Rosemarie’s Obsessions

Victorian Ferndale, CA Part 4 vacation

Historic Victorian Village of Ferndale, founded in the late 1800s, was slightly off our beaten path. It can be found south of Arcata, CA. I had heard of this long ago from my friend, Eleanor, who lives in WI. I had never heard of it before she asked (several yrs. ago) if I had ever been there. I looked it up online, bookmarked it & then forgot all about it (like most things). I am SO happy we stumbled upon it!

One of the hotels in the Redwoods had a travel magazine of all the things to do in the area. I found a large ad with an illustration of these Victorian bldgs. on Main St. of Ferndale. Neat! Looked it up & figured we could manage swinging by there. This was after a day of looking at Redwoods, so I wasn’t sure how long the boys would last doing MORE looky-lou stuff. We did a “drive-by shooting”, as I call it! Well, I got out of the car for some pix, walking along snapping all the houses, as hubby followed along in the car. We found it took too much time to get in & out of the car, since I was taking pix of just about every house!

The boys asked why I liked this stuff so much. Dad told them, “Mom & women her age (like my sister) have this thing for these Victorian houses.” Then he asked me why I thought that was. I suppose it’s because they look like the doll houses we never had. As much as I’d like a house like this, I know the upkeep would be difficult. You will see several pix of a house I was saying “This is MY house!” the whole time I was taking pix of it. They had a life-sized statue of a black & white cow inside the front fence! Hee hee! Fun stuff!

Check out this site on Ferndale, if you have time:

http://www.victorianferndale.org/chamber/history.htm

These are just some of the pix I took, but still many more than previous posts, as it was difficult for me to decide just which ones to show. There were many pretty gardens, but I mainly concentrated on the houses. The decor they used was fabulous too…lamps, lace curtains, statues…but that will have to wait for some other time.

Hope you enjoyed the tour! I had a fantastic time in the course of an hour or so!

Redwoods, CA Part 3 vacation

Moving right along…guess this is the “feast” part of “feast or famine” I spoke of in an earlier post. LOL

Just made a plan with hubby to make an unexpected trip back up to sister & BIL’s in northern Cal. this weekend. He’s recently picked up on an old hobby…horses! Happy boy!  Thanks to the help from my sis & her hubby, we’ve found a wonderful deal & have planned to jump on it! Opportunity knocks! We may be driving back with TWO horses! Whee! (Pix of those at a later date if it all comes true!)
So…back to Part 3 of our trip…through the Avenue of the Giants (Redwoods) as well as other sections of Redwoods. The first thing that struck me when I got out of the car to take a pic was just how QUIET it was in the forest of huge trees. Heaven!

Here are a few pix…that may speak for themselves…but some commentary is made:

This would be a wonderful place to bike ride, backpack, camp, horseback ride or ANYthing! The one hike we took down to the river was fabulous…especially finding it the SAME spot we stopped when the kids were toddlers! They were able to skip rocks this time. Woody & George enjoyed it too!

Have to get to making a list (or 2) & packing! Eek! And get kids off to school tomorrow! Whee! Next segment may have to wait till next week!

San Francisco Part 2 vacation

We drove up the Calif. coast route for most of this trip, taking Hwy 101 or 1 (which hugs the coast) for most of the way after getting past Los Angeles. I’ll post some shots of ocean views from there later. We just drove through San Fran, as none of my men have ever seen the Golden Gate Bridge. We did not go into the city at all. Just drove over GG & checked out the viewpoint. No clouds that day, but haze/smog, so pix aren’t the greatest.

This was a small part of our trek the last half of June.

Kids go back to school tomorrow (Yay!) so I might have more time to post Part 3! Redwoods are next! There are more pix in that segment, as SO many beautiful shots! I’d better get working on it!

Monterey, CA ~ Pt 1 Vacation

Another month rolls by…and we’ve been back from vacation for a couple weeks now…settling in before boys go back to school on Wednesday.

Since I take SO many pix…I figured I’d better break up these…posting by area we visited. Only thing is, how tough it is to decide just which FEW get to be posted! Yikes, I hate editing!

First, our mode of transportation…for me, hubby, two 6-foot teenagers, our dog, Woody & cat, George! We rigged a deck box to go on a swing-away trailer hitch tray. The whole time we were building it, we kept singing the theme song from the old TV series, The Beverly Hillbillies! So, I dubbed it the Hillbilly Box! LOL All we needed was a rocking chair to put on top for Granny!

I did manage to find a few cacti & succulents along the way to snap, but they won’t be showcased in these vacation pix. Maybe some other time!

This first segment is from Monterey, CA, along the coast up in the northern part. We took what’s called the 17 Mile Drive. Here are a few pix:

Maybe I’ll get to Part II by tomorrow? So many pix…so little time!

What? Two Months have passed?

EEK! I recall making a note of it having been a month since I posted anything. I thought, “I’d better get some pix processed, so I can post ‘em.” The But First Sydrome took over though. But first…I should try to fix the external hard drive, so I can move pix from my hard drive to free up space. But first…I have to attend to family matters. But First…Chores, events (birthdays, kids’ school stuff…all needed my attention. Bowling tourneys, bought a car, removal of plants, sliding patio door installed…plus a variety of other tasks took precedence. Now vacation plans are under way…and I have lists galore to get into gear! Yikes!

