Ready For My New Painting

Amber has painted a picture for me to hang in the dining room. It is of a couple of pears - the picture is really big and is just the two pears on a twig with a couple of leaves. I got to see it when I was in Turlock for her graduation in June. It is so pretty - and just exactly what I wanted. I am so lucky to have such a talented and sweet daughter-in-law. Thank you so much Amber - I love it !!!I don't have the picture yet, because we decided to add a couple of smaller accent pictures to hang with it and she kept it to work on adding those to coordinate. I was lucky again in that my friend Katherine gave me a beautiful apothecary jar for my birthday and a pear (the largest jar and pear you see here)!! So, I then did some bargain shopping and found two more jars, one at a store going out of business and got it for 90% off !! and then found a third one at a yard sale and got it for 25 cents !!!! (I love bargains !). I also added a couple of more pears to the table centerpiece. I found the fabric on a sale rack and will finish it off to make a scarf for the table. So, I thought I'd just show how the table looks in anticipation of hanging my new paintings. I think it is going to all come together really nicely and am anxious to see the paintings hung. Thanks again Amber for starting all this - my dining room is going to look beautiful.

Haley and Ryan's Wedding Reception Prep

I have been having so much fun helping a friend get ready for her daughter's wedding reception on August 15. My friend, Tina and I work together at the Courts and are also friends at Church. Her oldest daughter, Haley, is getting married in the Oakland Temple to a wonderful guy she met while going to school at BYU in Provo, Utah. It has been a whirlwind romance for them and Tina is having to plan the wedding reception in just 3 months !! Following the wedding ceremony at the Oakland Temple, they will have a reception here and exchange rings. The reception will be outdoors at a friends home here in Lakeport. I've shown a couple of pictures of some of the things we will be using at the reception - I think Haley has chosen some really fun colors and everything is going to be just beautiful for them. This is just a sneak peek of what we will be using - I'll post later after the event and show how everything turned out....it is so exciting to be a part of this and I'm really glad that Tina and Haley are trusting me with this special day for Haley and Ryan. I got to meet Ryan a few weeks ago when he helped to drive Haley's car back from Provo and he spent a couple of nights in one of the spare rooms while I was away for the weekend. I'm glad he felt comfortable enough to do so and I look forward to seeing him again and getting to meet his family.

San Francisco Ferry Building Farmers Market

Last weekend I went with my good friend, Kathryn, and 2 of her other friends on a day trip into San Francisco to go to the Farmers Market. We went into the city on the ferry and right at the dock there at the Ferry Building is this huge farmers market. It has wonderful fruits and vegetables, yummy bakery items and there are other vendors selling prepared foods. We spent about 4 hours there and had a wonderful time. The day was just beautiful and there was a huge crowd at the ferry building. There is this one booth called "Valet Shopping" - it works like a hat check type thing. You just leave your bags with them and be free to shop around and not have to carry all your purchases. It is free of charge, but we didn't take advantage of that - we happened on it just as we were getting ready to leave - so it is something to keep in mind. That way you can shop early, getting the best choices on the produce, and not have to worry about them selling out of something you wanted. We enjoyed a lunch on the docks from one of the vendors selling fish tacos ! It reminded me of buying lunch from the street vendors in Puerto Vallarta! We picked that vendor because the line to purchase the tacos was super long - and you can always bet if everyone is willing to stand in a line to be served, the food must be good. It was amazing to see how many people were there shopping - you could tell that the most of them were locals to the city and they were doing their Saturday shopping. We also took a little walk thru the craft fair that was happening across the street at the Embarcadero - some of the artists are just amazingly talented (makes me wish Amber lived a little closer and could offer her paintings for sale). It was a really fun day and we look forward to going back again. You can see in the pictures, we enjoyed seeing all the beautiful produce and the many other items the vendors were selling.

Little Feathered Friends

Well, I wasn't a very good bird egg sitter !! I have been meaning to check on the eggs in the nest on my front porch....but never did until today. And, now, the nest is empty. You can't see in these pictures really very well, but the nest is completely empty now - not even a sign of a hatched egg. So, I don't know if the eggs hatched and the little birds went off into the world or if something happened to the eggs. I wish I would have kept up with them, but I was afraid to disturb the nest too much thinking that the little momma bird would be upset...hopefully all the eggs hatched and the little birds are out doing just fine !

John's July Visit

I had a nice visit with John earlier this month. He took a week off for the 4th of July and came to Lakeport - following a lot of training classes he has been traveling around for this year. Since he finished his year long training in Florida this past September, he has been all over the place in various classes -- including Arkansas, Louisiana, Nevada, California, North Carolina, Virginia, Arizona and even back to Florida. He doesn't typically get bored with his job !!
Luckily for him, when he was here several of his good friends were home from college. So, needless to say, between the friends and his going to Turlock to see Lee and Amber, I didn't get to see him a whole lot - but was glad to spend time with him when he was between engagements !
He managed to take the boat out a few times and went to 2 concerts at Konocti, so all in all with that and several breakfast, lunch and dinner dates with friends, I think he had a pretty good time at "home".
I'll get another visit with John when he comes back here in August - at that time, Milt will also be coming to visit. And with them both here, Lee and Amber will hopefully get a chance to come to Lakeport.