Tidbits

While Stace went to work Saturday morning to get a handle on the employee reviews he needs to complete, I met Tiffany at a grand opening for a new coffee place. We got discounted beverages and a coupon for a free drink on a return trip. We enjoyed catching up on a beautiful weekend morning.

After, I met Stace at the SC Auto Fair and we had a look around. Later, we went to see The Lightning Thief at the Canyon Theatre Guild - it was fun to see a show we knew so well, from when Cora played Percy a year ago. We watched Ferris Bueller's Day off as a family before bed.

On Sunday, Stace bought a paint sprayer and painted the cabinet doors he'd ordered for our bathroom. Lots of progress happening here!

Meanwhile, Cora went to MB2 for Mackenzie's birthday, and as a last hurrah before Rowan and Lucas head off to college. 
 

We've been visiting Quigley Canyon frequently, in the evenings when it cools off. We're always looking for wildlife, and sometimes spot deer, coyotes, rabbits, and interesting birds (along with the neighbor's horses).

We've been seeing - and hearing - this pair of great horned owls frequently. We love them!

We woke up to horrible news Monday: nearly an entire block of Old Town Newhall went up in flame. The Main Theater, where Cora performed in The Wolves, along with The Newhall Refinery (where we had a drink last week) were among the businesses completely destroyed.  

My heart breaks looking at these photos, courtesy of the city and the Signal. It doesn't seem like it can be real.

Stace and I went to a goodbye party for one of his coworkers, at one of our local breweries. Some guy parked this close to my car... couldn't even open my door!

Darn good thing I was able to get his keys and take his car home!

Lots of News

 It was an eventful week with cars, but I'll save that news for later. But we were short a car, so I was getting out at 6 to take Stace to work a couple of days. Cora went to stunt workout classes in Burbank several days - she's loving it! 

It was also a cooler week, so the girls were able to have their first riding lesson in a while. 

Violet is riding Bandit, and Cora is on Rocky. 

After working on the bathroom a lot on Saturday, and searching for a new car, we took a family trip to Carpinteria on Sunday. Even Cora came with us! 

We enjoyed lunch and teas/coffees at our favorite Thai place there...

And we also took the walk along the bluffs to see the seals. 

Stace and I went to the Main theater to see a play called The Dresser, which was very well done. We got a drink afterwards at the Refinery. 

The girls went to a friend's house to watch Treasure Island, since that is what Cora's old school is performing this fall. Cora is planning to help with stagecraft and stage managing again, and this year they want Violet to be a paid tech employee, working in the booth.

Violet started her junior year of high school this week! She's taking one class in person, another AP art class, this time focusing on 3D art. Her plan is to make a stained glass lamp shade.

I picked up and packaged/froze my order of 30 pounds of organic peanuts from Azure Standard - it looks like an insane amount - and maybe it is. 

But we actually went through a full order of 30 pounds in exactly one year, and were about to run out. (We eat a lot of peanut butter, and Stace likes snacking on peanuts or homemade trail mix after dinner.)

I got an email that the county was holding free music and dinner events at various parks, and this week one would be at Val Verde Park. Since Colleen and Rigo were free, we made a night out of it. We enjoyed our free tacos and salsa music.

Meanwhile, Cora went to an orientation for Fright Fest, and found out she will be on the slider team! Very exciting; she's worked so hard.

Carp with the Ladies

 I had a weekend away with the ladies - Dinorah, Sue, Nicole and Jen. We'd set this weekend up long before our bathroom pipe exploded, so I felt bad about leaving Stace while he was working, but I was committed!

We went to Carpinteria - we had a full beach day, with lunch, snacks and drinks. We then checked into the hotel room we were sharing, to get ready for dinner.

The next morning, Jen and I checked out this Torrey pine tree, which was planted in 1888, according to the sign. The tree was in the field next to our coffee stop - the Lucky Llama.

We returned to the beach for a long walk, before heading to a cafe at Padaro beach for lunch.

