No Barney

Dinosaurs have been extinct for millions of years, but somehow this plant eating fellow has survived and is happily in residence in a garden nearby. I drive down this little road all the time and I never noticed it before. I do a lot of backing up on streets...

Long live the Queen!

We knew Jared was going to be an artist from preschool days. He's getting ready to graduate from Laguna College of Art and Design in May and is showing this piece in the "best of the Best" exhibition/competition. Not exactly who it seems at first glance - yes, it appears to be the queen of England, but it's actually Steve the drag queen. Meticulous in his work, Jared agonized over each pearl, fretted about the way the light shone on the silk. I watched this painting evolve and it is spectacular in the details. He got the best place in the gallery - right at the front door with all the light bouncing off his work. It is deserving of an award and I hope he gets a buyer. It's a long way from preschool, but we knew Jared would go far!

Laguna Beach

Spent Monday night at Jared's in Laguna Beach. Mar was here from NYC and Beth invited me up to relax on my first day of spring break. We started by finishing a bottle of champagne and walking across the street to show Mar the Montage Resort. The view is spectacular and the weather did not make Mar miss NY one moment. We trudged back up the hill in our flip flops and celebrated Laguna beach with more wine, dinner with Steve, karaoke, razzberry lemon martinis, and matzah toffee. Good times...

New life

If you read one of my earlier posts, you will recognize this foxtail asparagus fern. In an Incredible Hulk moment, the plant flexed it's muscles and burst free of it's container prison. With a little help from a bread knife, the ferns are now living separate lives in spacious homes. But they can still visit.

Why is this night any different?

It all started out well enough - carefully set table, antique ritual objects, a symbolic orange. One would think such an occasion would be marked with serious reverence, but no, we mix up the prayers on the first page and it disintegrated from that point on. Flying gummy frogs, lizards climbing into wine bottles, giggling over who will read the simple son. In contrast, the children were well behaved and serious, with Hannah leading us in song in Fran's absence. The final low point for me came when Arlene dropped a toy lion in my water glass to test if it would float (it didn't) and then fished it out with her fingers. Doesn't matter, we drank the obligatory 4 glasses of wine and the cat didn't escape. Next year at Don and Arlene's!

Opposites attract

What happens when antonyms date? Meet bear size Tracy and the much more cub like Jeanne. When Jeanne wanted a taste of a certain beer, the waitress brought her this tiny glass to try. You could probably hear us laughing a block away.

Loving Lee

Madeline seems to think Lee is her personal mattress - he stretches out on the sofa and she's right there. Or she's perched on top of him when he wakes up. Sometimes she digs under the covers with him or meows her discontent at being ignored. Both cats play favorites - Madeline prefers Lee and Darby prefers his box.

Will's home and that means the house is full again. Our grocery list is bigger, there are more dishes in the dishwasher, and often times I come home to find assorted friends draped across the furniture - usually watching ESPN or Sports Channel, nibbling bowl candy, and texting...always texting. Branden is the oldest pal - toddler friends now in college. Dylan is outgoing, friendly, silly sweet and full of patience when trying to teach Will guitar chords. Ry is quirky and smart and he and Will conquered Paris at 15. Evan is a true Renaissance man - he can discuss Project Runway and the basketball playoffs in the same breath. Will eaves on Sunday, and I will miss him. I'll miss his friends, too.

Yay Math!

Our school hosted the Greater San Diego Math Field Day - a sort of math Olympics for fourth and fifth graders. Qualified competitors from 39 schools across the county came to SDJA to compete in 10 games such as Digit Deal and Crafty Calculators. After a grueling hour of events and a healthy snack, we all gather in the gym to present awards. Some leave happy, some leave in tears, but it's so nice to hear everyone congratulate each other when it's all over.

Wanna come by?

Given the task of invitations for my cousin Sara's bridal shower, I knew I'd probably go overboard. Normal people simply buy invitations, print them, and send them out, but no - my inner Martha emerges and I start cutting, gluing and stamping until the original no longer looks like the original. No two look alike and I hope she likes them!

Happy Birthday!

First cousins born first - Will to me and Alyssa to Kathi. Kind, and good natured, they are both gentle souls in tall, thin bodies. Will has very few cousins - Sara, Adam, Zane, Celine, Corinne, Alyssa, Brooke, Hunter and Keiran - he is in the age middle of the ones he he sees the most. Will held Alyssa when she was less than a week old and I think they have a lovely connection. Happy March birthday to you both!

Not what you think

No, he's not chasing her becasue she's cute or even because she stole his beer. Here is a member of Team Greece trying to over take Team Ireland in the relay division of McKenna's Beer Olympics. Down after the "flip cup" competition, Greece was poised to finish strong in the relay. After all, Jared and Will were very strong in hula hoop, and Kayla was not afraid of the water balloon. The slip and slide was their defeat and in the end, Greece was in ruins once again.

He's baaaack!

Will's been home all of 3 days and his room looks like he's never left. Mind you, the clothes on the floor are mostly clean and will probably never make it into the drawers. And for some mysterious reason, drawers are never closed - they stay in an their open state - unused and mostly empty. Who cares? Will's home!

Rock on!

Maybe it was the rocks on the tarp on the roof of the car. Or the rocks on the bumper. Or the strategic placement of the recycle bin. Obviously, someone did not want this car to budge and the added weight of of a few stones was going to do the trick. I actually backed my car up on the street to get a better look.

Wishes DO come true!

3 part request - Roberto's California burrito, quick snuggle with Darby and Madeline, and a favorite spot on the sofa. Toss in Sports Channel and we have one happy boy. Happiness lasted all of 90 minutes before Dylan came to steal Will away to Ry's house. Don't care...Will's home (sort of) and I'm one happy mom!

