Celebrating December

I always have such great intentions of posting more her at Willow's Cottage.  And then the week flies by and it's Friday again.  So here I am with the one tradition I manage to keep-- Friday Fave Fives with Susanne.  Click on the link to see what other people are thankful for and blessed with this week.  Here are mine:

1.  Between the rain storms, we managed to get in two great walks. Since Friday was #optoutside day, we chose to walk around Ventura Harbor.  Ocean. Sand. Seagulls. Boats.  Is there a better way to spend the day after Thanksgiving?

 harbor entrance

so many boats!

2.  Then on Monday, The Professor volunteered his time to light a concert.  So I spent the time he was hanging lights and doing whatever it is he does to create that amazing ambience to walk all around the perimeter of the university.  It's a beautiful campus, having been renovated from an old state hospital done in mission style architecture. (and only 1 mile from the Pacific Ocean!)

 a view of the campus from above on the hill with the water tank

looking east through the palm trees to the hills that surround the campus

3.  The concert!  Channel Islands Community Chorale which also includes students from the university sang two concerts on the weekend.  We attended both--Sunday afternoon and Monday evening.  The Professor wanted to hear the concert before he did the lighting.  I have friends who sing in the chorale, so it was a double blessing for me to hear them sing Mozart and Rachmaninoff as well as numerous contemporary composers.

4.  I love Christmas!  I've started doing a little bit of decorating.  First:  advent wreath and candles.  This week is Hope!

5.  We joined several people from a current and former Bible study group for a Christmas dinner.  A few years ago, the group was so large that we split in to two groups.  But we still get together for a holiday celebration every year.  It was great to see these long time friends again.

I think that December is mostly about celebrating.  Celebrating places and people and beauty.  And anticipating Christmas!

Settling in to Summer

FRIDAY FAVE FIVES

Although we are still experiencing June Gloom most days here in Coastal Southern California, it is obviously SUMMER.

Thank you to all of you who expressed concern and care for me last week.  I am feeling much better and the bruising and swelling are nearly gone.  Although I still have lots of stitches in my gums, I almost feel 'normal'.

1.  It's those longer evenings when we walk and it's still light out.

2.  BIRTHDAY!  The Professor celebrated a milestone birthday.  Remembering how their mother gave each child a penny per year per week for allowances, The Professor's sister presented him with the appropriate number of pennies to celebrate.

3.  He chose dinner.  Persian cuisine.  Oh yum!

No photos because, well, we ate it.

4.  I am finished with one summer project.  I decided that I wanted to knit down my stash of two different yarns that had been building up in my yarn drawers.  Lots and lots of hats.

Adult hats

Kid sized hats

Now I have plenty of hats to sell at the various venues where I'll be spinning this autumn.

4.And this is how much of one kind of yarn--the remnants fit into a quart sized baggie.

5.   This retired thing means that we do most of our errands together.  That means library, grocery store, some meetings, and one final trip to the university.

The Professor waited a couple of weeks to access some files he wanted to finish and save because other people were using the particular computers he needed (don't ask me; it was all Greek to me)

While he was in his office, I wandered outside to enjoy the beauty of the campus.

Before this property was a state university, it was a state mental hospital.  The original buildings were built in California Mission style and the university has chosen to keep as many buildings as possible and renovate them.  It's a stunningly beautiful place! He will miss teaching there (but not the grading!).

Bonus:  As we head into the Fourth of July weekend, I am thankful for the liberties I have as an American.  I do not say that lightly.  The freedom I experience is not really a right but a privilege.

Do you have plans for the holiday?

Changing Seasons

Counting down the days now until we were in full school routine mode.  This semester, for once, The Professor will have the same teaching hours every day.  I won't have to carry his schedule around in my pocket to know whether I can call him.  My days will be the same again this year as last.  Work at home Monday and Tuesday,  teach in two different cities Wednesday and Thursday.  This week we cherished our last days of 'freedom' even as we prepared for the months ahead.  These are my Friday Fave Fives for this week before our lives abruptly shift gears again.

1.  We attended the annual faculty dinner sponsored by the university library staff.  It's a gentle way to return to the academic year.  As always, dinner was served buffet style in one of the hidden courtyards at the back of the library.  And as always, we dipped fruit bits into the chocolate fountain and chatted with other faculty families.

2.  That man of mine knows how to take care of me.  One morning this week I woke to an empty house since he was already out the door.  I was covered with an extra blankie cuz he knows I get cold.  When I wandered stumbled into the kitchen, there was a hot latte waiting for me.  Yeah, he takes good care of me.

3.  I braved the LA freeways one day to visit a friend.  It's always a fave when I'm NOT stuck in traffic down there for hours.

4.  Have you heard of this restaurant?  Le Pain Quotidien.  When you have lunch there on the patio under the umbrellas and the flower baskets sway a bit in the breeze and taste that wonderful bread and scrumptious soup, you feel like you just might be in France, not Manhattan Beach.

5.  I know I mention it often, but I *heart* my local farmers market.  Every Saturday, 50 weeks a year, 8am-12:30pm.  The best fruit.  The best hummus and pita chips.  The best organic cucumbers.  Lettuce. Bok choy.  Kale.  Green beans.   Broccoli.  I could go on and on.  And on.  That farmers market is a weekly blessing.

Is your schedule changing?  I hope you find the blessings in each changing week and season.

More Spring And Lots of Love

It seems that this year I can't get enough Spring.  Everywhere I look, I find more flowers.  I hope you enjoy them as much as I do even if you won't be seeing green for a few more months.  Remember, in October, while most of North America will be experiencing beautiful crisp fall weather, we will be dealing with the dry, hot, burning winds and the brown dead shriveled up vegetation which characterizes a Southern California autumn.  Allow me to revel in the green while I can.

