The Hardy Family has a Memorial Trip!

James had meetings back east with his company Evantage for a few weeks so the family took the opportunity to meet him and spend a week of touring DC, Princeton, Harvard, Pennsylvania, New York and friends in Massachusetts.  These pictures are all out of order but looks like it was a very fun and educational trip as well.

Maria, Mitch and Matt Visit!!

 On October 17 Maria, Matt and Mitch came together for the weekend at my home.  I love having them and had prepared an apple pie, strawberry frozen salad, special chicken taquitos with cilantro sauce and had plenty of other food on hand.

We, Sadie and I, were happy to see Bruce, too, though we didn't get a good picture of him.  He looks bigger every time he comes.  Sadie is more calm now, but really enjoys playing and sitting with him. Early in the morning she was crying outside one of my guest rooms for him to wake up and come play.

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Maria and the boys went hiking and brought me a lot more freshly fallen sugar cone pines which I proceeded to bake and put in all my windows, etc.  Love them.

As usual, the boys also caught up on a few needed things around the house and yard like beeping smoke alarms and stacking wood, cover outside vents, etc.  So appreciate their help.

We went to Buffalo Chips and I love their gluten free pizzas and the boys had a big regular, of course, with plenty of left overs to take home with them.

They also bought me a newly carved birdhouse from in town which Matt secured in one of my gardens!

Maria and I had fun in Reno eating and shopping till it was time for her to ge.t on the plane and fly home.  So glad they come to visit.

Fall Highlights

Some Sugar Pine dropped into the street, I had never seen such fresh ones and the owner of the tree had gone for the summer so I took them!  They were very sticky on the ends with a heavy white sap,

I had heard they needed to be baked so I looked it up and baked them at 220 degrees--20 minutes on each side and they are beautiful.

Ron  M brought me a cord and a half of wood--it is so dry and burns so well.  Some man had asked if there was someone who needed wood and he would donate it.  So Ron and his family split it all and brought it to me.  So appreciative of that!  The missionaries were supposedly to help unload it and stack it but they had another commitment and couldn't get here till 6 PM.  So Ron had to unload most of it.  I helped but he did the greater portion.  One thing that was nice is since Greg T axed the big tree stump away, Ron can now back his trailer up to about 10 feet from my shed.  Anyway, I fed the missionaries at 6 and they worked until dark and stacked the back row and 1/3 of the second row.  I was too tired to work on it that week, but the next week I finished the stacking myself by doing a little, resting a little, etc.  It rained two days later, so glad it is tucked in for the fall and winter.

Sadie has a new cave to protect her from the elements.  Problem is it is bigger than necessary and won't be protected from the rain and snow unless I put the patio table over it--which will work well I think.  At first she just slept on top of it but she is now crawling in and enjoying it.

Sarah is Licensed to Drive!

Hard to believe, Sarah is 16 and licensed to drive--She surely looks excited!

Paper Artist

There is an app on my Samsung called Paper Artist and you can do fun things with your pictures.  This one of Keira and Sadie looks like an illustration in a book.

This one of the Hardys with Sarah looks like an oil painting.

A classic painting of Melissa.

A Waterpainting of the Stewarts.

Making Life Easier

Ordering deliveries from Walmart has really helped to keep me more organized and have a more complete inventory with a lot less work.


Had to buy an automatic can opener--the hand kind is just too hard to do anymore.


I learned a good system for getting pix from Instagram to Picasa--have to write it down though so I won't forget.


Melissa's electric heater is really nice for my bath and bedroom--haven't had to turn the furnace on yet.  Really enjoy the wood fire--the wood I have this year is very, very dry and burns so easily.


Nasturtiums grow so easily up here from seed and are happy.  Next year I will plant more and more seeds all over.   The deer have enjoyed eating them, too, since I am not spraying any longer.  This time of year they run out of food to eat.


We had an excellent class on Freezing foods and came away with an awesome chicken taquito recipe and a wonderful frozen salad recipe as well as a few others.   And now I have a fridge full of frozen Butternut Squash soup, Gluten free Goulash, red grapes and next week I am making the taquitos for Maria and the boys when they come.


We can now take our green waste to the maintenance area down the hill and LACC will take it to Collins for free!  I have been putting a bag out every week for Waste Management and they stopped charging me so either way is really good for me.

Keira Has Lots of Fun

A shopping trip with Dad--look at those necklaces and new shoes.

A trip to Disneyland!

Playing train with Mom.

All dressed up for playschool and she is bringing the treat.

Shopping for a pumpkin and Keira wants to do it by herself.  Go away, Mom.

Boating at the Bay.

Fun House with Mom.

Who has more fun the Keira?

All About Eden

It is so fun to see pictures of Eden and watch her grow.

Happy with Mom in the pool.

So much to see and learn.

Love to be with Daddy or just watch him.

Tummy time with Grandma Jennifer.

Such a happy baby.

Stewart Family

Everyone keeping fit by bicycling.

Up front and personal with Molly--what a happy smile. 

Books, Books, Books

Since the beginning of summer I have read or listened to 22 books!!!  I tend to read certain authors over and over:  Lee Child and the Jack Reacher books.  Anita Shreve,( I have read all of her books), Nora Roberts, Dean Koontz, John Grisham, Nicholas Sparks (Read all of  his), Harlan Coben, Joyce Carole Oates, Maeve Binchy and others I can't think of just now.

New authors I like are Gillian Flynn, J. Courtney Sullivan, Kate Atkinson, Lisa Gardner.

I also read some autobiographies: Maya Angelou, Tom Bergeron, Carolyn Jessop and an interesting one of a man growing up in the Glendive area.

The problem is that I do not remember anything about the book once I am finished.  I just read "Gone Girl" for the second time because I wanted to read it before I saw the movie and I could not remember anything at all from my first read last year.

I borrow most of my books online from the San Diego County Library through 'Library To Go' and have 10 on hold at all times so I always have books on my Kindle and my Samsung Tablet.  I find I often listen most of the night and miss part of the books when I occasionally doze off but it is a great way to fill sleepless nights without using your eyes.

It is nice to be able to just read a book all day long if you want...too bad time for reading comes at a time when your eyes get tired easily...thus the audio books are so wonderful.