Dead Ant, Dead Ant....

Right before I left work on December 23rd our office was being overrun by ants. It's been cold and rainy and they always come in when that happens. I have a pest control guy that comes by once a month and puts ant pellets out around the building and that keeps them at bay most of the time. But they don't like to get wet.

Employees wanted action or they were going to take their own, as in a can of Raid. I just can't have insecticides inside our building. We have a pregnant woman and several people that are allergic to the sprays. So I got on the Internet and found out the natural ways to deter these pests.

I found that there are many natural choices for getting rid of the critters without spraying. We had used an Asian ant chalk several years ago that someone had picked up at an Asian supermarket. It worked great. You draw a line through the ants and they disappear like magic. You don't even see any dead bodies. But we ran out and what I discovered online is that it's actually an illegal substance in the United States. Figures it would get outlawed.

I did find a wealth of natural remedies out there to get rid of ants; salt, talcum powder, pepper, cayenne pepper, cinnamon, orange oil, vinegar and water, soap and water and just plain old chalk.

Since I had black pepper at the office I chose that one. You simply sprinkle black pepper on them and their point of entry. I mean, what could it hurt? It was free and wouldn't harm anyone in the office. So I set off with my container of black pepper and sprinkled it all over the ants. I think my fellow employees thought I was crazy, but I was on a mission. I got down on my hands and knees and followed their trails. I found their point of entry and I sprinkled they heck out of them. They immediately slowed down and within 15 minutes they were gone. Another magic remedy!

It's now the day after Christmas and the ants are not back. I think I've found my new favorite pest control.

Tradition

Merry Christmas!

It's Christmas Eve and all I have left to do is make a pumpkin cheesecake. All the presents are wrapped, the house is all decorated. We're getting ready to open presents on the phone with our son and daughter-in-law in Washington. A new tradition for us when we can't all get together.

It's a very stress free holiday this year. No traveling, no big dinner to cook. We'll be visiting with friends today and tomorrow. In the morning we will open presents with my daughter and her friend Missy. Then a great big yummy breakfast. In the evening we will be off to visit friends.

Most years we go down to Southern California for Christmas. We celebrate with my parents on Christmas Eve and my husband's relatives on Christmas day. This year we both had to work and couldn't get away in the middle of the week. My son wasn't available to come down from Washington either. Our daughter is here packing and getting ready to move to New York the first week in January. So we decided to stay home and have a quiet holiday here on the Coastside. I must say I don't miss the stress of traveling on the holidays.

Having Christmas at home got me to thinking about traditions and how important they are in a family. We have a box in our xmas decorations marked "minimum Christmas." This is the box I get out if I know we're going to travel and not be home for the holidays. It's full of all our favorite ornaments and decorations, but takes minimum effort to put out. I still think it's important to set up some kind of tree and put out our favorite ornaments, even if we are not going to be home. I also have our stockings in there and bring them with us where ever we go to bring a little of home with us.

When we are home we open our gifts on Christmas morning and have big pancake breakfast. The stocking gifts are always wrapped in foil and they are the first thing we open. When the kids were little, Santa always left out one big unwrapped gift. The kids weren't allowed to go out before they woke up mom and dad. So we were always up at the crack of dawn. Before they could go out to the living room dad or mom would go out and turn on all the xmas lights and put the holiday music on. I would make sure the camera was ready to catch the joy in their eyes as they saw their fun surprises that Santa left. As adults we still do the stockings with everything wrapped in foil, but Santa doesn't leave the big gifts out anymore.

When we go to my mom's house on Christmas Eve, we have a white elephant gift exchange, El Pollo Loco caters our food and Santa in full regalia visits, hands out gifts and sings Christmas carols with everyone. Santa has been coming Christmas Eve to my mom's house since our son (the first grandchild) was about 1 years old. There's always a ton of people there. Mostly my relatives; sister, brother, in-laws, nieces, aunts, uncles, cousins and various people we've adopted over the years. Our friends that still live in Southern California know they can stop by my parents house and join in whenever we're there. It's always a good time.

Santa has always provided fun entertainment. When the kids were little, we would hide and watch him put out the presents and he never acknowledged that we were all watching. It was magical. As they got older he started passing out the gifts and joining in. The funniest time was when he brought Mrs. Claus. We think she was on the verge of full blown Alzheimer's and she had been nipping at the sherry before she got there. She threw the candy canes at people and made inappropriate comments. We were all roaring. I wish we had a video camera going that night.

Traditions are what make a family gathering special. Missy is a friend of our daughter and is staying with us right now. She said they always have roast beef and Yorkshire Pudding. My friend Aileen said they are starting a new tradition this year and will watch the movie "Fido" with their daughter every Christmas Eve. We always insist on everyone opening gifts one at a times, except the stocking which you can dump out and open up immediately. It's fun to see how each Christmas and other holidays change as each generation gets older. We all incorporate our favorites from our family and then create new ones. It's fun to watch my son and daughter-in-law start theirs. Next year my brand new nephew will about one and everything will be new to him and we can watch my sister start traditions with her new family. We gave him "Twas the Night Before Christmas" and my sister is reading it to him tonight. I used to read it to my kids every Christmas Eve. So I guess that's my nephews first tradition.

Please leave a comment and let me know what your favorite family traditions for the holidays are. I'd love to hear from you.

