Back from Ohio

Leaving Las Vegas

It's been a while.  I just got back from visiting the folks in Ohio.  Mom has had some health issues recently and I am (as of this moment) unemployed, so it was time to make the trip out to visit them.  I left a week ago Wednesday and the flight to Ohio was uneventful, except for the departure at OMG:thirty AM.  I sat next to the window on the Las Vegas-Columbus leg thinking I would see desert followed by mountains followed by corn fields, the Mississippi, more corn fields and finally the skyline of Columbus.  But oh no, it was clouds and more clouds all the way.

Serging on the deck

Thursday had us out on the deck, sergers humming, making napkins for the BtB's reception.  The ladies were quite a hoot and the fabric was flowing.  It's gonna be a fun reception I do believe.

Friday was a pot luck party - a couple of Mom & Dad's friends were celebrating a 50th wedding anniversary and another was celebrating a birthday.  I re-made the Ding Dong Cupcakes for the party and they were quite the hit.  (Note to self - use the larger tip for filling the cupcakes.)  There was lasagna (courtesy of Mom) a couple of salads (fruit & green), bread, delicious cheesecake, mimosas and coffee with liquor. 

Flea Market Finds (and Yarn)

A round of Mexican Train and Saturday found us bright and early heading for the Springfield Antique Extravaganza.  Acres and acres of vendors with antiques and vintage goodies of every shape and size.  I do believe that I could furnish a girly retreat cottage, just by shopping at this flea market.  I did manage to find a few things that I thought would survive the TSA and baggage handlers - a quilt, some table cloths, a pressed glass cake plate, a dancing lady in purple and an empty crate of Santa Clara Prunes.  (The yarn is additional purchases from Fiberworks in Beavercreek.)  In case I ever do get my dream cottage, here are some things that might grace it.

To be continued.....

Things

Thing the first:  Mark & I spent a wonderful weekend in Las Vegas last weekend, celebrating our 24th anniversary.  We had a great dinner, saw a rib tickling comedian, and played some pretty awesome cards.  There's more, but it's a bit TMI, so I'm not sharing... ;-)

Thing the second:  Just before we left, Mark had read that a 1980's icon was going to be playing at the Oracle Arena in Oakland  last week.  Tickets were going on sale on Friday at noon. So, we got up "early" (early for Vegas that is!) and thanks to the marvel that is an i-phone, we got tickets to the show on Wednesday.  Oh my.  Prince.  I don't think I've had that much fun at a concert in a long time.  The show started at 7:30 and we were not out of there until 11:30.  There were two encores and even a tribute to Morris Day by Prince.  The crowd sang themselves hoarse - I can't imagine what it does to the actual stars of the show.  And Shelia E.  Just freakin' beautiful.  The girl can still pound on a drum like nobodies business and look mighty fine doing it.

Thing the third:  On checking the mail when we returned home, we found a Valentine letter from the IRS.   According to them, there were some discrepancies between the income reported by third parties and the income reported by us on our return, resulting in additional taxes, penalties and interest of $213,766.  No, that is not a typo.  Two hundred and thirteen THOUSAND dollars.  A couple of phone calls to some very knowledgeable and helpful IRS agents later, and I believe that we have cleared things up.  No, I did not mess up our return that badly.  Codename Mr. Grey (I know, right?) apologized and said that the letter should never have been sent in the first place.  We should have a "cleared" letter from the IRS in just a few short weeks.  I'm not holding my breath, but my fingers are crossed.

Thing the last:  All this excitement has landed both Mark & I with a cold.  I don't know if it was the petrie dish of Las Vegas, the contact high we got in Oakland, or the stress of dealing with the IRS.  But for now at least, we're snuggled under some blankets, beverage of choice at hand, feeling all miserable and stuff. 

Later gators...

Bison Drive-By

Hey look honey!  Cute Bison on the hill side.....

Look honey!  There's a bison in the road....

And he's getting closer!

He's headed straight for us!

Can he get any closer?

