The Tenth Man

Last night we watched an older Hallmark Hall of Fame movie, 'The Tenth Man' starring Anthony Hopkins and Kristin Scott Thomas.  The story is set in Occupied France during World War II, where one out of every ten prisoners is executed.  Anthony Hopkins is a rich lawyer who gets captured and is sent to prison.  The prisoners are told that three of them must die and it's up to them to decide who will be the chosen ones.  They decide to draw lots and of course, Anthony Hopkins is one.  He's devastated and offers to anyone who will take his place that he'll give them everything he owns, his mansion and all his wealth.  A young man accepts his offer and is executed.  I don't want to give away too much more but this is a wonderful story with a bittersweet ending.   

I highly recommend this story of cowardice and bravery, hatred and forgiveness and redemption.

Hopkins as Chavel

 

Road Rage

Yesterday afternoon I had to drive to the store to pick up a few things for taco salad.  As I'm driving with my window down listening to some music, quietly minding my own business, I hear this woman screaming and swearing next to me.  I glanced over to see what was the matter.  She gave me the finger and called me some nasty names that I'll not repeat here.  I was shocked.  Apparently she had been trying to get into my lane.  So, I slowed down some for her to move in and did not saying a word to her.  No nasty looks, just simple kindness to let her in.

The thing about this is, she had never even passed me, she was just behind me a little bit on on my right side.  I'm a good driver, courteous and easy going, not uptight.  It could be that she was just as nasty and ugly a person as she appeared to be.  I don't know.  Some people just have no patience I guess.  She was even going to the same store as I was and had plenty of time to get into the left lane, at least a two blocks length.  Even if she had missed the first left turn, there are still two other turns to go into the shopping center after that one.  It rattled me a little bit to be screamed at like that by a total stranger.  And given the finger for such a stupid reason. 

The War Bride

The War Bride is such a beautiful movie.  Thoroughly enjoyed this one.  A very romantic and beautiful love story set at the time of World War II.  A Canadian film, brilliantly acted.  A must see.

Newest Item

A gorgeous table Michael made incorporating one of Matt's handcrafted tiles: I painted and antiqued it.

Table Michael made

Handcrafted fish tile by Matt

Oh no!

Had the start of a fire inside a garage wall today due to some bad wiring that was used by a previous home owner/do it yerselfer electrician.  Thankfully we were at home and awake when this happened.  I told Michael that I smelled something funny burning so he turned off our electricity and called an electrician.  I'm so glad he didn't hesitate to do these things. 

Newest Item

We got a custom order to make this sign and are now offering it in our shop as a reg. item.  ;D

I love how it turned out! Link Here.

Portico Construction

Went to Irish Beach last weekend to help Pam and Don with their new portico that Roger designed and is building for them.  Well, I pretty much lazed around most of the weekend and watched and took pictures and went for walks around the pond, etc., with Sonja and Marsha.  Perfect weather.

Stopped at Matt's on our way home to purchase some tiles for our wine racks and Michael is going to make either a sofa or coffee table out of a really cool fish tile we bought.  We search for the best tiles with detail and color.  Besides the extra large fish tile, we bought several other fish tiles, a turtle, starfish, a skull and some smaller tiles that I'm going to frame.  

First cut.

First beam in place.

Getting it level.

Second heavy beam and I mean heavy.

Trucking it in place.

Up.  And then down.  This one fell over a little later.  Glad no one was hurt.  Whew!

Cutting out the roof.

Putting the cross beams in place is a challenge.

At one point the ladder with the beam on it, landed on Michael's foot.  Poor guy.

In place.

New Project

I have a new item that we're going to add to our shop very soon (I hope) and am so excited about it.  I don't want to give away the details though, I want it to be a surprise.  One thing I can say is it's going to fill a need for so many people and come in the customer's choice of antique color finish and it's going to be a very useful and functional item.

I have to draw up a plan for it and transfer my idea to Michael's brain so he can build it for me.  ;D

Till later...

127 Hours

I've been wanting to watch this movie for so long and finally watched it tonight.  Michael wasn't too enthused at first because one of his customers told him it was boring.  I love reading about stories of survival and knew that I would like this movie.  It was an amazing story of mountain climber, Aron Ralston, and his ordeal of getting his right arm wedged between a boulder and the harrowing, life saving decision he made to cut off his arm.  I couldn't even begin to imagine what it must have been like for Aron.  The biggest lesson he learned throughout this ordeal was to always, always, always inform someone of your plans.  It almost cost him his life.

 

Lawson's Landing

Took our grandchildren camping to Dillon Beach at Lawson's Landing and we were even lucky enough to get our favorite spot near the water.  It's perfect for the kids because we can keep our eyes on them while they play in the sand dunes. 

Journey to the Center of the Earth in 3D

A little visitor.

Oscar and a little crab.

Michael and Oscar.

Meadow.

Oscar and Aiden.

Angelina, Aiden, Oscar walking and Mike on bike.

Poor thing.  :(

Angelina, Aiden and our new friend, Oscar.

Goofing off.

Kids Day at Duncan Mills

Kids Day in Race to the Top.

That Other Green Leafy Thing

Kale.  I've never made anything using kale.  Last weekend while on the way to Pescadero we stopped at a market in Half Moon Bay.  We were both hungry and looking for something to snack on.  Me: seeking out food more on the healthy side strolled over to the salad bar area.  They had several items that seemed enticing but one thing stood out to me; Coastal Kale Salad.  Not only was it a pretty dark green, curly and leafy salad, but was extremely healthy looking.  The man gave me a sample taste and that was all she wrote.  I was hooked.  I purchased a (too small) container of it knowing that I'd be the only one eating it since Mike is not much into health foods and he was over in the potato chip isle looking for his idea of a snack.  I must point out something funny, unbeknownst to us this was a health food store, so he was having a hard time finding potato chips that he would like.   

I didn't get a large enough container of this salad, but luckily for me the ingredients are printed on the lid, which I saved, of course.  Yesterday I purchased the ingredients needed to make this salad, although I was not able to find Sunflower Greens.  Have to do some research on that one, could be a local coastal green?

Anyway, here's my version and it turned out just as delicious and found that I don't need Sunflower Greens whatever they are.

Coastal Kale Salad

1 bunch kale (washed and torn into bite sized pieces)
1/2 red onion (sliced)
1/2 cup raw pumpkin seeds
1/2 cup raw sunflower seeds
1/4 cup un-toasted sesame seeds

Dressing
Juice of 1 lemon
1 1/2 Tbsp. Bragg's Amino Acids (a form of soy sauce substitute full of nutrition found in health food)
1 1/2 Tbsp. Extra virgin cold pressed olive oil
Little pepper for taste

Simple Ingredients

Bragg's Amino Acids

Tasty Coastal Kale Salad