Fun at The San Diego County Fair

We went up to the Del Mar Fair this past week. It really was a perfect day...which does not always happen while attending this type of fair... Chloe and Blake were in their glory, of course if I indulged them, we would be going to the fair everyday. Instead, we have lots of images to remind us of our day...

This Monster Truck below is always outside the fair on display...Blake loves sitting in the tire...we have pictures from previous years on it...looks like a tradition is started.



Then there was the food...we stayed as healthy as we could with corn, lemonade, and Greek food.




Of course you could have fried "anything", yikes !



There was the pig race...to which we won a coupon for a free pound of bacon from Ralph's, kind of unsettling in my opinion. I could have a whole discussion on the Animal factor at the fair... Caged farm animals to look at, parade around to be judged on their best physical attributes, raced for entertainment...I kept saying to myself...I know these farmers love their animals, right ??



Pony Rides...also a tradition




The kids rides...loads of fun...





Wine tasting for the adults...all local...San Marco's, Temecula, all together excellent, and a nice way to relax towards the end of the day...



The view from the Sky Ride...nice way to get back from the Kid Zone.



My favorite part of the fair... The Flower & Garden Show, different groups design and implement some amazing landscapes.



Two Happy children with their Budda/Fairy/God Mother, and Cally the stuffed dog we won.



What a nice day... My recommendations for any of you local folks reading this post who are thinking about going to the fair. Spend the day there, make sure its a cool one, & go on a weekday to avoid the crowds. Get wrist bands for the rides. Have an equal adult/kid ratio. Visit the Fine Arts Building, and the Flower & Garden Show, and don't forget to hit the Beer Garden for a cold one, or a wine tasting !!

The Beginnings of Summer

I'm back, at least in this space. I was suffering from my "can't bare to blog" phase that I experienced last year. This time the Hubby took a European business trip which left me without my camera, and little time to dedicate to the blog. The past two weeks have been very busy and I have felt like I was living the life of a single mother while Daddy was away. I have renewed respect for all of you out there doing it alone !!

Well, Hubby is back, school is out for the summer for Chloe, and it's Father's Day. So, this post will be a little montage to all of the above...

First off, Alan came home with yummy gifts, and assortment of Swiss chocolate to last me through the summer. I'll be enjoying little pieces of them with my afternoon tea.



The Bee Sting...


Our busy days have lead us a camping trip, a talent show, a field trip to the beach, and a end of the year first grade picnic on the last day of school. This made for loads of excitement followed by exhaustion repeatedly for Chloe, Blake and I. The Bee Sting happened on the last day of school, at the picnic. I was busy photographing the salad the 3rd graders picked and ate from there garden plot, when a Mom came over holding Chloe who was really in pain. We looked at her bare foot to see that something was in it...she had stepped on a bee. I have to admit my mothering skills didn't quite kick in.. I felt kind of helpless actually, trying to pull out the stinger. What happened then was really wonderful, one mother came over and immediately got the stinger out, and brought ice to put on her foot. Then another Mother offered to run home and make a baking soda paste to draw out the poison, (you can see it on her foot in the image), by the way it works really well. Another Mother came with drops of rescue remedy which immediately calmed Chloe down, and then there were all of Chloe's classmates, who came by to rub her back, or tell there bee sting story, which all sounded way worse than what Chloe was experiencing. Then there was Aiden, who sat next to Chloe with a huge plate of cookies, waiting silently for her to take one. Poor thing, she wouldn't even eat her favorite treat, I knew she was really hurting. I have to say I felt so cared for, and so grateful for all the parents who helped us...all the way down to the Mom who carried Chloe on her back to the car to get her back to school. As I thanked one Mom, her response was, "It takes a Village"...and she is right, I knew that the best place to be at that moment was in the village of our school community. Chloe went on to school to receive her promotion certificate to Second Grade. She still was sad in the image. After getting home, and taking a well needed nap, she ended up being just fine, and we actually laughed about the whole experience later that evening. I think Chloe experienced the true feeling of gratitude that day, I know I did...


