Lamp Post at Sunset....

The sunset tonight was stunning ... and with the antique lamp post in our yard, it was even more gorgeous.

Hadta See It Again....

E received a free matinee ticket to see Order of the Phoenix when she bought the game for her Nintendo DS. We didn't use the free ticket when we saw the movie on opening day since I purchased those tickets online a week in advance, and they wouldn't credit her ticket on the site.

We had wanted to see the movie with Dana, Dr. Burns' receptionist, whom we've transformed into a HUGE Harry Potter fan. Unfortunately, our schedules just didn't gell, so E and I watched the movie alone. It was even better the second time, especially after having read the seventh and final book since seeing Order of the Phoenix the first time.

Aaaah, the magic of movies!

A Sprinkle of Rain.....

I drove home the back way today from our church's first book club meeting. I love following the winding way of Old Highway 80 which was the main route east to Arizona before Interstate 8 was built. Old Highway 80 actually begins within San Diego city limits and then east of El Cajon it wanders through small pocket communities like Flynn Springs, Alpine, Descanso, and Guatay before it drops down into our town. As I drove through Guatay today, a few late-afternoon sprinkles hit my windshield. Gotta love a summer rain, no matter how spare it may indeed be.

Saturday: Our Annual Town Festival....

The best thing about our annual town festival is the parade -- with over sixty extrants and lasting almost an hour, it's a real joy for everyone who lines the "main drag" (the highway that passes through town). Kids along the parade route collect candy that people on the trucks, cars, and floats toss to them. Churches parade their upcoming VBS sports camps and free guitar classes. The high school marching band drums past, with cheerleaders and drill team shouting team slogans. Local businesses and clubs come by, advertising their wares and services. Horses and tractors and army tanks parade past, and the heroes of the town, the volunteer firefighters, always bring up the rear. The parade is an event that the whole town looks forward to and enjoys to the fullest.



The firetruck from Alpine Anglican, my second church home. Two of my boys can be seen, tossing candy to kids and squirting bystanders with the small hose. (And they HAD to soak their mother, of course!)



Father Acker of Alpine Anglican rides down the street with his free teen guitar class who perform around the east county as well as at church the first Sunday of each month. He looks more like a rock star than an Anglican priest, doesn't he?



The bagpipers are always my favorite. The sound just fills the town with that mournful yet joyous wail....



A lone gunman parades down the street, gun in hand -- part of the "Hole in the Wall Gang."



Our art council booth in the craft area after the parade. I made the signs; Judith created the cards and bags which sold moderately well, and Pat and Margo displayed their paintings. Margo also brought brownies to sell which ended up being our main money-maker. She even worked on her latest oil painting; bystanders enjoyed watching Margo wield her tiny brushes. (Wish I had captured a photo of that! Dopey me!) Although we didn't sell much, we made a lot of new contacts, both residents of the town and artisans who were selling their handiwork. We also advertised our free concert next month, supported by our burgeoning arts council. So I think that sitting around all day was very worthwhile.

A few more photos can be seen on my Extras blog....

July Sunset....

After dinner, I was working on our big creative arts sign for the town festival tomorrow when Keith told me, "There's a colorful sunset out there." Poster pens rattled to the table top as I snatched my camera and headed, barefoot, out into the meadow....

Getting Ready for the Festival.....

Today was spent getting ready for our creative art council's booth at our annual small town festival this Saturday. Our board of directors met today on the back deck of our library, hashing out details. I came home and typed up the minutes of the meeting so everyone would know their assignments, then e-mailed them to everyone.

Judith, my elder and wiser friend, has made gorgeous cards from her photography, and I spent a couple of hours labeling the back of the cards with her name and the name of our art council. I also made signs to advertise our bake sale, tote bags (decorated with photography of Judith and my own Keith), Judith's art cards, plus signs for some of our members who will be showing their art in their own booths.

So think of me on Saturday, sitting in the booth all day, selling our wares but selling our creative art council's name more than anything else as we strive for community awareness and participation in the arts.

A Dragonish Bird House...

T finished decorating his bird house he made at the woodworking class yesterday. This bird house hosts three dragons, one on each side and one on the roof, plus vines and leaves on all sides, surrounding the dragons and the entrance to the bird house. I love his work!

