From Left to Write: Summer Fun

With three weeks left on the countdown clock 'til the school's last bell rings, the buzz coming off the kids is palpable.  Ready or not, summer is coming.

And while I am more than excited to ditch the 5:40 am alarm clock, I would rather be ready and have some activities planned out, or at the very least, thought out.

There are the inexpensive to free activities that will be the staples to fill our days:

~ Trips to the coast to build sandcastles & take adventure walks along the
    beach
~ Summer library reading programs to keep li'l & big brains from getting
    jellified
~ Tending to our growing edible garden in the backyard
~ Riding bikes through the neighborhood
~ Playing with neighborhood friends
~ Mornings at the park (mornings, because uber hot days & I are not on
    the friendliest of terms)
~ Painting with the kids (looking forward to framing some new pieces)
~ Learning how to play the guitar

And then there are those activities that cost some dough, but are totally worth it:

~ Taekwondo (Big Bro began taking classes over a year ago and four
    months in, Li'l Sis jumped in too)
~ Swimming lessons
~ Local day camp
~ A couple of local museums we want to visit
~ The Zoo
~ Jelly Belly Factory tour
~ Mrs. Grossman's sticker factory tour
~ Exploratorium

That should keep us pretty busy!  What are you up to this summer?  Any exciting plans?  Any fun destinations you're looking forward to visiting?

This post was inspired by Bittersweet by Miranda Beverly-Whittemore, a novel that exposes the gothic underbelly of an American dynasty, and an outsider's hunger to belong.  Join From Left to Write on May 20th, as we discuss Bittersweet.  As a member, I received a copy of the book for review purposes.

Affiliate links used.

Revisiting the beach!

I love where we live!  Country, city, farmland, hills, and the ocean are all nearby.  And the mountains are pretty darn close too.

The weekend before last, we headed out to the coast for a Family Day that was quite smile worthy.

The Northern California coastline is gorgeous!  While I've never been to any kind of tropical beach, I've been to both the East & West coasts and of all the locales I've visited, I just love the northern half of this state's coastline.  I start relaxing before we're even out of the car as the terrain and the air changes.

This is a no swimming beach, too many rip tides.

But, that didn't stop our fun!

There was chilling and playing in the sand to do.

And digging.  Lots o' digging.

And sand flying (she had more sand than hair on the top of her head by the end of the day!).

One dug a very narrow, uniform hole longer than the arm's length, while the other made some sand angels.

Hubs adventure walked with our boy, several times, seeing what the ocean had washed up.  And in between adventure walks, Hubby grabbed some smooth stones to create stacked sculptures, reminiscent of our dating days when one of our ocean visits treated us to a woman creating these all over the beach.

And me?  I hung out, clicked away with my cameras, looked at the kids' sand creations & holes, picnicked with the fam, got a wee bit obsessed looking at this weathered & worn log, tracing the lines with my eyes, and simply relaxed.

This was the best family beach visit ever.  The kidlets are old enough now that we weren't spending the whole time chasing them or conversely, forced to cop a squat when our arms tired of carrying a baby.  We've always loved our visits to the coast, but now, I think we'll love them even more!

Where do you like to go as a family?  Where do you relax?

Love the Ocean, Dig the Beach recycled and revisited for Mama Kat's Writer's Workshop!  Hope you're having fun this summer...we are! :>

Color Wash

Tweet

Turning onto the main drag we look for a place to park without great success.  Cars accessorized with different states’ plates, packed full of travelers gear, line both sides of the narrow lane.  Just as we reach the street’s far west end, we find a small space to slide our car into.

We step up onto the crumbling concrete sidewalk, his hand opened wide, inviting my own.  Grabbing it, we walk the familiar path eastward.  The sky, donning its morning slate cardigan hovers above us.  Salted air skims our skin; I drag it in deeply, filling my lungs with its pleasantly peaceful scent.

Trinket, tchotchke, souvenir shops with windows filled wave for our attention, but our eyes dial in our target up the small incline.  One step in front of the other, stepping aside for groups walking back down – some returning to their cars, some to the bluffs, some to take their cooped up pup for a walk – like a folk dance, native to this small spec of a town.

Without a word exchanged, we step into the first of our routine stops.  Pretty jewelry, nice paintings, some woodwork we stop to examine and the fat cat that’s always in the back gets a chin scratch.

