Fun with Nan and Pop

 

Nan and Pop were able to come with us to the archery range. Pop tried out Violet's bows, too.

Sue and Gord timed their trip to coincide with Cora's musical show. Aunt Patty flew down, too, to see Cora's starring role. We went out to lunch together with my mom and her friend Gill, who was in town from Arizona. Gill (who took this photo) also got to see Cora.

Sue and Gord's trip was a bit of a coffee tour of SClarita! We checked out Honu (several times), Havana Savannah, Bodhi Leaf and Trophy (pictured here).

This was a great time - Gord was entertaining me and Violet with stories from his younger years.

Cora was busy with her musical, but I was glad to grab this secret shot of her chatting with her grandparents in the back yard.

Sue and Gord loved getting to meet and love on Evie and Winston. Evie, especially, took a liking to Gord - it was so sweet!

Kitties - and Seb's Birthday!

 Ohhhh the kitten cuteness! This tiny guy (not that we ever saw him that tiny, even at four months old) is now 14 years young!

What a lot of life has gone by in those 14 years, and Sebastian has been there for all of it. We love him so much.

He is my lap buddy in the morning when I read my Bible, and Stace's purring friend when he relaxes in the evening. He still seems to be in very good health, though he definitely puts more thought into his jumps onto higher places or the cat tower. We pray his health continues for many more years!

I bought a second harness so Cora tried to take both of the young ones out at the same time. What's that phrase about herding cats??

The catnip spilled and Evie found it! She was rolling in it. Oh, so fun. 

This guy...

He has a thing for Cora. Every morning he loudly demands to be let in her room, so he can aggressively purr and force pets and kisses. It's kind of crazy.

She will be asleep - he doesn't care. If she sleepily pets him, then dozes off again, he nips her. All while purring loudly. 

Oh, though, how I wish he had chosen Violet for this. She lost Spencer, and now generally doesn't have a cat sleeping with her. 

Violet's room has become something of a staging area and Evie needed to check out the huge boxes our new solar tubes came in.

Week in Review

Violet and I went out to the archery range and found two deer! The ran off before we could get any closer. Always some type of nature experience out here.

Also this week, we watched a Zoom online meeting at College of the Canyons for incoming students, to learn more about the process for Cora for the fall.

Cora finally returned to Green Tower Games for D&D after a few months off for Wolves rehearsals.

And I got together with Kelly while Cora was D&Ding and Vi was at youth group. We caught up and took a walk. I also visited with my friend Moira, and went to Monrovia to meet up with JT on Friday.
 

Violet started this digital drawing while we were with Uncle Bill and Aunt Patty. When she'd finished, I printed a copy of it to share with them.

I realized the kitties didn't have a lot of little toys around, and thought of getting out the yardstick to check under the stove. Sure enough! Look at all the things Winston had pushed under, out of his own reach!

When I saw them looking under my dresser, I found at least five little toys under there, too.

Stace and Violet went to the monthly car show at the Porsche dealership on Saturday morning. It's fantastic how she has taken an interest in cars! She'll look at his Bring a Trailer emails at night, too. 

And speaking of cars, look at this beauty! I mean, look at that beautiful driver!

Yes, Cora is now beginning her driving journey. Stace took her out this weekend, and she did very well. She's nervous, and very careful. 

On Saturday afternoon, we went to see West Side Story at the Canyon Theatre Guild with Colleen and Rigo. Our friend Coach Greg Hayes played the police lieutenant, and Cora's vocal teacher's daughter had the lead role of Maria. It was a great show!

After the musical, we went to Acton, with them and the kids (minus homebody Cora) for dinner at a Mexican restaurant. It was great to hang out, and our way of thanking Rigo for dropping everything to help us pick up a Murphy bed in Acton the prior week. Gotta treat your friends with trucks well! We'd passed this restaurant on the way to the home where we bought the Murphy bed, which we got a great deal on.

Week in Review

The joy of having kids at home still, and the flexibility to be able to help when needed... Twice this week, I picked up orders of wood from Lowes for the Our Town set build. 

A reward for this delivery - I love birds, and this hawk is frequently at Cora's school. I got to see it on the ground, enjoying lunch. 

Several evenings this week, after rehearsal, Stace (and I, kind of) helped Cora and Jarod with set construction. It's always gratifying to see it take shape. And I helped a lot with the program, and made the sign up for concessions.