To all my friends and family and fellow blog readers; I wish you a very merry Christmas and wonderful holiday season.

Courage

"Courage is not the absence of fear but rather the judgment that something is more important than fear. The brave may not live forever but the cautious do not live at all."
-from the movie "The Princess Diaries" (2001)

I received this quote in my email from one of those quote of the day emails. I loved the quote and then laughed when I saw the source. But how appropriate the source when I think of my daughter. Our "little princess" taking off for New York and getting ready to face the world on her own terms. She barges through, visualizes and makes things happen. We should remember to look at our youth and recapture some of that courage.

"You gain strength, courage, and confidence by every experience in which you really stop to look fear in the face. You must do the thing which you think you cannot do."
-Eleanor Roosevelt

Sexual Harassment in the workplace

"I miss sexual harassment in the workplace. I know they aren’t touching my butt or talking to me that way anymore because it’s illegal. It’s not because I’m over 40! Really, that’s my story and I’m sticking to it."

This was the conversation at my ladies lunch the other day. Someone had to take a sexual harrasement web class and said they really missed the sexual harassment. LOL! I know what she means. There was a time when men could be men and women could enjoy it! Well, I know in some instances it probably went too far but in most cases it was enjoyable. I’m probably going to be chided now for thinking so backward but who doesn;’t like to get attention from the opposite sex? It’s just a part of biology. Loosen up a bit, come on, have some fun!

Pinch my butt, please! I’m over 40. Ok this post is just wrong. Oh well......

New York, New York

My 20-year-old daughter is in New York City tonight. She’s their visiting friends and exploring the possibility of being a nanny for the next year. Oh to be 20 and free and exploring the city that never sleeps.

How is it that she get’s to go to New York before me? Ok, really I was there first. I flew to St Lucia in June and had to change planes in New York. We had breakfast in the airport at JFK. As we flew in over the morning sky, the skyline of New York loomed in front of us. I just knew that this was a city I needed to explore.

But my daughter is there for the weekend exploring Manhattan and has a job interview on Saturday. This is my wish come true for my children that they get to explore the world and find opportunities, take chances and become who they really want to be. Isn’t this the dream of everyone?

She visualized this every step of the way. She paid for herself, figured out where to stay and how to get there. Whether the job happens or not she saw what she wanted and made the path open up. No matter the outcome, it’s the journey, cliché as it may be. I admire her sheer guts for going to New York alone and taking on this challenge. You go girl.

Stuffing!!!!!

So, my mother-in-law's recipe for stuffing really doesn't call for 4 pounds of butter. But that's what I buy every year because of the way my husband wrote it down when he asked his mother how to make stuffing about 20 years ago. I always swear it says 3-4 lbs of butter and it's really 3/4 lbs of butter. Logically that makes more sense, but my husband always said there's lots of butter in here and that makes it good. So I always buy the larger quantity of butter knowing we'll use it if I'm wrong and bought too much.

My mother-in-law was talking a mile a minute and my husband was writing it down on any available piece of paper; notepad, scraps, envelopes and post-its. There are even several colors of ink. It's all now stained with butter! I finally scanned it so I could keep it for posterity. But all the original pieces are still in my recipe book. I don't think anyone else ever wrote it down. It was a "secret" recipe passed woman to woman. But I think we're beyond that now. I don't make it, my husband does!

I'm sure the original recipe was passed on from several generations and has had changes made along the way. But this is how we make it. Our adult children crave it at the holidays and our son's wife just asked us how to make it. So here is the recipe. Good luck interpreting it and trying to read it, I never can. I hope you have other recipes to use that extra butter with.

Sweetpotatoes or Yams?

All of our friends always get together the Saturday after Thanksgiving and have a big party. We basically do another Thanksgiving feast and everyone brings their favorite dishes and our hosts deep fry the turkey outside. The men really enjoy this part because there is always the threat of danger when deep frying a turkey. Thankfully they know what they are doing and haven't burned the house down. This year I am bringing my little sweetpotato pies. The recipe is simple and my family always devours every one of them.

We plan our parties by email. We are quite effiecient at planning that way, since we are all so busy. A controversy started when my dish was listed under dessert instead of side dishes on the menu. Someone said we didn't have any yams. Someone else stated they remember seeing sweetpotato pie on the menu. Someone else said pie and sweetpotato spuds are not the same and yams were completely different. It was also pointed out that we still needed yams because pie would be a mungie concoction and collection of ingredients blended to a pulp. While a whole yam or sweetpotato cooked the way God meant it to be-baked at 350 until ready (about an hour) was also still needed on the menu. I guess everyone has their own opinion as to the best recipe for sweetpotatoes and/or yams.

Just to be clear according to the Sweetpotato Council of California all yams in the United States are actually sweetpotatoes. They belong to the morning glory family and are native to tropical areas of the Americas. Apparently the sweetpotatos and yams that we always see in the grocery store are actually both sweetpotatoes. Yes, even the dark orange one is a sweetpotato. I guess that's why I'm always confused as to which is which when I go to the store. Yams actually come from a different plant species and is a native of Africa. They are not usually grown in the United States nor are they marketed here. Although they are very similar and can be substituted for sweet potatoes in most recipes.

So we will be having both "yams" and sweet potato pie, but I will be using the orange sweetpotato for my pie because it's a little sweeter.