Summer Showers....

In the early afternoon, we had a great thunderstorm: thunder, lightning, and pounding rain. Just after dinner, I captured these thunderheads to the north, where they were probably dumping rain on Julian and its environs.

I love summer rain in the mountains; it's one of my favorite things about living up here rather than down in the city....

Home Sweet Home

Our home, nestled into the trees along the fringe of the meadow, after sunset....

Reading for a Second Time....

Yes, she's on her second go. I am too, but I'm reading it aloud to the boys. I'm a little hoarse after reading five chapters out loud today, but the boys were clamoring for more, of course.

Compared to the boys, E has had very few photos on my blog. I think I've possibly made up for that discrepancy during the last few days.

Saturday: Just After Midnight

We were in the parking lot by 12:08 AM, E with her precious book in hand. She graciously read the first chapter aloud to T and myself by the light of her iPod as we drove up the mountain and home by 12:45 AM. While I relaxed in the spa, she read me chapter two. She stayed up reading until 3:15 AM, then picked the book back up at 8:15 AM and finished by 2:30 PM.

It took me a bit longer; I didn't get my copy until the 11 AM mailcall at our PO box, and I finished it by 11:30 PM, with many interruptions.

Friday: Barnes and Noble Harry Potter Party!

Many costumed characters showed up at the Potter Party at La Mesa's Barnes and Noble. E dressed as a Gryffindor, and posed for a photo with "Hagrid."

More HP characters can be found on my Extras blog -- don't miss 'em!

Thursday: Around Europe

English Table



Italian Table

On Thursday night, we continued our "around the world" women's series at Lake Murray with Europe night. We discuss our family's heritage and our spiritual heritage in a short presentation then with each group of women as they move from table to table in 15-minute shifts so everyone gets to sample the food, the cultural items, and hear stories about each country.

I hosted the English table on top of the page here with Patti's help. She lived in England until the age of ten; I've only visited once but attend Anglican services each week and rather live the English lifestyle (gardens, books, tea things, etc.). In my talk, I shared about English literature, the new Logos group Kitty and I are starting at church (literary discussion), and a brief history of the English church. My lemon scones were very popular, and Patti's Marmite on bread circles wasn't bad when it was mixed with butter. Each woman receives our recipe on one side of a card and our bio and prayer requests for our country on the back side to take home.

Reading, Reading, and Rereading

Rereading the sixth Harry Potter in GREAT anticipation of the seventh and final installment of the amazing series. Yes, we'll be standing in line at midnight on Friday night to see literary history in the making....

The Hub of the Town

Tonight we had our monthly creative arts meeting at the library, which truly is the hub of our small town. Here the preschoolers and their moms gather for storytime. Here the women gather for the monthly "chick flick" with tons of chocolate involved. Here the kids are clamoring with their summer reading lists for tickets as they gaze into the prize display with eyes alight. Here the old guys read the newspapers each morning. Here the teens gather around the computer terminals, glutting on their "my space" pages. Here lines form as the townspeople check out videos and DVDs, the only place in town that movies are available. Here the librarians order in the books that our small library doesn't have on the few shelves. And here in the small back room the different town clubs meet, among them our creative arts council and the new writing workshop group I've also just joined.

So this small building truly houses the heart, soul, and mind of our small town. And that's a real blessing to us who love living here.

First Harvest

This weekend I picked the first of our grape tomatoes. This spring I planted two grape tomato bushes into big pots that stay on our cement slab to keep the squirrels, rabbits, and other critters out of the fruit. It's taken awhile to get the tomatoes red enough to pick, and we ate them up pretty quickly, and they are sweeeeeet!

Mountain Sunset

Keith called me out after dinner to see the lovely sunset. Framed by a tree in our yard, the mountains across the valley provide a tremendous setting for the streaming tints of a sunset in these here mountains.

Pippins on the Way....

This little Pippin is steadily maturing -- we don't have many apples on the tree this year, and the ones we do have won't be ready until mid-September. But I enjoyed finding this little baby apple hidden among the leaves ... a promise that cooler weather and fall color are on their way, as well as crisp Pippin apples.

Library Visit...

