Palm Springs

This year for the first time, I accompanied Steve to his company's annual sales meeting. The meeting was in Palm Springs, CA. We landed in Palm Springs on a beautiful Sunday afternoon. As we walked through the airport we noticed how clean and fresh the air was, like being outdoors. Then we looked up and saw that we were actually outside! After a short drive to the hotel we spent the afternoon by the pool, it had rained recently and the water was too cool for me but it was nice to be poolside with the sun shining down on us.

We later wandered the hotel's golf course.

Dinner was an informal affair. We opted to sit around the fire on the back patio, while looking out at the golf course.

Monday morning meant that Steve had to work. So off I went with some friends. The Palm Springs Tram proved interesting. The tram took us 8500ft up the San Jacinto Mountain to the beautiful forest above.

The top of the mountain was wooded and green, the air was clean and cool. Very different from the desert below. We enjoyed a short hike, lunch and a trip to the souvenir shop. Back at the hotel it was time for reading and relaxing on the balcony and then dinner. Dinner was an 'informal' affair. The front of the hotel was converted into an outside restaurant with an amazing assortment of food.

The next two days, Steve worked while I explored the area and hung at the pool. The last evening was a formal affair with Steve in a tux and me in my 'little black dress'.

The sales conference was an incredible event. We spent four days meeting new people and  catching up with some that I met back in the CS&S days.

On Thursday, we spent the day in Joshua Tree National Park. The park is the convergence of two types of deserts. The high desert is greener and full of granite. The low desert is brown and flat. We were fortunate to be there about a week after a rainstorm and were able to see some green in the low desert.

On the way to the park we passed the windmills. I had seen them before (back in the CS&S days) about 17 years ago and was amazed then. Now the numbers have grown and therefore they are even more amazing. They line both sides of the road and back on the side road on the way to the park.

Joshua Tree

High Desert

Joshua tree                        Dandilion

Granite Outcropping

 San Andreas Fault

The fault can be seen running horizontally through the middle of the picture. The ridge is higher on the far side because the plates are pushing against each other and lifting the earth. I never imagined that you could actually see the famous San Andreas Fault. We were glad it was quiet that day!

Low Desert

As you can see from the number of pictures we enjoyed the high desert much more than low desert. The rock formations were amazing. The granite looked as though it had just been dropped from the sky. They hadn't though, they were actually pushing up through the softer rock. The park was a great experience and an amazing exploration into an ecosystem very different from ours.

Friday morning had us up very early for our trip back home. This is a picture of our walk to the gate after having checked our luggage. Those trees are outside, just as we were. What a great place to spend the winter!

We got home in time to meet CJ off the school bus. While it was a great trip, it was hard to be away from CJ for so long. He did great without us, but was happy to have us home.

Soooo Big!

Tonight when Casey, the dog, came by to visit with Tucker I grabbed my jacket and quick put on a pair of shoes. No big deal or so I thought. I had on my thick winter socks and the shoes I stuck my feet into were loose. The shoes I threw on, belong to CJ!!!

From 'sooo big' to too big in the blink of an eye!'

Clam Boy

These pictures are from our trip to San Francisco last summer. We tell the story of CJ and his big bowl of clams often. Somehow the story never made it to the blog, until now. On our second day in SanFran we spent the day wandering Muir Woods and the Presidio. For dinner we decided to try a restaurant that had been recommended by a few people back home. CJ ordered the clams and the waiter was very skeptical. He figured that there was no way the mere child would eat an adult portion of clams. When the clams arrived we also were skeptical.

That's a big bowl of clams!

That's a lot of empty clam shells.

 

The bowl wasn't completely empty but for a kid of just 11 years, that is some impressive shellfish eating!

Pumpkin Time

On a beautiful Saturday afternoon we headed out to find the perfect pumpkins for our Halloween pumpkin carving.

Our first find was not a pumpkin but a cornstalk horse.

OK, where are those pumpkins?

Which one to choose?

Let's sit and think a moment.

I like this one, now if only I could get it to the cart!

The sunflower says - 5 feet tall!!!

Check back later for the jack o'lantern pictures.

Cello Day

This is CJ's second year at Cello Day.

This year we made it back in time to see the performance.

The teacher had some fun with the kids and in turn the kids had fun.

We are thinking this looks really natural and maybe guitar lessons are next on the list!

What's for Dinner?

It was supposed to be chicken and spagetti squash,

but he doesn't look like he wants to be chopped in half and put into the oven.

It took me another day before I got the courage to stick a knife in angry squash dude and it was worth the wait.  

After a bit of time in the oven he still looks a little scary or maybe even scarier.

The end result is nothing but yummy!

Preparing for the cooler weather

The heat of summer has finally left us.It is time to start thinking about cool nights and warm fires.

Steve and CJ spent some time in the woods working on their lumberjack skills.

That annoying cherry tree we had taken down so very long ago makes for some sweet smelling fires!

