THE COLORS OF FALL

 I thought I would share a few photos taken the last few days.

Fall is trying its hardest to make it's self known.

When I was weeding I spied one lonely Volunteer among the weeds.

It has such a pretty face.

It seems to be saying ... I may be tiny and all by myself, but I'm shining for all the world to see.

Our camellia bush is absolutely loaded with buds.

I anticipate seeing them burst forth this coming week.

Hundreds of buds were happy for a tiny drink of rain a few days ago.

The neighbors Pistachio tree is so beautiful, all bright red and orange.

Her tree is usually about 2 weeks ahead of ours.

Ours is doing its best but I think its looking rather sad right now.

I'm sure there will be plenty of leaves to rake very soon.

Hope you all have a nice weekend.

Always be Grateful

Always be Kind

YESTERDAY WAS MY BIRTHDAY

 Yesterday was my birthday !

How did I get to be 82 years old?

Tis a mystery

We had a slow start to the day and then celebrated by going to Dave's Doctor appointment ... Whoo Hoo ... Hopefully his dizziness on occasion and another few ailments will be maintained and we can just get on with Life.

Then we went to the YardHouse Restaurant for a great Happy Hour supper.  Love the 1/2 price pizzas and appetizers.  Our pizzas were yummy and we both ate our whole things.  Delish ... 

I totally forgot to take a picture of my pizza before I had devoured half of it ... 😀

Our terrific waitress brought a yummy warm goopy brownie with ice cream

to celebrate.

Then she offered to take our picture to commemorate the "event".

A great meal and a nice way to celebrate.

When we got home I got phone calls from All of the family and 2 texts from Granddaughters that live in Oregon.

I am truly Blessed and thank the Lord for every day He gives me.

Always be Grateful

Always be Kind

MONDAY MEMORIES

 MONDAY MEMORIES

A few days ago I was reading Debby's post on My Shasta Home blog.

She was talking about planting trees and it brought up a treasured memory for me.

In 2000 Dave and I had the pleasure of traveling to Israel on a tour with Jack Hayford Ministries.  It was the trip of a lifetime.  I just can't wrap my brain around the trip being 25 years ago!

One Highlight of the trip was being able to plant memorial trees in the new Parkland.  The trees are helping to bring new life to a ravaged area.

We planted trees for our sons and their families.  I truly hope that they are growing and thriving after a quarter of a century ... 

This was one of the flags by where we planted our trees.  I'm glad I saved the flag to help remember the occasion.

Jack Hayford at the dedication of the Parkland named for him as a founder .

Here I am digging in that arid land.

Dave doing some of the hard work.

I am thrilled that we could be a part of such a momentous occasion.

This Land is in my heart forever.

Always be Grateful

Always be Kind

FLASHBACK FRIDAY

 FRIDAY FLASHBACK

Happy Halloween

This photo was taken in either 1976 or '77.

Our "daughter" Karen (our friend Lynne's daughter)                                                   Our son Steve as the hobo , our son Mark as Mickey Mouse

and Karen's brother Kevin.

What a tradition we had .  Every year Dave and Jack (Karen and Kevin's dad)  took the kids out and went up and down the long hill we lived on.  Everyone was totally exhausted by the time they returns.

What a bounty they always got.  Good memories of a safer and innocent time.

I don't know why this post came out all wonky.  When I look at it here it's fine.   When I see it on Blogger its a mess.

Always be Grateful

Always be Kind

THANKFUL THURSDAY

 Thankful Thursday

First of all, thank you for all the sweet comments on my last blog post.

I have to say that unfortunately I don't own those adorable gourds.  I don't know who does.  

It was something I saw on the internet and wished I could be so clever to create those guys too.

We have been a bit under the weather lately.                                                                  I am grateful that we both feel better this morning.  

The sun is shining and the wind is calm.  The temps are supposed to get to 77F today.  

Now that's my kind of weather!

I am definitely Thankful for Friends like YOU ...

Always be grateful

Always be Kind

WORDLESS WEDNESDAY

 WORDLESS  WEDNESDAY

Always be Grateful

Always be Kind

MONDAY ... MONDAY

 Good Morning, I don't have a whole lot to say today.

It's just "A Day" ... 

Thankful for our bits of rain

BUT 

Here we go again !!

The weeds are so happy to be showing their colors.

Its such a daunting task!

This is the attitude I have to adopt to survive the on-going days of weeding.

I'm going to look at the gorgeous colors of the season and be thankful for them all.

Always be Grateful 

Always be Kind

FLASHBACK FRIDAY

 FLASHBACK FRIDAY

The last 2 weeks have been very busy.  I wanted to share a fun evening Dave and I had recently.

Our very good friend invited us to be her guests at her fundraiser.

Shanti Landon is running for a second term as the Placer County Supervisor of her district.

She has done such an amazing job as Supervisor in her first term,  that to me its a no-brainer to have her in this position again.

The one thing that's interesting about this is we aren't in her district and can't vote for her.  

We just talk about her where ever we go and give our input.

She is an amazing woman with a wonderful testimony.  She Walks the Walk and Talks the Talk.

The fundraiser was held in Lincoln, CA in an old historical school house from 1888.  It is called the Fruitvale Schoolhouse.  The school closed in 1946 as the population changed and the school had outgrown the building.

Its now used as an event location.

A great view of the flag through the smudgie window.

I love the old school bell that calls the kids into the room.  Everyone had to give it a tug to hear that wonderful sound.

I really love this beautiful woman and how she engages everyone in conversation.

The flag that you see partially behind Shanti is handmade.  It represents all the men from this district that lost their lives before and during WWI and there were many for such a small community.  You can also see the flag more clearly in the first picture of Shanti and her husband.