A friend of mine is fostering kittens, so Violet and I went to pay them a visit. No, we're not taking them home! But tiny kittens are so cute, they're well-worth visiting.

When we were ready to go, Vi put them in the enclosure, but the black and white one wasn't ready for her to go. She climbed straight up and onto Violet. Then the sister decided to do the same. So cute!

Here's Evie, saying, I can act like a kitten, too! She actually likes to be held like this the best.

Violet and I took a walk at Quigley Canyon at dusk Saturday. We saw several rabbits, heard a lot of great horned owls, and spotted a white stone heart on the top left side of the hill. It's hard to see here, I know.

Stace, Violet and I rode our bikes into Newhall late Sunday afternoon. We stopped at Honu coffee and then looked at the Christmas decorations along Main Street.

 At Egg Plantation, I spied with my little eye an Our Town poster! I had dropped this one off a few days earlier. The students are taking them around town to businesses, to spread the word.

The Signal ran my press release this week. Here's a link to the story.

On Monday, the girls were off for Veterans' Day, and Violet's friends came over. They tried to bake a rat-shaped cookie, and a man-face cookie. Obviously they flattened out into tasty blobs.

More Kitty Cuteness

 Who needs a kitty update from the Crazy Cat House?

Oh, these two are so sweet together...

This old large Beanie Boo giraffe of Cora's wound up in the living room. Confusing! Who would get it out of Cora's open bin of old stuffed animals at the foot of her bed?  This guy, I guess! Why this giraffe? He would have had to stand on his hind legs to reach in, and then carry it around by mouth, when it's half his size. He makes us laugh!

He also needed to wash the coveted red ball, that disappears and reappears around the house. This is one of the toys that Seb likes, too, for some reason.

Seb likes our quiet times in the mornings. He does not love it when Winston joins us. 

More kitty cuddles. All three, in the above photo.

Walks and Kittens

Our heat wave broke, and we've enjoyed a week of temperate weather. Violet was excited to wear her favorite sweater for the first time since we got home from England! 

We're trying to make up the hours she needs for P.E., which is tough in August and September with the heat. But on Monday we went to the Iron Horse Bridge trail for a walk.

There was, shockingly, a bit of the Santa Clara River still flowing!

 On Tuesday, Violet and I went to lunch at Everest Burgers in Canyon Country, picked up cat liter at PetSmart, and went back to San Fernando Coffee Co. Her request, I promise! We shared a drink.

On Wednesday, Violet and I took a walk around Bridgeport Lake after her youth group, and saw this Black-Crowned Night Heron (I believe).

Earlier Wednesday, Kelly came over while her boys were at Pioneer Club, and we caught up in the backyard.

On Thursday, Violet and I went to visit Melanie, Nick and Eloise and hang out with Poppy for the first time. We know how quickly the kitten phase goes, so we had fun playing with her. She's a beautiful Siberian, like their other cat, Gibby. Nick and Ellie have allergies so they can't live with cats or dogs that aren't hypoallergenic.

Vi and Mel made cookies together, while I helped Ellie with a Halloween craft.

Kitty love!
 

Weekend Fun

 

It's more and more official that we have a high school senior. Cora may not desire to go to football games or school dances, but watching her take her senior photos on Saturday made it real! 

Where we live, seniors have a special place in the yearbook, and wear formalwear for their portraits. They may choose a "senior quote" to write under their yearbook photo.

Cora is wearing the same kind of black velvet stole I wore in my senior photo in 1997.

For these photos, you go to the photography studio.

We'll get to see proofs in a couple of weeks to choose from.

Other Cora news, she had auditions for her final high school play, the old American classic Our Town. She will be playing the role of Stage Manager, like a narrator, and will have pages and pages of lines to memorize.

After Cora's photos, Stace and I got his car washed and got fancy coffee at the newish place near our church. Then we took Cora to Logan's house for D&D, and took Violet out for dinner.

Winston really, REALLY wanted to try the Korean fried chicken wings we were enjoying. 

Since we usually share gardening success stories, in the spirit of honesty, I present to you our bell pepper crop. This is it, in its entirety. 

Our zucchini have been miserly this summer as well, after much success the past few years. We have had better luck with our cherry and grape tomato plants than in recent years, and with our larger tomatoes. But the rats/opossums have been getting most of the big ones, sadly.