Here's my mom's recipe for little sweetpotato pies. It's never really been written down before so I'll walk you through it. You bake whole sweetpotatoes, I use the orange ones, at 350 for about an hour until they are cooked through. Let them cool off enough to handle and scoop the insides out into a bowl. Mash it up. Then you fill individual serving size graham cracker crusts with the sweetpotatoes, add a pat of butter and sprinkle with brown sugar. Bake until heated through and butter and sugar melt in a 350 oven, about 15-30 minutes depending on if your potatos were still warm or had cooled completely off. So, no, it's not a mungie concoction and collection of ingredients. I don't even think mungie is a word, but it wasn't my word!

No matter how you serve your sweetpotatoes or yams this Thanksgiving, I hope you spend it the people you love. Have a happy Thanksgiving!

The Family Tree Grows

My nephew came a week early. Six pounds 19 1/2 inches long. Mom and baby are doing fine and it looks like dad is in love with his new son.

He came early because I bought plane tickets for next week to be there when he was scheduled to be born. My mom called last night and told me he's coming out in an hour and a half. I quickly concluded that I could not get get there that fast. It is a six to seven hour drive or an hour by plane. So I sat and waited by my cell phone. I got a call from my mom that said everyone was on their way to the hospital. My cousin, my aunt, my brother, my nieces, my niece's mom, my mom and dad and then all of the dad's side of the family. I guess that's what I miss most about not living near all my relatives. Everyone always shows up and supports each other at the drop of a hat. If I could have been there I would have been right there in the waiting room probably making a scene just by the sheer number of people that showed up to be there to welcome the newest member of our family. He's a lucky little boy to have such a great family to be born into.

Thank God for camera phones! I got text messages and photos almost instantly as events transpired. It helped make me feel part of the chaos of the waiting room. My mom said they were all sitting in the waiting room and all of a sudden they heard a lullaby come over the speakers. They asked what that was and were told every time a baby is born in the hospital they play a lullaby. The lullaby playing was for my nephew.

I'm making my plans now to get down there and see that baby.

Sea Glass Jewelry for sale-one week only!!!!!

Just in time for the holidays, I have custom sea glass jewelry for sale from the Art of Sea Glass. It will only be available here from November 24th through November 30th, so don't miss out. If you are in the Half Moon Bay/Coastside area and are interested in hosting a party please contact me at kimlritner@yahoo.com or stop by and see me during the week.

Don't forget I have many spectacular photographs for sale at Kim Ritner Photography. If you want something custom done with one of my photographs please contact me or purchase directly off my photo website.

Look for my new website coming soon! I will feature my photographs, paintings, collages, jewelry and many beach related items for sale.

Lady Washington

This weekend my family took a three hour cruise on The Lady Washington. The ship was visiting Pillar Point Harbor in Half Moon Bay, California. They will be in Half Moon Bay all week and will still be giving sailing tours November 22 and 23rd before the set sail for Moss Landing.

We had unusually warm weather for November. The seas were calm and alas there was no wind. But not to fear the Lady Washington now comes equipped with an engine! We saw a whale, dolphins and seals. We watched the sunset from the deck of the ship. The crew was dressed in vintage costume and unfurled the sails, climbing up the ropes to the top of the sails. They sang us sea shanty songs as we bobbed along in the calm ocean.

It was quite relaxing. I wasn't sure how I was going to like being out in the ocean on a ship as I'd never been before. But I was pleasantly surprised at how well I did. My daughter on the other hand didn't like it when we were just bobbing along. As soon as we were moving again she started feeling better. The minute we had cell phone coverage and were almost back to shore she called in an order of nachos from the Half Moon Bay Brewing Company and ran to pick those up. I didn't know that nachos cured sea sickness but apparently they do. You learn something new every day.

Another perfect day in paradise! To see more of the photographs from this glorious day please go to my photo website at www.KimRitnerPhotography.smugmug.com

Quiet Moment

My sister is having a baby. She's scheduled for a c-section the day before Thanksgiving. My sister thought she would never have children, but at 43 she and her fiance discovered they were going to be parents. Surprise! She has been a pre-school teacher forever and loves children. Although I think she believes all children are three years old. She will be pleasantly surprised to find out that this is not true. They change so much in that first year and then before you know it they are grown and gone to college or getting married and having their own children.

My mom was over at my sister's house helping her to set up the nursery. My sister has been very worried about learning all there is to know about caring for a baby. As I said she's an expert with three year olds. But clueless when it comes to bunting a baby. She was worried she wouldn't know how to wrap that baby up right and had been reading about it. She asked my mom to help her with it. The nursery was finished and everything was in place and here was my sister very pregnant and worried that she couldn't wrap that baby up when she got him home. My mom and her worked with a blanket and a stuffed monkey. They were sharing a quiet moment of mom and daughter, my mom patiently showing her daughter the intricacies of wrapping up a baby. My mom looked up and there was my sister's fiance, quietly watching them both. She didn't know how long he had been there, but was touched by the softness this man was showing in his face as he watched this loving scene.

I'm excited and elated as this new family starts another branch in our family tree.

Pumpkin Festival Haunted House

I am on the Board of directors for the non-profit Young Actors Workshop. It's an orginization I've been involved with for the last 12 years. My children were both in the program when they were younger. I continued on as a board member because I believe in the directors and programs mission statement.

