Slice of Heaven

Our 'Forever Giving Orange Tree'. When we first moved into our home Easter 2002 we had freshly squeezed orange juice every morning and orange slices every day - yum! The fruit is juicy & sweet. After the weeks of frost and the temperatures dipping down to the 20's and not peaking higher than the 40's, the oranges don't look pretty but boy are they incredibly delicious. We have a fruit picker so that the girls don't have to climb the tree (like that stops them.) The picker, to me, is real violent as it grabs the fruit with the leaves & twigs around it. It does its job but should be called 'the fruit snatcher'! Whenever you're in the neighborhood, come on by - the 'fruit snatcher' is on the side of the house, be sure to pick the ripe fruit and watch out for our guard cat!

Now you have to watch out for Tiger (Tiger-boy, Tigger, Tigger-Tiger doesn't matter, you pick). He lurks and he pounces. You may find him napping in various places around the yard (on top of the Jacuzzi, under the trampoline, in the bushes, on top of the studio, etc...) but he knows you're there and he's watching your every move!

In a corner of the garden on your way to the Greenhouse in our own little slice of heaven.

Lastly - Camping # 5

Our navigator, our camping-trek planner, our atlas-aficionado...we never fret about getting lost with Dan around. You can guarantee a wonderfully breathtaking camping experience when he's around. He takes us down (and up) unpaved, bumpy roads where I don't even think Volkswagen thought a Westfalia could go! We might fret for a minute or two but it's always worth it, right girls?

Every once in awhile I have to look back to see what the girls are doing - if not napping they're reading. This time they're flipping through a Teen Vogue (which I always read first and sensor if needed.) They are great buddies. Oh, they have their sisterly-moments, but space away from each other definitely isn't one of them. Camping soldifies relationships. Dan & I hope that us 4 will be camping together for years more to come. One day we will outgrow Poliwhirl - the time when the girls will be camping outside in a tent is coming closer & closer. In fact, I forgot, last year they did pitch their own tent a few feet away from the van. Yeah, I was nervous. Yeah, I didn't sleep well that night. Yeah, we shined the flashlight in their direction a few times through the night. It'll get easier as they get older, right? For now, I love how they fit nicely in the bunk above us.

Camping # 4

Dan always has to keep on moving. After our stint on the rock, he jumped on his bike and we followed behind him.
...back through Fort Hunter Leggitt...

Once we got to the dip in the road, Breana couldn't resist and had to jump on the tandem to splash through the water!

Camping # 3

Poliwhirl in Los Padres National Park.
After breakfast of toast and oatmeal, we walked down to the creek. We had some fun taking family pictures (keeping true to my New Year's Resolution) with our tripod that Tom & Tisha gave to us ions ago. This was our first time using it and it proved to be a wonderful gift after all this time! It fits nicely in my camera bag (which really is a jewelry bag) and has a adjustable legs as well as a strap to tie around branches, etc! Really cool! After taking a plethora of pictures, we decided it was time to head back to Mission San Antonio. If it were warmer, the three would have been in the water.



On our way out, we hiked up this rock - another spot where we had a breathtaking view.
This was an immense rock. It was as if a giant picked up a rock that he could cover his entire hand over and placed it in the middle of this plain. From our camp spot the day before, I watched Dan & the girls on this rock which looked like a hill. One side we hiked up, another side was a sheer drop to the ground below and the other side was so steep I couldn't begin to imagine walking down for fearing of losing my footing...meanwhile Breana was running up & down it. I had to hike down and walk around the rock to get to where she was. She was a spider, a big-horn sheep, a rock climber in vans.

Camping # 2

Rocks are intriguing to us. Many times we wished we had Drew with us. Drew is a dear friend of ours - a Geologist and outdoor extraordinare. This time it was the colors on the rocks that I was mesmerized with. While Dan was looking up in the hills for a possible hike I was looking down at my feet to the colors I was walking on. I still don't think this photograph captured the yellows & rusts but it's enough to put me back in the 'dreamy' state that I get when I'm camping.

First Camping of the year - continued...

I can't believe I never finshed posting our first camping trip of the year! Much has to do with the fact that we just went DSL and have been experiencing problems with it from the get-go...but let's not go there, ok? The problem is now fixed, that's what's important right?
So back to our camping trip...



The morning of our second day, Dan & I got up before the girls to climb up on a rock, soak up the sun, breath in the cool morning air and take in the wide open space. We camped off in Los Padres National Park beyond Fort Hunter Leggitt. We tend to favor areas that aren't designated campgrounds where we can camp off on our own - no blue tarps, no smelly porto-potties, no barking dogs, no generators, no drunken sailers 'er campers staying up all night by their smokey fires...just us in the still night with the soft glow of our vanagon.
This morning we were in no hurry to make breakfast or to break down camp so we let the girls sleep in while we checked out the manzanitas and possible hikes for the morning.
The night before after oyster appetizers, hot soup & toast (in lieu of garlic bread), we played "Oh Heck". Breana kept score which, to me, is very tricky to do and so much like her late-Gramps. He would be so proud!

