there is a box of some kind or other delivered to the house EVERY DAY.  Clearly, this is a gross exaggeration.  I do, however, admit that a lot of my shopping does occur online.  I don’t have the time or energy to physically go shopping and, besides, there’s so much more available online – things I would never find in the shops around here.  

I have often laughed at the, well, IQ? of my neighborhood UPS/FedEx drivers.  For instance, I have a doormat that is made of stones.  It weighs 35 lbs.  See for yourself……….

I’ve arrived at the house on numerous occasions to find boxes UNDERNEATH this doormat!  Because, clearly, this will render anything under it invisible! Never mind how a box under the mat makes a sort of small mountain on the doorstep, because we all know that looks completely normal!

The most common drop zone is behind the green planter- between the planter and the wall just under the mailbox. This is a commonsense place, particularly if it’s something from Amazon or such that is relatively small.

For instance, here’s where the guy  left my copy of The Enchantress of Florence the other day.  I need something to do while the rest of the family is glued to the TV with the Olympics.

My very favorite drop zone story, however, is this:  I ordered a 5 arm chandelier, torchier and pendant for the hall – they are all of the same style with beautiful amber seeded glass.   As you might imagine, the box for the chandelier was quite large and everywhere you looked on the box were the words FRAGILE! GLASS! THIS SIDE UP! The other lights came in one box together.  Both these boxes were (as I said, I’m not making this up) summarily TOSSED OVER THE FENCE INTO THE BACKYARD!  Of course, one of the globes on the chandelier was shattered and, as I recall, the box actually landed upside down.  (I was astonished that any of the globes survived such a frontal assault.) It took 3 mos to get a replacement globe, mostly because they sent a replacement globe for the pendant lamp first.  So, on the plus side, if the one in the hall is broken, I have another…..assuming I can actually find it….well, that’s a different story.  Here’s a photo of the chandelier, as I did not have the presence of mind to photograph that incident so I could have good old fashioned cussing at UPS.

It’s been a very long and tiring day.  I started taping and priming The Room at 9am and finished at 3pm.  Hot, exhausted and hungry, I gave it up for the day.  It’s dry enough to start the actual paint but I’m not ready to start again.  I stepped off the ladder into the upturned lid of the paint can……..my newfound yoga prowess and balancing skills came in handy as I stood in one legged chair to wipe off the bottom of my right foot.  It fell, however, to my lovely Linda the Manicurist to actually get all the paint off.  I love her.  Anyway, I made a nice fruit salad for Husband: mini watermelon, honeydew, pineapple, strawberries, blueberries and grapes.  And, for dinner, as a reward for my hard work I made my favorite dinner.

Gluten-free pasta, shallots, garlic, olive oil, baby tomatoes, fresh basil and a whisper of Himalayan salt topped with fresh grated parmesan.  I could eat this every day, but the tomatoes are really only good in the summer.  

I’ll eventually post a long and boring story, complete with photos, about painting the room, etc., but for now, I’m off to renew my acquaintance with Salman Rushdie.

FRIDAY FARMER’S MARKET

Every Friday there is a Farmer’s Market in downtown.  The city blocks off a street from 10am to 2pm and there’s a kind of party.  You can buy everything from knock off Coach bags to indian food and, of course, a beautiful and varied assortment of fruits and vegetables and flowers.  I took some photos today – I didn’t realize how many until I was loading them.  We eat with our eyes first.  So feast away……everything was so beautiful………..pickles, peppers, peanuts….for the best view, click on the photos and enjoy a larger view!

Then, these adorable baby eggplants and the sensuous cantaloupe center………….

Tomatoes are the best………yellow and red and sweet, particularly when roasted with garlic, olive oil and herbs, then finished with a twist of fleur de sel, or with pasta and garlic and shallots and olive oil and basil topped with fresh grated parmesan………..

Even veggies I’m not crazy about look good enough to eat……..

  Then the old favorites…

 

 

 

Finally, fruits and flowers………

Hope you have a lovely weekend.  I will be painting.  But, I have a post in mind that I hope I can manage while something is drying.  It’s funny, so I hope I get to it…………TTFN!

WAITING FOR WHAT YOU REALLY WANT

For some years, now, I’ve been looking for some outdoor furniture. Some very specific furniture. I’ve seen knock offs and cheap imitations and I’ve seen EXACTLY WHAT I WANTED at a little restaurant in Pacific Grove. They smartly chained the table and chairs to the building……..or I might have made a midnight foray.

A few months ago, there was an article in our local newspaper (and boy, do I use that term lightly!) with a photo of EXACTLY WHAT I WANT and a link. Of course, when you actually clicked on the link you were informed that these items were, SOLD OUT.

So, I bookmarked the link and kept checking. Not every day, but several times per week. I was rewarded early this week by seeing that chairs were available – no mention of tables but there was a customer service email address. So, I shot off a quick inquiry as to the status of the table. I heard back this morning that they had tables, “in limited availability,” and that you had to call this 800 number to place an order. I thought about it for a couple of hours and then picked up the phone. A very nice man named Jeff in New York was very helpful and about the middle of next week, we should have a table and 4 chairs direct from France by way of NYC. Here’s the link:

http://www.newyorkfirst.com/gifts/7188.html

I was amused that these classically French items were sold as “Bryant Park Chairs” because some guy who redesigned Bryant Park in NYC used them all over the park. Expensive damn park furniture! Call them what you will, I’m very glad to actually have them on their way to my house tomorrow. Not this weekend, but next, I’m going to sit with the Saturday and Sunday Chronicle and my cup of drinking chocolate and leisurely read the paper on the patio and try not to think about what they cost.

