My friend, Rose 6 '14

I  had breakfast with my friend Rose on Sunday morning.  I met Rose, in graduate school and we have been close friends ever since.  Even though welive on opposite sides of the continent and  don't get together very often, every time we do it is like we picked up just where we left off the last time we met.  Friendships like this are hard to find.

Visiting Point Loma with the McClellans 6 '14

On Sunday afternoon, we had a family excursion to visit to the Cabrillo l National Monument

and the Point Loma lighthouse

with  CCs daughter, Laura  and her husband David

 and her husband David

and our grandsons Dylan and Ryan 

 both of whom are now taller than us..

One has a beautiful view of the San Diego harbor from the Cabrillo Monument

But the view gets even better if you walk down the  rugged trail to the tidepools below

I don't know who had more fun on this outing

the kids 

or the adults

Sometimes it was hard to tell  who was a a kid. This place definitely bought out the inner child in all of us.

Visiting Moms Grave 5' 31

 On May 31st, all four sisters traveled to the Arlington National Cemetery to visit our Mother's Grave 

and bring her some flowers. 

   It was a sobering moment,

that left us all in tears.

We will love you and miss you always.

Culprit IV 5 '14

Culprit  IV

Yesterday we caught  the adolescent we had seen during the first night's rad on our potted plants  That was Culprit III.  Last night... the other young adult who was hanging around  with it (Culprit IV) was also captured. .... but not before it unearthed my poor herbs.  Both have been  relocated:  I hope they are enjoying their new home far far away from my garden.

Captured Culprit II 5 '14

 



Devastation

I woke up to find all the potted herbs uprooted again and the soil scattered around .  The critters aren't eating the herbs, and there aren't any bulbs or other tasty things in the soil, so I can't imagine what they are looking for..  Bruce did trap the critter but not before he had done some damage. At least he had the decency to look like he regretted his actions.

Culprit II

This too is a adult raccoon, so we know there is at least one more lurking around in the woods behind us.  So we'll be setting out the trap again tonight. 

Caught the Culprit 5 '14

Culprit I

Kat alerted us early in the evening that something  was on our back porch, by letting out a series of long unwelcoming growls.  Turning on a flashlight, we found a very young skinny gray and black raccoon standing in a herb pot.  It took off when Kat tried( unsuccessfully)  to charged it through the screen door.  That was enough of a warning of what was going to happen to my newly repotted plants for BJ to set out his trap.

 

Sometime in the middle of the night the trap caught the culprit....  As suspected, the villain is a raccoon.. except it wasn't the young one we'd seen early.  This  animal is a full blown healthy  adult.  It managed to uproot a few herbs again before it got scent of the bowl of cat food BJ used to lure it into the cage.  From the size and gloss of its coat , I would say it has been raiding more than my herb pots.  To get this fat it has to have been eating  out of the local dumpsters.   Bruce is taking it to one of the local wildlife management areas to release it.   We'll try again tonight for it's little brother.

Culprit I doesn't look very repentant.

 

Happy Mother's Day 5 '14

I had a very small selection of herbs plant

Potted herbs in planter

ed in pots outside the Carolina Room.   Nothing fancy .. just the basics rosemary, thyme  marjoram, basil  and parsley.  I woke up this morning to find every single one of them had been uprooted and their potting soil spread all over the porch. This is actually the second time those pots have been ransacked this week, but the first time the culprit only uprooted one small rosemary.  This time it ravaged the entire herb garden.  I am so P.O. ed

Ravaged herb planter

The good news is that it only uprooted the herbs whole, and did  not eat them, so I was able to repot them.  The even better news is that I was planning on planting some flowers in pots to attract butterflies, so  pot gardening was already on my to do list for the day... Just not this much pot gardening.  

 

Repotted  with some flowers to attract Humming Birds and butterflies

The flowers were my Mother's Day gift.

Equally good is that the critter(s) did not go near any of the small herb and flower  planters I have along the front walkway to the house.

Front entry garden

The bad news is that I fear the critter will return.  We think it is probably a raccoon hoping to find a bulb to snack on ( there aren't any).  Bruce is going to  try to capture it with his havahart trap tonight

OMG Not Plein Air painting on these roadways anymore 5 '14

OMG!   I AM NOT Plein Air painting near any of these 'scenic ponds" anymore

Check out the size of this alligator.. It's absolutely Jurassic!

http://www.wltx.com/story/news/2014/05/05/huge-gator-seen-crossing-road-near-coast/8732793/

Golf at Waterways Hills Golf Course 5 ' 14

BJ Celebrating his Bday

We had planned on playing a nice round of golf Bruce's Birthday, but the mother nature didn't cooperate.  Rather than trying to play in the midst of a deluge, we postponed the celebration a few days until the greens had had a chance to dry out.   Of course there was always the risk that the greens would be packed with golfers as soon as the skies cleared.  We reasoned that Cinco de Mayo might be  a good choice of dates.. the more people in the pubs singing  'Margaritaville', the fewer  would be on the links.  The gamble paid off.  While the pubs were packed, the fairways were relatively empty.





