Grandparenting....it's the BEST!!

Nativity Wallhanging - FINISHED!

Better late than never! Now to get to some of my other UFO's. (UnFinishedObjects)

From this....

To this!

Ten on Ten for February

Lunch for Lynda's birthday (far right) with Dorene & Sharron

My new purple purse.....LOVE IT!

Walked through the yard looking at new growth on Hellebores

Pesky Moles!! Dave caught one yesterday. A BIG one!

The deer love to eat the red twig dogwood. Would love to alternate the red twig with some yellow twig dogwood (Cornus sericea 'Flaviramea.) It would be gorgemundous, but the deer would just have more to eat!

Holly trees are a noxious weed! The seeds are carried and 'dropped' by the birds and we have loads of these that we have to pull out every spring/summer. English holly is OK, but there is an ongoing controversy with holly growers over whether holly trees should be considered invasive and if commercial growers can get an exemption from laws prohibiting this species. Glad I don't have that to deal with!

Beautiful sunny day yesterday and today and no golf. Looks like it is a go for tomorrow at Foster. Yahoo! Oh, IF my knee will cooperate with all the walking. I will be taking my Ibuprofen!

I only have ONE MORE square to embroider for my Christmas wall hanging. I thought I would get it done by Christmas, but here it is February and I am still fiddling with it!

See. I have to cut a few of the embroidered designs, embroider that one last piece, stitch them all together with the borders, and then sew the binding and backing on and quilt. My stack of projects is piled high.

My latest business endeavor. Love, love, love this stuff!

A. Lincoln

Kyle and Kari gave Dave & me this thick autobiography of Abraham Lincoln for our birthdays (one week apart) and I brought it with us to Acapulco to read. I really had hoped to finish the book...all 796 pages of this extra large paperback....before we returned home. WRONG! I got about half way into it and I have to say it requires more 'thoughtful' reading than a novel so I overestimated how quickly I could read it! I have really enjoyed this book and found myself many times stopping to tell Dave or Chip something new that I learned. I feel like I now know A. Lincoln. Oh, and the reason the book is named A. Lincoln is that it is how Mr. Lincoln referred to himself.

So, I highly recommend this book! And in reality the last 120 pages or so are notes and the index so don't be intimidated by the size. Besides for those of you who shudder at so many words....there are photos sprinkled throughout for your entertainment.

Thanks Kyle & Kari!

Kookaburra sits on an old gum tree.....

We are home from a one week vacation to Acapulco, thanks to Dave's cousin, Chip, for inviting us! But wait, aren't kookaburra's from Australia, you ask? Well, of course they are! Yet, here in Acapulco, Mexico, we had an expensive dinner at Kookaburra's restaurant and they had 3 of these big birds in a cage.

Isn't he cute!

Chip, Pris, Bob, Me, Dave, Janet, Vonda and Dave

Very pricey dinner, bottled water of course, FABULOUS VIEW with NO glass window to look through! The view was really spectacular when the sun was setting.

We saw 12 of these traveling in a row the opposite direction from us and ALL had their semi-automatic rifles drawn! Just a bit unnerving. The drug wars are a concern and evidently there was an election happening in a couple of days and that might be why they were out in force.

This is part of the view from our deck. 

And here is the view to the left.

This is another view from our deck of the huge pool and the smaller (and warmer) one up and on the right side.

We ate many of our meals at this poolside restaurant. Food was OK but expensive. Must be because of the location. Tourism is down in Mexico because of the drug killings, so maybe they should think about lowering some prices!

This is the town of Puerto Marquez. Shops on the left and eating spots on the right, opening to the beach.

Five of us went for a 5 hour sightseeing, swimming, fishing adventure in this boat, with local fellow, Victor, as our guide.

Torre Blanca is where we stayed. We were in the right tower, with the best views! To the left is the town of Puerto Marquez.

We were lucky in that we saw whales breeching the water and dolphins swimming next to our boat. That usually doesn't happen when Victor takes people out, so we felt very fortunate!

We saw all sorts of houses and condominiums built in precarious places. Good thing they don't have lots of earthquakes in Acapulco!

Here are those crazy cliff divers!

Doesn't this look inviting?

All in all, it was a wonderfully relaxing week!

New Year Floral Centerpiece

This morning was our monthly garden club meeting and I was in charge of our luncheon and also made the food table centerpiece. I meant to take photos of Nam Kim's wonderful Korean centerpieces for the member tables but didn't have time to do that before we adjourned. I thought it would be fitting to remind each of us that we are beginning a new year, hence my theme! I had fun making it and took cuttings from my yard and purchased a bouquet of flowers from Safeway to incorporate into the design. Yellow food coloring in water kind of looks like champagne.By the way, the champagne glass is available from Michael's Crafts and it is BIG!

January 2011 Ten on Ten

I thought it would be a good day to meet Shauna and her girls at the Children's Museum at Factoria Mall. Who thought to check and see whether it was open on Mondays? Not either one of us, so after Saben, Annika and I found out it was closed, we waited for Shauna and her girls to show up, and they wanted to know....

"What are we going to do now?"

Ready, Set, Go......It's time to work off some energy.

"Why run when we can crawl?"

"What museum? This is fun."

 

"I'm pooped!"

 Grandpa and Saben flying around Vietnam where Mommy & Daddy are visiting.

Chocolate (Nutella) on her Ciabatta roll...Oh dear....what will mommy say?

 Life is a puzzle sometimes especially for princesses....

 Looks like the Ducks are headed for a "quack-up" in that yellow footwear!

 Fingerless Gloves. My latest EASY knitting project.

Mini Shauna

 Jill, you were right! How did you remember that Shauna was dressed in the same blue dress for the OLD family photo we have hanging in the hall?! It seems pretty clear looking at the two pictures together that Hailey is really her mother's daughter! Although Shauna has brown eyes and Hailey's eyes are blue.

What a trip down memory lane it is to look at such an old photo of Dave's side of the family. Guess I should scan the other half of the family! Can you tell that photo is from 1981? The family has grown quite a bit since then!!

 

 

Look at Jason's goofy smile!