Although we didn’t hear the commotion, it was written over the face of the earth.
Beads were strung so beautifully.
What fun to notice the little things on my little morning stroll thru the garden.
Great things to report today:
These are a few of the things that made my day.
Blessings – Debbie
That’s what one tells them-self, when said person is a bit more than two weeks behind on the blog.
When one needs to keep calm, it never hurts to have an extra cup of coffee. So I did.
And with this post, I thought it would be nice to say a few blurbs of what’s been going on around here. Sprinkled with a smattering of photos, to keep things real.
Things like – Taking an image of our hard work, what a beautiful wood pile. The hubs did the chopping and I did the stacking. A great big cheers to having that job finished and we will celebrate with many a fire in the fire-pit in the coming days/years.
We started hiking the hood again.
I especially love hiking, just before sunset with the hubs.
I’m back to painting the walls in the house.
Do you know that Christmas music has filled the space in our home, going on 3 weeks? I admit, this is a first. I really don’t know what’s into me, but Christmas is in the air and I feel it. And I’m shopping for a new Christmas tree. I think I found just the one. This is not a non-sequitur people. It has everything to do with painting, as it truly filled the air with every brushstroke and roll of paint with the roller.
Below – A finished image of the family room. The paint color is Behr – Summer Bliss
Don’t mind the stuff on the window ledges, I didn’t have everything back in place when I took this image.
After painting a couple of days in the family room, I took a two-day rest. And I read for two days. The great news = I finished the book for my book club meeting this month.
Fry – Who knew goldfish/fish young were called fry? And that they hatch a brownish color? And they can take up to a year to develop color? And they can change color up until they have fully matured? I’m pretty jazzed with the little yellow and black guy who is changing color before our eyes. And it’s hard to believe that some of the little ones look pretty close to 3″ in size already. I knew none of the above going into this, but it’s a joy learning as we go…
And one day while sitting at the edge of the pond, the reflection begged to be captured.
Speaking of the pond – The fountain sprung a leak and water was seeping out (a little drop at a time). Thankful for a good pond guy who was able to repair the leak for us last week.
Speaking of repairs – The washing machine broke last Thursday.
The best load for the washer to break = the last load. The load you debate even throwing in the wash. You know, a few sweaters that would be nice to have fresh for our cool San Diego nights. I was feeling a bit smug (Thursday evening) to have all the clothes put away and the ironing all up to snuff.
And it’s still in need of some tender loving care. But I have hopes that the appliance man will have things under control tomorrow. Fingers crossed…
I have to put in a big plug-in for the St Louis Cardinals, the hubs hometown and team since childhood. The hubs predicted (before the playoff series) that they would nail it in 6, in honor of #6. What do you know, he was right on the money! We’re looking forward to our Cards in the World Series!
We helped our friends do a little moving down here from LA over the last two weekends. And we enjoyed a nice dinner with them last weekend.
Snapped this guy on one of my little outdoor garden jaunts.
The garden is one of my favorite places to relax.
Let there be birthday cake! Red velvet birthday cake. I whipped this guy up over the weekend.
Our daughter came for a visit (down from LA) and it was her birthday. I couldn’t think of any other cake to bake, than her favorite red velvet.
And I decorated her card with fingernail polish. It’s my new favorite way to decorate the envelope.
Twas a big celebration weekend of whining and dining.
I spent a bit of time in the garden this morning. Remember? One of my favorite ways to relax.
And shot several images.
And sipped on coffee.
And spent some time on the phone with my pop.
And I’ve been really good about staying out of the leftover ice cream. I call that a big accomplishment.
And I’m ever thankful we sent “ALL” the leftover cake with Kristy. Lord knows I would have a hard time staying out of that.
And I feel blessed getting this new week started off on the right foot.
Blessings – Debbie
So this sun dial resides in the backyard. It was left by the previous owners.
For fun, I thought it would be fun taking images of it at different angles.
