Wednesday, June 21, 2006

HAPPY HAPPY STORY

Jennifer Sandoval and Dan Price

Once upon a time, a mother met a princess. The princess was kind and thoughtful and loved to study the Bible and invited the mother to join a Bible Study. Over the course of time, the mother and the princess became friends and shared tea, dinners, conversations, prayers and family outings. Then the princess moved to a faraway land and the mother missed her. When the mother's son, a soldier, visited the faraway land, he sought out the princess. Struck by her beauty and grace, the son asked for her phone number and the princess willingly gave it to him.

Read this blog in the future to find out the rest of the story.

Hadrian's Wall


Hadrian's Wall was built by the Roman Emperor Hadrian to hold back the barbarians (Scottish) from invading Roman Britain. Much of the wall has disappeared but sections are still intact and excavations are ongoing. We walked several miles of the trail along the Wall.

Mile Markers were built to mark guard posts.


At one point you can actually walk on top of Hadrian's Wall. This is my favorite photo. I enlarged it, framed it and hung it in my living room. It looks like a trail in Middle Earth. I expected to meet Frodo and Sam or a company of dwarves or at least get a glimpse of elves traveling to the sea.

Tuesday, June 20, 2006

Mid Summer's Day


June 21, 2004
10pm
Haltwhistle, Northumberland
England
55 degrees North latitude
I took this picture in the twilight on Mid Summer's Day. Still light enough to take a photo without a flash.
I spent the day with Dan at his apartment again and helped him put together his "I Love Me" notebook of military orders, promotions and citations. I am constantly amazed and so very proud of my Chaplain Dan when I see how he is respected in his chosen profession.
John spent the day reading a Perry Mason novel and waiting for our car to have repairs.
Then we went to dinner at Olive Garden with Dan and a friend. We do enjoy being included in our children's lives. What a joy and privilege.

Sunday, June 18, 2006

Memories

Two years ago this month John and I were in England. Enjoy my memories with me.

Bath



My fascination with doors...


Bath Abbey


Happy Father's Day

Today, June 18, is Father's Day. As a father of four, John usually scores visits from at least some offspring each year. Today the boys have it! Mia is in Oregon helping Cori get married and Deb didn't come down with Jeff this weekend. Jeff surprised us by arriving at Starbuck's for morning coffee and going to church with us. Mike joined us at the house for a bbq hamburger lunch.

My four guys! Aren't they handsome?
My men know how to do parallel play . Two sudoku and one crossword puzzle while eating their ice cream and cookies.




All that was missing (besides the girls) was Tim. We missed him today and look forward to his safe return from Iraq.

Monday, June 12, 2006

A HIGH TIME AND LAVENDER FIELDS FOREVER

Angel the Cat loves catnip and I grow some in a pot for her and her cousins Touchy and Hobbs in Visalia. They like to take a sniff once in a while. Angel ate some fresh catnip this morning--it can't be good for her. She's in a corner somewhere sleeping it off.

Ummm, please turn your head sideways to view the drying catnip. I'm working on my photo upload learning curve.



I LOVE LAVENDER!




It is amazing how much lavender one can grow in an inner city courtyard garden. I have four plants in the ground and four in pots. Three of the plants do not produce lavender worthy of drying but the other five have bloomed their little hearts out this spring. I have eight bunches of lavender drying in the house right now and the plants are still covered with budding stalks. A swarm of ants got into one of the bunches and I had to put it outdoors. I have never heard of ants liking lavender; I didn't realized that there is anything ant-edible in lavender. Weird, huh?

We are off now to REGISTER for wedding gifts, visit the stationers and look at a reception site. I think an hour in Target is about all either Mia or I will be able to handle. I am easily overwhelmed by any store and I think the housewares and bath sections have a particularly strong effect on me. I'm sure I'll need fortifying with coffee and then with dinner before Precepts.

Sunday, June 11, 2006

A Cold in the Garden

I have a (almost) summer cold. When I woke up Friday morning with a sore throat, I wondered. And wouldn't you know it? The sore throat progressed quickly to sneezing and coughing and nose running. On my first day of summer break, I felt yucky and ended up taking a nap in the afternoon.