Cross the street, up the white stairs, local artists’ work and one to chat with as we find a perfectly personal present to tuck away.

A few doors down, canvases steal our breath – our eyes fooled, rather than paint we see strokes of light.  Jokes about the necessity of kids’ college funds routinely punctuate the visit.  And with one last look we return to the crumbling sidewalk.

Pausing for a seafood lunch with a view we can see now that the coastal sky has shed her morning cardigan.  We chat, we eat, we agree that nothing we’ve seen sparks us both, yet.  Paying the overpriced tourist trap bill we readily signed up for, we walk up a block off the main drag.  No sidewalks, just road.  There are a handful more stops to make to make the day’s gallery walk complete.

We leisurely stroll back to the car.  Not a painting in hand, but the hours’ zen color washed across us.  It’s a favorite hue, bookmarked for our annual visit.  Carrying it with us, one town north, we step into the next color waiting to paint our day, staining our memories…hopefully, permanently.

2012 has put The Creative back in the driver's seat - but, so far that has been via journaling; (different for me) scrapbooking; inking, painting, doodling in my art journal; trying new GFCF recipes; and lots of photo editing.

The Creative, however, had not joined me in the word pool until I found a little { Magic } in a Ronald Dahl quote, earlier this week.  So, I'm tickled pink to finally be responding to a Write on Edge prompt this year!

The prompt is to write a piece, fiction or creative non-fiction, 400 words or less, sparked by "Flavor."  Whether that be a taste, spice, or the quality or character found in something is up to us.

This began as a fictional piece, but it's so colored by memory it definitely falls into the creative non-fiction category.  Can you feel the flavor of the memory?

Michel LeRoux ~ Pacific Ocean ~ New Traditions

Fall of 1995 saw both my husband and I in Vancouver, British Columbia. But, we weren't together. Actually, we had yet to even meet!

When we did meet in the spring of '97, began dating a year later, got engaged and later married, it was quite an easy decision for us to head back to the Pacific Northwest & British Columbia for our honeymoon.

Many new traditions began while honeymooning. One, was to forgo individual wedding presents, and later anniversary presents, in favor of picking out a piece of original art to enjoy together in our home.

Only one hardfast rule applies this tradition: the piece of art we choose has to "speak" to both of us. You see, we have quite different aesthetics, so initially, we thought this one guideline would be a challenge for us.

Out early, we walked the nearly deserted streets before the galleries opened (you could say we were a wee bit anxious to get out and enjoy the city we loved so much!). Low in one gallery's window sat a stunning Michel LeRoux painting. We stopped to look and moved on.

Gallery after gallery, a restaurant for lunch, a pub my husband had stopped in at when he was there years earlier with his best friend for a pint, more galleries, a little shopping, and we returned to the gallery with the painting sitting low in the window.

They gladly pulled the piece that looked as if it were colored in strokes of light, rather than paint, into the middle of the gallery for a better look.

We looked at it. We kept looking at it. I was distracted for a bit by a gorgeous Marcelle Dube painting that I can still see inside my head to this day.  But, my gaze kept returning to the Michel LeRoux painting that we first set our eyes upon, hours earlier.

What we initially thought would be challenging - our rule - was quite simple for us.  We had found an original piece of art that captured, raptured, us both.  It needed to be in our home for us to enjoy for many more years to come...and for over a decade now, everyday we see it hanging on our wall, we've enjoyed it.

I found this video on YouTube filled with his art.  I don't know anything about where it came from and while our painting is not in there, it is a good representation of his work.

Our honeymoon destinations included Seattle, Friday Harbor in the San Juan Islands, Victoria and Vancouver, British Columbia, and led to another favorite tradition to celebrate each year of marriage near the water.  Happily, Fort Bragg, California most frequently finds us on our anniversaries.

We look forward to the day we can return to the waterside locales, stocked full with smile worthy moments.  Until we can, we look up at our Michel LeRoux painting, remember, and smile.

- - - - - - - - - - - - -

In Lost Edens, author Jamie Patterson struggles to save her marriage which may or may not be already over. Keeping her attempts a secret from her family, she attempts to mold herself into the wife her husband wants her to be.

