Grandma and Cactus

Even tho this is our fourth grandchild ( ages 5,3,2) the excitement of a new baby is just as special and fresh as the first one.

Working the gardens at the Casa bring a new surprise every day I am there. Here is a photo of a cactus that bloomed this beautiful white blossom. It only stays open for a day.

This is a close up photo taken last Thursday. Today, Monday, the bud just below the flower is ready to open up tomorrow.

My sticks roots

Yes, I grew up in the sticks.

Yesterday I had an opportunity drive by where I grew up.
I took my Mom to visit church friends nearby.
This is 17 miles East of Palmdale, CA. at Avenue O and 135th St.

We had a chicken ranch with 12,000 egg laying hens. The chicken houses are gone now. They were where the white dot (camper) is in the photo. The house is at the foot of the butte surrounded by green trees (now). The butte can be spotted 20-30 miles away for it's hour-glass sand slope down the middle. I climbed it and all the rocks along the sides for fun time. Made play houses around the rocks...rolled down the tip top sand slope...

This is a cabin just down the hill below the house. We lived in this cabin for 9 months while the house was being built. It looks to be about 22 by 12 feet. No water or electricity. The Joshua tree is where the out-house was. The fencing you see was not there, it is for horses the current owners use the property for. It looks pretty bad now but was new in 1952. I was just finishing kindergarten when we moved there.

Tegan 3 days old and Siena

Monday I spent the day helping Randy and Staci, going along to baby Tegan's Dr. appt. etc.
I brought my garden tools and spent the evening repositioning/pruning an out of control bougainvillea on their patio.

This photo is actually a cute video -not sure how to load it.
Tegan was crying a bit, then stopped. Siena was saying 'she's not sad now' .

350 Lunches

The Casa was the place we served the pre-paid box lunches for Garden Tour guests.
We sold 350 lunches! Served them on the amphitheater terrace.
Want to know what 350 box lunches looks like...

Garden Tour

June 20 is the day I have been planning for since last summer. Showing off the Casa Gardens on the San Clemente Garden Club's annual garden tour. The gardens were ready and 600 people bought tickets to attend. The day was drizzly and overcast but that did not dampen the spirit of garden tour goers.
It was a really long day but so fun to visit with lots of people I knew and hear the wonderful comments about the gardens.

Baby Tegan

Randy and Staci added a baby girl, Tegan, to their family on Friday.
We drove up to LA to meet her when she was 4 hours old.

Proud grandparents of our fourth grandbaby. She has dark hair, unlike Siena with her blond hair and blue eyes. The little sisters will be quite the pair. We look forward to many happy times with them.

New Grandbaby

Randy and Staci's baby girl arrived this morning. She is healthy and too cute. We held her for a few precious minutes. They will send an announcement for us to pass on.