1.  On Saturday, The Professor had to be at the university for meetings regarding the upcoming performance for which he is doing the lighting tech design.  I tagged along.  My first stop was the library to look for a book in the children's library section (they didn't have it).  While I waited, I sat in the sunshine and corrected papers.

The view from the front entrance

Then when he was finished, we decided to take our Saturday walk around the campus which includes a small residential community called University Glen.  The weather was perfect for walking--light jacket wearing weather and the sun was shining.

Looking back toward University Glen

Native flora blooming because it rained in January

The busy bees are happy

Our first pussy willows 

I was surprised to see that the giant coreopsis is blooming.  A quick check through my photo files shows that  other years it has bloomed in March.

2.  A beach walk with these little guys for company.  They weren't much interested in me since their entire attention was taken with playing tag with the waves.

3.  I am not a big Valentine's Day fan because both of my parents passed away in the days before the fourteenth.  But this year I chose to focus not on the sadness that Valentine's week brings to me but on the blessings I can associate with the day.  The most important one is that Valentine's Day is the birthday of my wonderful daughter-in-law.  She is a jewel and my son is definitely blessed.  Wishing her a Happy Birthday makes the sad thoughts disappear.

4.  I have the most adorable students!  They often come in to class carrying little gifts.  Cupcakes, candies and even flowers.  But the best are the notes that accompany the pressies.  My favorite was written by a very quiet student who struggles with writing.  In her note, she assured me that she is learning a lot about those paragraphs :)

5.  Of course the best Valentine's gift is my husband.  I do adore him.  I appreciate that he works hard and takes on extra jobs to bring in a bit more financial security.  He makes me a latte every morning.  He helps with the laundry and cleaning.  He cooks.  Love that man not just for what he does but mostly for who he is.

Knitting Bonus:  six hats knitted this week to be added to the growing pile of goodies which will be for sale at a boutique in March.

Onward we go into Spring!  Let's look for the blessings in each week, each season.  Linking to Susanne's Friday Fave Fives.  (note: my laptop is literally, physically falling apart--long story involving a little accident a year ago-- so if I am not present much right now online, that's the reason.  I think I'm getting a new one soon)

Whimsical Windows, Delirious Doors #20

Is this a ceiling?  Are they skylights? Windows?

Whatever they are, they let in light, and they are awesome!

Very high up above the heads of the students using the computers in the California State University, Channel Islands library, the colorful flags of many countries hang from wires, backlighted by the skylights/windows/ceiling.

Linking to WWDD at Toby's blog.

Whimsical Windows, Delirious Doors #11

A bit closer to home, this building is located on the campus of California State University, Channel Islands where my husband teaches.

Typical Southern California mission architecture with institutional windows.

Linking to Whimsical Windows, Delirious Doors

The Quiet Week

It was a quiet week here at Willow's Cottage.  Most of the noise came from the covey of quail which have been scurrying around on our back hill, most likely searching for dropped seeds.  One other fun bit of noise came from my computer one evening when our son skyped us again from Indonesia.  We were able to 'see' the view of the green green hills which surround the neighborhood where he is living and even hear the tropical birds chirping.  With her usual perfect timing, our MamaMia phoned so she was able to say hi to her brother from her cell phone to my cell phone to my laptop to his laptop.  Don't you just LOVE technology??

Anyway, as I was saying, our mostly quiet week was still filled with joyful and satisfying things.  I look for these little examples of joy to share in Friday Fave Five.  This little exercise helps me to be watchful and grateful for the blessings of my week.  Susanne hosts this EVERY FRIDAY.  That takes a lot of dedication on her part and I truly do appreciate her taking the lead on this each week.

1.  Every year, on the Thursday before classes begin at Cal State Univ Channel Islands, the lovely people who work in the library host a faculty and families back to school reception in one of the university library's courtyards.  Every year, The Professor and I happily attend and spend a couple of pleasant hours eating wonderful catered dishes, drinking excellent wine, and dipping strawberries, bananas and chocolate chip cookies into the chocolate fountain while we chat with the other faculty and families.

2.  After that rather filling dinner, we strolled around the library lawn and the rest of the campus.  Because the university is nestled in the Santa Monica Mountains near where they descend to the Pacific Ocean, it is natural that most of the grounds are planted with California natives.

I love the bunch grasses! (Well, yes, this one is bluish, but yes, I did doctor the color just a little bit.  But wouldn't it be wonderful if it really were that blue?)

3.  On Saturday, we loaded up our bikes and drove to Ventura and rode the bike/walkway along the beachfront.  It was a perfect day for a bike ride.  Cloudy but not cold.  Breezy but not too windy.

Past Surfers Point

Beyond the pier all the way to the  harbor.

And back.

4.  I've been crocheting.  I had some skeins of leftover wool from a project I knitted for my master knitter certification.  In my quest to use up my yarn stash this year, I decided to see how large an afghan I could make with the four colors-pink, purple, green and cream.  Forty-two squares.  Each 4 1/4 inches across.  A 6 x 7 square design.  Without the edging, the afghan will be 'about' 26 inches by 30 inches.  Not very large, but it will still be 'lap-size'.

5.  My neighbor, who is also my friend, had never been to our little indie coffee shop in town.  So on Tuesday morning we dropped in there for coffee and the best biscotti I have ever tasted!  We agreed that this little shop is the perfect place to meet up every week for a little study session.  Oh, the coffee's great, too.

That was Willow's Week.  I spent the rest of my hours sitting here in the cottage planning lessons which happily are mostly finished. 

How was yours?

Addendum:  Shortly after posting this, I somehow, I really am not sure how, I fell (tripped, stumbled, was a complete clutz?) and severely sprained my right ankle.  It looks like next week will be another Quiet Week around here.