Grateful for...

...Dan's witty sense of humor while driving home late at night.
...how chatty Kaitlin is in the morning.
...how helpful Breana was today with cleaning her room & folding the laundry.
...the way the young lady at "Sweet Spot" was patient with Breana's hesitancy to order on her own.
...Kaitlin's creativeness with her button jewelry.

Can you see it?

While Breana sees heart shapes where ever she goes, Kaitlin always finds shapes in blobs. This was in her yogurt in the morning. Do you see it? What do you see?

Lovely hands

I love hands.

These are the my Mom's hands. My Mom has beautiful-beautiful hands, like her Mother before her.

Her hands are so elegant & graceful.

I have outlines of my late-maternal Grandmother's hands as well as my late-Father-in-law's hands. I plan on creating a quilt with hands - special hands from loved ones. The design remains in my head for now but one day this quilt will be created.

Birthday Celebration for Mom Q

We gathered for Mom Quijance's birthday at Tom & Tisha's house. We had Tisha's yummy homemade chicken soup (Tisha makes the best chicken soup!) and I made a lemon angel food cake using the lemons from our yard. The cake came from a Lemon Dessert cookbook that Dan gave me for my birthday last July. The book has incredible recipes. Kaitlin made a lemon tart by herself during the summer but couldn't for Mom's birthday due to the heavy whipping cream.
I can't believe it's Mom's birthday. She is such a beautiful woman.

I enjoy simple family birthday gathering like this - we don't get together for dinner that often so it's nice to have a reason to in the middle of the week (thursday). We did miss Teresa's family

though :(

3:15pm January 8, 2007

First day back at school from winter break...the girls were pooped-out! They just needed a little 'time out' before they had to jump back into the homework routine.

I don't want their outfits to go unnoticed - the girls went through that 'jeans & tshirt' phase and now are expressing themselves with creative outfits, I love it! They spend a wee bit more time in front of the mirror in the morning but I enjoy the results!

First camping trip of the year

We headed south Highway 1 to drive along the coast. With the High-Surf warning, the waves were incredible. We took a quick stop off somewhere around Carmel Valley and stepped out to a beautiful beach. We didn't stop long enough to warrant digging out the jackets & hats even though being warmer would have made the 15 minutes more enjoyable! There Kaitlin took pictures (look for her post soon to come), Breana found abalone shells and a few beautiful pebbles while I found a dried out baby sea star (displayed in our bathroom with our many other minature beach findings.)

We stopped at Nepenthe for a picnic lunch and a peek in the gift shop where after awhile, Kaitlin wanted to move onward...she wasn't too amused with wanting to hang around the empty deck or browsing around the store as we were...I did find her mermerized with the aqua/turqoise of the water near the cliffside...but still was ready to move onward!

One of my New Year's Resolutions, take more family pictures!

This was our first try with our timer - we didn't use the mini-traveling tripod for this one but it got Kaitlin out of her 'funk' enough to smirk for the shot.

We hung out longer here than we planned but it was rejuvenating. We even managed not to make a purchase even though we saw numerous things we wanted to have!!! I like times like this when the 4 of us just meander about without a schedule. Another New Year's Resolution, more times like this!

A new day

On our tandem I'm able to space-out, sight-see and take pictures. We rode out to the cliffs via the levy. It was a nice ride -a bit nerve-racking with the girls on their own - but nice to be out as a family. There were a lot of people out walking on the cliffs which made it difficult to maneuver - our intention was to see if Tom was surfing but we really couldn't decipher between the surfers! I saw this morning as an indication of what was ahead of us - the girls stepping a bit away from us tasting independence with confidence as Dan & I find ourselves with more "us" time. Unfortunately due to our height difference, I will never be the driver of the tandem...but, you know, sometimes it's nice sitting back and watching the scenery go by.

Happy New Year!

This marked our first annual "Burning Dan" where we freed ourselves from 2006.

The kids couldn't wait for '2006' to burn to ashes so they made their s'mores over the gas stove. You know whether it's over the fire or on the gas stove or in the microwave, a s'more is a s'more - yummy yummy yummy!

Tom, Tisha, Dan & I played 'Quiddler' as the kids hung out in the sunroom waiting for the ball to drop. The cleansing (Burning Dan) worked for we were able to welcome 2007 with open arms.

For 2007...

To live content with small means; to seek elegance rather than luxury, and refinement rather than fashion; to be worthy, not respectable, and wealthy, not, rich; to listen to stars and birds, babes and sages, with open heart; to study hard; to think quietly, act frankly, talk gently, await occasions, hurry never; in a word, to let the spiritual, unbidden and unconscious, grow up through the common -- this is my symphony.

~ william henry channing