One Potato, Two Potato

Our high school color guard hosted a tournament last weekend. One of the big money makers is the concession stand. They have developed a unique thing to sell -- baked potatoes! Volunteer families sign up to pick up a bag of potatoes, bake them, and race them piping hot to the school campus for the snack bar to sell. The deliveries are scheduled for throughout the day so there's always fresh hot taters to sell. Isn't that a great plan? Course we volunteered to lend a hand. Washed em, wrapped em and baked em: Can you believe the size of this one? (Don't even answer that, I KNEW you wouldn't believe me so I whipped out my trusty ruler) Since the house smelled so good, I had to bake some potatoes for myself later that afternoon. . By the way, just to confirm, potatoes are VEGETABLES, right? -- And vegetables are a GOOD THING, right? Why did the potato cross the road? He saw a fork up ahead. Why didn't the mother potato want her daughter to marry the famous newscaster? Because he was a commontater. Why wouldn't the reporter leave the mashed potatoes alone? He desperately wanted a scoop. What do you say to an angry 300-pound baked potato? Anything, just butter him up.

Captain Nemo's

Batiquitos Lagoon is a coastal wetland north of San Diego. It is one of the few remaining tidal wetlands on the southern California coast. Come on - do you want to join Lisa and I for a walk? The coastal fog was pretty thick -- don't you think it's a wonderfully mysterious addition? Makes it feel like the moors of Scotland! (Of course that's just a guess, the only place I've ever seen the moors of Scotland was on an old black and white Sherlock Holmes movie "the Hounds of Baskerville," but if it's been in the movies it must be real....right?) Seemed like everyone had their mind on food - this Great Egret was looking for some fresh fish and right about then, Lisa and I started thinking about where we might go for lunch..... Can you believe that this area was once scheduled to be developed into a theme park called "Captain Nemo's?" Thankfully, the city stepped in and classified it as a preserve. (Did you know that by the 1980's, 90% of California's coastal wetlands had already disappeared??) On our way back, we spotted this Wooly Bear caterpillar scurrying across the trail. (Now where would this poor little guy be, if this place had been plowed under and turned into Captain Nemo's? Sheesh.) "Don't blow it - good planets are hard to find." ~Quoted in Time

High Tea

I was so honored to be invited to a Tea Party in celebration of the 16th birthday of one of the sweetest young women you'd ever want to know! We gathered in a beautiful garden room at a historic, downtown hotel. That's the birthday girl - isn't she just beautiful? It was a pleasure taking pictures of her and her sweet friends. We enjoyed lots of yummy treats and lots of cups of tea.... I have to show you her gorgeous birthday cake- isn't it marvelous? (Fit for the princess she is, don't you think?) "There are few hours in life more agreeable than the hour dedicated to the ceremony known as afternoon tea." ~Henry James, The Portrait of a Lady

Daffodils

Julian is an adorable, old fashioned town in the mountains about an hour outside the city limits. The town is known for its apples and colorful trees in the fall and for its daffodils in the spring (and all year round for its apple pies!) Even their 150 year old cemetary is covered with blossoms! We spent a wonderful day walking around the town, enjoying the daffodils, doing a little shopping and eating a little lunch. "A house with daffodils in it is a house lit up, whether or no the sun be shining outside."~ A.A. Milne Daffodowndilly has come to town, in a yellow petticoat and a green gown.

Rather unique

Went geocaching with Wendy. Let me know if you are getting sick of hearing about hiking and geocaching, okay? And if you are sick of it, I'm not sure what I'd take pictures of instead.....the dust on my coffee table? Me loading the dishwasher? I don't really do anything interesting besides geocaching...... Thought you might like to tag along with us. See if you can find the geocache. (If you don't remember what a geocache is, click HERE.) I'll start by giving you the big picture -- tell me how many photos it takes for you to find the treasure! Here's the first shot. Where would you go to look first? Did you spot it? How about in this one? Okay, let's move in a little closer: NOW DO YOU SEE IT? I tell you - I just about jumped out of my skin when I spotted this rubber snake in that shadowy crevice! There are several species of rattlesnake that call San Diego home, so whenever we're around rocks and boulders we are on high alert (cuz that's where they like to live.) This guy scared the bejezzus out of us! The log sheet that we had to sign was in a tiny tube wedged inside his rubbery skin -honestly, it gave me the creeps just to pick up that rubber snake to access the log. Geocachers are a fun group of people and you just never know when someone might have a little fun at your expense. Happy treaSssssssssssssure hunting!

