After Dinner Bike Ride For Ice-Cream

Friendly Ice-Cream Helper.

Mike's Choice: Fudge Sundae

Mine: Coconut and Dark Chocolate

Wine Storage Cabinet

Wine Storage Cabinet HERE

This is designed very similar to the one made for my bathroom.  This cabinet holds 12 bottles of wine plus 12 wine glasses and extra shelves for serving pieces, etc..

Hanging in the bathroom.

Another Oak Tree Cabinet

New Oak Tree Cabinet

I've been needing a new cabinet to hang on the wall in my bathroom for the longest time because the one I have is too small.  So I designed a new Oak Tree Cabinet to hang above the toilet in my bathroom to store all my hand towels and bath items.  This is perfect!  Michael made it for me and I painted and antiqued it in my favorite colors:  Sea Glass Green and Lemon Sherbet.  The yellow behind the tree really makes the tree stand out.  I'm in love.  Sigh. 

Once I get it hung and everything put in it, I'll post another picture just so you can see how it looks hanging on the wall.  I wanted something fairly tall to give me plenty of room for all my stuff.

I had fun drawing the tree and Michael cut it out to perfection.  He's so good!

We have so many Oak Tree Cabinets in our shop now and we're designing another one.  Very similar to this except it will have a different purpose.  You will see it by this weekend or sooner.  I promise.

Thorny Rosebushes

I'll never forget this as long as I live.  On a hot summer day in 1971, I was in the park with my friends heading to the swimming pool.  We had one thing on our mind, to cool off.  As we were running through the rosebush garden, I stepped on something sharp.  Ouch!  Like any typical 11 yr. old, I dusted off my foot and kept right on going, nothing was going to stop me from having fun with my friends.  My foot was a little sore but I didn't pay it any mind and eventually the pain subsided after a day or two and I forgot all about the incident.  Until...

A couple of weeks pass.  I was strolling down the dirt road with my dad on our way to the trailer he lived in which was a short trek the hill from my Aunt Verna and Uncle Alva's cabin.  Just the two of us.  I cannot remember how long I'd been trying to clean my leg of these red streaks but finally I stopped my father and asked him if he knew how I could get rid of the Kool-Aid streaks running up and down my leg to my thigh.  I must have spilled some on my leg, I thought, although I couldn't remember doing so.

He began running in circles and crying out, "Oh, my God!  Oh, my God!  What do I do? What do I do?"  (Now, you must know we were eighteen miles north of Willits on Covelo Road, which was the nearest town with a hospital.)  I had no idea what was upsetting my dad, it was just some red streaks on my leg and I wanted him to help me wash them off.  Finally, he stopped saying "Oh my God!"  He scooped me up into his arms and ran up the hill all the way to my Aunt Verna.  She took a look at the bottom of my foot and got as many people that were there to hold me down.  She then ordered someone to bring her a bowl of water and some other paraphernalia I cannot remember.  I do know she had a long needle and a knife and dug very, very deep into my infected foot without anything to kill the pain.  It took everyone all the strength they had to sit on me to hold me down for I can remember that I was kicking and screaming bloody murder and wanted nothing to do with this nonsense.

After some time passed of this torture, she pulled out a extremely large thorn from my foot.  Yeow!  She doused my foot with alchohol and the streaks almost immediately started going down.  I never went to the hospital and I limped around for a few days.

I don't know if there was time to drive me into town or not but I suppose my Aunt Verna saved my life from blood poisoning.  Thank you, Aunt Verna.  (Uncle Alva and Aunt Verna are now deceased.)

Handcrafted Furniture

Our newest solid wood Cubby Shelf.  Everything you see on the shelf is listed in our shop, too.  I'm in love with those cute little Italian Tigers.  Roar!

Wooden Accent Table

Here's our newest item for the shop!  Michael made this cute little table and I painted and antiqued it using two of our most popular colors; Sea Glass Green and Lemon Sherbet.  They look so good together. 

The fish tile is handcrafted by an artisan friend of ours on the Mendocino Coast where he lives and works and surfs in the ocean.

North By Northwest - The Auction

North By Northwest Cropduster scene with music

Angelina

Nina's Shop on Etsy

My sweet 11 yr. old granddaughter, Angelina, has a shop on Etsy.  Here she is (she broke her arm recently while bike riding) displaying her newest little painting of a dream she had about a sunset.

In a Beige Mood

Peacoat HERE

Knitted Slippers HERE

Antique Juggling Pins HERE

French Tote HERE

Dark Side of the Moon Pendant HERE

Mini Salt Box HERE

Linen Towels HERE

Tuscan Bean Salad

Tuscan Bean Salad from Raley's Extra Magazine

Ingredients

1 (15-oz.) can small white beans, rinsed and drained
1 (15-oz.) can cannellini beans, rinsed and drained
1 (6.5-oz.) jar marinated artichoke hearts, coarsely chopped (do not drain)
1 cup (buy a jar of it) roasted red peppers, cut into bite-size strips (do not drain)
1 can pitted, drained and halved ripe olives
1/2 cup minced red onion
1/4 cup drained and chopped sun-dried tomatoes
2 tbsp. basil infused olive oil (must use basil infused)
2 tbsp. white balsamic vinegar
Salt and pepper to taste
1/2 cup (sliced and cut small) fresh basil 

Directions

Prep time: 15 minutes, Marinate time: at least 1 hour

Stir together all ingredients except basil. Cover and let marinate, refrigerated, for at least 1 hour. Stir in basil just before serving.

Makes 8 servings.

Happy Mother's Day! What we did yesterday...

Michael worded on the backyard, putting in some black bark and river rocks.  Two pickup truck loads to fill all of this in with a three inch thick layer.  The small river rocks went over by the shed near the new brick step that Michael made.

Once all the plants mature, the black bark won't be so stark.  Hey, that rhymes.

Patio looking toward table.

Meandering pathway.

Gate to secret garden.

Looking toward house and side yard.

See the hummingbird getting a drink?

My wild roses.

Looking back toward secret garden.

Hummingbird getting a bath.

Looking toward hammock where you'll find Mike most days.

One of our Four Seasons statue: Winter.

Jocko's Steak House

Mel and Kym took the group of us (eleven total) to a famous steak house called Jocko's in Nipomo, California.  Dinner was delicious.  I had the small (ha ha) house steak and french fries.  All the dinners came with a green salad and some yummy beans.  If you ever go, please do not skip the beans or the salsa they bring to the table to eat with the steak.  All I have to say is, oh my goodness!  If you have room at the end of the meal, they bring a small dish of ice-cream to help settle your stomach from all that good food.  Worth driving a long distance to try out this gem of a place.  

The open pit grill in the back where your steak is cooked over oak by the experts.

Steve's pork chop dinner.

After dinner we drove out onto the beach at sunset.  That's a first for us!

Avila

The beach at Avila

We spent the afternoon in the beautiful little town of Avila.  Just as we were heading back to the car, we saw a place that served fish tacos.  Well, you know me and fish tacos.  Had to try it out and yes, it was very delicious.  They did it just right, grilled the fresh fish and served with coleslaw, salsa and cheese.

Avila

Bloody Mary

I had a Lemon Drop

Everyone except Sharyn

A friendly walkabout traveler posed for me.