This year we jumped back in to help at the Haunted House. Auri Naggar is the director and he needed help this year, so we dressed up as dead pirates and spent the weekend scaring the crowds at the haunted house. It is our major fundraiser for the year. It's an incredible process with lots of dedicated volunteers and child actors to fill in the scenes at the haunted house.

My job was to make sure the children rotated in and out of the house to each acting station. I had forgotten how much I love working with kids. I've missed it. It was hard work being on your feet all day but so worth the effort. We had 3000 people pass throught the haunted house. A new record!

But the most memorable part of the whole thing was all the adult volunteers dressed up as dead pirates that were there to help bring an idea to fruition. Auri, the director, is a wonderful, creative person that has made an impact on so many lives. He hasn't been well for the last couple of years but he keeps going on in despite of how he feels. He's an inspiration to all. When he wanted to change the theme of the haunted house to pirates, volunteers pitched in and did it and made sure his idea came to life.

Watching Auri dressed as the pirate captain this year and seeing how happy he was with everyone's efforts was priceless. The best moment was when the animatronic pirate was being brought back out after a quick repair to entertain the line. All of the adult volunteers dressed as pirates were standing in a line and broke into song. We all sang and clapped to "What do you do with a drunken sailor" as he was being reinstalled. The crowd was mesmerized, Auri was in his ultimate element. It was surreal and spontaneous. A moment when you realize that you are part of someone's dream come true. But even more than that, I know how much he has given to each person there, to my children and beyond. I'm so glad to be part of that and to take that with whatever I do. Do what you love, 'til you can't do it no more.

Spice Cake

Every celebration in my childhood was blessed with a spice cake that my grandma made. It was my favorite. It didn't matter if there was birthday cake or pumpkin pies there was always spice cake too. I always had a piece of everything. "Yes, I'll have a piece of spice cake with my pumpkin pie and pecan pie. Yes, put whip cream on top the pies." It's a wonder I don't weigh 300 pounds.

Just the smell of spice cake brings me right back to climbing the trees in my grandparents backyard and sitting at the redwood picnic table with the red checked table cloth. Good times.

When my daughter-in-law stated she wanted a dark rum spiked spice cake for their Renaissance themed wedding I thought of my grandma's spice cake recipe. I hadn't made it in a long time. One of the main ingredients is lard. It's not for the diet conscious. The only thing was it didn't have rum in it. So I looked up spice cakes online and discovered some fascinating facts about spice cake. Most spice cakes do indeed have rum in them. I'm sure that my grandmother omitted the rum when she put her recipe together, Grandma and Grandpa didn't drink. I don't know where she got her original recipe, but family members don't remember a time when she didn't make it.

Another interesting fact is that rum spice cakes are very popular in the West Indies and Caribbean Islands dating back to the 17th century. The cake is very dense, full of dried fruits and keeps quite well with all the rum. There have been rumors that my great grandfather Gibson was from the West Indies. All hearsay, but he was much older than my great grandmother and looked exotic in the few photos I've seen of him. He looked nothing like a farmer in Oklahoma. Before he met my great grandmother he was a world traveler. So it's possible he could have been from anywhere.

A Renaissance Wedding

The wedding I helped planned for my son and daughter-in-law was magical. It was misty and felt like we were in Medieval England. Everybody came in costume. The food was wonderful. A good time was had by all.

More to follow on details of the wedding. I'm still recovering from it!

The weather report says.....

RAIN!!!!!!!!!!! Well, of course it does. We planned an outdoor Renaissance themed wedding in a redwood forest with people coming from all over the country dressed in costumes with hats and swords. Why wouldn't it rain?

The weather report says there will be a chance of showers on Saturday. But I'm thinking that we'll be up on top of a mountain so it will be too high for those rain clouds. Yup, that's it. There will be no rain. No panic here, nope not from me. Tarps, that's it, we need tarps and big long pointy sticks to poke in the ground and put the tarps up with....

How about umbrellas? What did umbrellas look like in the 16th century?

I'm just not going to think about it. I'm taking today off to go shopping for the rest of the food. I'll let someone else panic about the rain. Oh honey........

Rice for 100

Panic! So how do you make rice for a 100 people? Ok really, it's only 80 people, but still....

My friends and I are catering my sons wedding ourselves. The wedding is small and the food is fairly simple. So as I make the final plans of who is doing what, I asked one of my friends if she would be in charge of the two side dishes. Now you have to understand this group of friends, we put on at least one to two parties a month. Sometimes it's 10 people, sometimes it's 20. We've done upwards to 50 people ourselves. But the panic in my friends eyes when I asked her at lunch the other day to make rice for 80 people told me I better look at that a little closer. I told her not to worry about it, I would handle the side dishes. My apologies to my friend for even asking her to make rice for that many people.

So, I went back to work after lunch with my friends and proposed the question to my office mates. How do you make rice for 80 people? I had no idea. One person said I needed a really big pot. Another person said she bakes her rice. Bake rice? Ok, I"ve never done that. Whenever I cook rice in a pan I always have the urge to look at it and stir it. It never comes out right. I don't have a rice cooker and I'd probably need an army of them to get the job done. So I had some research to do. When I looked it up on the internet, I had to look up how to cook for a big crowd. A big crowd is considered 100 or more. So armed with that information I dug in. I found a great website Ellen's Kitchen and I also looked up several recipes on how to bake rice.