While we have abundant sunshine, I don’t believe this will be the method of choice to tell time.
But it sure was fun to shoot.
It’s time to scavenge – while scavenging the backyard for things to shoot, I found this very old sunflower. Again, left behind. And I thought it was interesting enough to shoot.
It’s time for autumn to make an appearance – I spotted this leaf caught in the fountain. This image reminds me of autumn, even tho we don’t really see too much changing of the seasons in So Cal.
It’s time to get busy – A reminder we had errands This weekend. The hubs picked up this guy for the gardener. We hope it works like a charm and looking forward to making more improvements in the garden. Yep, were taking a few more trees out.
But the really exciting thing that happened over the weekend is this. I got my pumpkin muffin fix at Panera Bread.
And if I were to answer the question to the blog title, I would have to say “It’s time for pumpkin muffins!”
True Statement – I called 3 Panera Bread Companies in the surrounding area last weekend. I was desperate for their pumpkin muffin. Sad news, not one store had a P muffin left on the shelf. True, it was after 7pm Sunday evening. But that’s beside the point.
Yay to the hubs insisting we hit Panera Bread this weekend. And kudos that he insisted we get there in the morning, before the muffins sold out.
Whatever time it is for you, I wish for it to be a good time.
Blessings – Debbie
Paradise – The Bird of Paradise – Home, it’s our Paradise
However you think of paradise, it’s the peaceful place where we find beauty and happiness.
Tonight, after a lovely dinner date with the hubs, I made a mad dash into the house to grab the camera.
The sun had already set.
And there was just a tinge of light left.
And all I could see were these beautiful reminders of paradise scattered about the front yard.
So I set out to capture every angle possible.
And framed this guy in front of the cactus.
But this could be my favorite image of the night. It was shot in front of the kitchen window. And the warm light in the background is the light pouring from the kitchen.
And just like that, the day turned to night.
But I’ve already decided, I need to run back out in the evenings to come. As I find something magical this time of the day.
I’ll be back with more experimenting in the days to come.
Blessings – Debbie
I truly enjoyed my visit in the garden this morning, especially when I spotted a vine in the shape of infinity.
Love = Infinity – There are times we try to measure the amount of love we have for our loved ones. And statements like “I love you to the moon and back” and others put a measure on love. But I tend to think infinity is a much better way of viewing love. It just never ends.
I wasn’t super excited about the image, so I applied a filter in photoshop. I like it much better. Below is the same image but cropped a little tighter to show the detail.
I guess I was a little too preoccupied in the garden and Photoshop that I completely forgot the plan I made with my neighbor. So we rescheduled for next week.
And then the Koi Pond Co. came out for a visit. It appears we have a small leak in the fountain. Luckily it doesn’t seem to be too bad. And we should be all resealed and whole in the next couple of weeks.
That’s all for today folks!
Blessings – Debbie
Stop look and listen.
Make a plan.
Or pick up the phone and call a loved one. Or two. Or three. Or more…
Make a cup of coffee.
Take pictures in the garden.
And make a trip to The Home Depot. Because the hubs sent a picture of what he needed and asked if I could pick it up for him. Have you any idea how easy that task was?
I experienced all of the above this morning.
My little morning garden stroll started off with taking images of this cool ground cover.
For me, taking images with a shallow depth of field (subject in focus with everything else blurred) is like giving someone a book. They have to read the whole thing to gain knowledge. And like the images, for me, it’s like giving a little bit at a time as not to give it away at once.
Peace in the garden.
A pod from the jacaranda tree.
It’s where palm trees grow.
And the persimmon fruit is coming right along.
Then it was one of those mornings where I made a plan. And I spoke with my mom, dad and two brothers about that plan. It’s a rare day when I speak with my parents and siblings, all in a day. And from what I can tell, we should have a solid family plan. We’re all pretty excited about the plan, should be fun!
Sometimes you just gotta do whatever it is that needs doing. You’ll feel better when you follow thru, trust me.
