Merry Christmas! ! !

Getting ready for Christmas

Hello, everyone!  I am still here!  I've had lots to post about, I just didn't manage to sit down to do the actual posts!  :(  There has been so much I needed to get done, I just seemed to run out of steam!  So, I'm going to throw it all in here now!  Out of date and all!  :)

 

I did manage to sneak away to the OC Fair this summer.  I wish I had seen these guys coming in time to get my camera out instead of trying to play catch up.  There was a parade of these characters drumming up interest for their act.  I missed it, too!   I'll bet it was good!

 

I always hit the arts and crafts to see what everyone has created . . .

 

 

the fine arts (no photography here :( - except of the lights above!), the products area, 

the animal barns and garden areas . . . oh, and maybe a quick run by the wine tasting area . . . just for . . . uh . . . research purposes.

And, I did get my garden in . . .

Moon and Stars Watermelon

My Moon and Stars watermelon . . . here is one of the babies in the early stages. I only got a couple and neither one of them turned out well.  All over the garden I had problems this year.  I guess I need to be a better gardener and make sure I water as needed . . . . . and not just on the weekends!  :(

Charentais Melons

My Charentais cantaloupes fared a bit better, but still . . .

Black Pear Tomatoes

My Black Pear tomatoes did do pretty well.  My first year with them. They were very tasty!  I made sure to save some seed for next year!

Bird House Gourds

My first attempt at the bird's nest gourds didn't do so well either.  They all rotted or molded.  *sigh*

My strawberries did ok, though!  Still, not a big crop, but they have escaped and are growing up all around the patio, so maybe next year!

Pineapples

I was so excited the pineapple tops took off and I had 4 plants growing off this top and 2 off the other one.  They were looking really, really good . . . and then . . they died.  I do not know what I did wrong on this one.

Teddy Bear Sunflower babies

Star Gazer Lillies

Dragon Fruit

On the plus side . . . my flowers did fairly well!  The teddy bear sunflowers needed more room, so less in a pot, but they were really cute anyway!  And I ended up with 2 dragon fruits this year as opposed to the 1 I got the previous 2 years!  I doubled my crop!  ;)  

Next year I have to get more serious with my poor garden and feed and water it better!

I also tried to do some carpenter duty.  I should have known better.  Trust me.  I won't get hired to do any carpentry work any time soon.  (Another career path down the drain for me!  ;)  It seemed like it should have been so easy.  Just two little boards with a couple of supports and something across the front to keep pictures from sliding off.  I have a small drill, a small jig saw, some chisels left over from my print-making class years ago, a hammer, screwdrivers, sand paper, screws and nails.  That is the extent of equipment at my disposal.  Sadly, I am not expert with any of them.  Perhaps I should be taking classes!  LOL!

But, then there were the strips up the wall to cover the paneling joins to take into consideration.  I had to get creative with how to scrape out spots on the planks to go over them and still lay flat against the wall.  It's not pretty, but they do go over those spots on the wall.  And, you don't really notice that part, so I guess it's ok!

I also knew I would be wanting to put up lights and possibly other small electrical types of things there.  So, extension cords would have to be able to feed up through them as well.  Cut-outs would be needed.  I always worry there won't be enough room for the ends to feed through so, believe me, there are very large cut-outs.  But, the extension cords do fit!  ;)  Note to self . . . never, never, never ever again weave the strings of light in and out of the trim.  Never.  Hours. Simply, hours! I'm a little slow . . . you think I would have figured that out while putting them up.  I should have stopped as soon as it got a bit tedious! :) Hee hee hee!

Please do not look toooooo closely at my lame attempt to make these shelves for my living room.  Ok, you will actually have to keep one eye closed and squint real hard with the other one to try to miss the wonky supports.  And even then, they stand out pretty blatantly.  But, the shelves are at least level on the wall, even if the supports are not exactly as vertical as they should be!  They may not look it in these pics . . . but, they are level!  That's one thing going for them!

The fact that the supports are not straight is driving me crazy, but I am doing my best to just ignore them.  I do not want to have to try to pull it all down and try to get them straight.  But, they may drive me to do that at some point in the future, cuz' I really can't stand it.

I also do not have them quite finished.  There is still a lot of touching up that needs to be done and I have some decorative scroll elements to glue on the flats against the wall.  Not to mention needing to cover up the screws on them as well!  They are just basically two 1X4's; one flat against the wall, the other, the "shelf", is supported by square decorative architectural elements and a decorative railing across the front.