First I tried the baking method to cook the rice recipe for the wedding in normal portions. It worked perfectly. Next, armed with my new baking knowledge, I converted the recipe to a larger quantity. I have no fears now. I can cook rice for 1000, if I need to, but please don't ask. When my daughter gets married, I'm handing over my credit card and hiring someone else to do all the work!

Mom Socks

My 20 year old daughter is working at a restaurant and has to wear all black. So she went out and bought some flat black shoes that were a little dressier than her normal tennis shoes or flip flops. She was getting ready to go out the door the other day and she pulled up her socks and said, "Look, I'm wearing 'mom socks.'" She had borrowed a pair of my trouser socks to go with her new dressier shoes. All she owns are athletic socks. She said, "I guess I'll have to go out and buy my own 'mom socks' now." There was an audible sigh.

Let me take you back a few years. She was in junior high and my friend Martha and I had taken her to shop for a needy family for Christmas that our office sponsored. We did it every year and we thought this year she was old enough to help us out with picking out the items for the family. We always chose a family of five and we purchased outfits and items that the profile said the family needed.

There was a teenage girl in the profile this year. So Martha and I sent my daughter off to find something on the list as we chose socks for the family. We spent quite a bit of time discussing the options of socks for the teenage girl. We were quite aware of the whole "mom sock" theory that my daughter would denounce us with on a regular basis. They had to be just right. We thought we did a great job weighing what we thought were mom socks vs teenage socks. We wanted to show my daughter how "in" we were. All my daughter could say was, "Oh my God! Those are 'mom socks." She then put them back and picked out something else. She could not have any teenager wear something they might be ridiculed in. I think at that moment in time it didn't really matter which socks we picked. We were just lame in every way. I accepted that, and proudly wore my mom socks anyways.

But to hear my daughter say at age 20 that she had borrowed my mom socks and was going to purchase her own, made me think that maybe she was on her way to being that adult she once thought was so lame. Funny how a simple sock can be a precursor for adulthood.

Wedding Planning

I've been busy wedding planning for my son's wedding. I thought it was going to be easy. I've planned many big parties and events before. So many details! But there is something emotional tied to doing your child's wedding. Maybe it's the letting go of something old and bringing together something new. The combining of families. The meeting of new people. The hope for the future....wow that's a lot of stuff. No wonder I'm exhausted! It's all worth it. It's great to watch two young people starting off. I know all the trials, tribulations and triumphs they still have to go through and all the laughter and tears they will have while they experience it. Life is an adventure and a journey to savour and enjoy. I'm glad to help send them off with our good blessings and hope for a wonderful journey.

Must be Friday!

This printer was just asking for it. It was old, temperamental and noisy as hell. We think it's about 15 years old. It just wouldn't die. But it finally gave out and forced us to send the files we printed with it electronically to our printer. One of those weeds you just keep stepping over. Now we are asking ourselves, "why didn't we do this sooner?"

Relax this weekend!

Awwww.....to be a cat. Take time this weekend to relax and hang out. Darryl my lounging cat says it's good for you.

First Day of School

On Monday I was able to fill in for our photographer at the Half Moon Bay Review and take the photos for a story about the first day of school. The reporter and I followed a kindergartner from getting up at his house through recess at his school. Since my youngest turned 20 on Sunday it certainly brought up a lot of memories for me. It seems just like yesterday that I was dropping my kids off at kindergarten and crying over them being so grown-up and going off into the world of school with their new clothes and lunch box in their hand.

The future is now for my children. One is 24 and in the Navy, the other is 20 and going to college. It's just as hard now watching them struggle with life decisions as it was when they started off in kindergarten and you wanted to teach them everything there is to know about life at the same time wanting to protect them. I don't know where the time goes and why it has to go by so fast, but it does. As much as you want them to stay young and cute and protect them at every turn, you also want to seem them soar on their own. That's the hardest part, watching and letting them make mistakes.

As for the kindergartner that I shadowed on Monday in the story, his mom informed us that he was very proud of the story in the newspaper. But on the second day of school he woke up and announced, "Today I don't think I can make it." Don't we all feel that way some days?

Famous San Francisco Brown Twins

We were at the Cheesecake Factory at the top of Macy's in San Francisco on Sunday and the famous Brown Twins of San Francisco sat at the table next to us. They were adorable. I've never seen them before. But when I googled famous twins in San Francisco, there they were! I hope when I'm 81 i'm up to flirting with waiters and walking around San Francisco dressed to the nines! You've gotta love The City!

Favorite Golden Gate Renaissance Faire Photo

This is my favorite photo from the Golden gate Renaissance Faire on August 17, 2008. They all looked like they were having such a fun time!

Golden Gate Renaissance Faire

I went to the Golden Gate Renaissance Faire in San Francisco on Sunday. Picked up lots of ideas for my sons renaissance themed wedding in Ocotober. Found lots of accessories for the costumes and was entertained by the many guilds that were there. I posted the photos on my photo website and received an email from Frau Minna of the St Max Guild as I had captured their guild with a couple of my photos. They will be posting them on their website.

Half Moon Bay Review News Article

Check out the Half Moon Bay Review's story on our Travel Channel episode.

