Bowling, anyone

Hello, Everyone,

It's a very warm Indian Summer Sunday late night, following a scorching hot day, complete with triple digit temps and the hot, Easterly winds we old time San Diegans call "Santa Ana's" .  I know it's a misnomer, but that's what we call them just the same.   I'm listening to cooling guitar music from the Restful Mind.  I feel great other than being a bit hot.  Life is good!

Dan stopped by the grand opening of a new Fresh and Easy grocery store this morning and won a $25 gift card.  Way to go, Dan.


I had a fun day.  I went to a lovely Buddhist meeting at Evelyn's house and then took her with me to have Thai food with the kids for my birthday at, you guessed it, Amarin Thai.   Aey was our server and she is very nice.  She made me a special plate of home-made tasting coconut ice cream with whipped cream and a birthday candle.  We sang and it was fun.  Thank you, Dare.

Then we went bowling, LOL. 

First time I've bowled in maybe 10 years.  Great fun.  Nate was so cute.  

He bowled pretty good for a kid, beating me.  His mom skunked all the rest of us.  She was in triple digits.  I bowled a 49.  With the kiddy bumpers up.   I actually did the comedy thing where the ball flies off your fingers backwards at the people in the sitting area, LOL.  I get the prize for world's worst score, but it was fun.


When it was time to go Nate was sad.  He was having a great time.

Well, we had a lot of silly fun at the bowling alley.  Thank you, Ambie.


Then, we had adventures.  When we went to leave the bowling alley, the car would not start.  There were some guys hanging out in front of the Bowling Alley who helped us push start the car - Thanks, Guys.


Then we drove to the nearby auto parts store, and Dare bought me a new battery. I really appreciate it.  Thank you.


Then the guy from the auto parts store installed it, while we sat in the shade and had cool drinks.  Thank you, Auto parts store Guy.


Then we took Dare home, then Evelyn, then home for us and a well earned nap.  All's well that ends well.


My friend Eri is expecting this winter, so I am knitting baby stuff.  I'll post pics when I get them done.  Baby stuff is so cute and so much fun to knit.  Especially for a winter baby.  Snugly little sweaters, darling booties and hats, etc.  When I finish blogging I'll get back to the cute baby sweater with a flower petal yoke I've been working on.


Lilo sez "hello" to her adoring fans, swishing back and forth, stroking my leg with her tail in a all her pristine whiteness.  She likes to help me blog and it's too hot to sleep anyway. 


Time to go and find an icy cold drink.  Dean Martin is playing now, "Ain't that a kick in the pants", so he must have suggested it to me, LOL.   With 3 maraschino cherries and maybe some gown-up beverage additions, LOL.  Hey, Dan, you tending bar tonight? 


Love,
Julie (with Lilo posing prettily and Dan tending bar)

Filling a pool?

Hi,  Everybody,

I feel good, like James Brown.  Today was lovely and warm, the perfect spring Saturday after starting out a bit cool in the morning.   Now in the early evening the fog is drifting in.   It'll probably be cool again tonight like it was last night, from the fog.

Nate went home today, end of spring break with Gramma. Here we are keeping warm and watching a Star Trek movie together.  I'm knitting, of course.  This is my take on the Storm Cloud Shawlette from Ravelry.  I'm using size 6 needles and 2 strands of bedspread weight mercerized cotton, so it's shiny and silky and will adjust its shape easily as I pull on it to wear it.  I'm  mixing various colors as I use up stash.   Pink glitter, a mostly pinks multi, a soft salmon,  lilac and violet.  It is lightest at the top and moves darker and it works its way down.   I think it is going to be great for summer.   More a summer cover up and not so much for warmth.

The bridal shawl is coming along, the center section is done.  I have begun picking up the border stitches all along the edge.  This is no small matter.  I'll count them all when I get done but I'm guessing maybe 600 stitches or so.   

Anybody want to guess how many stitches I end up with on the edging?  I know, can't tell much about lace until it is blocked...