On our weekly visit to our small town library (where everbody knows our names), I spied this book on a child's table as we were walking out after returning books, tapes, and DVDs, getting summer reading lists checked, and checking out more books on tape and DVDs. As much as I love old graveyards, I guess a library would be my second choice....

Thursday: Beach Day!

My parents live half a block from the beach, and our family, my brother's kids, and my mom's cousin all descended on them to enjoy at day in the surf and sun. It was a gorgeous, gorgeous day.



The ocean toward Crystal Pier.



The ocean toward Bird Rock.



T created a drip castle -- quite an amazing structure.

For more beach shots, check out my Extras blog.

Babies, Babies, and Babies!

Between seeing the new Harry Potter flick (see my Meditative Meanderings blog for a review) and taking the boys to swim lessons, we stopped by our church's Swim Day which was at Kim's pool this week.

Lately we've been having something of a "baby boom" at Lake Murray. Our Young Married Couples Group must have something going on in the water -- almost all the couples are expecting or have had babies this summer. Here are Noah, Noah, and Devin taking in the shade at the pool while older kids enjoyed swimming and splashing and then teens "hung out" together while almost a dozen moms chatted and took turns cuddling the new babies. Great pool -- great fellowship -- and beautiful babies!

In the Evening...

Somehow I so often forget to take photos until after dinner, and then it's too late to get anything good. But sometimes the early evening light brings a surprise ... like the lamp post against the last bit of daylight.

Clouds...

July in the mountains means the chance of afternoon and evening thunderstorms. Today was our first "chance" for late-day storms, and when we came home from swim lessons, the clouds were quite striking. I was hoping for a spectacular sunset, but this shot of the sun through the clouds across the meadow ended up being stunning.

Clean at Last ... Clean at Last

It's simply amazing how CLEAN our school area is when we're NOT doing school. It will quickly get messy again as I order our school books this next week (providing Keith gets paid, that is). Year 11 of homeschooling is before us, although I'm enjoying our summer break enough not to think too much about fall's schooling quite yet....

Even in Summer....

The boys have continued their piano lessons during the summer; in fact, it's one of the cooler activities in which they can participate during this nasty heat wave with temps still well over 100 each day. J practices dutifully on this hot afternoon....

A Visit from the Cousins

Keith's younger sister, her husband, and their three girls stopped by on their way back to Phoenix after visiting with Keith's dad in Ramona over the 4th. Here the triple A's (three girls) join our kids in the treehouse for a quick photo op.



Jim, Karla, their girls, and our four on our front porch; at least it was only 104 today. Not much of a break from Phoenix weather for them, I'm afraid.

Thursday -- Heatwave!

We spent the night of the 4th at the beach to avoid the two hours of traffic following the firework displays. When we left the beach, drizzly mist was falling with temperatures in the low 70s.

Then we came home to this: 112 degrees on our front porch. And, no, it wasn't a "dry heat" as usual. Ugh!

July 4 at the Beach

We spent the 4th at my parents' place in Pacific Beach. Having a family barbecue on the rooftop deck of their beach house followed by the sight of four or five fireworks displays is a tradition. Above flies not only the American flag but also the state flag of Hawaii, where my parents spend a good time of each year. And the sunset from the deck wasn't spectacular this year, but it was still pretty.

I have lots of family photos on my Extras blog if you're interested....

Swim Day at Sheri's

On a day where the thermometer still read over 100 at five in the afternoon, B floats in Sheri's pool. Her family and ours studied California History together over the course of the last year. Pools in our town tend to be brisk at best unless heated; this pool was in the low-60s today which is refreshing on a day in the mid-100's. Good ol' mountain nights are COLD. B is now taking swim lessons so he can swim without the floatie thingy -- I'll be glad when the last of the kids is fairly swim-safe.

In the Gloaming

I went out strolling after dinner tonight, taking a few photos as I hadn't done so all day. Among all the sights, this group of weeds in the meadow somehow caught my attention. Those rotten foxtails that keep encroaching from the meadow and into our lawn....



The view as I sit on my porch in the gloaming. (The slab will house Keith's wood shop when we get money enough to finish it.)

Sunday: A Welcome and a Blessing....

A gift from a friend that graces our front porch ... a favorite of mine.