Granada's Garden Tour

We all met at GHFC and listened to the expert talk about planting succulents. His cute assistant kept the photo slides going on the screen. Phillip answered questions, was funny and remembered people's names. :-)

Then Abby and Philip put together 3 pots of succulents to give away as door prizes.

My friends, Mary & Pati, whom I teach with, went together with me from house to house visiting gardens and being inspired. Look at the cool baskets in this yard! The homeowner has a garden business called "The Blessed Gardener." She sells these and puts flowers in for people with black thumbs. We also dropped in on Mary Taylor. She graciously showed us around her lovely home and beautiful backyard. After visiting yards, we had a delicious lunch at The California Grill.

Here are P & A in their little oasis they've created in the backyard next door to Robin & David's house. It's full of potted succulents, bamboo, ferns & other lush plants.

This is the wall next to the bathroom wall. The large pot is a fountain to help drown out the traffic noises. Haven't they done a wonderful job?

A Long, Fun Weekend in San Diego (Marriott Coronado Island), Flower Fields in Carlsbad, CA, USS Midway

The Windmill Hotel &and restaurant in the background

We stayed on Coronado Island at our favorite place, the Marriott. We walked back and forth on the boardwalk to dinners, and to take the ferry to the USS Midway. It is an aircraft carrier which is now a museum.

On the flight deck are many types of planes, old and new, that have been used by the Navy.

This is a group of statues honoring all the different groups of service people who Bob Hope entertained during his USO tours. It is built next to the USS Midway.

A 25 foot statue of the famous black and white photo taken after WWII ended.

We stopped at the Madd Potter in Carlsbad. We love their fountain pots, and would like to get one.

Here I am inside the "Artists' Garden" at "The Flower Fields" in Carlsbad.

We got to enjoy 50 acres of Tecolote Giant Ranuculas.

The flowers are grown to harvest the bulbs. They get 6-8 million bulbs a year to sell!

Here we are back on the USS Midway. Kirk is standing on the "horn." It served as a low point on which the catapults would snap against when a plane would take off.

We climbed 4 VERY steep ladders to arrive up on the 07 deck. This is the bridge where the captain guided the ship.

Cool shot, huh?

Here I am in an ejector seat.

The pilot trainer plane

Kirk's wide angle view of the aircraft carrier.
It was in use for 47 years-from Vietnam War through the Gulf War.

Here I am back by our room on the bay. That is the Coronado Bridge behind me.

This is the view from our villa. We were given an upgrade!

We ate our breakfasts each morning on our patio. What a relaxing time!
We also went to the outlet mall in San Ysidro. The parking lot butts up to the wall between US and Mexico. We are SO fortunate to be Americans!

Coronado on Dwellable

Happy Resurrection Day!

Here are David, Jerry & Kirk practicing with the BB gun.

Here are all of the "Easter-egg Hunters" showing off their loot.

Fred Taylor (Abby's dad), Jerry, Mom & Dad. Kirk & I sat with them to eat our ham dinner. Everyone brought delicious side dishes & desserts!

Robin, David, Gretchen, Chris, Jane (from Taiwan) & Mina. Anders was taking his nap, so Gretchen & Chris had a relaxing meal :-)

Heather, Jeff, Natalie (from Malta), Luke, Philip, Abby & Jessica Taylor.
(Sorry Jeff & Philip for the bad pic)

In our Easter duds

We are so grateful for our family & friends. On this Easter Day, we paused to thank Jesus for his sacrificial death and resurrection, so we too can be resurrected! Hallelujah!
He is Risen!

Serve Day at Granada

In January, Philip & Abby joined the Trustees committee at GHFC. They volunteered to be in charge of completely gutting and redoing the garden area between the sanctuary and the church offices. For the last month, they have spent Fridays (since Philip only works 4 days a week due to declining work) and Saturdays on it. Philip drew the plans for the area. They took out a truck load of dirt, put in new drainage, sprinklers, put in electrical lines, poured cement pads outside the office doors, drilled a hole in a rock to make a fountain, etc. Today was the day for the rest of us to help put the plants in the ground. Here are a few pictures.

Here's Kirk with his post-hole digger putting in Rosemary plants. It was a wonderful treat for Kirk to work under Philip's direction. Included in the plantings are 2 dwarf citrus trees- Kirk's favorite!

Here Philip is showing people how to gently get the plants out of the plastic pots.

It's so neat to see Abby come alongside Philip and help him with this project. :-)
They have worked hard on it together from the beginning.

Here's Abby planting Mondo grass.
They are also going to add 2 Crepe Myrtle trees and Kefir Lilies (sp?) & Camellias in the shady areas. Two fountains are going to be installed as well.
It should be beautiful!

31st Anniversary

Kirk took me to Le Vie en Rose French restaurant in Brea for our 31st Anniversary! It was a leisurely and delicious dinner. For dessert (my 3rd dessert so far this year) I had a fruit custard in graham cracker and chocolate crust. Kirk had a chocolate souffle that was really yummy! He held my hand & told me how much he appreciated me. :-) What a lovely evening!
Here is the picture we took with the camera on a timer before we left.

Purim Finger Puppets

The characters from left to right:
King Xeres, Queen Vashti with her mirror, Mordecai, Bad Haman and Queen Esther.

Aren't these a scream? The women's Bible study that I am in, is studying the book of Esther with the Beth Moore workbook and DVD's. It is an excellent study! I'm learning a lot of new things about the story.
Well, on Tuesday, I went with some of our 8th grade students to visit the Museum of Tolerance in LA. It's much like the Holocaust Museum in Washington DC. Because it's a Jewish museum, they had a lovely display about Purim (since it began on Tuesday). I couldn't resist buying these finger puppets.
The Jews celebrate the Feast of Purim every spring to commemorate God's deliverance of the Jews through Queen Esther. On the card the puppets came on, is a brief synopsis of each character. For Queen Vashti, they say that she refused to go before King Xeres because she had grown a tail and had pimples! I've sure never seen that part in the Bible story! :-)
I will save these in my "Grandma Box" for future story telling opportunities.

Mom's 81st Birthday Gathering

The party was at Robin & David's.
Then we all went over to Philip & Abby's to see their new lamp.
Philip proudly displaying his bonsai that he created at the Huntington Library & Gardens with Mina and Terry Taylor

Luke & Philip by Philip's new Craftsman style lamp that he & Abby got for a bargain!

Enjoying the birthday cake and tea

Mom made her own cake (carrot cake with ginger & apricots) because she had more time than Robin did. Robin & David had
Anders for 3 days, so Robin made the delicious lemon sauce and creamy topping. Yum!

3 of the grandkids (before Luke arrived)