Regular Programming

Addy left this morning (sad face), so tomorrow I'll be back to our regularly scheduled programming.

Youngest child with youngest grandchild. Sweet.

When Rachel and John got back yesterday, we headed to Matt's for a family bbq. I even managed to get a picture of Gary with Leia - and I didn't have to twist his arm. When Addy was born, Gary was so afraid of hurting her that he flat refused to hold her unless we harassed him. It didn't help that she could sense his nervousness and started crying every time. He's more relaxed this time.

Addy shared her daddy with Leia

We're going to miss Addison. Only 360 days until we get her to ourselves again. But who's counting?

I'm Famous

Gary informed me a few weeks ago that I'm "famous" among his friends for this dish I created. I didn't think it was anything special, but Gary - my super picky eater - absolutely loves it. He'll eat it at every meal for days if we let him. Whenever I make a batch, I text him and he shows up with a friend or two in tow to polish it off.

It's good to be famous for something.*

My Famous Beefy Mac

1.5 pounds hamburger
1 jar Ragu spaghetti sauce (or sauce of your choice)
8 ounces elbow macaroni
Parmesan cheese
Garlic salt (optional)
Salt and pepper, to taste

In oven-proof pan, cook macaroni according to package directions. Brown hamburger in a skillet, drain fat, and sprinkle meat lightly with garlic salt. Add spaghetti sauce, stir, and let simmer on low heat until macaroni is done. Drain macaroni and rinse with cold water. Return macaroni to oven-proof pan, add hamburger-sauce mix, and stir well. Sprinkle Parmesan cheese on top. Bake in 375 degree oven for 20 minutes. Enjoy!

When I make this for Dick and me, I saute about a quarter cup diced onions with the hamburger and use Paul Newman's Cabernet sauce rather than Ragu. Yum!

* I've had this baking dish since Dick and I were married. I recently found one just like it in an antique store. Talk about depressing.

More Vacation

I'm cleaning my "studio" today - moving all my scrapbooking stuff out and into storage so I'll have even. more. room. for fiber - so this will be short.

Day Two of the Our Last Kid's Finally An Adult* adventure took us to the Monterey Aquarium. This place is wonderful and ranks high on my list of favorites. They've made it even better since the last time we visited by adding a whole new wing to house Jellies!

This pic is from my cell phone; not bad, eh?

They had big jellies and little jellies, purple jellies and clear jellies. About the only marine thingee I like better than jellies are sea dragons. Have to go to the Long Beach aquarium for those though. If you like otters or penguins, be sure to check out Monterey's live web cams.

Lunch was at the Fish Hopper, about a block down from the aquarium. We'd never tried this one before and were a little nervous - some touristy restaurants, especially fish ones, can leave very bad, very painful memories. But this was excellent. The food was good and we were seated right by a window overlooking Monterey Bay. For entertainment, we had seals lazing on rocks, seagulls, kayakers, and more, almost within touching distance. Very memorable experience.

That afternoon we drove up the coast to Santa Cruz and beyond. We found the Natural Bridges State Beach by accident. The pictures are dark but can you see the caves in the rocks? The website has a better photo where you can see all the way through the caves. We hit rush hour traffic on the way back to Pacific Grove; just goes to show LA isn't the only place with icky traffic. At least Monterey has better views will you sit.

Wednesday morning we started south through Seventeen Mile Drive

Obligatory Lone Cypress photo

and Carmel. Dick took a side road to avoid yet another traffic jam (dang tourists!) and I spotted a sign for the Carmel Mission - officially the San Carlos Borromeo de Carmelo Mission, founded in 1771. I didn't realize that this is the burial site for Father Junipero Serra. The mission and its grounds are beautiful; very peaceful and serene. Flowers were plentiful (are these zinnias?) and so were the bees. The honeybee in the first photo and the bumblebee in the second ended up on the same flower. Guess which one came out the winner after that little discussion? We had forgotten that the Pebble Beach Tour d'Elegance was scheduled two days after we left the area. We remembered when we started seeing Ferraris, Maserati's, Lamborghinis, Bentleys, and more driving en mass up Hwy 1. "En mass" as in nine Lamborghinis, one behind the other, powering through the turns toward us.

We lost count at about 40 Lambors - no exaggeration - which included a white one with black graffiti-type writing all over it. I thought Dick was going to cry. By the time we stopped for lunch at 3, it was almost - almost - to the point of "ho hum, there's another one".

* We arrived back home to find Gary sick with a cough. Coughs tend to settle in his chest, make themselves at home, and stay awhile. We broke out the usual medications, with minimal success.

Friday night he got us up no less than 5 times - remember he's 18 not 8 - looking for medicine or for sympathy. Dick and I were both up for an hour at 3:30 - I hadn't gotten to sleep yet and Dick had been awakened so many times he couldn't go back to sleep. By then it was Saturday and, of course, all the doctor's offices and urgent care clinics were closed. It's a nice, healthy cough (he sounds like a seal) but it's Just. A. Cough.

He's had that towel on his head all day.

It's a good thing this isn't a 3-day weekend. I'm not sure he'd survive. And I'm not talkin' about that blasted cough.

Kid At Heart

I bought a bunch of kid's plastic building blocks from a store that was going out of business. I soaked 'em and scrubbed 'em and set 'em out on the kitchen counter to dry before packing them away for Addy or William's next visit.

Somebody found them irresistible. Gary may be 2 months away from 18, but he's still a kid at heart.

More Flowers

Youngest son made me a corsage for Mother's Day. It's surprisingly hard to photograph white roses - this one just looks like a blur. You'll have to trust me that he did an excellent job. The Gare's become a pro at making ribbon flowers; he showed Marie how to do it in about 10 seconds.

Mystery Project

Dick is working on a present for me and won't tell me what it is. But he gives me little hints . . .

It started out looking like this - And now it looks like this - Dick turned and shaped the wood block into a bowl, then inlaid turquoise along the wood's natural inclusions. I think it's stunningly beautiful - and he isn't anywhere near done yet. Stay tuned for more hints!

I forgot to show you what Gary gave me for Valentine's Day. He made this in his floristry class, including tying the bow himself. Pretty nice, huh?