Beautiful Balboa Park - Part I

We recently spent a day at beautiful Balboa Park in San Diego with family visiting from Texas. The weather was perfect that week. It was so refreshing for them to come from temps around 100 and high humidity to temps in the 70's and 80's and low humidity. Even though I live fairly close to Balboa Park and have wanted to go for years, this was my first time there. It will definitely not be my last. The park is spectacular. It's filled with amazing architecture, museums, beautiful gardens, entertainment, trails, and the San Diego Zoo.

Here's a sample of some of the beautiful flowers growing in and around the park...

Aren't these Passion Flowers gorgeous?! I've never seen them in red before...


Here's a bud of a Passion Flower...


This is the color of Passion Flower I'm used to seeing...


Such perfect, yellow flowers with such dark centers. So cute!


The colors in this bush are so pretty with green on one side of the leaves and purple on the other...


Such a gogeous pink...




These flowers with their delicate looking petals caught my eye. I reached out to lift the flower to get a better look but...OUCH! It's covered in tiny little thorns that feel like being stung by a bug or bee. Yikes!


Hubby held it up with a cup so I could get a picture...


I had no idea that water lilies came in so many colors. So pretty!


This one even has colorful leaves...




I love this peachy, pink color!










It would be hard to pick a favorite but this might be it. I love the pink tips on the petals. And, check out the pod in the center. So pretty!


I plan to post some of the gorgeous tropical plants and flowers from the arboretum and some samples of the amazing architecture. I hope you'll come back.

Idle Hours

A few weeks ago, we managed to escape to the local mountains and spend the day in Idyllwild. My husband, daughter, and her boyfriend went mountain biking. Me? I spent a few idle hours relaxing at the Hurkey Creek campground.

I spread a sleeping bag on the grass, set up my little chair, and grabbed my knitting bag. The weather was absolutely perfect. It was warm in the sun and cool in the shade. The sky was blue and crystal clear. The scenery and views were wonderful.


I alternated between knitting, reading, taking in the views, and stretching out on the sleeping bag. I felt like I had the place to myself.


I enjoyed the shade of this beautiful tree.


I enjoyed looking up through it, at the sky, and watching birds flit around high above me.


The creek would normally be dry at this time of year but it's still running strong. And, wildflowers are still blooming. They're such a treat to see.


This one is like a little bouquet.


The colors really pop when they're in the sun.


This flowery bush is several feet high.


The flowers are big and so beautiful.


I like the little pops of red on the stems.


The petals look so delicate and graceful.


The wild roses are in full bloom. They're about an inch or so across and so cute.


This flower has freckles.


The park has a few houses that rangers live in. The setting is so perfect and I always enjoy looking at this one and dreaming of how wonderful it must be to live here.


Days like this are such a treat and make life extra sweet. Ahhhhh!

My Maia

I'm so excited to have time to play with yarn again! In the past week, I not only started a pair of socks and made a mini sock but I also finished my "Clever Little Shawl". I just need to block it before I post about it. And, since I finished a project, I finally felt good about starting another one that's been waiting for me for a while. It's the "Maia Shawl". I'm using Madeline Tosh Lace yarn that I bought earlier this year specifically for a crochet lace shawl. I'm so excited about this pattern and this yarn. They're both beautiful.

I'm about 12 rows into the pattern. It doesn't have a chart but it's written very well. It's easy to understand and follow. However, it takes more concentration than any other crochet lace shawl I've made so far because it's so different and intricate. I've had to work on it when I know there won't be any noise or distractions. I'm getting the hang of how it works though and I have a feeling that I'll be able to work on it with less focus as I get further into the project. I'm using a size G hook and I think I'm happy with how it looks. It should open up nicely when it's blocked without looking too loose and loopy. Although, if I decide to go with a larger hook, I should probably do that soon so I won't have to rip out quite so much. I can't wait to see how this turns out!

