I'm Back!!!

 My "live-in gardener" and I took a 16 day road trip and made it home safely, but exhausted.

 

We left July 2nd for California with the first stop at my favorite cousins home to celebrate the 4th with her family.What a perfect way to start, by just sitting by the pool and eating good food.

Then we headed south, staying one night in Bakersfield. In Bakersfield we visited a sweet shop we have heard of for years and came home with some peanut butter chews. As we traveled along you will see it was all about the food we could bring home with us. But the best part were seeing special people along the way. I guess you could say it was a memory lane experience with a farewell to some friends and places along the way.

 Our destination was a resort near San Diego where we had been gifted a week's stay. From the resort we could venture out each day and that is what we did. I will say by the time we got this far south we were ready for a rest and I had a back and neck ache that just wouldn't go away. Thus said, we persevered and explored places with an hour of the resort. There was the San Diego Zoo African Safari, San Juan Capistrano Mission, Coronado Island, tea with a friend at Historic San Diego.

African Safari: 

San Juan Capistrano: 

Coronado Island:

There was a delicious seafood lunch right here.

Tea with my friend, Val, in historic San Diego. What a sweet historic area. I loved the vintage houses on a quiet street and the tea at Coral Tree Teahouse was a delicious.

 

Agapanthus (Lily of the Nile) grows profusely in Southern California. The gardens around the historic house were beautiful kept and gorgeous.

 

Once we started heading north there were more adventures that I will share another day. 

Did I say exhausting? Ha! Yes! My neck hurt so bad I thought I was sick; so I was glad to be heading north again and heading home. It would take about a week yet to get home, but I believe I enjoyed the second week more just touching bases with people along the way, a few hugs, and some good produce to bring home.

I am feeling better now and glad to be home. More pictures will come soon.

 Sending love,

Marilyn 

Running to Catch UP again

 Taking a breath today, a day of recuperation! I knew I had scheduled a crazy schedule the past week. It has all be fun, but then just sitting down to visit you and say hello again has not fit into my schedule. 

On Friday my "live-in gardener" celebrated another anniversary with a beautiful dinner at my favorite Spanish tapas restaurant. The picture is our starters. The egg is sitting on top a sausage and bun. The bottom starter looks like dessert, but it was banana bread with fois gras on top, sprinkled with hazelnuts and two dots of strawberry puree. Very unusual, but very delicious. 

 

  

Then early Saturday morning we picked up daughter, Jill, and grandson, Desmond, and headed to a little local airport to sail away in a hot air balloon. Now my daughter said it was a dream come true. My grandson was scared, but ended up loving it. I had a slight trepidation until I got there and saw how well it was managed.

 

Standing in that basket, 2500 feet above the ground was magical. It was so quiet, it almost felt like a spiritual experience. Even the people in the basket said very little. It almost felt like we were floating into heaven. 

 

 

Then that afternoon my "live-in gardener" and I were out on the street for No Kings Day. My picture doesn't do justice or show how many people were there.

 

 

 

Sunday was Father's Day where we enjoyed fish and chips at a local British pub.

 

Monday I celebrated a friends birthday with pedicures for both of us.

 

 

Tuesday was time spent with a cousin and his wife.

 

And yesterday I got invited to a Bachlorette party. Have you ever gone to a Bachlorette party? It was fun to celebrate the upcoming nuptials of a friend. I had never been invited to a gathering to celebrate an upcoming wedding before. 

 

Since I was early to the party I had a few moments to stop at a favorite rose garden and enjoy some silence in the day. 

 

 

So today I am staying home and taking a breath. Here is the view from my patio at home. Oh! I still call my husband my "live-in gardener". I mean he hasn't quite been able to surrender to no gardening at all, as you can see on our patio there are about 25 pots of plants to tend and bird seed and water to put out for the birds.

 

 

And in between times I keep sipping tea. You know me, there is always a cup of tea.

 

Hope your week of transition from Spring to Summer is terrific.

 

Sending love,

Marilyn 

An Adventure - Pacific Northwest

 

It's amazing what you can pack into a week. One week ago today my two adult children celebrated their birthdays. They are four years apart, but both born on May 1st.  We had cake for two, chocolate and vanilla.

And then the next morning my "live-in gardener" and I drove north into Washington State to do some visiting. Along the way there were many sightings of rhododendrons and other beautiful things.

The first night at my sister-in-laws home, she took us out to dinner. Now that was a treat, but the restaurant manager said that we must walk in the garden. It was near sunset which made the garden all the more beautiful.

Each sunrise is amazing from my sister-in-laws home. This one really touched my heart.

One day we walked in the Rhododendron gardens at Fort Worden in Port Townsend, Washington.

The lighthouse at the Fort's park.

Then on another day we took the ferry to Whidbey Island to have lunch with a friend from my youth. We met at a garden shop that has amazing plants and their cafe has amazing sandwiches. I had the best tuna sandwich I have ever had and their special rhubarb/elderflower spritzer was a delight to sip.

 

And because we had a hour before catching the ferry back to Port Townsend, we walked in another rhododendron garden.

There were a few gorgeous primroses too.

 

Then as we headed home there was one more stop to visit a favorite Thomas Dambo troll with friends.

 

I think the past week could be called, Rhododendrons and Special People.

I do love a good adventure and this one was filled with JOY. A perfect ending to the past year of working of moving and personal business. It felt good to be released for awhile to play. It was much needed.

Sending love,

Marilyn