Dan just handed me a very yummy quesadilla.  We recently found this little Mexican market not too far from the house that makes it's own home-made looking thick and grainy corn tortillas.  When you get them they are still hot from the press and taste like corny heaven.  So....  Heat that up on the griddle with some very sharp cheddar cheese folded inside, wow,  is that good or what?  I think I'll keep him.... 

Lilo is hoping for a taste of the cheese, so she is on her very best adorable-sweet-pretty-white-kitty behavior.  I am not fooled, but I'll probably give her some cheese anyway. 

Heather and I were talking a few minutes ago and I used an expression that reminded me of something that happened a couple of years ago.  I was thinking about buying a house, but the prices were so crazy at the time, that I decided not to.  Turned out to be a good idea as the loans offered then were all ARM's and the market crashed shortly thereafter.  I would have lost it.   But for a while I was looking at houses.  So one house I looked at was in Serra Mesa and it was in pretty sad shape, lost of water damage and mildew everywhere.  Selling "as is".   There was a big swimming pool that had been built tight up against the house in back and it was pretty clear to me that the pool was leaking underground.  The homeowners had emptied the pool to stop the water damage from pool water leaking into the house, good idea, LOL.  But the realtor was determined that it is a bad idea to show a house with an empty pool.  So he was trying to fill the pool up with a slender garden hose.  This was not working so good, as the leaks were emptying it at about the same rate as the hose was filling it, so after several days of running the hose the pool only had maybe 18 inches of water in it and the moisture was dripping everywhere in the house.  The agent was complaining that filling a pool with a garden hose takes forever.  Ya think!   Especially a leaking pool.  So, "like filling a pool with a garden hose" has become an expression of wrong headed futility between Dan and me.  

See ya,
Julie

Music: Latin Jazz on Iceberg
Mood: finer than frogs hair
Location:  At home in San Diego

Happy Easter

Hello, Everyone,

Its a chilly Easter Sunday evening following a warm spring day, breezy and sunny.   Good day for a kite.

I got some photos from the Encinitas Community Egg hunt.

Here I am sitting on my knitting stool at the entrance waiting for Nate.  Unlike Godot, he came.

Here I am sitting beside the egg hunt field knitting on the bridal lace while Nate shows off his winnings.  Isn't his shirt great.  Among the hordes of kids he was easy to pick out in that distinctive and bright shirt. 

Ready, set...   All those dots on the green field are plastic eggs with a prize inside (sticker, jumpy frog, toy ring, etc.) 

Looking over at Gramma knitting on the sidelines.

His favorite treasures from inside the eggs are these beautiful rings.

Crawling into the jumpy thing, the jump house.  He had a great time jumping.   Perfect for a six year old with a lot of energy.  They had several of these and separated the kids by age.   What a good idea!

And for your musical entertainment, the singing clown... Which works about as well as you can imagine.  Neither great singing, nor terribly funny, but somehow entertaining just the same.  I must have been in an easy to please mood.

More jumping.

There were many beautiful little princesses running around  in pretty Easter dresses.

After the jumping was over, lunch was in order, so we headed out to the 101 Diner, which I blogged previously.  Yum!

This afternoon I visited my friend Flore, and she gave me a lovely picture frame necklace.   Framed therein are the words "Winter ALWAYS Turns to Spring".   What a lovely gift!   While we were chanting Nam Myoho Renge Kyo the earthquake occurred in nearby Northern Mexico.   There were several aftershocks, so it seemed to rock and roll forever.   Dan called and joked, "Wow! You girls must be chanting some amazing Daimoku!   The earth moved."   Well, yes, but not like that, Honey, LOL.  

Tonight we had a lovely dinner with Anita and her friend.   Anita is a masterful salad maker.  And the shrimp and pasta dish was yummy.  The raspberry torte was good, too.  Later Steve's family stopped by, and Amber, too.   Here is me at Anita's and you can see the progress I am making on the bridal shawl.