To start off our summer this week, both our Apricot and Plum tree have been bearing gifts of luscious fruits each day for us to eat. Every morning, we run outside to see what has fallen on the ground waiting for us to sink our teeth into them. This year Blake got to eat the first plum...he loved it. There is nothing like eating fruit from your own tree, I am so glad Chloe and Blake get to experience this as little people. What a delight ! Local readers of the blog, you should drop by our house this week, sit under our tree's and eat with us !! Check out the bowl that our fruits are in, that's one of two beautiful pieces of pottery that Annie gave me for my Birthday...



To all you Daddy's and Grand Daddy's out there, Happy Father's Day ! Thank includes my Father, who I hope is out catching the "Big One" back in Michigan on Drummond Island (he love's to fish), and of course to Alan, who always drums up a boat load of fun for the kids...

Art Night Preview

We have been working since last weekend on a few items to put into Chloe's School Art Auction. I made a simple half apron with fabric that was used as gift wrap on a beautiful present given to me by Annie. Of course, I have fallen in love with the fabric and the combination of some scraps I had in my stash.



The other item is a canvas that is a collage of watercolor flowers that the First Graders painted. I took some of my favorite floral fabric's into class as inspiration for the children, and they made some absolutely beautiful flowers. It started out with Chloe, Blake and I painting different color squares, (very satisfying) then I glued the flower portraits to each square, after using fixative on the water color portraits so they didn't bleed when I used modge podge (I love this stuff) as glue. The collage is almost done, just a few more portraits to glue on, and I need to add some trim for a finishing touch. So, for all of you Ladies and Gentlemen who will be attending Art Night...feel free to purchase these items if they tickle your fancy, there has been lots of love and hard work put into them ! A few pictures of the process below as it unfolded....







P.S. The Water Color Collage would be a nice gift to give to the school to display in the Art Room.

The Mural

A week ago, we helped paint the new mural at Chloe's school. It was really one of the most rewarding artistic experiences I've been involved in. Our school is so fortunate to have a Parent, Rafael Lopez who is a very gifted artist, and his work includes community art (murals), book illustrations, stamps, and much more. You can see more of his work here. The school mural was created after Rafael worked with school staff members. He asked them to come up with 10 words to describe our school. Many of the teachers and students were involved in the process. He then used the words to create the design, which match the images in the mural.

The words.....
Growth/Planting
Vision
Togetherness
Caring
World Community
Art
Nurturing
Phoenix
Music



Our friends Kellie and Phillip came out to help. It was a good thing, because when we got there, not much was left to paint, so Chloe and Blake got up on their shoulders. Look at how happy Blake is in this image, he just lit up when Phillip picked him up...so precious




I was able to paint a very small area, which I think is so symbolic to my experience with the Gardens at school, it was the green leaves and stem on the flower that represents, growth and planting. It was repeated on the gate right next to the mural.



I think Chloe and Blake will remember this forever, what a beautiful imprint in their young minds.

Lesson Learned

Note to self.... Before you let your husband dig a hole with his new pick ax to plant a tree that is ironically called a "money tree", (on Mother's Day no less), be sure to check where the underground water line might be in relation to the hole, before you give him the go ahead. I won't go into the complications that occurred after calling the plumber who we had to pay double time because it was a Sunday. Let's just say 24 hours without water is not fun !

Happy Mother's Day

I spent the past few days celebrating Mother's Day with Chloe and Blake and all the great Mothers of their friends and classmates. So, I was a guest at two different Mother's Day Tea's. How sweet! For the past 4 years I have really enjoyed Miss Olivia's English Tea at Circle of Friends Preschool. She brings out her bone china, makes some lovely treats, and the children greet us at the door and seat us at a beautifully set table. If you notice above, their is a picture that Blake drew on the Purple Tea Pot, he said it was a picture of me with a flowered dress on. Inside the Tea Card, Miss Olivia tapes a tea bag, and writes down a sweet little quote from each child describing their Mother. She also writes in every card;

Here's a gift for Mother's Day
I'll try my best in every way,
But when you get upset with me...
RELAX
And have a cup of tea !
Love,
Blake

I love it ! The first year that I attended this tea was when Chloe was 3, and Blake was just under a year old. I think it was the first Mother's Day that I really felt appreciated. I remember tasting my first sip of tea, and to my surprise tears filled my eyes, because their was so much effort and care put into the event, but also because it reminded me of my Mother, and of my Scottish Grandmother. The tea tasted exactly like what I used to drink with both of them when I was a little girl. Red Rose Tea, milk and sugar, in bone china, just like it was long ago, sitting in my Grandmothers kitchen. What a gift it was to be taken back to that moment on Mother's Day.