Thanks for the Cupcake

CJ enjoys a Buckeye Cupcake.

We will have to take him at his word when he says that it was yummy.
There was not even a crumb left for us to taste!

Meet Hazel

Hazel found me while I was shopping one Sunday afternoon.
She is a very safety conscious witch who insisted on a safety belt for the ride home.
Since arriving at our house she has been keeping an eye on all of us, making sure we are on our best behavior.
I am beginning to think she is the Emily Post of the witch world.
Her hair is always done and her legs are always crossed daintily at the ankles.
She would have made TT proud. Not that TT shared my love of witches but she would have made an exception for this beautiful lady!

A Very Happy Birthday

 A little bit ago I had a birthday and it was a most perfect birthday.

The day began with a code for free shipping from Lands End sent to me by my mom.

Then I found a mound of presents on the kitchen table.

With those presents was a wonderful card from CJ that made me smile, tear up and laugh.

The astrick at the bottom of the card leads to the back where CJ states

"in the whole wide world without exceptions. Anyone claiming otherwise will have to admit to being wrong. No Exceptions!"

He is becoming quite a character.

He makes me proud to be his mom.

Then on the way to work, Rosilita was playing.

On the way home it was Badlands.

Yes, I was listening to the all Bruce all the time station but this musical arrangement was like the stars aligning, rare and priceless.

Steve came home from work with flowers and a carrot cake from our favorite bakery.

Yummy.

Thanks for a great birthday.

46 is shaping up to be twice as good as 23!

A Buckeye At Last?

It's Saturday afternoon. I have just watched the Buckeye game. I am wearing a Buckeye shirt. I am no longer skittish about tornadoes. I am a Buckeye.

It was the lack of worry about tornadoes that clued me into my Buckeye-ness. This past Thursday we were looking forward to some rain. This summer was very unBuckeye like in that it was hot and dry, so when rain was forecast for Thursday I was excited. The grass is so dry that it hurts to walk on, okay maybe the acorns have something to do with that, but the lawn is brown. There are parts of town, just up the road that have green lawns, they have gotten rain. Last Saturday it rained a little here and down the road at the Buckeye game(yep, watched that one too) it poured. So Thursday afternoon when CJ tells me that the tornado sirens are going off, I mention that when we first moved here I would go to the basement whenever the word tornado was mentioned! We turned on the TV to find that the county just a couple of miles south was under a tornado warning and then a few minutes later we were too. Still it seemed silly to go to the basement, it wasn't raining. OK, it was raining out front but not out back. Weird. Even when the rain made it to the backyard I still was totally calm and never considered the basement. The rain lasted about .5 hour and it got a little windy. It was wonderful to enjoy the smell of a summer rain, I have missed that this year. The weatherman on TV mentioned that of our high schools, just up the road, had roof damage. And a friend was at CJ's school, just across the road, and said that she had hail and the rain was coming down so hard she couldn't see. Still not worried, the weather at home was fine.

Today, I wonder if I should have been worried or if it's just that I am now a Midwesterner. We took the dogs, Pia is visiting again, to the mountain bike trail for a morning romp in the woods. As we headed down the trail there was this oak branch laying across the way. Because it had the largest acorns I had ever seen we gave it a closer look. Where did the branch come from? There were maple trees all around but no oaks. Curious. Later we saw more branches down. On the way home we took the road that the high school is on and saw lots of trees down. At the high school there was a crane beside the building and roofing supplies on the roof. That was quite a storm, I thought to myself. When we got home, I opened the newspaper and right there on the front page was a listing of the tornadoes from the storm and one was at the high school, just up the road! Maybe I should have been worried, maybe I will go to the basement next time! Or maybe I am a Buckeye.

Dan & Swati Came to Town

Due to the passing of Uncle George we got to see Dan and Swati much sooner than expected. They came in to spend a quick weekend with us, much like the weekend we spent in Philly. While Friday was spent with funeral activities, Saturday was a day of fun.

Dan, Swati and I ran some errands. We got a new bolt for Steve's car, not exciting. Went to the Eddie Bauer Warehouse, exciting. And most important for both Dan's belly and Swati's boss, a trip to John Eagle Candies for what Dan has decided are the best buckeyes ever. Swati's boss is an OSU grad and she couldn't to back to work on Monday unless she had something Buckeye to bring back!

After our errands Steve washed the cars. How did we end up looking like Buckeye fans, I guess this is our true home now that we have the right color combo for our vehicles!!!!

CJ showed Dan his swords.

Swati had fun in the sun.

I napped.

Dickens had a photo shoot.

Then we all went to Cap City Diner for dinner.

And then to Jeni's for ice cream. There are no pics of the ice cream since we were too busy eating for pictures. Our flavors were, berry lavender, black coffee, buckeye, backyard mint, salty caramel and almond brittle. Yummy!!!

And now time to spoil the pets.

It was a great visit under some unfortunate circumstances.