I do wish we could vote for her.  She is such a calm voice of reason in this chaotic  world.

Here's some fun "Fortunes" that were in cookies for the invited guests.

Always be Grateful

Always be Kind

CELEBRATION OF LIFE

 Saturday was the day of my friend Lynne's Celebration of Life.

It was truly a Celebration of her Life ... a Life well lived.

Lynne almost made it to 85 years of life.

Our whole family had the privilege of taking part in her service.

Granddaughters and Daughter in Law were part of the singing group too.

How does one put into words the history of 63 years of our friendship?

 How does one make it a "short" talk?  Well I just talked until I had said it all ... Hubby said I went 20 minutes.  Hey, that's okay with me.  I had a lot to say, from our college days to care-giving to my final farewell ... 

Obviously, I am not the 3"x5" card type of speaker.

I have to say that there was a lot of prayer for me and things just flowed.

I feel that the highlights of our friendship 

and the Journey into Alzheimers and The Long Goodbye were shared exactly how it was supposed to be done.

Yes, It Is Well With My Soul.

Do I miss Lynne?  Of course I do.  But now she is in Heaven.  

What could be better than that?

Until we meet again ... 

Always be Grateful

Always be Kind

THANKFUL THURSDAY

 Thankful Thursday

This week has been full of things to be thankful for.

We got a part in our car replaced and then passed the DMV smog test.

Rain

Friends and Family coming to our rescue

Getting approval for some medical benefits

And the list goes on ... 

Beautiful Sunsets

Gorgeous Sunshine

Thankful for answered prayers

Always be Grateful

Always be Kind

WORDLESS WEDNESDAY

WORDLESS WEDNESDAY

 Always be Grateful

Always be Kind

WE DID GET RAIN !

 First of all, yes we did get some rain during the night.

Not the "storm" we had been warned about, but the mountains did get some snow.

That's a great start for the season.

In California, every 2 years, when we are registering and paying our license fees at the DMV we also have to have our car Smog tested.  Its to control the emissions from the cars.

Well our car is OLD... and the check engine light came on.  We knew that wasn't a good sign for passing.

We got it tested anyway.  Here is the result.

More money flying out of our empty pockets ... 

The red line says we needed an EGR gizmo.  I called our son Steve and said help ... what do we do?

He looked on Amazon and found the correct Valve and we ordered it.

We asked our Daughter in Laws brother if he was able to install that thing.

Bless his heart, when he was in town for an appointment he came over and with in an half an hour we were in business.  I am so grateful for people who know what they are doing.  To me it was daunting and I didn't even know what that thing was or where it went under the hood.

Dave took the car into the Smog Genie place yesterday and PTL, it passed the Re-test.

Just ignore this picture below.  Somehow I can't delete it.  Sigh I'm so non-techie.

Now we can get our tags and be Legal..

We are so grateful to have people in our lives that can help us when we don't know how to do something ourselves.

Always be Grateful

Always be Kind

TODAY'S STORM ... SO FAR

 Today we are suppose to have Measurable and Significant rain fall.

80% rain today and 100% rain tomorrow.

I'll believe it when I see it!

I just went out in the front yard to capture our "rain".

Hmmmm ... 

Maybe by this afternoon ???

Always be Grateful

Always be Kind 

FRIDAY FLASHBACK

 Way back in the late 1990's, Dave and I were really into Disney and all things that made it Magical to us.

We joined a Disney Club and got to see and meet so many interesting and creative artists, up close and personal.

One special person was and is Stacia Martin.  She has been a quick sketch artist and ambassador for Disney for all of her adult life.

We have many of her sketches made especially for us.

I love Dumbo.  Here is her version for me.  Drawn in 1997.

Here's another one done for Hubby Dave.

These hang on the wall in our "Disney Room".

Fast forward to last week.  Our Granddaughter Lauren attended a Travel Conference for her side business.  It was held at the Disneyland Hotel.

Lauren has always been a huge Disney fan and guess who one of the artists was there?

Yes ... Stacia Martin.  She was doing quick sketches and had 5 for a drawing.  

Darn, but Lauren didn't win one, but she got a chance to chat with her for a bit and have her photo taken.  Lauren couldn't wait to tell us all about it.  She was only 3 years old when our sketches were made for us.

I love that history can repeat itself.

This is so special for all of us.

Always be Grateful

Always be Kind

THIS AND THAT TUESDAY

 Today will be a little of This and That ... if I can find my photos to upload.

So here it goes ... 

8 years ago Mark finally found the love of his life.

The Lord definitely restores it all to new life.

Here they are 8 years later.

Beautiful smiles

Beautiful couple

I'm having a Moment !

It's the best way to start the day !

Always be grateful

Always be Kind

ROCKLIN TRAIN DEPOT

 Thursday and yesterday were suppose to be a celebration of the Lincoln and Transcontinental Railroad.  The train was coming to our local train depot and passing through both days.

It poured during the Thursday time so we decided to miss it.

Yesterday a different train was returning and only for 15 minutes.  But, we decided to drive down to the station anyway.

What an amazing sky.  It didn't drop a speck of rain though.

I love that sun flare in the left hand corner.  Lots of activity in the Heaven-lys.

Sorry this is a bit blurry.  The train was still moving.  I would love to sit up in one of those Vista Domes and see the world.

A very nice lady standing near by said she would like to take our picture for us.

Why not?

We just wish that we were on that train going "anywhere"...

It was fun just to get out and see something different for a change.

Then it was on to Costco... Everyone and his brother was there. 

It felt like Bumper Cars in every aisle. 

I couldn't wait to get done shopping and go back home !

Always be Grateful

Always be Kind