More First Days

Two more grandkids started school today 2020-style, at home on their laptops.

Leia is in 7th grade,

and Thomas started his first year at Cal Lutheran. Go, Kingsmen!

First Day

Leanne’s back in school. Virtually.

The local school district offered two options for elementary and middle school kids - start with distance learning and go back to the classroom when the State gave the all clear; or stay in distance learning the entire year. 

After some discussion, Leanne’s parents signed her up for the all-year distance learning academy. 

Leanne misses her friends (a lot) but she agrees that hanging out every day in grandma’s craft room, wrapped in a quilt, while Pop brings breakfast to her desk is pretty nice. Hope the rest of the year goes as smoothly as today did. 

Photobomb Queen

The Queen of Photobombs strikes again. Donovan was was determined to shove Jac out of his picture. 😂

Barn Quilt #5

Barn quilt #5 is finished.  

We dropped this off in its new home on our way north last week. I love how cheerful this one is. I tried to talk Reyna into choosing a third color - maybe purple or violet for the corner squares - but now I think maybe she was right. 

Souvenirs

Smoke from the huge fires in Northern California kept us indoors the last few days of our Cambria vacation. 

 From the Harmony pottery store

 
We visited a few of our favorite antique shops, but mostly we sat and read and relaxed. And talked about how soon we could come back.

 Patterns

On the drive home, hubby got a craving for bacon and eggs and I remembered a great breakfast restaurant 

 Pretty batik and white Grunge

that just happened to be a block from one of my favorite quilt shops. I’m sure I never would have thought about stopping there if he hadn’t been hungry. . . .

I’m not the only one who loves Old Town Quilt Shop in Orcutt  They are featured in the Fall/Winter issue of Better Homes & Gardens Quilt Sampler magazine that comes out this Friday, August 28. Whoohoo!

In Harmony

We made it to Harmony today

but stayed just long enough to hit the pottery and hand-blown glass stores.

 My favorite

And admire the cows. 

 Holy Cow

Then we hot-footed it back the 6 miles to Cambria, 

where the temperature was 26 degrees cooler. (74 vs 100 F)

The cows were cute but I’d rather be where the sea breezes roam.

The Neighbors

After a late breakfast, we drove up the coast 

to check if Hearst Castle was open for tours (nope),

then continued on to the Piedras Blancas lighthouse (closed)

and the elephant seal rookery.

 Several of these guys weigh more than our SUV

It’s amazing how BIG these guys are,

and how much they seem to enjoy annoying each other. 

They’ll be laid out, sleeping almost on top of each other in their long row of seal ‘condos’,

and one will deliberately start climbing over his neighbors,

setting off a series of bark-fests and mock fights. So funny. 

The plan for tomorrow is to watch glass blowing in the tiny village of Harmony (population 18).

 Gnarly old tree at Hearst Winery

Or we may do something totally different, as the mood strikes. I love being on vacation.

We Chose Well

I knew we’d picked the right vacation house when one of the first things I spotted 

 
were two handmade quilts hanging on the walls. 

We’re in Cambria, just south of Hearst Castle, 

taking a week break before school starts again.

 Entry hall, looking up to main level

Hubby came up with this (brilliant) idea a little over 2 weeks ago,

 Living room, dining room and kitchen

and if it wasn’t for the covid pandemic,

 Up short flight to master suite

I’m sure we would never have found a place to rent on such short notice.

 Up a longer flight to the loft. . .

 with window nook for reading . . 

 and seating to admire the view over rooftops to the sea

We’re about 4 blocks from the ocean, 

up a fairly steep hill, 

in an area very popular with the local wildlife. 

 Small downstairs bedroom

I’m already thinking about how soon we can come back,

 Larger downstairs bedroom/bath

maybe when Rachel and family come out to visit next year,

 View from the loft

or maybe bring Leia, Leanne and Jac later this year. 

Because the good thing about distance learning, maybe the only good thing, is it can be done from anywhere. Right??

P.S. Guess where the owner of this place lives? A couple of miles from us in Camarillo. Talk about a small world. 

Famous Last Words

Leanne: “I don’t need to wear my bathing suit. I’m only going to get my feet wet.”

Anybody surprised she got more than her feet wet?

Day Tripping

Jac and Leanne have been staying with us since Monday while we awaited their mom’s (thankfully negative) Covid test results.

We like to keep things interesting for the little girls (and for us!) 

so on the days we weren’t baking, we day tripped.

Wednesday found us in Santa Barbara, 

lunching on the sand

while the girls played on the beach and in the sand under our table.

Then we headed to the Santa Barbara Natural History Museum

 In the belly of the whale

and the butterfly exhibit. 

The new entry rules required waiting in line for entry to the pavilion, 

in the shade, fortunately, with lots of climbing rocks to entertain the girls. 

I worried how Jac would react to the butterflies - 

Naia was terrified of them when we took her for the first time -

but Jac and Leanne were both fascinated.  

Time in the exhibit was limited -

a gong sounded when it was time to move to the next section -

so it wasn’t as relaxed as previous trips 

but we were able to get closer to the flutterbies 

with no one crowding in front of us.

The interior exhibits were all closed 

but the “backyard” area was open

with lots of open spaces to explore.

 Jac demonstrates the ‘touch with 2 fingers’ rule

The girls loved getting to touch sea stars and sea cucumbers on display courtesy of the Sea Center on Stearns Wharf. 

It was a super fun day 

and a very quiet drive home. 

More butterflies . . .