I'm still too emotional to put all the photos up

but here's a teaser for now.

As hard as I tried to like Anna Quindlen's new novel I just couldn't do it UNTIL the tragedy.
I was close to giving up although I knew horror was sure to follow at the next turn of a page.
Even knowing that, I was taken by surprise by the events that totally captured my heart.
From then on I was hooked.
Tears not in the middle where they should have been, but at the end, when Mary Beth's mother asks her, "how are you doing?"
"I'm trying," she replies.

One of my favorite parts portrays a conversation between Mary Beth and her teenaged, poet daughter Ruby.
"Ruby loved to tell me things I didn't know... and that afternoon, she had told me about the butterfly effect, how the beating of their wings in Mexico could cause a breeze in our backyard. 'That's kind of terrifying,' I replied. But even as I spoke I realized that that was what we had all believed from the moment we had children. The breast-fed baby became the confident adult. The toddler who listened to a bedtime story went on to a doctorate. We flapped our wings in our kitchens, and a wind blew through their futures.
'It is terrifying,' Ruby had said, but with gusto. 'But it makes you think before you act.'"

I think this is something I could do

Bibliotherapy

Unexpected Pleasures

Since we were not able to attend the wedding of Erin and Rob Clark in Healdsburg in June, I suggested we connect when we came to Northern California for Rod's niece's wedding in August.
Erin and I have only met online, first because we're raising sibling pups for CCI - she Ariel and me America.
After initial introductions we realized we have a mutual love for Scrabble so we started playing Wordscraper in Facebook pretty much every day.
We arranged a meeting at Zin Restaurant in Healdsburg for Sunday evening.
We were thrilled when Erin and Rob brought their lovely daughter, Jaffray, who started Erin on her CCI journey when she raised Rista for a school project, but, sorry, Jaffray, even more thrilled when they brought Ariel and their new pup Rodney.

Ariel is every bit as sweet as America.

We had a lovely visit, but could hardly contain our excitement when Rob offered to take us flying the next day. He and Rod connected quickly on an engineering level, but it turns out Rob also is the owner of North Coast Air

Here's a slideshow chronicling our adventure.

This free digital slideshow personalized with Smilebox

Thanks, Rob, for such a thrill!

Even more highlights

We would highly recommend a stay at the
Calderwood Inn in Healdsburg.

Margaret was innkeeper extraordinaire and was kind enough to upgrade us to The Wilson Room so Rod wouldn't have to climb another flight of stairs.
He said he felt like he was staying in the home of his youth (an exquisite craftsman home), except for the incredible wall paper by Bradbury and Bradbury,
He said he spent much of the night staring up at the ceiling and wondering how they did it.

Our next stop was

which I'll tell you about in my next post.

Such a beautiful wedding

We wish Carolyn and Alan and Lincoln happiness always!

This free slideshow customized with Smilebox

We all knew Chris was the one responsible for the sunshine!

Words can't describe

a visit to Lina G's in Morro Bay.

It's a vintage trim and yarn shop located at
468 Morro Bay Blvd
Morro Bay, CA 93442

I've never seen anything like it. After just having taken a class from KCWillis I felt like I'd died and gone to vintage heaven.
I think Lina maintains a personal relationship with each one of her trims. I asked her how she keeps track of them and her reply was, "they're my babies."



Here's a tiny glimpse of the fun to be had:




















If you can't make it to Morro Bay, Lina has an ebay store:
All the Trimmings

Not nearly the fun of the real life experience, but cheaper than the gas to Morro Bay.

A Glorious Getaway, full of sunshine, family, friends and good food

We started our getaway with a night in Cambria at the OlallieberryInn

It was our second stay in the Angels Nook room at this charming bed & breakfast.


Our charming hostess, Marjorie Ott.

the lovely robe!

It's a little know fact that Cambria is the rubber ducky capital of the world.

Had to pick up a couple for Lila and Larkin.

An added bonus to a night in Cambria was dinner with friends from Newbury Park, Donna & Ken Day and their intelligent, handsome grandson, Michael.

We had to backtrack to Morro Bay for a visit to Lina G's, a vintage trim shop.

I'm putting my experience there in a separate post so I can share it with a wider audience.

Next stop: Nepenthe's
a must for us if we're anywhere near Big Sur.


We spent a non eventful night in Carmel. Don't particularly care if we return to the Vagabond Inn or Flaherty's Seafood Restaurant.

We headed up Hwy. 1 on Friday enjoying the sunshine and spectacular scenery.
Visits with family and chickens were a highlight of the afternoon.
Dinner with family Friday and airport run on Sat. to pick up Michael and Laurie.

New post for pictures of Carolyn and Alan's wedding.