Morro Bay Kite Festival

Cambria Pines & 50th Birthday Gift Idea

Ahhhh...Cambria Pines Lodge

I have been to Cambria Pines Lodge many times and this time was extra-special because the gardens were just lovely. From blooming wisteria to enchanting birdhouses to adorable 'flower beds', Cambria Pines is a delight, not to mention the wonderful food.

I was invited to celebrate a friend's 50th birthday last weekend and couldn't figure out what to get him for a present. The crafter in me took over and I came up with the idea to find some 60's candies and decorate a container to put them in. Finding the candy was less of a challenge than I thought it would be. My local Rite-Aid had some of the old favorites like Abba Zabba, Big Hunk (gotta put at least one in a guy's gift) and Sugar Daddy's. To my surprise, I found a ton of 60's candies at World Market - they even had Bubble Up and Nesbitt Orange Soda to round out the gift.

For a container, I went to my local hardware store and bought a white bucket for a couple of dollars, printed off some 'groovy' images on my computer and to make it even more interesting I searched on the internet for interesting facts from 1960 plus I printed the baby and high school pictures from the party invitation and put those center stage on the bucket. I used double-sided tape to adhere all of the images and info on the bucket.

The party was down in my old stomping grounds of Los Alamos - I wish I'd taken my camera because it was a gorgeous day, the setting was beautiful with majestic oaks and we even had a surprise visitor - a gopher kept poking his head up from a hole and he was even eating grass we hand fed him.

Make it a groovy day!

Joan

Free National Park Admission

Get out! National parks to hold fee-free week

To make it easier to experience America's Great Outdoors, the National Park Service is waiving entrance fees, so visitors can enjoy all 392 national parks for free April 17-25.

Gather up your family and friends and get out and explore America!

Wildflower Photo Contest

Wow! I'm honored. I submitted my Morro Bay in Yellow photo to a contest sponsored by my local TV station. The photo appeared on the news tonight. Vote for your favorite at: http://ksby.upickem.net/engine/Votes.aspx?PageType=VOTING&contestid=15669

Morro Bay

These pictures were taken on my walk yesterday!!! Beautiful day! Beautiful wildflowers along the cliffs!

How to Make a Personal Invitation

I believe that an invitation sets the tone for an entire event so I wanted to create an invitation for my recent dinner party that gave a sneak-peek into the upcoming evening but not give it away.

I scanned part of the bandanna I was going to use for the centerpiece into my computer and used Word to make the invitation. Super simple, simple cheap! I used the same idea for my high school reunion announcements - I scanned in our yearbook cover!!!

Cute Egg Recipes

Here are some great ideas for what to do with all those hard-boiled eggs...Check out these cute projects at http://www.makehealthyfun.blogspot.com/

http://makehealthyfun.blogspot.com/2009/12/how-to-make-yummy-monster-egg-alien.html

Dinner Party

Good Eats


Smores Cupcakes were featured at my dinner party!!!

Friday night was my turn to cook dinner for seven very diverse people from my Newcomers Club Just Good Eats group. Every month, we meet at a different person's home and they fix us the entire dinner while the 'others' chat, eat appetizers and relax.

I LOVE anything BBQ'd, so I started with a recipe I've had for years for bbq ribs and it went into a kind of Texas BBQ dinner.

The appetizers were Texas Caviar (quite the hit and healthy too!), veggies, salsa and chips.

Then came the main dinner - the ribs were slow-cooked in the oven for hours and basted every half hour with a honey Dijon mustard glaze then finally bbq sauce for the last half hour. The rest of the meal was rounded out with Sweet Potato Hash that was a new recipe for me and quite good, cornbread with honey butter and Pinquito Beans. Then came dessert...Smores Cupcakes and they were YUMMY!!!

I made up favors for everyone - they were little smores kits including the skewer to roast the marshmallow...
Start with the basics...chocolate, graham crackers and marshmallows.

Place the ingredients in a zip-top plastic bag.

Put the skewer through the top of the plastic bag.

Tie on a raffia bow and they're ready to hand out.

I went simple this year...bandannas over a red tablecloth and then some very pretty red and white petunias as a centerpiece.

Harmony, California

Harmony is a cute little 'town' right off of Highway 1 between Cayucos and Cambria and our photography group decided it would be the perfect place for a field trip. So many diverse things to shoot...one person asked if there was a restaurant in town. That was a big 'nope'.

The population of Harmony Valley - 18 per one of the residents.

Rusty things...it's somehow in my blood.

Harmony Glasswork - beautiful works of glass art!

Hmmm...I wonder what this will be?

A garbage bin beside a workbench.

Door handle on the old truck in the Harmony sign photo.

There's also a winery (with signature cobalt blue bottles) and a pottery shop in Harmony, just be sure to gas-up and eat before you get here (FYI - porta-potties only).

Fess Parker

Fess Parker

I am so sad to hear of the passing of Fess Parker. Not only was I a faithful Daniel Boone watchers, but a few years ago, I was at Fess Parker's Red Lion Inn in Santa Barbara having brunch. I remember him coming to the table next to us and apologizing to the children there that he had taken their father away from them that day. Such a classy person. He will be missed!

My friend, Pattiewack, passed this article on to me: www.independent.com/news/2010/mar/18/fess-parker-dies/

The San Joaquin Valley

Fruit Basket to the World

I spent Saturday evening, night and next morning with my If Not Now, When? Girlfriend, Frances. On my way back to my parent's home, the views were incredible, so I drug my mom out to see the snow, blooming fruit trees and clear skies.

The San Joaquin Valley, where these pictures are taken, is /was called the fruit basket when I was a kid - The Valley supplies many, many fruits, vegetables, cotton, dairy, etc., etc., products all over the world.

It was definitely a pink day!

This picture was taken in the parking lot of a fruit processing / packing plant near Kingsburg - come summer, it will be a VERY bustling place taking yummy fruit to your table.

Trip to Lemoore, Again...

Invitation Time!!!

It was another trip to my hometown of Lemoore this weekend, but this time it was a friend weekend!!! I got together with Doug, Julie, Marie, Mike, Diane and Debbie and we folded, stuffed, licked and applied address labels to the over 200 invitations for our class reunion. Thanks for everyone's help!!! They are going in the mail tomorrow, so all my fellow classmates, be on the lookout for the invitations and get ready for THE BEST TIME EVER!!!

I scanned the front of our high school yearbook for the invitation.

They're ready for dropping off at the post office!!!

A creek in nearby Atascadero, on my way to Lemoore.