I’m late posting photos, but as the saying goes, better late than never.

I had just gotten home after taking our houseguest Valerie to the airport (she went home to Illinois for the holidays) when I saw Jerry’s car in the driveway. I was so excited to see him home for lunch! I was sure he had come home to see me so I rushed in the front door to say “hi sweetie”. When he walked out of his study and I saw the look on his face I knew there was a different reason for him being home in the middle of the day. You know the rest of the story, another job lay off with the holidays right around the corner. This short story line leads up the photo of me with a very special person in my arms, baby Jack L. Hord. Carol’s daughter Teresa, husband Jeremy, and daugher Emily welcomed Jack into the world a few days after Thanksgiving this year. Jerry had gone back to work after telling me about the job lay off news, and I was on the phone with my girlfriend Pauline boo-hooing about it. I was in no mood to break away from my conversation with Pauline, despite Carol’s persistance. She called my cell several times, then the home phone. I finally gave in and took her call. She didn’t tell me that Teresa and Jack were with her, she didn’t know about Jerry’s recent job status. She just knew how much I loved her girls and T’s kids. I hung up with Pauline and waited for Carol to come over like she said she was going to do. When I answered the door I was so tickled. I also knew that I needed a baby’s love at that very moment to lift my heart. Thank you baby Jack, Teresa and Carol.

We started our festivities by having good friends Terry and Karen over to enjoy the Christmas vibe. Karen brought over hot chocolate and we enjoyed that while we opened our gifts.
It was Jerry’s year for all things Coke related. Maybe next year we’ll put up a small tree in his study to show off his Coke ornaments.It was the year of the fairy for me. I was blessed to receive Tink in many different forms this year and loved it. This was a Mary Cicely Barker calendar, another favorite artist of mine who illustrates exquisite fairies.

Terry’s gifts came in the form of Disney. Not too big of a surprise because that’s his mantra, his main thing, what makes his heart go thumpedy-thump. Karen and I went to an estate sale this last year that had a awesome amount of Disney items for sale. We found out as we were purchasing our items that the estate sale was due to a foreclosure which made it very sad. But in the end Terry got this shirt and a cool Disney blanket, so I was thankful for those gifts.

Next on our holiday festivities was spending Christmas eve with good friends the Bennets. Jill made everyone a wonderful mexican feast with delicious margarita’s, and Matt joined us for dinner that evening which was nice. In a festive mood Jill placed celebratory New Years eve crackers on each table setting which was a lot of fun.
Inside each cracker were crowns, a joke, and a prize. Each end of the cracker was tied up with twisty gold ball ties. Those ended up being the most entertaining, something akin to the box, not the contents. Patrick made “knuckle-cracking-beaters” out of his. Steve proudly shows off the paper crown. It seems to fit him just right, don’t you think? Jill bravely shows there is more than just 1 thing you can do with the New Years cracker ties thank you, while Matt tries not to notice that mom did not have her focus set right!

We had a nice treat this year with having both boys home for Christmas. Jason and his good friend Christina, better known as Chuck, made the long trek down from Arcata, Ca in his dependable blue Honda. Since it is about a 14 hour drive one way, they decided to stop over in San Fransico on their way down. It had been almost 2 years since we’d seen Jason last, so we were all very excited. Christmas morning was nice. We slept in a bit, and Matt drove down from Newport Beach to open gifts with us. Matt appreciated his gifts as did Jason, of course, yet the best part for Jerry and I was the fact that we had both the boys home for the holidays at the same time.
As part of our family tradition, we traveled down to San Diego for Christmas day dinner at Patty’s cousin’s house. Greg and Doreen make the best prime rib known to mankind and are the most gracious of hosts. Getting to see Greg’s parents, and Patty’s closest aunt Lou and uncle Jim who live a stone’s throw away, is another part of the wonderful tradition, as is seeing a whole host of other family members. It is time spent with great food and spirits, lots of wonderful stories around a long table, and best of all simply the best family a girl could ever wish for.

