Christmas Eve

It's time to be jolly.   So here are

my bedecked halls.  Fa la la la la......

Notice anything about my living space?    Do you see any beige?  Any grey?      Nope, I'm a yellow, red and green kinds gal with a few touched of aqua here and there.       I do love color.    And for this season more than the usual amount of clutter!    LOL

Merry Christmas.

December 2013

This has been a fun and active month despite a few days staying in with a cold.   The weather has been brisk and dry.    Too dry.    But the sunny days are wonderful and make the cold temperatures more pleasant.      A few of my really good friends went to see Pat and Char in Folsom.    We went to put together a necklace for Pat, she had seen one and fallen in love with it.   So, Rosemary is the one that dug in and did the hard work.     Here we are in Folsom.

 Char is wearing an eye patch due to a detached retina.   Patch was removed a couple days afterward, thank goodness, and all will be well.    With us older ladies, it seems there is always one of us who has something wrong.

Pat is modeling the necklace which is almost done.   



















 

 Another day, Rosemary and I went to Modesto to see Pamela, who I had not seen for awhile.  It was the day after her birthday, so that was a good excuse.   

















 Before we went to lunch at IHOP, Rosemary and I spent some time in Manteca looking at her new house which is almost finished.     The front landscaping was in.   The interior shots are of the model home, which has the same floor plan as hers.     

It's a lovely home.    I am sort of greenish with envy.   Look at how spacious it is.   You could have a  hoe down in the open spaces.       I'm sure she and Jerry will have many happy years enjoying making it their own, and enjoying the community activities that are offered there.

The family celebrated Candis' birthday this nonth.     That's a lot of candles.    She has her first job now at the mall taking photos of the kids with Santa.     Today is the last day.   She's enjoyed the experience and the paychecks.

The gallery had a post luck dinner and white elephant gift exchange on one of the coldest afternoonw with no heat on.       Nice gathering, but cut short so we could warm up again.

I saved this picture til last.   Bobbi (on the right) has been quite ill for some time and this is the first outing with the "girls" she's been on for over a year.    It was good to have her back in our midst again.   

I'm so grateful for my wonderful family and friends.

Guys gone fishing

Doug and Bob's oldest son, Loel went fishing  on the Delta and caught a whole lot of sturgeon.  They said all the boats around them were also bringing them in that day.      We used to fish for them more than 40 years ago and they were very hard to find.    So, this was a big treat for the guys.      Doug got one keeper and is anxious to go back for more.  

Sturgeon are the oddest looking fish in the Delta.    They look like something prehistoric.   

















But, odd as they are, here is something even odder, a rare green sturgeon my nephew pulled in and then released.     A green sturgeon.      

I have seen pictures of sturgeon over six feet long.     It was always our hope to get one, back in the early 1960s, but our biggest was 47 inches, and at the time the legal limit limited was over 48 inches long.  Otherwise they had to be released.  

I'm too old and cold to fish now.     I leave it to the guys to break the family record and land a whopper soon.  I kind of think Doug said his was around 47 inches too.     He can do better - or Loel can, so we can have a new benchmark.

It's Winter.        Wow.   Cold in Stockton, nights in low 20s.   Highs in mid 40s.     We are not used to this.     Deck and steps were blanketed with diamond glaze of frost that glittered in the sunlight this a.m.      I do not go down those stairs until it's melted, and even then I creep down carefully, hanging on to the railings just in case.      Dogs, once they understand they have to go down, just make a dash for it and are soon right back up again looking for a warm blanket to snuggle in.        

I check the snow at Timber Trails.       So glad to enjoy it online with web cam.    I'm not the least interested in being there this time of year, although it's very beautiful.       Reminds me of  a time about 15 years ago when little Candis and I made a trip up to see the  snow.   We stopped and bought a big gallon jug of hot spiced cider and she hugged it while we rode along and then as soon as we were back to the car after tromping around in the snow a bit, she again used it as a hot water bottle.      We didn't open it until we got home to share it with the family. Can't you just smell the cinnamon?

We replaced the furnace in the house this year.    Just in time for this cold snap.      It sure feels good to have an improved heating system when it get's this time of year.           Hope you are warm and cozy in your own homes.