But, I am going to like them, I think.  The wall studs are not positioned in places I want to hang things, so I thought if I put up shelves that go across the entire wall I can slide pictures around as needed on them and wouldn't have to put any other holes in the walls.  And, so far, they have looked nice with seasonal decorations on them.  Later, I will put up other pictures.

I definitely had fun with the decorations and can't wait until it is more finished.  But, I will also have to get better lighting so these pictures come out a little better.  Even on a sunny day, this is a wall that, for photos, is light-challenged even though the room is relatively bright!

I did make a nice T-Day dinner for myself and a couple of pies.  Here are some photos of the apple pie prep and final output.  I was having a bit of trouble with the crust, so ended up just using some tiny cutters at a feeble attempt to say Happy Thanksgiving!  I ended up with just a Happy T Day!  Though in truth, it looks more like Happy T OAY  ;)  

I also managed to get away to the Getty to catch the Cyrus Cylinder before it left.  Barely.  I got there the very last day it was there along with many, many, many other people with the same idea!  Who knew there would be a line to get in to see it!  It was very difficult to get pictures without all of the other people in there as well!  Also, it was dark and no flash photography or tripods allowed.  So, please excuse the quality of these photos.  My poor little camera did the best it could!  I am hoping one of these days next year Santa brings me a new, fancy-schmancy camera.  ;)

I am not sure why, but ancient glass just completely fascinates me. I don't know if I am more amazed they knew how to make it so very long ago and that they created such beautiful objects or that such fragile things survived so long or both.

I am working to get a lot done around here.  Why are our "to do" lists so very long?  ;)  It has all taken quite a bit of my time, but I am definitely making progress and am hopeful I am getting things more under control and will be able to get back to posting on a bit more regular basis and get back to doing more artwork!  No promises!

I appreciate everyone who has stopped by this past year to visit and say hi.  There have been a few people who have disappeared from their blogs also and I'm hoping you are all still there and I hear from you again!   I have missed your posts!  I may not have been able to keep up with doing posts, but I have been visiting the rest of you and enjoying all the lovely things everyone has been posting this past year!

I hope you have had a good year and are looking forward to a great 2014.  Merry Christmas and Happy New Year, everyone! ! !

Julian Apple Days Festival

I went online last night and found that the Julian Apple Days Festival is going on this weekend and decided I wanted to go check it out.  It had been a while since my last trip to Julian and I was anxious to go back and to check out the festival.  The only problem was going to be the weather.  Normally Southern California flatlanders are not used to getting rain between May and December, but yesterday I was sitting at work in front of full length floor to ceiling windows being treated to a little bit of one of mother nature's pyrotechnic displays.  We don't get thunder and lightning very often, so I do enjoy it when I can.  But, being out in the rain for the festival didn't sound like a lot of fun.  So when I woke up this morning, the first thing I did was peek outside.  Hmmmmm, overcast.  Should I or should I not go . . . 

I decided to go ahead and get my breakfast and get ready to go and see what things looked like then.  When I was ready to leave, it looked like it was at least thinking about clearing up, so I decided to go ahead and make the 3 hour drive up the mountain, hoping I was making the right decision.  I got on the freeway at 9am and within a few minutes it began to sprinkle. . .  And then it began to rain. . .  And then it began to pelt the windows so hard it sounded like rocks hitting the windshield. . .  And that's when I started to get the idea that I had made the wrong decision.  But, I like driving, so I thought I might as well see it through, enjoy the ride and hope for the best.  And as it turned out, I'm sure glad I didn't turn back.  By the time I got to Oceanside, it had stopped raining.  And by the time I got up the hill, the sun was out and the sky was a beautiful blue with big gorgeous puffy white clouds.

The hills were covered with straw-colored vegetation that has been baked in the summer heat until it was completely dried out, and here and there were bits of green that somehow managed to survive all these months without water.  There were broad swashes of a rust color that looked like someone had taken a giant brush full of water-color and swished it over some portions of the hills.  There were orchards and vineyards, oaks and evergreens, chicken ranches and horse ranches and sheep and cows.  And I might have been dreaming, but I thought I saw a sign that said Oasis Camel Dairy.  Hunh?

Anyway, along the way, in the distance I saw a big, big balloon in the sky, but it didn't seem like it was really going anywhere.  It didn't look like the typical hot air balloons we are used to seeing floating around so peacefully, so I was curious to get up there to see what it was.  When I got close enough I saw it was tethered at the entrance to the San Diego Wild Animal Park and stopped to snap a picture.