The Melting Pot

I just HAVE TO show you where my boys (my hubby and son - not the poodles) took me for a special birthday dinner! We had so much fun! We ordered one of their four course meals (come on, now- NO ONE diets on their birthday!) The fun started with a 3 cheese fondue. The waiter brought the ingredients to the table and prepared it right in front of us. (I think this is a bonus gift for women-seeing a man having to cook dinner!) Matt just about had a heart attack when he saw sundried tomatoes and pesto being stirred into that melted cheese, but fortunately it was delish! **By the way, can I stop for a second and apologize for these photos? I only brought my point n shoot camera so I couldn't control the lighting. All these photos are either full flash (which looks way to stark and garish) or no flash (which looks too dim.) I really wanted to show you pictures of this special dinner so I took the pictures anyway, so you're just going to have to deal with it. I'll make it up to you another day. Okay - back to that cheese fondue: Are you with me here?.....fresh hunks of french bread, apple pieces and fresh vegies dipped in melted cheese....? YUM-O! After the cheese course, we each had a nice salad. (You know the kind of salad that has sugared nuts, cheese, croutons and avocado in a raspberry vinegrette?-- the kind of salad that is definitely NOT low calorie? Ya, that's the kind of salad we had.) Then came the main course. The waiter brought a new fondue pot and cleaned up the one or two cheese trails that stretched across the table...ahem.... Matt ordered filet mignon and Mike and I shared a platter for two with lobster, shrimp, chicken, steak, and ravioli. Of course it also came with mushrooms, vegies and potatoes. The waiter also brought 8 different sauces to dip into. It was fun to try them all, but my favorites were the blue cheese sauce and the curry sauce. (He also brought a slotted spoon for, in his words, "search and rescue." Hee hee) Each item was supposed to cook in the boiling coq au vin sauce for 2 minutes. It was a great way to slow down the pace of dinner and really enjoy the company. Now our meal would just NOT have been complete without a bite of dessert right? Right? Their menu lists 10 or so different varieties of chocolate fondue -- it took me less than one second to choose the chocolate peanut butter. So in comes ANOTHER fondue pot with that warm, yummy, melty, chocolate peanut butter. And alongside that, came THIS: WOW, huh? I mean how decadent can you get??? Dipping cheesecake into melted chocolate???? Holy cow, it was good! And how about strawberries and bananas and brownies and pound cake and marshmallows and rice krispie treats......let's face it folks -- EVERYTHING is delicious when dipped into chocolate! WOW what a memorable birthday I had......almost makes me forget how old I am. ALMOST My boys.......I'm so thankful that God gave them to me! Hope your next birthday is just as special! May you live all the days of your life.- Jonathan Swift

Signs of Spring

Around here the signs of spring are all over the place! Our apple tree is in full bloom: There are wildflowers along the trails: . The poppies are popping (oops, we've already talked about that.) And BEST OF ALL I've been receiving lots of birthday surprises! YAY! In addition to that beautiful bouquet, Matt gave me a super cool balloon. Not only is it big and colorful and cute - it plays "Happy Birthday" if you tap it! Tomorrow I'm going to show you where my boys took me for a special birthday dinner -- a VERY unique place. (Won't that be SO exciting? I bet you'll hardly be able to sleep tonight!) A birthday is just the first day of another 365-day journey around the sun. Enjoy the trip. ~Author Unknown Growing old is mandatory; growing up is optional. ~Chili Davis

Coffee!

Perfect way to start a morning, huh? Nothin like that first steaming cuppa coffee! Some friends recommended I try Dunkin Donut brand coffee. They went on and on about how great the taste was. SO I picked up a bag of Dunkin Donut Coffee and set up a blind taste test for the presidents (and of course their spouses Grammy and Uncle Richard joined in the fun.) We compared Dunkin Donut coffee to my usual coffee, Kirkland Columbian Coffee. They carefully compared Aroma, Appearance and Taste And guess what? Kirkland Coffee won!

Hands down, no contest! Everyone felt that the Dunkin Donut coffee was bland and flavorless compared to its rival. So -- yay for costco's coffee! (Note: in case you were wondering, YES I stood on a ladder to take that photo of the presidents - in fact the reason they are having such a great time is because they were laughing at me.....ahhhh the things one does for one's ART...) :P "Coffee is the best thing to douse the sunrise with." ~Drew Sirtors "Chocolate, men, coffee - some things are better rich." ~Author Unknown "Coffee smells like freshly ground heaven." ~Jessi Lane Adams "Everybody should believe in something. I believe I'll have another coffee." ~Author Unknown

I've been tagged

There are two entries for today, Monday, March 23!!! Fun Note: I have been tagged by my blogging friend BloomingPink She challenged me to post the 6th picture in the 6th folder in my picture files. (I had to open my photo folder, open the 6th folder of photos, select the 6th picture and then post the picture on my blog with a description.) So - here it is: And since it's all part of the story, here's the next photo too: We were at Lake Arrowhead playing in the snow. Mike was being silly since he knew I was taking pictures. So he set himself up for a "FALL" -- How would you rate his acting? Good? Or maybe a little over done? Thanks for the fun tag! Keep reading if you haven't seen the other entry for today on the Japanese Friendship Garden.

日本庭園 (Nihon teien)

"Japanese Garden" On the last day of our Bed, Breakfast and Blog vacation, we visited the Japanese Friendship Garden at Balboa Park. After a tasty lunch in the tea pavillion, we strolled through the beautiful gardens. Everything was carefully tended, beautifully trimmed and covered with blooms. Japanese gardens often contain these elements: Water Rocks A lantern A teahouse or pavilion. An enclosure device such as a hedge A bridge to an island The fountains were simple and peaceful. The koi were enjoying their lunch Wouldn't it be wonderful to have a tree like this in your backyard? Just breathtaking! Can you spot the little lizard enjoying the views? "Sumeba miyako" Meaning: "Wherever you live, you come to love it."