Before you dive into this blog you might wonder if these topiaries at Disney World and Disneyland Resort are real. I am not sure if the Peter Pan and Snow White topiaries shown here at Disney World in Florida are real, but I do know the others are as I’ve seen them up close. The only part that is not real on the topiaries in Disneyland Resort is the yellow main on the lion. That is made out of some synthetic fiber. I hope this bit of information is helpful.

My girlfriend Pauline took these topiary photos while on a trip to Disney World in Florida with her 2 children, David and Valerie, a place I someday hope to enjoy to the fullest. I am a huge fan of Tinkerbell, for those of you who don’t know me well. I love the fact that Peter Pan is getting some recognition in these topiaires, he’s really how Tinkerbell came to be know now isn’t it?

This topiary of Snow White and a few of her adorable dwarfs is just remarkable. I wonder why they can’t do this in Disneyland or California Adventure. Maybe because of Florida’s climate, where it is more humid. The California sun can sure beat down on our horticulture.

I’m not saying Disneyland doesn’t have some amazing topiaries, as shown here with their lion ornamental tree. I’ve looked at this lion up close and the mane is made out of some kind of synthetic fibers. This particular topiary is over by It’s A Small World, where they have the largest variety of topiaries in all of Disneyland and California Adventure displayed.

I love their swan featured also by It’s A Small World. The pink flowers are geraniums and are remind me of a peacocks feathers.

The trip to Torrance to visit good friends Beth, Steve, and assorted family members was fun as always. While we had certain tasks we wanted to accomplish, most of them require purchases, and as always lots of laughter. There are many things I love about these long time friends: their generosity, their kindness, their compassion, certainly patience which will be explained a bit later, and as if I could mention just 1 more of many many more it would have to be their ability to shower me with love. I’ve never had friends who do this for me in such a wonderful way. They sing my praises with every move I make, whether it be the sewing projects I’ve done or the cooking. They even find a way to suggest they only too just woke up after I’ve slept in until some late late hour of the morning. I come home oozing love. It’s the most awesome thing ever.

Beth and I were sitting in her family room admiring her garden when I decided to take photos of it. Beth has a green thumb she just doesn’t really know it. Her love for geraniums is awesome: with a lot of different varieties strewn all over her patio and garden beds. She has several bouganvillas, a plant that I love and have killed over the years. This particular one is quite large. The big fountain attracts a wide variety of birds.

Colorful ceramic mushrooms sit at the base of 3 different bird baths. Beth’s yard is full of birds and yes even crows, of which both of us are not especially fans of.

On this particular visit I was in rare form. Let me explain. In past visits I started a trend in which I either break something or more likely am connected to something getting broken or not working, thus creating jobs for Steve. To be honest and reveal all, I don’t intentionally do this, it just seems to happen. This time I was on a roll and things were happening all around me. In a past visit I turned off Steve’s computer. And I mean literally. Turned it off. As in didn’t want to start up again. Here’s where the patience part comes in to play. Steve didn’t get mad, he just explained it was an “uh oh” waiting to happen. Lucky me. Or maybe lucky him, as he later explained he’d been waiting for this to happen so he could go out and buy a new one!

Steve & Beth’s new Mission style hutch has a extension cord plugged in to the wall behind it. A couple of visits ago I was told to plug the vacuum into the cord. I got about 2″ of carpet vacuumed with Beth’s new and powerful vacuum when everything on that side of the house lost power. Oh dear! On this recent visit I was working in the garden and I accidently stepped on a exposed sprinkler pipe, breaking it, or as Beth likened it: finished breaking it. Score: Patty 2, Steve 2

On one of my many trips to the garage I noticed this creature sticking out from around a box on the shelf. I kind of remember there being a story attached to it, making it something great for Steve and Beth to keep. I just don’t remember what that story may be. Still I’ve gone used to seeing his little face watch me ponder over the tool bench.