As a member of From Left to Write book club, I received a copy of this book for review (book links are affiliate links, all other links I'm sharing are purely informational).  You can read other members posts inspired by Lost Edens by Jamie Patterson on book club day, October 27 at From Left to Write.

Love the Ocean, Dig the Beach

I love where we live!  Country, city, farmland, hills, and the ocean are all nearby.  And the mountains are pretty darn close too.

The weekend before last, we headed out to the coast for a Family Day that was quite smile worthy.

The Northern California coastline is gorgeous!  While I've never been to any kind of tropical beach, I've been to both the East & West coasts and of all the locales I've visited, I just love the northern half of this state's coastline.  I start relaxing before we're even out of the car as the terrain and the air changes.

This is a no swimming beach, too many rip tides.

But, that didn't stop our fun!

There was chilling and playing in the sand to do.

And digging.  Lots o' digging.

And sand flying (she had more sand than hair on the top of her head by the end of the day!).

One dug a very narrow, uniform hole longer than the arm's length, while the other made some sand angels.

Hubs adventure walked with our boy, several times, seeing what the ocean had washed up.  And in between adventure walks, Hubby grabbed some smooth stones to create stacked sculptures, reminiscent of our dating days when one of our ocean visits treated us to a woman creating these all over the beach.

And me?  I hung out, clicked away with my cameras, looked at the kids' sand creations & holes, picnicked with the fam, got a wee bit obsessed looking at this weathered & worn log, tracing the lines with my eyes, and simply relaxed.

This was the best family beach visit ever.  The kidlets are old enough now that we weren't spending the whole time chasing them or conversely, forced to cop a squat when our arms tired of carrying a baby.  We've always loved our visits to the coast, but now, I think we'll love them even more!

Where do you like to go as a family?  Where do you relax?

A Million Grains of Sand

Carrying blankets, towels, and a cooler loaded with sandwiches, soda and water, we hiked down the steep switch backed hill to our treasured spot.  Almost there.

Huge steel colored boulders were the last obstacle for us to climb over.  Reaching our hands out for one another, we steadied each other.  Truthfully, more often than not, it was me reaching out for his steady hand as I worked my way from one boulder to the next.  Almost there.

Moving from firm footing onto a million tiny grains, each step sinking a bit before pushing off, we propelled ourselves forward.  Giddiness would start to spill over as we approached the wave churned, smooth as silk driftwood in our path.  So many shapes, so many possibilities could be seen in those twisted pieces of wood.  Almost there.

A million warm grains crunching under each step as we approached our spot.  Laying out a blanket, we sprawled across it, kicked off our shoes and plunged our toes into the sun baked granules.  The warmth slowly travelled up through our covered feet, through our bodies, bit by bit, until the sun’s rays could be felt on our faces.  It was as if we were melting;  melting into each other, melting into the sun, melting into the golden, glittering sand beneath us.

The ocean pounded its waves past the rocky cliffs, into our cove.  Its rhythmic washing of the shore swelled in our ears.  An occasional seagull pierced through.  We were there.  We were in our cove, on our spot, filling ourselves with a peace we found each time we went.

This week, The Red Dress Club, prompted us to write a memory of sand.  I instantly thought of the cove that my husband & I frequented when we were dating.  It was like a little piece of heaven.  It's a hike to get down to it and between that and the fact that there are strong rip tides there, we don't take the kidlets there and consequently, haven't been in quite awhile.  Thankfully though, the memories of it have not dimmed.




This post suffered from the Great Blogger Debacle 2011 and lost all of its lovely comments, which makes me sad.  But, I cannot think of a better way to happy up this post and myself than to link up with super sweet Bruna of Bees With Honey!  Let's Bee Friends! :>

And wouldn't you know it, but looks like Blogger has returned the comments a week later!  Happy to have the comments back and even happier to connect with some of Bruna's readers! Thanks for stopping in! :>

Our Spot

It was Our Spot, this cove we laid claim to.

We often arrived before the billowing fog had rolled back.  Content to pass cooler morning hours, our bodies formed a human pretzel, salted by the ocean’s spray.  Warmth radiated from every cell.