So. I didn't go to church this morning because I didn't sleep well* and because I didn't want to spread my germs everywhere. I am sad because John and Dan were team teaching the adult Sunday School class today.

I decided to spend some time in the cloud/sun in the courtyard. I repotted and fertilized the three tomato plants, the basil and the Temple Flame bouggainvillea. Then I moved the plants to the shady side of the courtyard in anticipation of being out of town for a wedding in a couple of weeks, to make it easier for someone to water and to keep the pots from drying out too much if that someone forgets to water. Then I watered everything and washed down the two courtyards. A lovely way to spend a pleasant convalescing Sunday morning. Except for...

the slugs. I hate slugs. I think that they must be on the very bottom of the food chain. I cannot see any reason for their existence except to annoy me. When I see a slug, I kill it. My usual method of disposal is as follows:

ME upon seeing the slug(s): Little Slug, do you want to see God?
Little Slug: Yes!
ME: OK, let me help you!

Then I either stomp on it or cut it in half with a stone or garden tool.

Tammy asked John the other day whether he is concerned that I talk to the slugs, but I figure if it's a problem I'll just have to go to therapy.

Today, however, I found so many slugs under the pots that stomping and cutting were too slow. So, against my better judgment (for humane reasons and for concern over my garden environment) I used the -- (scary music) -- salt shaker --(more scary music). I quit counting oozing slugs after 20. And, no, I don't feel like a guilty murderer. Because I hate slugs and refuse to coexist with them in my garden. They can have the wilds of Northern CA and the Pacific Northwest, but not my garden.

*I sort of fell asleep for a while to the sounds of the dueling bands in the neighborhood. Two groups with distinctly different music tastes (loud, bass thumping vs. mariachi) cranked up their speakers to see who could annoy the most people. It was a tie. But once I woke up from an extra loud series of songs sung off key by progressively more drunken soloists, I couldn't go back to sleep until after 3am when the partyers had all passed out. Noisy nights are among the most annoying parts of inner city living.

Saturday, June 10, 2006

Knitting Slump

Being unmotivated to do any knitting right now, I decided to post two of my most recent swatches for TKGA Level III.
This is a slip stitch pattern in two colors. I really like to make this stitch. I first saw it in a stocking cap pattern in Homemade Handknit and made several caps for the men in the family.


Brioche stitch is a new one for me. I had fun learning this pattern. It results in a fluffy, soft knit that would be perfect for a baby blanket.


On the garden front, I have picked a few very small roses from my David Austen Mayflower bush. I'm not sure why the blooms are so small. They look like miniature roses. No stinting on the fragrance, though.

John cut the grass so after 4pm I'll water all my little pots. The three heirloom tomatoes are coming along nicely. The basil is growing slowly. This week I cut four bunches of lavender to dry and I'm only half finished gathering the stalks. The bouggainvillea needs a serious trim as do the lantana. That's a task for next week.

June Gloom is here and I like it. I enjoy "early morning fog and low cloudiness giving way to sunshine later in the day." I don't like cold and I don't like hot.

Friday, June 09, 2006

Roses

I am messing around with my learning curve on uploading photos.



This is actually a rose photo I took at Kew Gardens in London in June 2004. I spent a lot of time and a full roll of film in the rose garden.

We enjoyed our trip to England so much and I regularly go back and look at the album I made. John likes to take my photos and make jigsaw puzzles from them with his brainsbreaker program.

Thursday, June 08, 2006

A Picture!

This is my first uploaded photo!

In our courtyard we have the most amazing bougainvillea that I planted three years ago. It has been seriously pruned but came back this spring and is over the wall into the neighbor's courtyard.


I will be sorry to leave this beauty when we move.

Thursday, June 01, 2006

Who are you?

Which Jane Austen Character are You? (For Females) Long Quiz!!!created with QuizFarm.com

Presenting...

Willow as---

Emma Woodhouse
69%
Elizabeth Bennet
63%

in the Jane Austen characters quiz!

Thanks, Sereknitty, for a fun quiz.