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Steve’s repaired glasses sit atop Pepsi he brought home for Beth. (I got a diet coke!-thanx Steve). I picked them up and upon doing so the lense popped out. Oops! Score: Patty 3 Steve 3. Also during this visit I managed to unplug the phone bases when I plugged in the coffee pot. Are you keeping track? Patty 4 Steve 4. Steve’s #’s correspond to the chores he has to do for the things I kept breaking. He’s gets well over a 10 for his patience. Thanks for yet another great visit wonderful friends!

It took 3 of us, a few interesting poses and suggestive comments but we managed to get Beth’s antique rocker covered with a beautiful needlepoint she found on ebay. We also were in the lookout for a nice arrangement for their new dinning room table. We found this wreath for the door at one of our favorite haunts: Mulberry Cottage. The gorgeous green flower arrangement was purchased at Michael’s. It goes beautifully with their new dinning room set.

If anyone knows me well, they know I love to organize anything and everything. I’m almost anal about it. I took it upon myself to organize Beth’s jewelry while we were visiting this last weekend. She got into it too at the end and we stayed up until midnight talking about the special meaning behind some of her most cherished possessions. It was such fun.

Be sure and click on the photo of the Air Force flag because you will find Steve in the picture to the right. Steve and Beth’s middle child, a son, is over in Iraq right now, fighting the fight. Please take a minute and say a prayer for this truly wonderful guy to come home safe and sound, to his wife and family. We love you!

Beth has 2 adorable kitties, sisters Tiger and Tigger. Tiger is shown below in the back of the closet being the shy one that she is. She sleeps during the day and is up at night running through the house, scaring anyone who might get up for a drink of water or a potty stop. Silly girl! Tigger is the youngest, the runt of the liter, and a bit more sociable. She loves to be around the action and you will frequently find her resting nearby. She’s also more mischievious and loves to do things she knows she shouldn’t! She’s shown resting in Beth’s red chair.

On one of our excursions in the neighborhood we saw this huge pink hydrangea in the front yard. Every year it gets bigger and more beautiful. Beth said she believes the owners trim it down during it’s off season. Maybe I’ll get the nerve to do the same to mine. And just look at my adorable new Jim Shore Tinkerbell figurine! I love it! It was an early birthday gift from Beth! Awesome! I also got a very sweet cloche, perfect for all sorts of wonderful things. Thank you my dear friend! So very much!

You can see the new Jim Shore Tinkerbell figurine under the new cloche from Beth on the left side of my desk shelf top. It’s there you can also see the photo I had enlarged to match our newly painted bedroom colors. I had Matt tweak the colors of the rose a bit, toning it down so the center wasn’t quite so pink, even still it looks pinker than it really is. I love it. Here also is a close up of the new Tinkerbell figurine.

I came home from my visit with Steve and Beth to take Matt for his 26th birthday (earlier in the week) out to dinner with my sweet hubby. We went to California Pizza Kitchen, yum! and ate wonderful pasta, rolls, and red velvet cake! Happy Birthday sweet Matt. We love you so much!

Matthew drove down here to Mission Viejo recently and we went for a walk in the gulley across the street from Temple Eliat. I’ve always wanted to go down there and wander around, so taking our cameras and documenting the walk was interesting.

There were a lot of unusual items down in this dark and damp gully. It looks as if people visit often and don’t have a second thought as to vandalize the area. Matt found pieces of a umbrella and stand, broken and scattered everywhere. There were the usual old bottles along with discarded remnants of chair parts and other miscellaneous junk.

It makes me sad to see the large oak trees spray painted along beside the natural beauty of the wilderness glenns that grace Mission Viejo, though I doubt the city’s landscape and cleaning crews come down very often and clean up. There are more obvious areas that they need to tend to.

I was tickled to see a fairy ring in the wilderness glenn, though I didn’t see any fairies on this trip. Matt and I got stuck in a sudden down pour on our walk home and had to put in an emergency call to Jerry to pick us up. We made the best of the wait and took photos of an old truck that is frequently parked beside the road.

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