Tidbits

I've used this KitchenAid mixer for a few years, after a friend gifted it to me when she moved out of state. It doesn't handle my whole wheat bread very well, and Stace has replaced the gears at least twice. It's making a funny noise again when I try to knead the bread, so Stace suggested I get a more powerful mixer.

I went with a suggestion on a blog I follow for home-milled flour, and purchased this Nutrimill Artiste. I was fortunate to get a $50 off sale price, with Mother's Day coming up. 

It worked well for my first try!

Speaking of Mother's Day, Stace treated me to a special coffee for Mother's Day, plus a lovely bouquet of roses from our yard. I'm a lucky one!

Later, we all met up with the rest of the family for frozen yogurt.

Stace used the borrowed pressure washer to wash two cars and thoroughly clean the driveway, blasting out the weeds and dirt in the tiny gaps where the concrete comes together.

 My parents were away for the day, so Violet and I went over to let Maverick and Summer out, and give them some love. Maverick loves to immediately drop onto his back, for tummy scritches. 

Later, Vi and I made our long awaited return to Quigley, after a few weeks' break with the craziness of theater tech weeks.

Still a number of flowers blooming, like the thistle below.

Evie, the queen of relaxing in positions that look uncomfortable...

We've not seen Seb inside the doughnut, because it seems too small for him. But the other day, we saw the end of his tail just visible from the opening! 

(By the time I got my phone camera on, he was crawling out.)

Week in Review - and Mean Girls

 Violet has taken an Advanced Placement art class this year, and on Wednesday, she turned in her portfolio for grading. To celebrate, we shared a steak sandwich at RJB Cafe for lunch after school.

On Thursday morning, Tiffany and I took a walk and climbed the Stevenson Ranch stairs. This is a long outdoor staircase, installed just for exercise, and this is the view from the top. 

My calves were sore for days!

Also Thursday, Cora's Shakespeare classmates all performed monologues from Hamlet. After, the students voted on their favorite, and Cora won the most votes again.

Stace and I went to the garden center on Wednesday and then stopped at Maginn's for happy hour, and dinner. The girls were busy at the final dress rehearsal for Mean Girls.

We then went home and spent the rest of the evening researching RV rentals for a trip we're hoping to take in June to a national park in Nevada.

And on Thursday, Mean Girls began! Cora was stage managing, and Violet was the stagehand. Here, they are getting the microphones ready for the actors following the opening night show. 

I helped Thursday and Saturday by running the box office - this was the most well attended show in the school's history, with over 250 attendees on Thursday and 300 on Friday night!

 

These are the notes Cora created for the actors and crew, saying what needed to move, when, and what the cues were. She spent hours on it, and is such a hard worker.

After the closing show Saturday, we all stayed an extra hour to quickly break down the set and get it cleared from the stage. It was a lot of work and it was late, but this meant the director didn't need to come in on Sunday/Mother's Day.

Week in Review

 

Violet and I checked out an equestrian center in Newhall on Tuesday, and were very impressed. It was huge! Some 60 horses, spread out in lots of areas, including the barn above. 

One of the instructors, Becky, gave us a tour. Some of the horses are boarded there, while many are owned by the ranch owners.

The mini horses were so cute! We will plan to start lessons soon.

While on a nature walk with Violet's school, near the Iron Horse Bridge, we saw a dead King snake. These snakes, with their distinctive black and white bands, are called that because they can eat rattlenakes. 

Cora and Violet stopped at the bridge at sunset one night this week after the Mean Girls rehearsal.

It was a long week for Cora, between her college classes, set strike for Once Upon a Mattress and Mean Girls work. At least she'll be making some good money with the last one!

Our blueberries are ripening! So many!

And we always have monarch butterflies in our yard. One is here on the milkweed, circled in blue.

I revived my sourdough starter and made a loaf this week.

Not too shabby.

Also this week, I woke up Friday to find the screen popped out of the dining room window, Evie in the yard, and Winston gone. Thank God, he was in the yard behind ours, and I was able to go grab him, though I don't love the thought of him knowing how to jump onto/over the wall.

And also Friday, Nick's car broke down, and he was towed to their mechanic near us. I picked him up, and picked Ellie up from school with him, and dropped them both off at their home.

Violet's Birthday

We started Violet's birthday celebrations on Saturday, with a trip to Ojai, just the three of us. Cora had two shows, so she couldn't come with us. 

Violet found a lovely nature walk with great views. As you can see, it was a cooler, cloudy day with the threat of rain. 

After our hike, we walked the main street, and then drove to Boccali's, the Italian restaurant Violet picked. 

We shared bruschetta, an antipasto salad and eggplant lasagna. All was delicious.

We then started for home, but stopped in Santa Paula at a New Orleans cafe I've heard about called Rabalais. We had their specialty for dessert - beignets, with a latte. Ohhhh, yes please! 

Violet's actual 16th birthday was Monday, a school day. We stopped by her favorite nearby nature walk after school. 

She then went with Cora to West Ranch to work as a stage hand while Cora was stage managing Mean Girls during the start of their tech week(s). That meant for a late birthday dinner. Violet chose Bonchon, the Korean place in Stevenson Ranch. 

After dinner, we had their doughnuts for dessert.

Because Violet's upcoming Alaska trip is her big 16th birthday gift, we gave her a map of Alaska to study and admire.

Cora gave Vi some CDs from a band called The Arcadian Wild, and sweet treats.

We enjoyed being out together, celebrating with our favorite artist-animal loving-nature girl!

Joshua Tree: The Park

 

We really enjoyed our long day in the park, and got to see lots of interesting boulder piles, blooming Joshua trees, colorful wildflowers and cactus blossoms.

On the Barker Dam trail, Violet pointed out these petroglyphs.

There were more in the cave here.

This was the site of the dam - you can kind of make out the water beyond Violet's head.

This area reminded us of the slot canyons in Zion - kind of. 

Looks like this rock might topple off at any time!

Stace had a silly idea and I went along with it.

Those specks in the center on top of the boulder are Violet and Stacey.

And this is the photo they took of the parking lot, with me in our car, having a rest.

Aptly named Face Rock.

On Friday, we went back into the park (our camp site was very close to the park entrance) to find this hike our horse ride guide told us about. 

We were looking for old mining equipment, and found this along the way.

Hard to make out in the photo, I admit, but here we could spot a couple of mine entrances and old equipment along the hillside across the canyon from us.

Tidbits

We enjoyed Monday with Aunt Patty and Uncle Bill, before they left Tuesday to see their other family south of here. 

On Wednesday, the girls played D&D again here, and on Thursday, Violet and I went to Elsmere Canyon for a walk with her school hiking club.

(That's Violet, under the oak canopy, down the trail a bit.) 

She found a rock she believes will be perfect for making into a petroglyph for an art project.

There were so many types of wildflowers to admire!

Unfortunately, Vi wasn't feeling well on our way home, and was sick. She ended up missing her in-person classes.

Ellie came over for a few hours, and I took her to the newly refurbished Old Orchard Park. She loved it! Here, she's sliding down the created hill on cardboard; this is like part of the playground at the Santa Barbara Zoo our girls used to love.

The park has a lot of interesting interactive elements, like this thing that spins as you run on it. Really great for working on your balance!

This is an art piece commemorating the Oak of the Golden Dream in Placerita Canyon.

Random pic here: Uncle Bill pulled out our stove to see if he could fix our faulty burner. Underneath, we found all of Winston's missing pipe cleaner "toys," and a couple of glitter pompom balls. This guy!