Landlocked

We love oddball landmarks and are fortunate to live near the boat houses in Encinitas. A block from the ocean, they are not actually boats, but 2 boat shaped apartments. The SS Encinitas and SS Moonlight have been around for years but are not open to the public. Too bad, I'd love to see the inside.

Kosher pi?

Pi Day, part II
We celebrate Pi Day in fifth grade -it's similar to 100 day in first grade with lots of activities involving Pi and the kids love it. This year, in addition to memorizing digits of Pi (I'm up to 20, J is at 70, and the school record is just over 300), we made bead bracelets, graphed pi data, measured round stuff, and decorated plates with numbers.
Couldn't find kosher pie though...

Yeah, I'm a dork

It's Pi Day! I can't believe have a math geek shirt and I really can't believe I can recite 20 decimal places from memory.
Get ready to be impressed:
3.14159265358979323846

5 minutes is plenty

Walking up the stairs at the Field, we hear the unmistakable sound of bagpipes and are surprised to see a fairly young guy piping away. That was interesting, but the fellow break dancing on the floor was quite amusing. Everyone sang along to "Amazing Grace" and we all raised a pint to St Paddy's day.

Dr. Jekyl and Mr. Darby

Normally, Darby is a mellow puff of a kitty. Last night, in the company of guests, he decided to turn into devil cat and poor Janet was in his path. She was sitting on the sofa and he went postal - nipped at her, gave a his, and turned his hissy fit to Lee who banished him upstairs. Fortunately, Dr. Lemon Drop was in the house and Janet felt better after drinking the magic healing tonic.

Presented by Peeves

This evening, I've made deviled eggs, grape salsa and frosted cupcakes. I've vacuumed the rug and dusted the furniture. Guests are coming at 7 tomorrow and I'm ready. And maybe starting a little early...

OCD in a box

Not really OCD, just very well organized. I had a lot of time one day and this is the result.

Puzzled

A little park near our house boasts these 3 flags - American, California, and POW/MIA. I'm not sure why, this is the only place I've ever seen such a flag and it makes me wonder every time I drive by. I'm going to have to do some research.

Very Good

Everyone knows V.G.'s in Cardiff - home to the best doughnuts around. Sometimes we stop by for a quick glazed or cinnamon bun, and most of Will's birthday cakes were decorated by a burly pirate guy who makes beautiful frosting rosettes. It's locally owned and operated by the same family for nearly 30 years, and there is always some controversy about the meaning of the V and G. Very Good or the initials of the original owner's daughter? No matter - one bite and you'll know why V.G.'s is a well known landmark.

What a mess...

I do love shoes and I have a fairly nice collection. During the fires a few years ago, I took pictures of each pair and labeled all the boxes. Lee gave me the idea since he was taking pictures of everything in our house for insurance purposes, and it did give me something to do while cooped up for the week. Stored in Will's closet - they are dressy, high, delicious. I don't consider them my "everyday" shoes The daily shoes - flats, runners, Uggs, are in the basket and I curse every morning when I dig through trying to find a suitable pair. I need a better system... any ideas?

Will the real Lee Raskin please stand up?

Lee Raskin meets Lee Raskin. Nothing caught fire or shook, the world stayed on it's axis, no horsemen rode in. Nothing really ended, but a lovely friendship did start. Right coast Lee is an author and this weekend, was on the same side of the country as Left coast Lee. The 2 Lee's are Facebook friends and are now friends in real time. Lovely to meet you, Lee!

Red, red, red!

A red door means good luck and good harmony in the house. I wanted a red door, so when our association decided to paint all the buildings a few years ago, I saw my chance. I joined the color committee and after a number of excruciating meetings, we opted to let homeowners choose a door color from a palette of 12. One of the colors was coincidentally - red! And we've had pretty good luck so far....

hellooo?

She looks out the window like someone's out there. No one is there, but her ears perk up and her eyes get bright. We're not sure what goes through her tiny little head, but Madeline knows. That's all that matters.

Where's Bessie?

It's a bucket of cow eyes. Yes, just the eyes. 5th graders at my school learn about the sensory system and cow eye dissection is the frosting on the cake. The kids don white lab coats, plastic gloves and protective goggles and arm themselves with tweezers and scissors. They "ooh" and "ugh" for about five minutes and then get busy finding corneas and retinas. We've never had an actual barfer, but it is always amusing to watch the burliest boys turn pale and the frilliest girls dig right in.

Happy birthday Deb!

Deb's birthday.
Restaurant/bar called the "Strip Club"
Shadow dancer in the bathroom.
That's enough.

Scary? No.

I received this orchid a few years ago as a "cellar dweller" winner/loser of Bunco. We stuck it in the kitchen and Lee is the caretaker. He throws water on it when he remembers and the darn thing flowers almost all the time. My mother in law says orchids just need a little "benign" neglect. Good advice for those afraid of a flower.

Encinitas

Lat day of February, 65 degrees, blue sky...must be southern California. Cute little beach side town, nice restaurants, friendly people...must be Encinitas. I do love living here.

Gilligan? Skipper?

No, we're not lost in space, Austen, or Atlantis. We haven't banded together to find lost keys or golf balls, and no one has lost their cookies. Instead, we are lost in Lost- a convoluted television series showcasing a crashing plane, polar bears and golden labs cruising around a jungle island, monsters, distress calls, a heroin addict, and so many flashbacks that we all needed Mr. Howell to pour us another martini to keep track.