Olivia also takes such great pictures of the kids in action at school, and displays them on a board outside the entrance of school. Look at Blake below, eating what he loves, noodles with chopsticks !



At Chloe's school, we also had a Mother's Day Tea, although this time, I made the tea, and we had no way of keeping it warm, so we had it cold, still good though ! I was greeted at the door by Chloe, she sat me in a special chair, gave me the vase and flowers she made, and after serving me tea and cookies, proceeded to read to me. Yes, Chloe is reading ! Chapter Books already ! It is so wonderful to have that time with her, in her classroom.



I can't end this post without saying a formal Happy Mother's Day to my own Mother, who I wish I could be spending the day with, but, since she is in Michigan, I can only chat on the phone, and drink a cup of tea in her honor. Happy Mother's Day Mom !

To all the Beautiful Mother's I know, I hope you enjoy your day !

Urban Farming Inspiration

I found this video through SouleMama's Blog. So, what do you think ?? Would you yank out your lawn to do this ??

Wedding Bliss

Six years ago today, Alan and I went to The Wedding Cove overlooking the Ocean in Lajolla and got married. We had our own circle of love filled with our close friends and family.



Then, we took this double decker bus up the coast for a beautiful ride to The Beach House Restaurant in Cardiff.




Chloe met us there for a brief cameo appearance



We took some sunset pictures...





And had a lovely candlelight dinner. A Beautiful Day....



Happy Anniversary My Dear....

Earth Day

As I pondered this morning what I could write on this blog about Earth Day, a friend of mine sent me an article written by an author I truly respect, Micheal Pollen, titled, Why Bother ? Please take some time to read his words, they really resonated with me today, and I hope they do with you. If you want to read more from this man, pick up one of his books. Oh, and for you people reading that don't think you could ever grow your own garden...don't be afraid !! You can !!

Birthday Presents

Well, yesterday was my Birthday. I had a nice day, spent time with Chloe at the Farmers Market, talked to quite a few friends and family on the phone, and had a nice dinner out with the family. I also spent some time with my new presents. I have been wanting the Kitchen Aid Artisan Mixer and my Hubbie bought some attachments to go with it. I had no idea how many attachments you could buy for this workhorse of a machine. So, I used the juicer and made the yummiest fresh orange juice. I usually do it by hand, and it takes so long just to squeeze out one glass, this time I had a whole pitcher's worth!



My next present was a surprise for sure, Chloe adorned the box with her art, and when I opened it, I almost fell off my chair. Guitar Hero for the Mac.


Now, most of you know me to be a purist when it comes to musical instruments, (an upright piano versus a keyboard) and I guess you can call me a simpleton as well, because I don't want to add any more electronics, games, computer programs, etc to my already busy world. So you might be saying, as I was in my mind "How could anyone play a plastic guitar with colored buttons instead of real strings, and enjoy it ?" Well, my answer is even a simpleton like me can get sucked into Guitar Hero and really like it ! A few weeks ago we were at a friends house and they were playing the game, so as silly as I thought it was, I gave it a try...and not only did I catch on, I was laughing like crazy, and it gave me a sense of accomplishment that I could actually rock...on a silly plastic guitar... So, if you look at the guitar, Alan put a special sticker on it for me....that I think sums it all up... "Sold Out". Now, I might add, that I had a sneaking suspicion that this gift was really more for Alan than for me.... Take a look at the picture below, this is how I found him in the office after I got the kids to bed... what do you think ???

Beans ! Yeah !