Blessings – Debbie
A quick week in review, before I get too far behind.
Back to the weekend of September 7th.
The hubs and I did a little shopping for things around the house. And we worked a bit around the house as well.
One of the things on our shopping list, was a smoker (BBQ). We visited the grill store near us and checked out a number of smokers and gathered plenty of literature to help us pick the one to meet our needs/wants.
The hubs and I also worked a bit in the garden. The hubs chopped some wood and I got the easy job of stacking it.
This little guy grabbed my attention and I “had” to take a break and shoot him. What a Nice Weekend!
September 8th, we did a little star gazing at the Moon and Venus. Image shot from our home.
Twas a busy week, last week. Early in the week, I made a pot of bean soup. It turned out really good.
And the hubs came flying home on Tuesday the 10th. He said, “I just found our smoker!” He went on to say something like “I found a store (on Craigslist) in San Diego that is going out of business. They only have one Big Green Egg left. And it’s a bargain. And It’s just the size we want. And if I don’t go now, it’s not going to last.” And so he went and picked up the last brand spankin’ new egg in the store.
And the rest is history.
I can say that I was quite intimidated by this big guy. But excited to learn what it can do.
Brisket – The hubs called the butcher (Wednesday the 11th) and placed our brisket order, I picked it up Thursday, we put a Texas rub on it Friday morning (the hubs had Friday off) and here’s the hubs firing it up around 9 PM Friday night. He set the thermometer to ding if the temp got too high or low during the night.
This is a choice cut 12.5 pound full brisket (flat + point).
The brisket went into the Egg at exactly 9:55 PM Friday night. And oh what a busy (in and out of bed to check on the meat) night it turned out to be. Let’s not talk about that part, m’kay?
We had a little company arrive around noon (Saturday). It’s always fun sharing the excitement with others.
As the hubs reported “Parts of the brisket were tender. Other areas were tough. Clearly, I have a lot to learn. I get a C for this effort. Next time, I’ll do better.” And I report he was a little too hard on himself.
Then we put the tough parts into the crock pot and covered them with BBQ sauce. And they came out the most amazing, pull apart tender, sink your teeth into, goodness. What a yummy Sunday dinner!
I picked up my annual (small) bag of candy corn over the weekend. I love the Autumn Mix variety. There’s something about these little candies that take me back in time. And I love the autumn time travel each year.
I played with the camera, taking different angle shots of the pumpkin candy jar. Here we have the lid/stem of the pumpkin in focus.
Today I’m working on a little catch-up in the house. I’ll spare the detail, but know things are taking shape over here today.
Blessings – Debbie
Turns out, Labor Day weekend was all about labor around the house. And from what I can see, a lot of love and hard work went into making things happen.
We had 7 trees taken down. Three cedar trees – It was sad to see those beautiful trees go, but the root systems were too close to the pond. Two Brazilian pepper trees – It was also sad to see these amazing shade trees go, but the roots were a problem around the pond and house. One willow tree – The willow is my favorite tree of all time, again, the roots were a problem. And one other tree, I can’t remember the name of it, but it was in a place where we would like a path, so it had to go.
Yay for us, we kept the wood from the willow and cedar trees. Looking forward to that fire-pit one day!
And have you any idea how beautiful it smells of cedar outdoors? And the fresh mulch is plentiful.
And 3 old (very old) large stumps removed + another 4 stumps ground down on top of that. We’re not sure why the previous owners left these mammoth palm stumps or the other stumps, but they did. So the guys cut them down and the stump grinder got busy grinding out the rest of the stumps. Note: the clothesline in the right of the image was taken out over the weekend too. Can you see my happy grin?
We have plans for this area and we’re having a lot of fun tossing ideas around.
These guys were scattered about the lawn. Some were knocked down by all the commotion.
I found it interesting to take images of the chopped willow.
I read a book in a day over the weekend! That is a first for me, worthy to be noted. This is the book we voted on (last week) in the book club for the month of September. The first sentence captured my attention and could not put the book down until I had read from cover to cover.