When the cloudless sky opened up, we picnicked, painted stories in the sand, scoured and scavenged hidden gems along the shore.  A retreating tide created even more adventures to be shared.  Hands stretched out to help each other scale the slippery, water-logged boulders.  Teeming with sea critters, there was so much vibrant life to explore.  Excitement, sheer giddiness captured us every time, each of us racing to show the other our next discovery.

Somehow, in the mere moments we weren’t absorbed by one another, I took pleasure breathing in the kaleidoscope before me.  Sure, it was absurd to try to name and number every shade Our Spot’s surroundings offered.  Though while being cradled by the sand, toasted by the sun, it was a trite little game I liked to play in my mind.  Easily distracted from my counting, I was always mesmerized by the varied palette of greens, blues, and grays that paraded across the sky, descending to prance upon the ocean’s skin, playfully reflected back in my mate’s eyes…where I always got lost.  I never did grasp a final count.

For three short years, we returned to our cove as often as the chaos of everyday life would allow, always wishing we could stay longer…one more breath of salty air to drag deeply in, one more chance to wriggle our toes in the toasty warm sand, one more treasure hunt, one more wave of water washing up the wet sand, swirling madly around our ankles.

We must have missed the riptide warning that Sunday.  How we could have missed a blazing red sign, I’m still not quite sure.

We never did want to leave our cove, Our Spot.  And now, we never will.

This post is Fiction, a part of the Red Writing Hood, and though I've read fantastic fiction from The Red Dress Club's members before, this is my first time writing along!  This week's prompt:

Water gives life. It also takes it away.

I {heart} Fort Bragg: SITS Day Two

Its Day Two of SITS Back 2 Blogging event and today, we've been asked to "Re-upload a post you wish more people had read and explain why it was important to you."  

I wrote & posted Where I Wish I Was in June, 2009 when my blog was quite the youngin' at a whopping four months of age.  At that time, I was predominantly posting papercrafts, specifically, stamped cards.  So, this was one of the few non crafty posts that I had shared at that point.

Why is it important to me?  Fort Bragg is somewhere I love to go.  In fact, there is NO WHERE that I relax quite as fast as I do when Hubby & I drive into town.  Hubby & I have celebrated most of our anniversaries there.  Many bits of our wonderful Fort Bragg anniversaries remind us of our fantastic honeymoon in Seattle, Friday Harbor, Victoria & Vancouver.

Hope you enjoy taking a quick blogging trip to Fort Bragg with me as I stroll down memory lane! :>

******************

Every year for our anniversary, hubby and I take off to Fort Bragg on the northern California coast. We absolutely love it there. I'm one of those people that has a hard time shutting off my brain and whenever I arrive in Fort Bragg, it always amazes me just how quickly I completely let go and relax! But, can you blame me?

This is the view, looking to the left, from the deck off of our room at the Beachcomber Motel. Sigh. Gorgeous panoramic views, fresh ocean air, and sleeping with the door partially open at night (yes, there's a security bar!)....its like heaven, to me.

Thanks to this lovely economy that so many of us are experiencing right now, we have made the decision to not go this year. Booooo!! Boooo!! The pricey projects around the house that need to be done will thank us for the decision, but I'm not too thrilled about being a responsible grown up right about now. Hmph! Thank you for indulging me in my pout for just a moment. Now, I'll move on! :>

I love this large single tree that I always watch (and take a gazillion pictures of every year) the sun slowly set behind. Each year we come back we always notice which limbs have crashed down below. These pics are from our 2007 trip. Somehow I forgot my camera in 2008 and so the only pics I have are from a disposable and are not on the computer.

In 2007, we lost our sitter, my Mom, at the last minute due to a family gathering and so we brought the kidlets with us and made it into a little family vacation. Consequently, we altered some of our activities that we usually do to accommodate young kidlets interests and patience levels.

Each year we gallery hop through Fort Bragg and Mendocino in search of a new piece of original art to give as our anniversary gift to each other. That particular year, we knew the kids would not be up to a long gallery hop, so we only visited about four or five. We also took them to the toy store, an ice cream cone after dinner, and a walk through town to eat it.

In the morning, after breakfast, we took the kidlets to what is always our last stop on the Sunday of our annual trip, Glass Beach. Our son had a blast climbing the rocks, checking out the sea critters, and looking for drift wood, cool rocks, and sea glass. While the larger pieces of glass have all been picked over through the years, there is a ton of little colorful pieces of ocean washed and smoothed glass all over the beach. And when the tide is out, there are great tide pools.....lots of sea weed to walk through, but wonderful treasures to look at!