Catching up with these dear friends was so good. Our lunch was fabulous, too.

Week in Review

On Saturday morning, Stace and I were up and out early to get to the annual Aerospace Games at a community college in El Segundo, not far from the beaches of Torrance.

Stace played a ton of pickleball, and had a lot of fun. We enjoyed our free lunch and snacks, and hanging out with Stace's coworkers and regular pickleball cohorts.

We needed to find a place to watch the England-Netherlands game, and I found a place online that sounded good. Little did I know, it was apparently the most popular brewery in the South Bay. We had to park really far away, and the walk in the summer heat, after being out all day, did me in! I got a headache that only went away the next morning.

We sat outside under an umbrella and leaned in to watch a TV inside. Thankfully, England won!

We celebrated the following day with a roast dinner, with roast potatoes.

On Tuesday, our friends who moved to Texas from SClarita 10 years ago were in town to visit, and we got to have dinner with them at a sushi place. It was great catching up! 

We watched Wednesday's England-Argentina semifinal at my parents' house. 

It was going so well...

...until it wasn't. And the young guy there to work on the air conditioner was Argentinian, and very, very happy. He said he was a former pro footballer who got hurt, so he knew the game well.
Well, maybe football can come home in 2030?!?

On Friday, Vi and I got the heck outta town, and went to Rincon beach. It was great to get some Vitamin Sea.

There was a LOT of tar on the beach, more than normal, so we didn't take a long walk. 

We did see dolphins though!

Week in Review

 Stace was off Monday for Memorial Day, and we went to Home Depot to check out supplies for the catio we're going to build. He found a Panini World Cup sticker album, just like the one he filled up in 1986. 

We then went to Total Wine and More, for cider - he's been reading his cider book, and wants to brew some up this year.

Violet had a solo horse lesson on Tuesday with Rocky. She got some great experience trotting and guiding the horse directionally.

Happy girl! So glad we have found this ranch and this way for her to ride again.

On Tuesday, after her lesson, she watched the film Hidalgo with us, because it features Viggo Mortensen in a grueling horse race.

On Wednesday, Vi and Cora had Sofia and Liana over for D&D, while I met up with a friend for Happy Hour/dinner.

On Thursday, Violet and I went to the optometrist and she picked out new glasses. Cora, meanwhile, went sliding for the second time this week, and later played D&D. And on Friday, I went up to Palmdale and lunch with my former newspaper co-workers. It was nice to see them again.

On Saturday, Stace watched the Champion's League final with work friends, while I met up with "the ladies" and celebrated one of their birthdays at Agua Dulce Vineyard.

We had a wine tasting and then enjoyed a picnic. It was a great time together.

On Sunday, we celebrated Rigo's birthday at their house.

They'd had a family part on Saturday, and Rigo showed us the very old sword he inherited and was just given. Very cool!

The kids (and young adults) played Telestrations, and other games.

Weekend Work and Play

Melanie had her biggest wedding of the year on Saturday, and Stace, Violet and I helped. 

The wedding was at a Simi Valley venue we've worked at before, but this time it was only warm, not hot, so that was a blessing.

All done!

Stace worked on hanging the blue trumpet flowers. 

I loved this venue, more than the super fancy beachy venues we've helped at. (Not that this wasn't equally fancy or expensive...just more to my taste with old world charm.)

On Sunday, Stace and I went to the annual Cowboy Festival, and made sure we saw more music than we have been able to watch the last few years.

In the vendor area, we watched this artist burning a design into a hat. Violet would have enjoyed that.

Below, we have part of the living history area.

A new corner of the festival at Hart Park featured the Western town set Violet and I saw during a Halloween event in Newhall. It was a perfect addition, and many people were taking photos. This was one of the great things about former festival host Melody Ranch: you were walking around a replica Old West town.

Also over the weekend, I saw two plays with Christina. We saw an amazing musical called Ride the Cyclone on Friday night, and a psychological thriller called Wait Until Dark on Sunday, after the Cowboy Festival. Both were great!