We choice to play  Waterways Hills Golf Course in North Myrtle Beach .  The adventure starts with a gondola ride across the intercoastal waterway.  How cool is that!



The gondolas are all equipped with special carriers for four sets of golf bags

The ride across provides great views of the Intercoastal  Waterway

And a great overview of Waterway Hills with its three(3) Nine hole courses. ( 27 holes total).

We were paired up with a father and son from Ontario Canada to play eighteen holes on two of the courses ( the Lakes and the Ravine).  Both were  challenging courses with lots of water, and obstacles. Bruce had a great time, and drove really well

View of the Intercoastal Waterway

So did I... well I drove the cart well anyway.  I decide that it was too beautiful there to waste my attention entirely on chasing a little pink ball around, so I only played every other hole, and spent the rest of the time taking photos of the Intercoastal scenery.



Sailboat on the Intercoastal

And of the local wildlife (especially the baby Fox Squirrels)

The Cute Fox Squirrels were playing chase with one another everywhere.

You can learn more about Waterway Hills Golf Course at:
http://waterwayhillsgolfclub.com/ 

BJ's Gluten Free Lasagna 5 '14

BJ made the most wonderful Gluten Free Chicken Lasagna for dinner tonight.  Who knew that GF could taste so good.

 

Happy Birthday 4 '14

Happy Birthday Bruce,  You are the Love of my Life.

Golf and Good Eats with the neighbors 4 ' 28

Had a lovely afternoon playing golf at Tupelo Bay ( Par 3 nine hole) with all the neighbor couples, followed by a lovely dinner at a local fish house in Murrells Inlet.

Passover Mini Series,Continued 4'14

As a follow on to yesterday's post, I did in fact finish the two last minis for the Passover Series of the ingredients for a Seder Plate

Charoset ( 5" x 7" Oil

Above is my portrayal of some of the ingredients that go into Charoset ( honey, apple, dates and nuts)

And below is the shank bone(s)

Seder Shank Bones ( 7" x 5" oil)

I am very goal oriented, and sometimes I find it hard to let go.    My head kept telling me that Passover was over, and I should put this project aside until next year, but my heart would not let me do it.  This is one time I am very glad  I followed my heart.

Miniature paintings for the Passover Holiday 4 '14

Several years ago, I decided to painted a   7"x5" miniature oil painting  of a  Halloween pumpkin  as a warm up exercise.   I thought it would make a nice table top decoration for the holiday, and without the pressure to create something "salable",  I wouldn't get frustrated if it wasn't 'a masterpiece'.   The exercise proved to be such an effective way to get the creative juices flowing that I soon had a sizable  collection of miniature paintings based around a holiday theme. They aren't for sale.  We just use them to make each holiday a bit more personal with some one of a kind art.

7" x 5" oil  "Matzo"

This year I decided to do an entire Passover series for Bruce based around the ingredients on a Seder Plate

7" x 5" oil  "Horseradish"

It proved to be a lot of fun

7" x 5" oil  "Parsley and Salted Water"

Some came out better than other, and a some may get  painted  in a different composition again next year

7" x 5" oil  "Egg and Salt"

A couple of the key ingredients , like the shank bone and the charoset, are proving to be so difficult their canvases that  may not get completed by the end of this Passover (The Passover holiday ends  tonight)

7" x 5" oil  "Wine and Elijah Cup"

The beauty of this project is that it doesn't matter.  Since there is now gallery or art show deadline looming,  The deadline is strictly in my head.  I can always work on finishing the set next year.

Assessing the storm damage 4_21_14

View from our Carolina Room

The heavy winds and rains of this last storm took its toll on the woods behind us.  The large pine visible in the upper right of the photo above came crashing down in the middle of the night. It had died long before we moved in, and I am just grateful it only fell on another couple of near-dead oak trees instead of our house. It is now hung up on those trees; let's hope the wight doesn't send them crashing down our direction.

The bad news is that a large branch of the oak nearest our house was ripped off by the wind and landed on our upstairs deck.  Fortunately there was no damage to our structure.   We dropped it over the railing ( before it's weight did cause some damage) and dragged it to the edge of the woods.

One mad Kat

You can see from the look on Kat's face that she was not pleased by having this obstacle  placed in her litter box

Stinky Inky sulking by the fallen pine

Stinky Inky wasn't very pleased either.  The dead pine had always served as a lean-to shelter from the rain.  He got soaked yesterday after it fell.

Self- proclaimed environmental protection committee.

The two of them walked around the fallen trees for an hour this morning  seriously considering whether they should file suite against humanity for environmental damage to their shared territory.