Travel Channel

The Travel Channel was at my house last week filming for an episode of Treasure Hunter: Kirsten Gum.

They filmed in my livingroom, with my sea glass and art as a backdrop. Of course it was all about sea glass! My friend and business partner, Aileen Cabral was there giving a sea glass jewelry lesson. You'll have to check out the episode which will air at the end of the year. I'll keep you updated as to dates and time.

Kirsten was great to work with, a real down to earth person. The crew at Indigo Films were fabulous and made us feel at ease with their cameras, lights and equipment filling up my house

Back from St Lucia!

St Lucia, West Indies was a fabulous place to vacation. I really relaxed and had a more local experience than most tourists might, thanks to some really good friends that will be retiring there in the next couple of years. Stayed in one of their villas. Hired a local cook and steel band for a party one night in their backyard.

Chicken Roti, a curried chicken dish wrapped in a handmade tortilla (roti) was served. This was one of my favorite dishes. The fruit was amazing. I had fruit I'd never tried before; wax apples, cashew fruit, breadfruit, wild guava. The mangos, pineapples and bananas were out of this world.

I searched for sea glass and found only a handful. I'm sure there were beaches left unexplored by us , more adventure for the next trip. There's so much to do there you can't get it all in 12 days!

The colors on the island were so inspiring. From the flowers and ocean to the buildings and food. Color everywhere. The colors are swirling around in my head. I need to set aside some time and create something while it's all fresh in my mind.

Where's my pina colada?

On Vacation!!!!

On vacation!!!! Can you guess where I'm at?

You can bet I'll be looking for sea glass!

Birthday Advice

We don't stop playing because we grow old; we grow old because we stop playing." George Bernard Shaw

Good advice on my birthday!

I'm off for cocktails and an Italian meal. Ciao!

Sea Glass in Iowa

I just sent off several giclees and photo cards to a gallery in Iowa City, Iowa!

Glassando Art Gallery is involved with a gallery walk for the month of June and will be showcasing my friend Aileen Cabral's Art of Sea Glass jewelry collection along with my sea glass giclees and cards. Glassando carries art glass jewelry.

So, if you are in Iowa, stop by Glassando Art Gallery.

Encaustic Work

Encaustics is an ancient art form. Painting with beeswax and pigment. These are the pieces I created in class on Sunday. The top one has sea glass embedded in it. It is called "Hunting for Sea Glass." The second one incorporated one of my paintings that I copied onto paper and a sketch I did. I call it "Naked. Open."

As I painted the wax on the board I felt so free, so unaware of time as I created each layer of wax. Just an unexpected drip from the brush could lead me in a whole new direction. Layer upon layer built up. When I scraped it off I didn't know what I would reveal, what turn it would take. I couldn't make a mistake. Like life each layer you built up makes you who you are. When you reveal your inner self you become the next layer, you take the next turn or twist of life. There are no mistakes, just new opportunities to reveal yourself.

Each encaustic piece has a life of its own and it reveals layer by layer who you are and defines what you are doing at that moment you paint or drip or mold the wax onto the board. Next you scrap off beneath the layers and discover what you made in the past and it too becomes something new, part of the present. The possibilities are limitless. My brain explodes with ideas. Where to start? Just one layer at a time.

Encaustic Class

I'm taking a class on encaustic painting on Sunday with a local Bay Area artist, Eileen Goldenberg. Check out her website http://www.eileenpgoldenberg.com/

Can't wait to try out this medium. There are so many possibilities. My mind is spinning. I can't wait to learn about it. Eileen says painting with encaustics is using beeswax, dammar resin and pigment. "Encaustic" means to burn in. She suggested getting Joanne Mattera's book, "The Art of Encaustic Painting." It arrived today and I can't wait to look through it tonight.

I think this will be a great way to combine my photos and collages in this medium.

I'll post what I create in class on Sunday!

Happy Mother's Day!

My sister is having a baby! I get to be an Aunt again. For Mother's Day I gave her my favorite essay on Motherhood that I found in Reader's Digest years ago. I paired it with a photo of my daughter and I.

Wine Tasting

Went to Paso Robles, Ca over the weekend for our annual wine tasting girl's weekend out. Had a wonderful time and got lots of ideas. I brought these small bowls home. I am going to do a collage with these colors. Maybe even start with this photo as a base and see what I get.

Graphic Artist for hire!

The banner I made for Aileen's website link is posted! Take a look, it's the Art of Sea Glass on the links page. Be sure to visit her site.
http://seaglassassociation.org/Links-SeaGlass.php

Anyone else need an ad or banner? :) I can be persuaded to do this some more. I'll just ad that to the list of things I do. I should do one for myself-duh!!!!

Art of Sea Glass Banners

I've been playing around in photoshop for my friend Aileen. She needed a banner for a website. I'm having a lot of fun learning this program. It took a lot longer than I thought it would.

Ray Wylie Hubbard - Snake Farm

My cats have made my house a "Snake Farm!" Last night 3 snakes, 2 lizards. Today, 1 dead lizard (so far) in the hall.

Snake Farm. Just sounds nasty. Ewwwwwww!!!!!

Zenful Work

It's zenful work if you can get it! My photographs and art are often inspired by water and the beach. A very peaceful zen feeling to my work over the last couple of years.