I guess so....

Advice for Yellowstone...

We had a blast, came home more tired than when we left. I’ll be posting blog pictures probably this weekend – I just downloaded the 1000+ last night from the 5.5 day trip.


Words of advice:

• If you can postpone this trip until after Labor Day, you might want to – it’s crowded with end of summer parent/kid combos in August.


• We didn’t need the bear spray or the bug spray, but ran out of two bottles of sunscreen. But we only went on the trails that EVERYONE was going on – if you are off-roading or taking trails less traveled, I’d still bring the bug/bear sprays.


• They were working on the roads near “the Grand Canyon of Yellowstone” and the traffic was horrible. However, don’t miss it, especially if the sun is shining – it’s kinda awesome. (Look for the Osprey nest near Inspiration Point on the North Rim)


• The construction between Madison and Norris (I believe) was advertised as being really bad, but we didn’t really have a problem with it. However, there’s not really that much to see along that road side, so you can avoid it and not feel like you are missing anything.


• You have to see Old Faithful (obviously!), but do it as early in the morning as you can. We got there for the 9:00am “show” and I laughed at how large and empty the parking lot was. At noon, you couldn’t find a place to park and the restaurants were just jam packed with people. Oh, and the cafeteria isn’t open for breakfast – we had ours at the Old Faithful Inn.


• If there are people pulled over on the side of the road and you don’t know what they are looking at (ie. Upcoming Scenic Vista), pull over too – it’s usually some large mammal like a BEAR! Or a BISON! Or even a BALD EAGLE! (I know a Bald Eagle isn’t a large mammal, but it’s still really cool!)


• Which also means – bring your binoculars and the longest camera lens you own. The critters usually aren’t in the middle of the road, but are up the hill a ways from you.


• Usually, means that sometimes, the Bison is coming straight for you down the middle of the road and you could reach out your hand as he walks past your car to pet him. Highly not advised (the petting part – which we didn’t!), but still a story to tell. (Can’t wait to show the pictures!)


• If you have a need/desire for a vegetarian meal – bring it yourself. My veggie sister wanted eggs and hash browns one night (it was on the menu) but they stopped serving that at 8:00 even tho they were open until 10:00 (huh!?!?!). The next restaurant was advertising black bean burgers in addition to the hamburgers and bison burgers – but they were “out”. I suspect they didn’t have much call and so stopped ordering them.


• Bring as many gig for your camera as you can. Those 1000+ pix were on three cards, totaling 20gig (the last card wasn’t full). But I missed a day when we went whitewater rafting – I didn’t bring my camera that day, so I can only imagine if I had the day full of pix too. I had 28gig to play with tho, so I was in no danger of running out. (RAW+L format for my Canon)


• Go whitewater rafting – but do the half day trip, not the full day. You still get the experience, but you don’t spend all day on the river. We used the Flying Pig Outfitters in Gardiner, MT – they had dry bags, storage cubbies, jackets (life and dry), and water booties – all for your use, and free. If they offer to let you “ride the bull” do it – it’s the best seat on the boat! And get there kinda early – parking is a pain.  If you do the full day (including lunch), and you have a special diet, let them know and they will do their best to accomodate you.


• Be prepared for weather. The folks from TX were in jeans and sweatshirts the whole time, while Mark & I were in T-shirts and shorts (or short pants) most of the time. Put the rain jackets/ponchos in your backpack EVERY DAY even if it looks like a clear day! It will rain on you some time – maybe not for long or even hard, but it will rain. Friday night we were at the campsite and we got a winter mix – rain/sleet/snow. So bring sweaters/sweat shirt/layers just in case…


• We went down to the Grand Tetons on Friday and did the boat ride/hike to Hidden Falls on Jenny Lake – way cool. The boats run every 10 min or so, and again, the parking lot was jam packed at noon – get there earlier if you can.


• Plan a full day the night before – you probably won’t see everything you want to, but without a plan, you definitely won’t see half of what you want.  Be open to the unexpected/detours though as well.