Loved reading this on the Kindle.
Our neighbor brought over a mess of beans from their garden. What a fresh tasty treat!
We hired our old gardener from the first place we rented. It was a joy to see him again. He did amazing things around the house yesterday. And I felt pooped at the end of the day, just by observing the hard work he put in.
To break up all the work around the house over the weekend, we had a wonderful dinner out with friends Q, Julie and Phil. Outback was the place for dinner as Phil treated the first big chunk with gift cards. I had the yummy grilled chicken and veggies. And to top off our dinner, the hubs and I had our own private date at Cold Stone. The hubs had the founders favorite and I had the peanut butter cup perfection. So GOOD!
I know this is trailing my back to good health post. But allow me to say, we’re all in favor of sweet treats in moderation. And we were right back to eating healthy following that treat. And let me tell you, there is no regret.
Then today rolled around. I wasn’t ready for the hubs to go back to work. But Tuesday morning arrived. So off to work for the hubs. And it was off to work in the house for me. It was in need of a cleaning and I was just the gal for the job.
It’s good to see home sweet home taking shape. I think I’m ready for Labor Day Weekend, round #2!
Blessings – Debbie
Good Monday Afternoon! I don’t know about you, but the weekend seemed to go at record speeds.
I worked in the garden. The hubs worked in the garage. And when we came together at the end of the day, the hubs had both of our cars parked in the garage and he had all of his tools, workbench and such put in the 3rd car stall. And I had the fish pond all sparkly clean once again. The lily pads were cleared of all dead pads and any fallen leaves were cleaned out too. It was such a nice feeling of accomplishment.
But the most exciting part of our weekend was attending the annual neighbor block-party. All the neighbors (nearly 50 of us) gathered for hors d’ oeuvres, dinner, dessert and coffee. Our neighbor put on such a beautiful spread. All tables were covered with table cloths and dotted with pretty flower arrangements. It was another beautiful cool summer night to be outdoors, visit with neighbors and greet neighbors we had yet to meet. Torches were lit at dusk and we watched the sun set down over the mountains.
One neighbor mentioned that we need to get together on their patio one evening. And another neighbor said we should do dinner one evening. It’s a feel good feeling to be here.
I debated taking my camera to the party, I did. And since the party was held right across the street from our house, I thought I had ample time to get it should I decide to take pictures. As it turned out, as much as I wanted to take pictures, I was having a bit more fun. And decided not to bother this time. Next time…
In other news, autumn is running heavily thru my veins. And I’ve had the craving for the Starbucks pumpkin spice latte for the last three days.
This picture has nothing to do with this post. It’s just one of the images I shot in the garden after it was hit by the morning sprinklers.
Another early morning image from the garden.
Sigh, In the news about Jury Duty. This is my last week to report…I hope. I had to call in again last evening. Was told not to report at this time, but to call again on Monday August 26th. That’s today. It’s been one of those months where I wonder each day if I’m going to have to report the next day. Only time will tell.
I’m not sure how many followers I have. And not sure if any of you recall my search for good health. Well I’m still rockin’ it! And I plan to post in the near future, to talk about this journey I started back in June 2011. And where I am today. And what direction I’m going. And where I see health in the future.
Until next time…
Blessings – Debbie
Gardening has to be one of the best sources of gratification and exercise for me these days.
And trimming trees and getting a feel for the way we want to set up the garden brings hours of enjoyment and planning.
Each hill and valley gets a little TLC along the way. I’m trying to focus on one area at a time, such that I’m not overwhelmed with the entire project.
I worked on transplanting a few succulents this week. I’m particularly fond of this one, not sure what it’s called, but I potted several of these this week.
Gardening is an ongoing project. In fact, I just made a call to the local arborist this morning. Good things are sure to happen around here.
Happy Gardening and blessings to you this weekend.
Blessings – Debbie