Casting Shadows

Here are some of the shadows that were cast around my house yesterday late afternoon and this morning.

Stupid Stuff

Last week was an "off" week for me. (at least that is what I am telling myself!) I did a number of stupid things. Here are my top two:
The first was taking my camera to the alpaca farm. I was snapping a bunch of cute pictures of the family and the alpacas. I must have taken about twenty five or so. I didn't bother to look at them in the little screen on the camera. I would have had to remove my polarized sunglasses in the bright sunlight to see an image. Even then, it would have been hard to see the picture without zooming in or putting on my reading glasses. I snap a bunch of images as I don't want to miss some cute expression! Eventually I took a cute picture of one of the babies and I wanted to see it. No Cf card was what it said. Stupid me, I had left my Cf card at home. Yep, I missed a bunch of cute expressions! (I borrowed Megan's camera at the last minute to get the pictures I do have.)
The second was when I made bread on Friday. I was in the mood for baking. The dough was on the stove rising. I had blueberry muffins ready to go into the oven at about the same time when the bread had reached the end of the rising time. I peeked in the bowl only to find that it was the same height as when I first placed it in the bowl. Stupid me, I had forgotten the yeast. (We tried to use the unleavened dough for pizza. I wouldn't recommend it. We needed a chain saw to cut the pizza.)
Do you ever do stupid stuff and wonder where your brain was?

Sweater Weather

Sweater Weather is finally here! Which means to me: changing leaves, pumpkins, soups, hot tea, baking, Apple Hill, and eventually fire in the stove and the first rain. I love fall with all of that orange and red.

Sailing

Cold Season Cures

The babies were sick last weekend and so it goes without saying that we are in the midst of colds. After all who can resist kisses from those babies? At our house I always have hot spiced tea for colds, sore throats, sinus issues and just because it tastes good. The original recipe came to me by my home economics teacher in high school. I have tweaked the recipe to give it a little more oomph, as I do with almost any recipe.

 Hot Spiced Tea:
2 c. Tang
2 c. Lemonade Mix
3/4 c. Instant Tea (unsweetened)
1 1/2 t. cinnamon
1/2 t. ground cloves
Mix together and store in a tightly covered container. ( It kind of reminds me of sand art!)

Add 3 t. to a coffee mug of boiling water.

Now if you have a nasty cough that goes with your cold, add a splash of Spiced Rum or Hot Damn Liqueur to your hot spiced tea. Or just add it for fun! My favorite is the Hot Damn.

Enjoy!

Pumpkin Patch

I have my own little pumpkin patch in my house, with pumpkins in all sorts of shapes, sizes and materials.

Mommy and Me

Sometimes Mommies need to be reminded that the chaos and the craziness that little people bring to your life is what makes life more abundant. They are the best thing you have ever done. And you are doing a good job at being Mommies.

 Elizabeth with Eleanor and Audrey.

 Megan and Vivian

My Three Babies

 Miss Vivian, life of the party. She doesn't think she requires a nap. At 9 months, she is taking her first steps unassisted. She is not crazy about dogs. She can point and has a whole lot to say.

 Miss Audrey is 4 months old. She is the serious one. Loves her Papa and calms right down when he holds her. She still loves to be swaddled. She likes to watch the big girls at play. She is also working on rolling over.

Miss Eleanor at 22 months is a little sponge. Her vocabulary is growing by leaps and bounds. She can jump with both feet. She still loves being outdoors. She loves reading, cars and coming to Nana and Papa's house.

Alpacas

The kids came home this last weekend. While they are home, we try to find something fun to do. Our little town holds a lot of festivals every weekend it seems. This  weekend there was  an Alpaca Farm Festival. We decided it might be fun for the little people and interesting enough for the big people. We learned quite a bit about alpacas.

What sweet little faces they have.

Danny, Brad, Lil, Audrey, Meg and Vivian.

I swear this one looks like a former employee of mine!

Ellie was more interested in climbing the fences.

Miss Viv was hot and tired (no nap).

Just part of the herd, the one in the middle has dread locks.

Pie, Pie Me Oh My

Look what I found in my local grocery store: Gravenstein Apples! They are a baking apple, so I researched for a really good pie recipe and came across this one from All Recipes. 

http://allrecipes.com/recipe/apple-pie-by-grandma-ople/detail.aspx

I don't know who Grandma Ople is, but she has a really good recipe for apple pie. Martin stated 'it was the best apple pie he has had in his life'. I think it is a combination of the recipe with all that butter and sugar, and the type of apple used. Either way, you can bet there are more apple pies in my future!

Adventure, Final

My favorite pictures from the weekend adventure.

A Tangle of Dried Kelp

Find the heart shaped rock.

Ocean Spray

Sunset on another fabulous day.

Proof that the world looks better in Rose Colored Glasses! And now you know why I wear them!

Adventure, Part 2

Friday morning, we take our lawn chairs and set up them up on the beach for a day of watching the waves, the sea lion, and the sea gulls and pelicans. I never get bored doing this!

Adventure, Part 1

  I love a good adventure. While this one may have not been hazardous, it was exciting. We had decided to go camping at the coast in our Chevy Suburban. "What are you guys 18?" asked Megan. "Really?", asked Rachel. We chose the coast near Fort Bragg and Mendocino but made no reservations at any campground. We would be vagabonds (as Karen quipped)  from Thursday to Sunday. We had no agenda, just go, sit on the beach, watch the waves and decompress.

We packed up the 'burb',

And headed out of town.

We took Hwy 20, past this eagle's nest. This time I was ready with my camera.

With a quick fuel up and windshield wash in Yuba City we were on our way.

It is a slow drive by Clear Lake.

At Willits, turn left to stay on 20 and drive through

the Redwood forest.

Relaxing at our campsite in Navarro State Park.

The sunset on Thursday night.

Take a Little Trip

 On Sunday, we took a little trip on the motorcycle to Downieville, an old gold mining town north of us. It was a great Sunday drive on Hwy 49 with a lot of curves, not to mention it was shady and cooler.

The North Yuba River.

My driver!

It was refreshing as it looks.

I am a foot dipper. Any time there is a body of water, my feet must go in.