David Bruce Winery

This past weekend we went for a very short drive up our mountains to one of our favorite wineries - David Bruce Winery.
It was just a quick trip with a purpose - to pay back my BIL. When he visits Hawaii (quite frequently!) we sends me bags of Kona Coffee. And not just a couple, but more than enough to keep my habit satiated.

But you can't go to a winery without tasting, even if you know what you want to buy. So we tasted. Or, rather, I tasted, he sniffed. They were pouring four different wines last weekend -

1. 1. 2002 Pinot Noir, Bien Nacido - a vineyard wine made with grapes from only the Bien Nacido vineyards in the Santa Maria Valley. This was by far the best wine we tasted this afternoon. It was fruity with just a hit of tannins to keep it from being too soft.
   2. 2005 Sangiovese, Paso Robles - Paso Robles is a beautiful section of California between here and Los Angeles. It's a straight shot down Highway 101 into the valley and has some great wines and vineyards in the local. Unfortunately, I don't appreciate Sangiovese. It's spicy and seems to be watered down when I taste it.
   3. 2005 Petite Sirah Central Coast - Sunset Magazine named this a "food friendly wine", and I can see that. It's a very mild wine that will not overpower most anything you could throw at it, and has a sweet red-fruit flavor that most people will like. I personally prefer a Merlot for that - it's just got a bit more body to it than the Petite Sirah.
   4. and another 2005 Pinot Noir - I don't remember if it was the Sonoma Coast or the Central Coast, but it was not as good as the Bien Nacido Pinot Noir. It was a bit weak and watery and not really what I was looking for.

I had a good time tasting, but picked only the Bien Nacido from the tasting to forward on to the BIL. He also received some Pinot Noirs from the Russian River and the Sonoma Coast. To your health!

LA Sunday - Huntington Gardens 3 of 3

After the Japanese portion of the Garden, we went to the recently installed Chinese Garden, also known as the "Garden of Flowing Fragrance". As this garden has only recently begun, the bones of the garden are found in the architecture, as opposed to the plantings. Therefore, not much fragrance flowing just yet. From the Japanese Garden, you enter the Chinese Garden into a walled courtyard, with chrysanthemum imagery in the windows and lotus on the end caps of the roof tiles.

The floor of the courtyard, "Plantain Court", is an amazing job of interlocking panels of stone - round white rocks tipped on the side to make the inner medallions with black rocks in linear fashion to make the borders. Something to remember, if I ever have a courtyard garden. It might be difficult to sweep up and be hard on bare feet tho. Mmmm. Keep thinking then.

The centerpiece of the garden is the "Lake of Reflected Fragrance", not quite balanced as of our visit. But there are vistas from every vantage point. The lake is actually located on a piece of land which naturally collects water during the rain, however, we haven't had rain for quite some time. The limestone rocks surrounding the lake are supposed to represent the craggy mountains in Chinese paintings.

Passing through the "Corridor of Water & Clouds" was a joy. The "Wall of Water & Clouds" was topped with more of the roofing tiles from the entry wall, waving across the top in an echo of either a wave or the far mountain peaks. Each of the windows to the far side had a different pattern of fretwork installed and the zig-zag path lead us to the next place of beauty.

The "Love for the Lotus" pavilion is an intricate piece of architecture, with more to "find and seek" than I can imagine. There is fretwork and carving and views and and and...

Unfortunately, by this time, the docents of the garden were starting to herd visitors toward the entrance/exit of the garden, so we were not able to make it all the way around the Lake. One of the views, so exquisitely framed, was the "Pavilion of Three Friends" where bamboo, pine & plum share a grove.

At the exit we were greeted by this Chinese "Lion Dog". All in all, the Huntington Gardens and Library are worth several repeat visits. If you are ever in the LA area, make the trip to Pasadena to go. We arrived in the afternoon, and were only able to visit three of the FOURTEEN!!!! different gardens, let alone any of the art or library exhibits. I hear tale that the Children's Garden is awesome and the Conservatory has quite a collection of the odd and unique plants.