You can see sea anemones, mussels, limpets, jelly fish, and a crab or two. Do you see him? If you can't, enlarge the pic by clicking on it. Say "Hi, Mr.Crab!!"

What? Are you coming to see us? Coming to say 'hello'? Hi Mr.Crab! Come closer, I want a better picture...please? Oh no, after this pic, he'd had enough and quickly scurried below the water.

Fort Bragg, Mendocino, and most of the northern California coastline is just a dream and I feel fortunate to live so close by. I know we'll make it out to the coast a few times this year and I really look forward to our next trip to Fort Bragg. Where are you looking forward to visiting soon?

******************

Some thanks to shout out to Standards of Excellence, Westar Kitchen and Bath, and Florida Builder Appliances for sponsoring the Back 2 Blogging event put on by SITS!  And of course, Electrolux's Thelma & Louise are mighty beauties that will go to a blogger participating in this event! :>

So, over a year later, into fall rather than summer, I still ask again, where are you looking forward to visiting soon?

At home, I'm looking forward to visiting with family and friends who will be visiting two weekends in a row for a kidlet's birthday.  And after that, I'm looking forward to visiting my friend Jenn to celebrate her birthday! 

Your turn!  Looking forward to hearing what's coming up for you! :>

Where I Wish I Was!

Every year for our anniversary, hubby and I take off to Fort Bragg on the northern California coast. We absolutely love it there. I'm one of those people that has a hard time shutting off my brain and whenever I arrive in Fort Bragg, it always amazes me just how quickly I completely let go and relax! But, can you blame me? This is the view, looking to the left, from the deck off of our room at the Beachcomber Motel. Sigh. Gorgeous panoramic views, fresh ocean air, and sleeping with the door partially open at night (yes, there's a security bar!)....its like heaven, to me.

Thanks to this lovely economy that so many of us are experiencing right now, we have made the decision to not go this year. Booooo!! Boooo!! The pricey projects around the house that need to be done will thank us for the decision, but I'm not too thrilled about being a responsible grown up right about now. Hmph! Thank you for indulging me in my pout for just a moment. Now, I'll move on! :>

I love this large single tree that I always watch (and take a gazillion pictures of every year) the sun slowly set behind. Each year we come back we always notice which limbs have crashed down below. These pics are from our 2007 trip. Somehow I forgot my camera in 2008 and so the only pics I have are from a disposable and are not on the computer.

In 2007, we lost our sitter, my Mom, at the last minute due to a family gathering and so we brought the kidlets with us and made it into a little family vacation. Consequently, we altered some of our activities that we usually do to accommodate young kidlets interests and patience levels. Each year we gallery hop through Fort Bragg and Mendocino in search of a new piece of original art to give as our anniversary gift to each other. That particular year, we knew the kids would not be up to a long gallery hop, so we only visited about four or five. We also took them to the toy store, an ice cream cone after dinner, and a walk through town to eat it.

In the morning, after breakfast, we took the kidlets to what is always our last stop on the Sunday of our annual trip, Glass Beach. Our son had a blast climbing the rocks, checking out the sea critters, and looking for drift wood, cool rocks, and sea glass. While the larger pieces of glass from the old closed glass factory nearby have all been picked over through the years, there is a ton of little colorful pieces of ocean washed and smoothed glass all over the beach. And when the tide is out, there are great tide pools.....lots of sea weed to walk through, but wonderful treasures to look at!

You can see sea anemones, mussels, limpets, jelly fish, and a crab or two. Do you see him? If you can't, enlarge the pic by clicking on it. Say "Hi, Mr.Crab!!"

What? Are you coming to see us? Coming to say 'hello'? Hi Mr.Crab! Come closer, I want a better picture...please? Oh no, after this pic, he'd had enough and quickly scurried below the water.

Fort Bragg, Mendocino, and most of the northern California coastline is just a dream and I feel fortunate to live so close by. I know we'll make it out to the coast a few times this year and I really look forward to our next trip to Fort Bragg. Where are you looking forward to visiting soon?