In AWE at work

Monday morning I arrived at the Casa, grabbed my note pad and camera to plan out the day - just before my morning volunteers arrived.
The gardens were sooooooo beautiful! I just started taking photos.
This garden , 2 years ago, had one large green weed in it. Now it is bursting with sunflowers, salvia, basil, Lions tail, Mexican Mint Marigold...

Looking the sunflower in the face from the ocean side. It is about 10 feet tall.

The succulent garden is just dramatic. Couldn't believe the size of this Hen @ Chick! That's the big round one on the bottom. Can't see the chicks, they are developing under the hen :)

Valentine's Day-our 29th anniversary!

We decided to do something local and new for our anniversary. We did a day trip to Balboa Park in San Diego. It was less than an hour away and a beautiful day. Here is a photo of us (I set the 10 second timer :) in the palm garden.

The park opened in 1915 commemorating the opening of the Panama Canal. The stunning architecture and landscaping made for a beautiful day.

We enjoyed a wonderful concert by Carol Williams (www.melcot.com ) at the Spreckels Organ. The park features year around FREE concerts at 2pm on Sundays. The organ is the world's largest OUTDOOR pipe organ! This was a highlight of our wonderful anniversary day.

Garden Play Day

I had a day to play in the garden today. Had this cute 'bed' that has been waiting for me to plant. It is a toddler bed with a fluffy pillow, rocks and succulents. I created a base for the soil by wiring screen to the bottom. Next project will be planting the top.

Then, stumbled over these bricks my mom gave us months ago. We put them around the fern bed at the front door. Really dresses it up. They were really heavy. Hope the Mother fern, under the flag, makes it. Had to lift it and move it back a foot.

Bug Party

Siena and Tegan spent the night with us. T's first night away from Mom...she is just starting to drink from a bottle. It was so much fun to spend time with them. Tegan is 7 months and Siena's third birthday was the next day.

Aubrey and Garrett came for the party and we had another opportunity for a photo with all of our grandchildren together...memorable times :)

We had the privilege of hosting Siena's 3rd Birthday party. She wanted a 'Bug" themed party with cousins and cake. Cousins, aunts, uncles, and grandparents from both sides of the family joined in the fun. Here are some of the cousins getting ready to eat. The rain stopped for about 3 hours during the party.

I always take the grandchildren out to my compost pile. This worked out great for the 'bug' party. I scooped out compost onto a little table and the children would poke around in it with sticks and fingers (the brave ones) to collect worms and bugs for the bug box. They had so much fun and I love watching them explore nature. I am getting ready to replenish the table with fresh compost full of bugs in this photo.

Only HATS there!

OK, I worked Saturday, instead of today, because our garden club district had a quarterly meeting. The theme was Tea Party. Well, I dug out all 3 of my hats from many years ago. Don't you wear hats to a Tea Party? I brought them with me. Gave one to my friend Lisa to wear. We walked in...the only ones wearing hats! Everyone loved it tho. There were 80 people attending. Bet they know who we are now. It really was fun.