If, the But First Syndrome doesn’t kill me, I’ll try for a post before we leave, at least.

A few of my bloomers, till I get back with more…click for larger views:

What First?

What to do first? I’m torn between my Wants & my Have To Do items on My List these days. Still working on: finishing up our tax returns; looking after a sick teen ~both kids have another week of their month-long spring break, bowling tourney coming up with brother; whacking back the jungle; installing linoleum in son’s new closet; catching 1st-time bloomers & installing a new window (in our bedroom this time). We’re also waiting on delivery of a sliding patio door. Prep for that required me chopping down a massive clump of Alpinia zerumbet (Shell Ginger). I left a few standing, but I’ll dig out tubers asap. It was sad to take them out.But eventually, we will build a deck outside this door, so I need to relocate all the plants I have in this area. Yikes! I had to find space to move all my sux that were on a tabletop that we made on our fig tree stump. It started to tilt. I think the stump is rotting. I didn’t want my sux crashing all over. Also had to move all plants outside our bedroom window. What fun!

Boring pix of a really ugly area…but here is the Ginger Whack project (before & after-well, not finished yet). I had whacked it back once already recently. The plant just about covered the whole door then!:

Just about every day–or every other day, you can find me taking pix of my plants & their blooms…among other things, like our remodeling projects. The time it takes to process these is getting out of hand. I no longer give them filenames in a timely manner. It’s getting more difficult just choosing which pix I want to post. Eek! I hope to get a bunch more spring bloomers up very soon.

And something pretty for a taste of entry to come:

Echium fastuosum with Freesia ‘White Lace’ behind.

Back when I’m able! I have to run…yet again! I have a bowling club meeting & games after.

Leather artwork

I commissioned a fellow bowler to make a belt for my hubby for his birthday. Long ago I did some leather work, so I know what goes into the making of this. Using stamps for the horses & scenes, Jerry has done a fabulous job! Take a look!

Now, to order the belt buckle for it!

Succulents & Bloomers in the Garden

Hard to choose just a few pix to post, so I’ve tried to get a variety of what’s blooming right now. Well, some are not blooming, but look great! All thumbnails should be clickable to see larger views.

I suppose that ’s enough for now! Have to go cross something off the list!

Freedom or Worry?

Woohoo! Son passed his drivers’ license test! Or should I say “EEK! He’ll be on the road ALONE now!”?  I am now free of some of my taxi trips. Unfortunately, I will still need to take younger son to school. It turns out older son will not be able to take brother to school, even with a note, unless it is an emergency (no other options available…like ME, or the bus, etc.). Oh well…the thought was nice while it lasted.

Since he cannot have other teens in the car for a whole year, he won’t be driving his friends around till his last 4 months of senior year. Probably best, when he is more mature & responsible. He DID get to drive several of his friends over to one of their houses to spend the night…with me along as the adult required to do so. They all got a kick out of that!

He has not driven by himself yet, which I find rather odd…since I could not WAIT to get in the car ALONE when I first had my license. It’s been 5 days now! Maybe I should feel his forehead & see if he has a temp?!! Hmmm…he knows I plan to use him as an errand boy…run to the store for something or pick up dinner, maybe gas up the car. I guess he’s waiting for a special occasion to ask to use the car!

I mentioned in some comments here, but figure I’d better report ~my son’s bowling tournament scores were disappointing. Started out with a low one, which puts a damper on the rest. The lanes weren’t as my son expected. Adjustments didn’t seem to work out very well. He managed to get above his average in the 2nd game. He ended up playing around in the last game. It was a long ride home.

Boys will be out on Spring break for a month, starting on Thursday. I hope to keep them busy & out of my hair! Maybe I can get them to help get my Jungle under control! The ducks are still here every day. I suppose their vacation at our resort may last as long as the boys’ break!

Off now to make a dent in my desk in The Black Hole (I call my office)! LOL

Tourney Time

Our older son will be in a bowling tournament this Saturday…the Pepsi Tournament. It’s being held at a town in the Los Angeles area, so we’ll be up early to make the 2 hour drive. Our younger son qualified, but declined the invitation to be in it. He’s not into bowling as much as our older teen.

I had a tournament scheduled for that Saturday as well, but bowled on the alternate day instead (this past Monday). I didn’t do as well as I’d hoped. Both my balls were hooking Big Time & no adjustments I made would save me. I couldn’t throw a straight ball to save my life!

Some folks tell me it’ll take a whole season to get used to a new ball. It’s only been a couple months with the Black Widow Pearl. I figured I should give equal time to my other ball, Wrath:

There are several factors I think I need to take into consideration in the future. When bowling early morning tourneys, I need to warm up my hands before! It seemed to take forever for them to thaw out. Also, I should remind myself NOT to do any major yanking of the garden jungle in the days right before an event! My hands were so sore…I think I pulled/bruised some muscles in them. It would probably help me to practice at a variety of lanes with different conditions than our home alley. No excuses for my lackluster performance, just notes to do better in the future!

I finally got a club shirt to wear, but still need to arrange to have my name embroidered on it. Another thing to add to My List!

The All City Tournament is coming up soon. My brother has agreed to join our team for that. We’ll bowl singles, doubles & team event for that one. I think the team event games will be at our own bowling center, so we’re hoping that will give us a bit of advantage. We’re hoping for some success …and a good payout!