Pretty New Socks

One of the yarny things I did this weekend was to start a new pair of socks. I'm using Trekking XXL sock yarn (colour 50) that I've had for a while. I bought it to crochet a shawl but the pooling of colors when I crocheted with it was ugly. In fact, it looked so bad that I doubted if I would ever use this yarn for anything. But, for some reason, it spoke to me this weekend as I looked through my stash and I decided to give it a try. I'm so glad I did because it's knitting up really pretty. I love the colors now and I'm excited about these socks. It's so wonderful to have time to knit and play with yarn again. :-D

Itty Bitty Sock

I'm so excited to have some time to play with yarn again and I've been playing all weekend! Woo hoo! :-) One of the things I did was to knit up another itty bitty sock for my key chain sock blocker. I knitted a little turquoise sock a couple of years ago but I lost it a week or so ago. I used a pattern that came with the sock blocker but you can find the pattern HERE on Ravelry too. It's a fun little project that goes quickly and uses up a little bit of leftover sock yarn.

Birthday Fun

My daughter turned 20! That calls for a party and that's just what we did. We planned an old fashioned backyard party complete with games, dancing, a barbeque dinner, and lots of fun.

We strung lights above the grass for dancing in the evening. She and her boyfriend wove streamers through the lights for color, added ambiance and fun. Our dog, Salsa, even tried to help...


There was a croquet game to set up...


We got colorful flowers that matched the plates, napkins, silverware and cups (I forgot to take a picture of those)...


We divided them up into canning jars for an old fashioned look...


There were four tables dressed to match and each centerpiece had a bandanna cloth, flowers, snacks, bubbles and a basket full of games...


Each table cloth and bandana were different but they all tied in with the color scheme...


The old fashioned sodas (in glass bottles) were kept cold in an old wash tub filled with ice. We even had a bale of hay covered in denim for a little extra seating...


At one end of the yard, we had a lounger draped with a plaid, patchwork quilt that looked great with theme and colors...


The lounger turned out to be a popular place to sit...


The party goers enjoyed playing croquet...


The table games were a big hit...


The lights looked great when the sun went down. Here's a view from an upstairs window, looking down...


They created a great ambiance for the old fashioned folk dancing that they did...


I missed taking pictures when everyone was out there dancing. But, I managed to get a couple of shots while some of them were still out there. A little blurry but fun...


The weather was perfect that day. The afternoon was warm but not hot and evening was cool. The party went really well and everyone seemed to have a great time. I'm so proud of my daughter and so happy to have had this special day to celebrate her! :-D

Wonderfully Busy

This seems to be my busiest summer ever. So much has been going on for months. We had a family reunion. We had a party to celebrate my daughter's 20th birthday. We had family visiting from Texas. We had another family get-together at our house last weekend. We're house sitting/watering for my in-laws. We're making plans for a 70th anniversary party for my husband's grandparents in about a month. There will be another party for my in-laws 50th anniversary in a couple of months. And, lots of other stuff has been sprinkled in between. It's all been great but...whew!

The busy-ness seems to be slowing and I think I'm going to have some time to start crafting a little more. I'm really looking forward to that. Oh...and doing a little more blogging. I'm going to put some posts together this week about some of the things we've been so busy with. How's your summer going?

Espresso-ly Good

Martinis come in many flavors that sound yummy. However, I'm usually not crazy about the taste when I try them because alcohol is often the strongest flavor. I'm not opposed to alcohol...a nice shot of tequilla or whiskey is good on occassion but I'm not big on foofoo drinks either. I just haven't found a martini that I really like...until now.

Hubby took me out to dinner last Friday where a martini being served at another table caught my eye. It turned out to be an Espresso Martini. It looked so good that I ordered one for dessert. I'm glad I did. It was the best martini I've ever had.

It was so good that we wanted to re-create it. So, we went to the store to gather the ingredients: vanilla vodka, Kahlua, espresso simple syrup, and half-and-half cream. We were successful with everything but the espresso syrup. So, I came home and made some. I put a half cup of water into a small sauce pan, heated it, added about two teaspoons of espresso powder and stirred until it was disolved. Next, I added one cup of sugar and stirred until it was disolved. I poured the syrup into a jar to cool.

Later, I poured the following into a shaker of ice:

1 ounce vanilla vodka (we used Stoli Vanil...It's very good)
2 ounces Kahlua
1 ounce of half-and-half
1/2 to 3/4 ounce of espresso syrup - We tried about 3/4 ounce in one drink and 1/2 ounce in another and they were both good. So, add what tastes best. It can be left out but it will have a stronger alcohol flavor.

I shook it a few seconds to chill it and strained it into a glass. It looked fabulous...


And, it tasted even better! Yum!!!


These are so good they're hard to just sip!