Muscle Cars

This is way too much fun! Here's a photo shoot I did at a classic car show at the Ritz Carlton in Half Moon Bay, California a couple of years ago. If you can't tell I like Mustangs.

Magic Forest

This is a video I made on www.animoto.com , very cool site. Easy to use. Thanks to Martha Marshall for introducing me to this site on her blog.

These are all my photos at the Fitzgerald Marine Reserve in Moss Beach, California. It's within walking distance of my house! Lot's of inspiration here in the Half Moon Bay area.

Gophernators

The cats have graduated to gophers! Hallelujah! They are official gophernators. Darryl just played with the poor thing, but his sister took it away from him and finished the job. She is no nonsense and very ninja like in her approach. However, we did find another tailless live lizard in the house. Where are all the tails? I just don't want to know.



Score: Boy kitty-many sticks/4 live snakes/3 live lizards/1 gopher-torture only
Girl kitty-4 dead birds/1 dead gopher

Family Soul Collage

Poetry
Music
Philosophy
Contemplation

Still working on this. Needed to let it sit for a few days. It needs a little tweaking.

Wine at Sunset

My husband snapped this photo with his phone off our deck the other night. Wow! What a beautiful weekend we had here on the coast. It's the first time I've worn shorts in years here. Spent a lot of time in the sun this weekend.

We are very fortunate to live right across the street from the Pacific Ocean. The colors are always so inspiring. I worked a good portion of the day in my studio Sunday working on a family portrait collage. I'll post photos tomorrow. I had to alternate between being indoors painting and outdoors soaking up the sun like a lizard.

Up a tree

Early Sunday evening I called the cats in from outside for their dinner. They come running when I click the pop top on the can of cat food because I am the revered opener of cans. Of course, they will only eat the canned food with gravy. They lap up all the gravy first and then eat the chunks of meat. Darryl never finishes his food but his sister cleans up hers and what ever he leaves.

This particular evening girl kitty comes running from outside and comes in to claim her gravy. Her brother however is not appearing. I click the can some more and call him in again. All of a sudden I hear a distress meow and it's distinctively Darryl's meow. My daughter and I look everywhere and couldn't determine where it was coming from. It sounded like it was coming from the neighbors yard but it was echoing off the trees.

A look up revealed him. He was about twenty feet straight up a Monterey Pine tree in the neighbors yard with no way down. He just screamed and screamed because I'm sure that: A.)He knew he was in trouble B.)His sister was eating all the gravy and C.) Daphne the neighbors dog had probably chased him up the tree and he was afraid that if he did try and get down, the dog would eat him.

So I called my fearless husband and told him we had to save the kitty from the tree. He hates heights. But he got a rope from the truck and was prepared to dutifully shimmy twenty feet straight up a tree trunk to save the kitty. Fortunately the neighbor had an extension ladder which was just about tall enough to reach Darryl. The neighbor and I braced the ladder against the tree and held on to it to stabilize it while my husband slowly climbed all the way to the top rung to reach Darryl.

Darryl was so happy to see daddy. But my husband, fearing that the cat was going to claw him to death while they descended down the ladder, had to think quickly of a way to safely get them both down without injury. So he grabbed Darryl by the scruff of his neck and pulled him from his perch in the tree. The cat had a look of terror on his face. All he wanted to do was attach himself to my husbands chest. My husband, being of quick mind and long arms, decided the best thing to do was to use the cats claws and stick him to the trunk of the tree as far down as he could reach while he descended a couple of rungs on the ladder. So in essence, he told the cat to stick like Velcro. The cat being terrified did just that. So down they went a few rungs at a time, each time he lowered the cat a couple of feet on the tree. My husbands running commentary to the cat to stick was so funny, our neighbor and I could barely hold onto the ladder because we were laughing so hard.

Shortly after getting Darryl back in the house, and after he consumed what was left of his gravy, he laid down in the hallway and wouldn't move. I, being the total mom, thought he was still scared and picked him up to comfort him. No, he would have none of that and hopped back down to the same spot in the hall. Then he started batting at the suitcase that was sitting there. I sighed and sent my husband over to move the suitcase. Under the suitcase, placed for safe keeping and a later play date with Darryl was a tailless alligator lizard. The lizard now dwells in the tree.

Score:
Honey-girl kitty-4 dead birds
Darryl-stinky boy kitty-many sticks/4 snakes/1 lizard

The House of Sticks

I thought when my son moved out and went in the Navy that I was done with reptiles and other small creatures living in my house. We had them all; snakes, lizards, frogs, crawdads, fish, rats. I never knew what he was going to catch or bring home. As long as he cared for them and they didn't get out, I was fine with it.

I put my foot down when he caught the garter snake and tried to keep him in a cage in his room. The snake was just angry that he was inside and escaped twice. The second time he popped out of a drawer at me in my son's room. I screamed and slammed the drawer shut. I thought I beheaded it which made be feel really bad. But it turns out he was OK and I made my son take him out to the field and release him. Lesson learned: Don't keep angry snakes in the house.

Our current pets in our semi-empty nest, are Darryl and Honey. They are brother and sister, orange tabby cats and they are not even a year old yet. In previous posts I mentioned that Darryl was fond of catching sticks and had moved up to a "wigglin' stick." The wigglin' stick was a garter snake that he spit out at my husband's foot in the yard. He was very proud, but really didn't like the taste. Since then we have had several incidents with Darryl and his love of sticks.