I had a blast on my trip to LA, not only because of the things we saw, but because of the people I was with. It was good to have a girly weekend, and to take a solo trip. I think that all women should feel comfortable and have the opportunity to take trips alone. There's a sense of - power? accomplishment? satisfaction? some of all, but not in a bad way - in fending for yourself, taking the time to stop when you want to, to not worry about anyone else's schedule, and taking a trip by yourself. Do it.

LA Sunday – Huntington Gardens 2 of 3

After marveling at the beautiful blooms in the Huntington Rose Garden, we passed the pair of Lion-Dogs guarding the entrance to the Huntington Japanese Garden. Where the Rose Garden was a riot of color and exuberant blooms, the Japanese Garden is a 9 acre canyon of green calm. The Japanese Garden was begun in 1911, and the mature plantings reflect the age. As you descend under the wisteria arbor, your first view is of the Japanese house on the far side of the gully.Closer in the foreground is a Japanese half-moon bridge, over a koi pond. Too bad for us, the koi pond and stream were undergoing renovation. However, the image of peace is persistent, despite the missing water. Traversing the gully to reach the Japanese house, you take time to notice the details like the Buddhas bordering the stream bed, or the lion head adorning the ridge-line of the bell house.





Once past the bridge and back up the hill, the 19th-century Japanese house offers a small vignette to reinforce the feeling of calm. Although not a tea house, it does have the set-up for a ceremony. It is filled with shoji, alcoves for display, and straw floor mats. Again, the details are what make the place special. The end-caps of the support beams are carved with floral scrolls and a lotus blossom perched atop what looks like a koi tail hugs the roof line.



We continued down a zigzag bridge through a stand of bamboo. The zigzag path is thought to confuse evil spirits who only travel in straight lines. The pathway led to a walled-in Zen rock garden, or karesansui. This dry landscape garden was added in 1968. The ginko trees were mature and beautiful in their greenness. Too many people, however, did not allow for the meditative factor that such a garden normally brings.

The Zen garden opens to a courtyard filled with Bonsai. There, various members of the local societies had either donated or were caring for a large number of bonsai trees. This juniper (could be a cypress, I'm not sure) is one of my favorites. They also had bonsai pomegranate and grape vines, complete with fruit.





Some of the details that I'd like to remember for when I get the urge to finally do something about my yard. I love the half-moon bridge and willow, but I like the zigzag path/bridge through the bamboo more. The rock wall that held back the hillside from the stone stream consisted of a variety of black granite slabs, some were smooth polish, some were rough cut, and some looked like leftovers. It was interesting in that it had texture, but it was calming in that it was of a consistent material.


Also, this "river" of mondo grass that wandered from the path outside the bonsai courtyard and down into the more native garden. It was placed under the oak trees and had large rocks bordering the curves so it seemed to flow naturally down the hill. It was also bordered by hostas, nandinas, azaleas, rhodes, and lilies. Although very green in the heat of the summer, I cannot begin to imagine what it would look like in the spring. I really think this would be awesome on my uphill yard. Assuming of course, that I could convince the deer not to eat it, and the moles not pillage it.

LA Sunday - Huntington Gardens 1 of 3

Sunday found us heading in the direction of Pasadena, CA, someplace new to me. We ended up at the Huntington Library, Art Collection & Gardens where we spent a very hot and humid day enjoying the gardens. The gardens are actually a collection of gardens, and we managed to see quite a bit of the Rose Garden, the Japanese Garden and the Chinese Garden. And that's just too much for one post, so today we'll look at the Rose Garden.

Arrival found us hungry, so a brief lunch was had in the Tea Room of the Rose Garden. After refreshing ourselves, we headed out into the garden and took a walk. The three acres of rose gardens were originally planted in 1908, but have been in a constant state of change over the years. Also, since the Rose Parade is held in Pasadena on January 1 each year, they hold off on pruning the rose bushes back until January 2nd. I can tell you, they looked like they needed some mid-year pruning.

