Finding Inspiration

No, I haven't fallen off the face of the earth...(wonder where that phrase came from??). I've just been busy reacquainting myself with home. Not even going to go into that, actually. Except to say that it really is good to be home.

The twins were here this past weekend, too. We had a ton of fun. I can't believe how they've changed since last November...they're two-year-old bundles of energy.

They LOVE the lake and wanted to run around outside. So their dad and "Poppa" trotted dutifully behind them to make sure they didn't fall in. It was nippy out there and I opted to stay indoors.

We baked cookies, the twins and I. Chocolate chip cookies from the recipe off the Nestle Toll House Morsels package. That's a great recipe.

I measured out each ingredient and divided them into two little bowls so that each twin could help. They stood on chairs on one side of the peninsula in the kitchen and I stood on the other side with the mixing bowl and electric mixer. First I beat the butter and sugar and then had the twins add the rest of the ingredients - each taking a turn at dumping whatever it was into the mixing bowl. They were fascinated and took their jobs very seriously.

I turned the oven light on and they sat on little stools to watch the magic happen. Then we ate the cookies, of course. And they took a bag of them home.

All in all a very rewarding weekend. By the way, that's a picture of the cloud bank that moved over the lake and brought chilly temperatures. It looked better "in person".

A Square Foot Garden and A New York Skyline

It's been eleven days since we arrived in Kansas and two since we left Kansas and settled back here at Lake Mary. I have to admit that, although we had a fun-filled winter on our long road trip, it's good to be home.

Just a couple of shots of the projects we worked on while we were at MJ's house. She wants to grow some veggies this year but didn't have a clue as to how to get anything at all to grow in the awful clay that passes for soil in Kansas. It's surely not that bad all over the state but where she lives it's not exactly a gardener's paradise - ha!

Jack created two raised beds for her. Normally, you'd either dig up the grass or spray it with a weed-killer before you fill the beds with good garden soil. Digging up the grass was a problem because (a) it's miserable to dig in that clay and (b) we just didn't feel like it :-). Spraying was a problem because you have to wait until the grass dies which can take a couple of weeks (at which point the chemicals aren't a problem) and we didn't have a couple of weeks.

So we solved the problem by laying down newspaper on top of the grass and then a layer of biodegradable weed block fabric on top of that. The top photo show one bed with the grass and the back bed already prepared with the newspaper and fabric. The second photo, of course, was taken after the soil and peat moss were added.

The second project took shape in eight-year-old CR's bedroom. It is such a cool room! Very industrial looking with a modern black wrought-iron loft bed with a desk area beneath the bed. The room lends itself to this perfectly because the ceiling soars to ten feet! MJ painted one wall a deep purple and the others are gray with silver brushed on over the gray. There are accents of hot pink. Very sharp!

There is a ledge above the closet and CR wanted me to create a city skyline up on it that she can see when she's up in her loft bed. And that's exactly what we did! I used foam-core board, cut out several so that we could layer them. Then we painted them with spray paint...dark gray for the front, silver for the center buildings and a light mauve for the farthest.

The moon is a light that MJ got somewhere...it has a remote control so that you can turn it off and on and also change it to the different phases of the moon. That is, you could do that if you had the remote...which is apparently lost somewhere in the house. Hopefully, it will be found.

After leaving Kansas we headed for Nebraska for a week. Had a terrific time with the four grandkids there...went to the world-class Henry Doorly zoo in Omaha one day. After I sort through the photos there might be one or two I can post.

Stay tuned...

From Mendocino to Kansas City

Driving through the redwoods in California

Donner Lake, California

The Interstate Highway in Utah

We left our assignment in Mendocino County on Sunday, April 5th and drove through the Redwoods for one last time. It was very scenic all the way to Reno, Nevada, actually. We went over the Donner Pass in California and stopped so I could take a photo or two of Donner Lake. Then we drove to a little town in Nevada where we spent the night in a less than pleasant hotel room. It was clean but it was old and uninviting after ten hours on the road. But it was also cheap ($49.00) and since we weren't there for anything other than to spend the night, it was tolerable.

Day two was an extremely long and boring drive through Utah. See above photo. Not exactly scenic. And...this is a fact...periodically there were series of signs along the road warning about "driving while drowzy"! I'm not kidding...there were actual signs warning about stopping periodically if you felt drowzy! That's scary, don't you think?

The next night we drove to Fort Collins, Colorado and, since Jack had reserved a room over the internet for the extra special rate of...you guessed it...$49.00...we were not expecting much. Turns out it really was an extra special rate! Lovely room. Spacious and clean with a flat screen television and high speed internet.

Tuesday evening we arrived in Kansas. Happy to be here and having a lovely time with the grandkids. We'll be here until Sunday when we head up to Nebraska for a few days...then on home.

I'll be sorting through all the photos I've taken over the past month or so and will be posting a few here and there.

Easter in on Sunday and I wish you all a wonderful day full of goodies and grace. Here's a little Easter poem for you:

"I think of the garden after the rain;

And hope to my heart comes singing,

"At morn the cherry-blooms will be white,

And the Easter bells be ringing!"

Edna Dean Procter, Easter Bells

Druid Cemetary ???

Point Arena Lighthouse

A Very Clever Fence!!

Well, I only have time to post a couple of pictures...have to finish packing up and loading the car since we're heading out tomorrow morning. We'll drive about 10 hours, I think before stop for the night.

I have no idea what the Druid cemetary fence is all about...we were driving back from our day out and I made Jack stop so I could get that shot. Very curious.

The fence is on the Navarro Ridge Road - I love it! A clever idea.

Mendocino County is so full of wonderful sights and places to visit. This housesitting assignment was excellent. Perhaps we'll be back!

NOTE: If you were among those who noticed my faux pas on the photo of the musical instruments, you'll be happy to see that I corrected the caption!