It looks like holly leaves, but the berries are blue?
Do they start out blue and then just turn red for Christmas?

Once you are off the freeway, it is mostly just a 2-lane winding road with very few places to pull over.  I kept trying to stop to get some photos of the clouds, but could never find anywhere it would be safe to pull over and where I wouldn't have phone or power lines in the way of the shot.  But, fortunately, there were still some great cloud shots to be had once I got to the Menghini Winery where the festival was being held.

Tink was soooo cute, I had to snap a pic!

There were several vendors at the festival offering everything from decorative items to food and pumpkins, pony rides to jumpers, jugglers to face-painters, panning for gold to bands and musical entertainment and tug-o-war contests to pie eating contests.  I got a chance to taste hard cider for the first time.  I thought it was like a cross between beer and wine.  It was very refreshing and the vendor was extremely nice.  He pointed out that Julian Hard Cider had just been featured in the latest issue of Sunset magazine.  I picked up a local apple recipe book that looks like it has quite a few tasty treasures to try.  While there, I also managed to score a piece of apricot apple pie and it was delicious!  It looked like everyone was having a great time!

After I had made the rounds at the festival, I headed into town to wander around the streets there for a couple of hours, window shopping and trying to chose a place to eat.  It looks like Mom's is THE place to go for apple pie and apple dumplings.  Every time I walked by, there was a long, long line to get in.  Since I had already had a piece of pie at the festival, I didn't want to wait in line for another piece of pie, but I definitely peeked in the windows every time I walked by and did a little drooling each time.  It sure looked delicious and now I am really wishing I had gotten in line anyway and brought some pie home . . . sounds heavenly with with the vanilla ice cream I have sitting in the freezer.  Darn! ! !

Mom's always has a line.  Next time,
no matter what, I'm stopping here for a treat!

Delicious meal at Soups and Such Cafe.

I finally decided to try Soups and Such Cafe for my late lunch/early dinner and I think it was exactly what I was looking for.  It was a nice, clean little place, the service was extremely friendly and helpful and I liked that they also ran a little bit of a flower shop in there as well.  Made it seem especially cheerful with all the brightly colored flowers around.  I chose the half-sandwich/soup/salad combo and got the roasted red pepper sandwich and broccoli brie soup.  The soup had little slices of almonds in it also.  The salad was a mixed greens with a very tasty vinaigrette.  Yum!

The town cemetery is just a block or so from the main part of town and I thought I had seen something about some of the older tombstones from the beginning of the town, so I decided to take a stroll over there.  I didn't find the headstones, but I didn't search very hard for them either. 

On the way back down the mountain, I stopped at a little, and I mean little roadside stand to pick up a few apples.  He was down to the last bit for the day and it was pretty picked over.  I selected 3 apples that didn't look too bad and he just said enjoy and didn't charge me for them!  Thanks! 

As I got further down the mountain, I realized that I should have stocked up on . . . well, . . . something.  I mean, how could I have gone all the way to Julian without picking up some fresh something.  So, I also stopped at the Wynola Valley Orchard Peaches stand and picked up several more peaches to eat and to dry.  I do wish I had picked up more apples while I was there!  But, I think I was afraid to because I knew I wasn't going to have any extra time over the next few days to do anything with them and didn't want to waste them.

So, finally, I am ready to head home for sure and I am driving along and look over to my left and then have to do a double take.  Remember on the way up I said I thought I was seeing things when I thought I saw a sign that said Oasis Camel Dairy . . .  well, I now think I must have really seen that sign, because there were camels grazing along side the horses over there to the left!  Yes, camels, with their big humps mixed in with all those horses.

I got back to the freeway just as the sun was going down.  And just as I got to San Clemente, I found myself driving under some very thick cloud cover that extinguished the last dredges of sunlight that had just been grazing the horizon.  It was a very pleasant end to a very pleasant day.  I had the sunroof open and the air felt deliciously cool.  The cloud cover seemed to help concentrate the scent of the ocean and the residual heat from the sun on the dried vegetation was causing their scent to rise into the night air as things started cooling down and it all mingled with the scent of the bonfires on the beaches.  Awwwww . . . .

Well, I need to scoot for now!  I have an early morning planned.  I need to harvest some seed and baby basil plants for my cousin and her little 9 acre farm before I head down to the Newport Beach Sandcastle Contest tomorrow.  Stop by her place and check it out if you get a chance!  And, hopefully we won't get rained out and I'll be able to share some photos from the Sandcastle Contest soon!  Stay tuned!