Why I Love Country Roads!

It's starting to fell a whole lot like Summer at my favorite place. I thought I would share just a few things that caught my eye at Country Roads!

Country Roads. . . "always your favorite, never the same"!

White Wednesday at CR

Here we are with the first "White Wednesday" of summer! It is really hard to believe that summer has arrived already. The kids are out of school, the 4th of July is around the corner, and time marches on! I happen to be working at "the store" the other day, when Loretta came in to do a total makeovers in two parts of the store. And the results, as you will see below, are pretty stunning!

I hope we all find time some extra time to kick back and enjoy these lazy days of Summer. It is still a bit chilly for the beach, but is absolutely beautiful out. I just got home from there actually. Be sure to stop by and visit  Kathleen and see what awesome "whites" she is posting this week. Take care.

My Busy Week-end!

My week-end started by getting to know our new kitty rescues at Country Roads! Bryce had finally caught the kittens that had been in the garden on Friday. Each year we have kittens in our gardens at CR because people are bad pet owners and don't understand the importance of getting their animals spayed & neutered! Spot & Blackie, my names for our new kitties, are bigger than most we rescue so they are still a bit spooked. Especially Spot, who after Kristi was so nice to go out and buy them a little rug, some cat food, and cat litter, took a few swings at her when she picked him up. Today they are a little tamer, but not quite ready to sit on the counter for adoption. And these two will HAVE to be adopted together. We were SLAMMED on Saturday which always makes me happy. Thank you to everyone that shopped with us. I really appreciated your business!

We had a little family birthday party for me, a couple of days ahead on Saturday night. I was lucky to have so much help from Riley and Morgan to help me blow out the candles on my birthday cake!

Morgan wanted a better view of the cake! And my sister and her partner, Linda, brought not only the cake, but a whole Mexican food dinner. It was great and so thoughtful of them.

Taking a break after dinner and cake you find Riley, Morgan and Bryce relaxing. Riley and Bryce really don't have red eyes, not sure what happened to my remove the red eye button! They have blue eyes in case you are wondering!

Bodhi spilled something all over his shirt early in the evening. That's pretty much the norm for my little guy. He was having a great time and of course this baby boy will eat anything. You really have to watch him. Katie said the other day he was eating "cat crunchies" at her house. I told you, he will eat anything!!

This morning, while working at Country Roads, I got a surprise visit and another early birthday present from my good friend, Christie Repasy. I was so happy to see her and her son. Christie and I go way back, sharing some similar divorce stories we went through at the same time. Not only was it nice to see her, but she came with a birthday present in hand as well!

Most people know Christie from all of her beautiful rose paintings. My favorite painting are the ones of the beach. The one she gave me for my birthday I had never seen before. For those of you that are familiar with Crystal Cove, right before you drive into Laguna Beach on PCH, that is what you see in her painting above. To say I love it would be and understatement. Plus, just seeing Christie was really great as well!

After working a crazy "BSC" Sunday and being really tired, I walk in my front door and you can see above what I saw! And of course that thing scared the crap out of me. Bryce had been to Vet's Flea Market this morning. And "my boy Bryce" has this thing about buying taxidermy and then putting it on a display case that is right by the front door when you come in the house. I think I have had the crap scared out of me over the years by that thing above, a beaver, and a monkey head, just to name a few! Thanks Bryce for the memories!!

I was anxious to hang Christie's painting in my bedroom with some of her other painting I have. Morgan followed me in my room and we had a little chat as she played with the starfish and talked to our dog Sally!

I guess Morgan decided she would start re-arranging my paintings for me. Thankfully she is still "short" and couldn't reach them all ;0)

Christie's new painting is on the top upper left of the picture. Another older one I have is right below it, and another smaller one is at the top right! As I said, most people know Christie by her rose paintings, which I love, but her beach paintings tug at my heart a bit more!

The framed painting above is the one Christie did and the Sawdust Festival used it as their poster that Summer. It is another one of my favorites!

When we were getting ready to close today, I happen to see this old soda bottle with a starfish on it. It was priced very reasonably, so yes, I treated myself to it! It's been a long week-end, but one filled with a lot of nice memories of the people in my life! I know in my heart how blessed I am to have my family and friends. They all mean the world to me!

Father's Day Memories

On this Father's Day I think of my Dad with fond memories, even though the man made me absolutely nuts my entire life up until the end where we finally found peace. He died a few months after my Mom, who was his entire life. I don't think he was able to live without her. They called my Dad, "Pat the Irishman", and apparently he was pretty much a hell raiser in his early days. The pictures below are not in any order because I don't have the "time" this morning. But I did want to pay tribute to my Dad on this Father's Day week-end!

This is my Dad & Mom in the house we grew up in on Senasac Avenue in Long Beach. After they passed away, Katie and Vinnie were able to buy the house. Although it doesn't look the same, it still holds fond memories for me.

This is one of my favorite pictures. It's myself, my sister, Teri, with my Dad at Pier Point Landing in Long Beach. In the old days, the downtown area of Long Beach use to be pretty cool until everything was tore down. It was never the same.

Me and my Dad on the back porch of our home back in the day!

I love this picture. My Day was in the Army during WWII. His favorite memory was coming home on the Queen Mary. When he got older, and got into antiques, he was so excited to find an old chair from the Queen Mary. He restored it to look just like it did back in the day.

My Dad with my Mom's cousin Jimmy. My Dad loved to party like a rock star when he was bit younger. I think my Mom cut him off as he got older!

My Mom never talked much about her life back in Texas. My Dad use to fill in a lot of the blanks. He was the one that documented all of his pictures and left a story of their lives for my family. This was his dog, Shad, before I was born.

This is one of my favorite, but bittersweet pictures. My parents had been living in Assisted Living, which my Dad hated. They weren't able to take care of themselves the way they should, so we had no choice. My Mom passed away a few days after Riley, my first grandbaby was born. I think she hung on long enough to know that Riley arrived safely in the world. This picture was taken around Thanksgiving time. It was the first time my Dad held Riley. And all he could say was, "oh, your Mom would have loved this baby"! He came to my house for Christmas that year and wasn't doing well. But he loved seeing Riley, and again kept saying how much my Mom would love her. A couple of months later, he died of Alzheimer's on Valentine's Day. Kind of bittersweet, but a real love story if you think about it. So, on this Father's Day, if your Dad is still around, give him call, go see him, even if he does make you nuts like my Dad did to me!

A "Little" Help in My Garden

I had been outside working & watering my garden. I wish I would have waited to water, because Morgan came outside to help me. There is something so special about little kids and gardens and nature. Maybe it's their innocence, that natural curiosity. I know that I've been enjoying spending more time in my garden and with the great gardener I now have, things are starting look so much better, especially my roses!

I love watching my three little ones watch the world and nature. Life is different through those beautiful eyes of my little ones. Life doesn't appear any purer than seeing our world through their beautiful little faces. Rachel Carson wrote,

"If a child is to help his inborn sense of wonder, he needs the companionship of at least one adult who can share it, rediscovering with him the joy, excitement, and mystery of the world we live in."

I know this summer, it is time to not quite work as many days at "the store". It is time to find more balance between work and play. It is time to focus more on matters of the heart, and see, feel, and experience life a bit more through the eyes of my three beautiful little grandbabies! Wishing you all a wonderful summer, and hoping we all can experience a bit more of those lazy days of summer with those we love!