A Day in The Keys

Our daughter-in-law's parents invited us on a Harbor boat ride last weekend.  In our City, the area with homes on the water is called The Keys.  Our hosts bought a builder-grade and altogether boring house a few years ago when they retired, and turned it into a lovely home.  They enjoy lots of cruises on their power boat and watching all the wildlife there.

We went all the way out to the harbor mouth.  Our man-made harbor is bordered by long jetties on the beach side, and a large breakwater on the seaside.  Pelicans spend a lot of time fishing and resting there.

It was an overcast day but it seems the fishing was good. 

This Pelican was being hounded by several seagulls while trying to consume a catch. 

Back in the dock area of the marina, some sea lions were playing King of the Dock, jumping up and knocking each other off.  Well, some of them were--the big brown one in the back of the above pic complained about the noise and activity but didn't join in the play :).

We watched the five sea lions playing for some time, before heading back into the Keys and home.  It was a lovely couple of hours getting our Vitamin Sea!   Our mutual grandson is nearing his 2nd birthday in August.  Hard to believe it has been two years since we were all awaiting his arrival!  We're so glad to have joined families.  

Long Days of Summer

It's been awhile since my last post, obviously.  I haven't been functioning very well, with a poor, unhappy mood, feeling very stressed and having unusual bouts of tears.  My dear husband, once I admitted my difficulties--aside from my obvious lack of motivation to do anything, see anyone, or go anywhere--rallied the troops.  Dear daughter Elaine and husband Chris came over for dinner with the grandsons.  Always a mood booster to spend time with sweet Cove and Hunter.  There were a bunch of new things to play with, as my parents had been sorting through things and passed on a lot of toys. We also played a game of Trouble and of course there is always a piano solo. 

Dear daughter Erica invited me for a walk during the week. I met her at the office where she works, and we walked down to the pier. 

I spied a flowering vine in a palm tree on the way--must have come from a seed a bird left. It was a very windy day but sunny and not cold.  We walked to the end of the long pier. 

Very cool cloud formation--someone charmingly described it as looking like Anacapa Island was blowing bubbles towards the city.  The wind blew us back to the beach and we turned onto the promenade for more Vitamin Sea. 

There were a few surfers but more wind-sailers.  It was late in the day so hardly anyone was on the sand.  We turned back at the palm trees and took a  windblown selfie before finally leaving the beach. 

We had a quick dinner at a favorite fish taco place and then said our goodbyes, feeling very good.  I drove home by the foothills, and stopped to catch the sunset--always my favorite time of day. 

It was only a couple of days after solstice so the moon was still pretty full.  Loved the sketchy clouds above the Eucalyptus trees. 

Lovely colors and island view as dusk began.  I had the road practically to myself as I headed home.  As I passed by an orchard, a coyote came out of a ditch and crossed the road into the foothills.  I have driven this road literally thousands of times and that was a first!   

Tomorrow we will get to spend time with son Nick and his family--we will be helping to watch grandson Dane at his other grandparents' place while Nick and Ashley move house. Looking forward to seeing him walk--he has taken after his Auntie Erica and cousin Cove by walking early, just barely 10 months old. 

Although I have not done any sewing since my last post, I am still putting stitches in the Blackbird Designs Loose Feathers cross-stitch.

I like portable projects so I can stitch upstairs or down!  There has been more added since this pic was taken.  This time last year, I had just purchased the threads at my local fabric shop. 

Last year, because of the lockdown, other than a couple of days vacation when we went to Del Mar, I lost numerous hours at the close of the year, and have not taken any vacation this year as yet.  I just put in for the Sewtopia retreat trip with my sister coming up in early October, and also added a day to the upcoming long Independence Day weekend.  My plan is to use every vacation hour this year---I earned them and deserve the time off.  It definitely boosted my mood to see the approval of my requests!  

Blog business: Feedburner is being eliminated in a few days and therefore the ability to have signups on my site for email delivery.  I only follow a few blogs that way myself, choosing mostly to follow through Bloglovin'.  So far I have not decided whether to sign up with FollowIt, though I have received communication from that service and looked into it--it is not a new service and has a track record. I'd better decide in the next day or two...

Halloween Week

 Halloween decorating was late, but I still got some up--if only to enjoy it myself!

Grant wore a mask and used long barbecue tongs to distribute candy to the very tiny number of trick-or-treaters that came to the door--none were really expected due to COVID restrictions.  There was one group of about 4-5 younger kids, and an hour later one teenager.  Good thing Grant bought the 100+ piece bag of candy---not!  

Grandson Cove was a red Sith Stormtrooper and Hunter a mummy.  They had a little socially distanced Halloween get together with their cousins and other grandparents in their backyard and did no trick-or-treating, but had fun anyway.  Baby grandson Dane had a Halloween onesie that Mama sent video of him wearing.   

Pretty Halloween sunset and later we watched the Blue Moon peek out from behind the clouds. 

On Friday afternoon I had gone down to the beach while Grant was still working, seeking some Vitamin Sea.  While it was sunny and warm at our house 5 miles inland, the fog was hanging off the coast and there were no surfers as the tide was way out. 

I caught this quick composition from the bluff before the gentleman passed by on the shore.  

I surprised this squirrel a ways down the path, it stood stock still until the first instant I looked away, and then it disappeared under the boulders.  There were many tons of rocks piled up below the bluff, trying to keep the shoreline from erasing the pavement and sidewalk above.  There was no easy way down to the beach, so I kept walking.  

These California Brown Pelicans are huge birds, fishing the shallows.  I was standing easily 100 yards away and zoomed in as far as I could.  I wish my picture of them flying had come out better.  I'll visit again when the walls of the house seem to close in too much and I need another dose of Vitamin Sea.