October, a busy month

San Clemente Garden Club held our fall plant sale. We propagate plants all year to contribute to the sale. The community is waiting in line before 8am to grab the choice plants.
Mike and I work setting up the day before and taking down after the sale, using our muscles and truck. This photo was taken about noon on the day of the sale, after the choice plants were sold. We made $1200 off of these plants priced from 25 cents to about 5 bucks. There were a few nursery specimens that went for more. All proceeds go to scholarships and club civic beautification projects.

The interior courtyard at the Casa.

This mystery plant popped up at the Casa. Took us months to figure out what it is. The flowers are used in floral arrangements and think a wedding florist must have dropped seeds. It is so dramatic!

We had to wait until it flowered and one of my Master Gardener volunteers ID'd it as an Amaranths.

Casa Halloween spider

I know why Halloween time is represented by spiders among other scary things. They are all around the garden in October.
Here is a spider, hanging like superman high in the air above the Casa amphitheater between the Monterey Cypress trees and the Deer Grass - with an ocean view.
What spider wouldn't like that!

The herb garden in the front of this photo had another one of those super spiders.

And here is another spectacular view I shot while working at the Casa.

I invited the local Photo club to the Casa to take pictures of the butterflies. I gave a presentation at their meeting about what to look for etc. We all had a great time while they took pictures of caterpillars and butterflies in action.

Sharing Halloween acitvities

Our Garden Club shares a monthly activity at the local Adult Day Care Center. Every year, a member, Tom Benton, donates pumpkins for about 70 clients. We assist them in decorating their own to take home. Mike and I have helped with this for about 5 years now. Mike's sister Pam joined us this year. We all had a great time and walked away with huge smiles.

New Beach Experience

We took Joseph to the beach and he had lots of new experiences. Here he is, boogie board in hand and ready to tackle the ocean.

Mike, an experienced surfer and swimmer is attempting to coax him down to the water.

After a long break, Joseph had conquered his fears (as he put it) and was ready to give it a try.

And here he is, gaining confidence and enjoying the crashing waves on the boogie board.
I enjoyed showing him how to build a sand castle.

A Date With Nature

Our garden club was invited to exhibit at this awesome family event. We invited the grandchildren and their families and everyone had a great time enjoying the live animals, live music and nature exhibits at the Donna O'Neill Land Conservancy.
Tegan loved the snakes that were next to our booth! She kept wanting to go over and pet them. Tegan is 16 months.

Joseph had the most fun jumping from one hay bale to the other.

Siena loved feeding the turtle grass.

There were lots of live animals. Does this even look real?
Looks like Molly. Do you know who Molly is?

New member of our family

We were excited to meet Joseph. Our daughter and hubby have taken him into their home and we were energized with his zest for learning (constantly asking questions) and loved sharing new experiences with him.

Big Bear Cabin Fun High Tech

We escaped to the cabin for a long weekend. Had lots of projects to do. Cleaned another corner of the shed and found some of my grandmothers crocheted items. And we started refinishing the outside wood siding. Started with 1 wall on the back side. Looked good when finished.
The reward after a day of working is relaxing by the roaring fire.
As you can see in this photo, I am high tech now. A laptop on my lap, working on a presentation I will give in a couple days. My access to email is through my hand-me-down phone of Mike's. What a treat to check emails via phone. Without moving from my comfy chair.

This is a zig zag pattern afghan I crocheted about 40 years ago!
We use it at the cabin to cozy up in. Still looking good and really warm.

The front of the cozy cabin. It hailed and the ground was white for a while. It was fun to hear the thunder, see the lightening, the hail and rain. This was Oct. 1. An early storm but just in time for our weekend.

Casa Toast and more

The last weekend in September was a busy one. The biggest event in San Clemente is the Toast at the Casa. It is the largest fundraiser of the year for the Casa and a black tie event. My garden side kick, Lisa and I worked the event. We dressed up for the elegant evening and promised our garden volunteers we would take a photo. Here we are, not in T shirts and jeans.

We were working the registration table and here is a snap shot of some of the guests arriving.

This is such a beautiful time of year for sunset photos from our deck at home.

And my raised bed is producing! I am putting my lettuce and cilantro on every sandwich now! Every thing is growing beautifully. The netting is a great solution. Last night when Mike was taking the trash out he spotted 3 raccoons scouring the garden all around this bed.

September sights

Mike's sister Pam and hubby Gary joined us on an adventure to watch the Tall Ships sail into Dana Point. We did see them, it was cold, only because we were not prepared for the 7pm arrival...information indicated 5-7. Anyway, it was beautiful and fun to spend the evening with them.

Casa view of the butterfly garden from my garden shed, see the water? Our weather has been so cold this summer that the flowers are not blooming and butterflies are just now finding a day or two of sunshine to flutter around. It is still beautiful tho.