CORRECTION:  After taking a closer look at the calendar, I see that I will actually NOT be lolling around in these chairs reading the Chronicle in two weekends.  We will be celebrating Husband’s birthday in Moss Beach here.

nice.

ON THE CHOOSING OF SONS-IN-LAW

Do not misunderstand. This is important work. It is important that you rear your girls with an eye toward choosing a useful mate. Oh, they think it’s important that their eventual partners should be handsome and have other characteristics that are attractive both to themselves and to society at large. And, to a certain extent, this is true. But, let’s face it, the important thing to consider is skill. What, exactly, can this person actually DO for your parents?

Case in point:  a little after 9pm last night, C arrived home from work, flounced into the house and announced it was hot and why hadn’t someone turned on the attic fan?  I invited her to do just that and she disappeared down the hall.  I heard the unmistakable roar of the fan and then C arrived back in the living room holding the chain that is the switch for the fan.

Let’s review.  After 9pm.  Roaring fan with no way to turn it off other than by breaker.  I remove the facing (the part with the little baffles that open when the fan is turned on) and peer into the attic at assorted electrical gadgets and whirring fan blades.  There is a hole in the bottom of a small metal box, made conspicuous by the missing chain.  It is clear that this is not going to be a quick fix.  I scoot the ladder back and open the door to the attic hoping to find a plug or something equally straightforward – whereupon I am immediately covered by blowing insulation.  Quick – shut that trap door!  It has become clear that there is only one course of action remaining.  Who you gonna call?  DAVID!

David, the long suffering, never complaining, son-in-law who can and cheerfully does FIX ANYTHING.  He is an award winning (as in trips to Germany) BMW technician, plumber, carpenter, electrician and anything else you can think of that needs fixing, fixer.  He has more patience than God.  He comes in his little red truck and hangs chandeliers, ceiling fans, puts copper pipes under the house, works on your car, whatever you ask of him.

He also has vital knowledge at his fingertips, such as which is the “live” wire! He mounts the ladder and also peers into the attic, but unlike me, knows EXACTLY what to do.  Opens up the little metal box, pokes around and pulls out a little circular switch (that’s supposed to have a chain hanging out of it) and thinks briefly about opening the switch box.  There are the tiniest of little screws holding it together – I actually can’t see them, they are just pinpricks of reflected light.  Then, decides, nope.  Reaches into his back pocket AND PULLS OUT A BRAND NEW SWITCH!  I am not making this up.  He cuts and strips some wires, attaches them to the new switch, attaches the old chain to the new switch with a little piece of chain hanging out and reconnects everything.  Et voila!  The fan is fixed right up in less than an hour.  He looks into the attic and then offers to put a switch on the wall in the hall so this won’t happen again.  I tell him when he has absolutely NOTHING else to do, that would be something we might think about.  We force some cash on him and he goes off in his little red truck.

NOW, to be fair, David is not the only useful son-in-law we have.  James is a computer whiz and can fix all manner of electronic gizmos.  This has saved us on numerous occasions.  To be fair, A is pretty good at this, as well.  James also loads Husband’s IPod with books on CD.  He’s also as strong a Superman and can pick up damn near anything and, well, just move it where you want it to be.  And, then, there’s “the voice.” As in, the Voice of God.  He’s also promised to paint that fig painting for me if I can ever decide what I want as he’s a graduate of the Academy of Art in SF.

Son, Jason, can also do pretty much anything needed house or computer-wise but he’s in Portland, and so, the travel time is an issue.   

You may think this was written with some tongue in cheek.  And, you would be some correct.  But, seriously, if your girls are small yet………..you have time.  Plumber, mechanic, computer whiz, you get the idea.  Start indoctrinating now and your Golden Years will be the better for it.  Oh, and for those of you who are saying, Hey, what about a doctor or lawyer?  Yeah, they’re too busy making money to come over at bedtime and make the fan stop roaring.

SUNDAY IN THE PARK WITH….

All my kids and grandchildren!  Wow!  Since J&S moved to Portland, we don’t get to do this very often.  When we are all together, I always sit back and look at each of my 4 children and think, WOW.  They are each one of them smart, beautiful, articulate and mostly compassionate.  Each of them has had/or has their own struggles but they seem to be holding their own and even getting a little ahead.  It’s astonishing to have a grandson who will be 12 this year – we were at the park just a few steps from where his first birthday party was held.  We all stood in line for.ever. (except Husband) to ride the little steam train and the kids rode the carousel.  We had ice cream and snow cones and such – was a beautiful day – not too hot, nice breeze.  Grateful for days like these and hope there will be a lot more.

I have no photos but J will have some.  It’s very nice that her children have grown up very comfortable with a camera – she has some amazing photos of them that they will come to appreciate as they have their own children.  I had my camera but was pretty much just gazing at the faces I love and enjoying the simplicity of just being with them.

DELUSION

Expecting to find something that fits in Anthropologie.