I started cleaning out the veggie garden to get it ready for a new round of planting and found the remnants of the pole beans we had last summer. There were very dried up pods still hanging on the tee-pee, its funny I had never really noticed they were there. I knew Chloe and Blake would love to open them up and harvest them, so I called them out to the yard. They quickly went through everyone and look what we have! A huge crop of new beans to plant. This was so exciting to me...a very simple pleasure at 5pm, after a long day, to find these beans and have the kids just as exited as I was. Since I have been working with the Children at School in the garden, I have learned how much they love to not only plant seeds, but they absolutely love to go through our seed box and touch them all. They not only touch them, but they so much want to own them, take them home...hoard them almost. Today at school, we had a whole bunch of extra bean seeds and the kids wanted to have one to take home, they practically begged me....so of course I had to give them some. Then to come home and discover our own beans...how sweet ! It is just so cool to see the whole Garden experience through Children's eyes.

Sweet Pea Day

Today was Sweet Pea Day at Summer's Past Farms. They have a huge sweet pea maze and once a year when they are in full bloom you can go there and cut your own bouquet. It was quite busy today, and there really was not enough flowers to cut for all the folks that showed up. Luckily we got to cut from the tower in the Children's Garden.



The kids had fun in the sand box area to. They informed me they were working hard on making a garden.



There seems to be endless amounts of flowers and herbs blooming all over the grounds, its just so lovely. A few of my favorites, vibrant blue delphiniums, with pink and white valerian behind them.



We are definitely having a very warm summer weekend here. Believe it or not, the high is 92 degree's today....sorry you Michiganders, just had to let you know what you are missing.

Vintage Fabric Love

I got a intercom call last night,from my Husband while he was in our office and I was in the kitchen, asking me why I have not done a blog post recently? I think the exact quotes were "why is that bread post still up? that's old news?" (Yes, sometimes we intercom each other, silly, I know). Well, my answer was something like this "I haven't had time " Which is very true because I have been very involved in the School Garden, its spring after all ! Check out the blog here to see what's been going on. So for the few of you who read this blog and are sick of seeing the bread post..here is a new one !

A Mom at school, (Donna) gave me about 3 yards of the fabulous vintage fabric a few days ago. Its cotton, and has a bit of a sheen to it. I just love it, because it looks like a hand painting of flowers...so lovely. I am not sure when it was made, but I do know that is was from Donna's, Grandmothers stash that she inherited. It says So-Fro original, which if I am not mistaken is a Fabric Store chain of the past. Although, I goggled it and found that there is still one in Detroit, Mi, my home town. Anyone know about So-Fro Originals ?? So, my plans for this fabric is to make a cute little dress for Donna's 4 year old daughter Vica in exchange for this treasure. As for the rest of it... maybe a bright cheery skirt, an apron...who knows, it will speak to me as I work with it, and let me know what I should do with it...that's the beauty of fabric.

Breaking Bread

I recently purchased the book "Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day" and after reading it and making a very small investment in some baking tools, I started baking my own bread at home, and guess what, it tastes great !! I have to say that I have received so much satisfaction from this experience, unlike anything else I have found in cooking and baking in my kitchen. There is something so gratifying about baking bread, and eating it fresh with family and friends. I am hooked !



Now, I am sure almost all of you are saying "baking bread, I don't have time for that!" Well, I really don't either...I am just as frazzled as any Mom on a daily basis. The method in this book is actually much easier than the traditional method of baking bread, and it is really doable. You mix up 4 batches at a time, just stir it with a wooden spoon, if you don't have a heavy duty standard mixer with a dough attachment, (who does ? oh yeah, Martha Stewart). Let it sit for two hours, then store it in the fridge. Then you can get the dough out anytime, I recommend 2 hours before you will devour it. Bake it, let it cool and enjoy.



The best part about it is, each time I have made a loaf, it is turned out so good ! Its a feeling of accomplishment that I just LOVE ! Not to mention...the satisfaction of eating it all up !! Oh, and the book has so many great bread recipes with dinner, lunch and breakfast recipes to go with. Did I mention, fresh bread is very adored by Chloe and Blake...I think the smell of the kitchen speaks to them, Chloe's comment after a few days of stuffing herself with it was " Mommy, now you can work in a Bakery!"



As for the recipes, The picture above is the first one in the book, it is the Boule Artisan Free-Form Loaf. The pictures below are the same recipe, which is basically a sourdough bread, but they are Baguette's.




If you want to see a video with the Authors demonstrating the process, check out this video.