The Temple of Love begins your tour of the Rose Beds, a nice classical statue of a goddess and cupid in a small circular temple. The Temple is circled twice, the interior roses are the white roses above, "French Lace" and the exterior circle are the peach roses below, "Tamora". The Huntington website has a map of the rose beds, complete with rose names on it. Quite handy.

The Rose Gardens also feature several specimen trees, like the Montezuma Cypress from Mexico. These cypress trees are over 90 years old, and are still going strong. They have a wonderful drapey feel to them.

It's a beautiful rose garden, and I am at a loss for words. Instead, I'll let pictures say the 1000 words I wish I had.

Saturday - Shopping & Eating in LA

Saturday morning I made my "famous" buttermilk biscuits for my hosts and slathered on lots of homemade strawberry jam.

Afterwards, we headed out to a yarn store - the Knitter's Studio (not pictured). I had found a place on Friday, but that store was full of discontinued, acrylic and novelty yarns, so I was sadly disappointed and will not review them. The Knitter's Studio, however, was just what I was looking for. They had cubbies wrapped around the perimeter of the store, nicely organized by color, style and maker. It was a joy to fondle the cashmere and silk yarns. I ended up with four skeins of Debbie Bliss Donegal Luxury Tweed in a beautiful aubergine color. I have to say aubergine instead of eggplant since Debbie Bliss is an English company. After feeding the parking meter three times (!) I managed to make my purchases so we could move on. If I lived in LA, they would be one of my favorite yarn stores. They were setting up for a beginning knitting class around the work table, complete with cupcakes & coffee.

We then headed to an extra large art & craft supply store called Pearl. They had a great selection of goodies for all your creative needs. However, I had to say no for purchases since I didn't really have a project in the works that I could legitimately buy for. I even passed on the sketch & notebooks! Can you believe it? Mostly because I couldn't find them when we were ready to check out.

By this time we were starting to feel a bit of a hunger clench in our bellies, so we headed in the direction of the ocean and ended up on the Third Street Promenade in Santa Monica. I had suggested sushi since I don't get many takers in my family, and ended up at this interesting Balinese looking place called Monsoon. I ended up with a Rainbow Roll and a beef noodle bowl. I flustered the poor waiter by asking what he would have to eat for lunch. I wasn't picky about what to eat, just wanted something good. My friend had the Saikyo Yaki Black Cod, which is marinated in Miso Paste before it's cooked. My goodness, that was yummy. If I ever see it on another menu, I'll be having that for sure. The decor was pure Asian tongue-in-cheek, complete with brass dragon lanterns from the palm leaf ceiling and a stone "happy" fertility god in the ladies room. Fun!

The architecture in Downtown Santa Monica is unique. They are trying to infuse the city with a sense of community, so all new & remodel work is going with three tiers. The bottom floor is retail space, the second floor office space, and the third floor housing. Evidently, it's being snapped up, because there is no where to turn without seeing some new construction. But, for the older buildings, you have to look up to see the more interesting parts. We were parked on an upper level of a garage, so I got to take pictures looking down on some

of the details. A long stop at Michael's had me lusting after beads, but I don't need a new set of tools! I put them back again. And again. And again.

So what do we do then? Head to another bead store, called Ritual Adornments. We wandered around, running our fingers through the lovely pieces of stone, glass, wood, and other fabulousness. I wish I had taken out my camera - a bowl of skull beads would have been a perfect Halloween photo op. Ah well. I still managed not to snag any beads on my shopping trip.

The sun was past the mid-day point, way past by this time, and we had an hour or so left on the parking meter, so we hit the beach for a walk in the waves. We hiked up our pants, took our shoes off and headed up the coast line, with no destination in mind, just enjoying the last of the sun and the waves splashing. Just enough time to get a little bit of sun and exercise.

Headed back to the apartment for some homemade guacamole and chips and watching Phelps win yet another race. All in all a good day.