Our first clue should have been all the sticks he started bringing in the house. We'd come home from work and there would be pieces of sticks everywhere. The great hunter! Then in a corner of the backyard there is a pile of sticks. This must be Darryl's lair where he gathers all of his sticks before distribution.

Darryl has a distinctive meow when he brings in one of his sticks. It's very deep and guttural and says, "Look at what a manly man cat I am. I have caught some more prey. Praise me, oh opener of cans." Of course, up to this point he has been bringing in inanimate sticks. But he is very proud. That all stopped about a week ago. He was by the fireplace and was making his "I've got a stick noise." My husband and I looked over and there it was. He had a live garter snake in the house and was playing with it. A real live wigglin' stick. My husband, being calm and not afraid of snakes like myself, reached down and picked it up. Darryl was not happy that his new play toy had been picked up. I shuddered and my husband tossed the snake in the tree outside our deck.

A few days later our college age daughter had just gotten home from school and was relaxing in the living room when she heard Darryl making a ruckus and meowing. So she got up to look and screamed. He had another snake in the house. She snapped a photo of him on her phone and called me screaming that there was a snake in the house. We determined that a broom and dust pan were the best way to extract the snake since the snake looked mostly dead at this point. So into the tree off the deck it went.

This weekend we found a much bigger and coiled up garter snake in front of the fireplace with my driftwood collection-yes more sticks. Darryl has concluded I collect sticks and he must bring more to me. My husband again calmly picked up the snake and tossed it into the tree outside the deck. All I can do is shudder. He thinks that if I just touch the snake it will help alleviate my fears. That's not the problem. I can touch the snake, I just don't want one touching me when I don't know it's there, like in my bed or shoe!

So I did mention to my husband I was a little unsure of all the snake tossing into the tree. His reasoning was that the cat wouldn't climb that tree and the snakes had a better chance of surviving. I'm just afraid that a passerby on the trail beneath the tree will end up with snakes dropping on them at some point. Or we'll have some biologist out here thinking they have a new rare species of tree dwelling California garter snakes. By the way I did do a little research on the snakes that Darryl is catching and they look like a very common variety. They are not some endangered species.

Life is kept fresh and new with little ones in the house!

Score:
Honey Girl-4 birds
Darryl-many sticks/4 snakes

Pastoral Half Moon Bay

I went for a walk the other day at lunch up to the Our Lady of the Pillar cemetery in Half Moon Bay. This scene was what I saw on the other side of the cemetery. The purple flowers were full of honey bees and bumble bees. The flowers were very fragrant and I love how the fog was hugging the hills. A very Half Moon Bay scene.

Wigglin' Stick

So Darryl has moved up from stick catcher to wigglin' stick catcher. My husband was doing yard work this weekend and the cats were out there with him. Darryl (the boy) saw something in the bushes and started circling it. He then nabbed it and brought it over to my husband. Darryl probably thought it was another stick, but this one was wigglin'. It was a garden snake wiggiling away in his mouth. Good thing I wasn't out there, I would have been screaming. But Darryl brought it over and set it right down at my husband's feet. Well actually he kind of spit it out, like it was really nasty tasting. Still not sure he gets the concept of the whole hunting thing. Now his sister, Honey knows how to hunt. We've counted three birds so far. I just wish they would see those gophers pop out of their holes. Our yard is about to sink a foot from the all the gopher tunnels.

Stick Catcher

Our male kitten, Darryl is getting huge. He has started venturing outside and has discovered hunting...well, stick hunting that is. He started with leaves and is now dragging large dried pampas grass sticks into the yard by dragging them up the hill. He was just bringing one into the yard the other day when he spotted my husband. The cat gave him a look like he'd been caught doing something bad. My husband couldn't stop laughing, the cat was standing right over a gopher hole with a giant six foot long stick in his mouth. Cat unclear on the concept! The sticks are taunting him, he must corral them bring them to his lair.

Tulips

Tulips, tulips everywhere!

I love that tulips come in so many colors. They are the only flower that keeps growing after they are cut. Every day they change color, shape and size. They are a work in progress. They never stop evolving as they wither away and they continue to surprise you with their beauty each day.

The yellow and red tulips are rare and came from Oku Nursery in Half Moon Bay. The purple flowers were the bride's bouquet at my son's wedding in Poulsbo, Washington last weekend.

Note cards in progress

My friend Aileen Cabral is having a "Happy Hour Sea Glass Show" at her house next weekend to sell her sea glass jewelry. She wants me to send some of my note cards down. I pretty much sold out of everything I made in 2007 so I'll be assembling note cards this weekend! I learned a lot about putting them together last year and what sells and what doesn't. Most people like to frame them and not send themout as cards. Hey, whatever works! I just like the fact that my photos are out there and are appreciated. Check out Aileen's website: web.mac.com/paintedreams/iWeb/Paintedreams/Welcome.html

My fear of speaking spoke...

Last night at OpenMic I got up on stage and read my poem about Auri. Frightening and invigorating all at the same time. I can't say getting up in front of people is my favorite thing, it probably never will be. It's just good to know I can do it, without being totally terrified. To top it all off, everyone liked my poem. Thanks Auri!

The photos above are from an OpenMic on October 11, 2007. Cowboy Will presented Auri with a hat because he is of course, the man in the funny hat.