Hope you had a nice spring day,
Julie

Location: at home in San Diego
Mood: happy
Music: Nestor Torres, Talk to me

San Clemente

 Hello,
Yesterday we stopped by Dan's parents to give his father his Father's Day socks. 2 pairs no less.  The pics are on Dan's phone, so when I get them from him I'll add them in. 

Last night we had dinner at Ichiiban on the Rocks in Hillcrest on University.  Really good sushi.  We had sushi rolls, tempura, gyoza, beer, ice cream for desert and green tea to wash it all down.  I felt like I rolled out as stuffed as the sushi rolls.  With the happy hour prices it wasn't even expensive.  Good party.

We met the kids in San Clemente for lunch today, also Heather and Ron.  We were at the Beachfire. http://www.beachfire.com  It's a lot of fun.  Local art on the walls. Nice window shopping on Del Mar Ave.  We sat out on the patio in the sun and ocean breezes.  It was really lovely. 
 

Nate came home with us for the weekend.



Then we stopped at the local yarn shop, Strands Knitting Studio.  www.strandsknitting studio.com  Charming, tiny,  little place near the beach.  The owner, Chris,  was nice and let Nate wind my yarn on the swift and Yarn winder.  Five year old's heaven.  They have a nice area with chairs to sit and knit and a toy box for children.    I bought really yummy hand dyed sock yarn, Yukon from Pagewood Farm, in the Meyard Blues colorway. http://www.pagewoodfarm.com/Pagewood%20Farm/about%20our%20yarn.html  This would make a really nice shawl.

Must run, tata.
Julie

• Location:home in San Diego
• Mood: relaxed
• Music:Larry Coryell, Bahdi Assed

Heather's new car

Hello,
My sister Heather her hubby Ron and I went looking at Smart cars the other day. She likes this black and white one:



Her plan is to get one in July. Go Heather!  I think they are so cute and fun to drive.

Nate was here this weekend.  Here is his favorite photo.  He's just crazy about Minnie Mouse.



Got to run.
Julie

• Location:home in San Diego
• Mood: tired
• Music:Nine Levels of Consciousness

Lilo's secret

Hi,
Memorial Day Monday, cool and overcast most of the day, but got sunny in the afternoon.  Usually San Diego is warmer than this by Memorial Day.

When I got back from my recent cruise my in/outdoor  kitty, Lilo, was missing for 24 hours.  The food we left for her to eat while we were away was relatively untouched.  I was really worried something had happened to her.  So, after a day...  she shows up....  very surprised to see us and my first thought was that she was out in the canyon and would be skinny and dirty.  But, no. She was sleek and clean and had gained weight.   Now Lilo has a sensitive digestion and it's hard to put weight on her.  She throws up if she eats too much.  So, she is usually skinny.  But here she is fat and happy.  Sounds like one of the neighbors adopted her for the duration of the cruise.  Here she is admiring herself in the mirror.

  

 

 Here is a picture of my purse, taken by hitting the shutter by accident. I thought you might like to see the crazy gold sequin purse I took on the cruise.   Hey, we have to look the part.

Dan, about to disembark the cruise. 
I had my grandson for the weekend.  I'm always so glad to see him. We had fun is our usual ways, like lunch at Mickey D. I visited friends with 3 little boys.  He always likes that. 

This is Nathan helping me wash dishes and only a 5 year old can do it.


Always fun to play in the water at Grandma's, huh?  We always have a great time together. 

We went to Balboa Park to ride the kiddie train and the carousel.


We met his parents at Tip Top Meats  www.tiptopmeats.com/ for dinner to hand him back to them. It's half way between us.  Fun place with great German food, and inexpensive.  Also a butcher shop and a German grocery store, and a wine shop with the best European wines.


See ya!
Julie

• Location:home in San Diego
• Mood: happy
• Music:Sergio Mendes