Tuscany and Tre Querce

Arrived safe and sound to our Tuscan "home away from home" Tre Querce I will go into more details later but for now just some picture of where we are staying and where I get to spend my 45 birthday. It is truly surreal and the trip of a lifetime. I have been so emotional today loving every bit of what I see and experience and yet missing my kids. More to come. Buena Sera!

Tre Querce--in the beautiful rolling hills of Tuscany where wild boar are supposed to roam the property. Praying i don't see one but if I do, I will have may camera ready for a picture before I sprint, brace and all.

Time Well Spent

There are many things that I love about living in Souther California and one of them is the diversity of the landscape. We have the mountians, the deserts, the beaches and the central valley. Beautiful! One of my favorite times of the year is January. Why you ask? If you ask you probably live in the likes of Minnesota, Utah, Idaho, Illinois, or any other winter laden landscape. But here in Southern California, we have amazing skies in January. The rains bring those cumulous clouds with their depth and moodiness. January brings brilliant blue skies and green hillsides, January brings cooler temperatures but nothing a light sweater, scarf and boots won't fix.
January also brings snow in the mountains: beautiful white capped mountains that are only about 25 minutes from where I live. So if I get the urge, if I feel I miss the snow of my youth and want to treat my kids to a bit of the Frosty, i can head up to the mountains to experience it and then come back down the hill to green grass and flowers.
Yesterday our plans to hike the wilderness loop in Claremont were thwarted due to a closure of the park. I believe the heavy rains caused some problems along the trail. So wondering what to do instead we headed up to the local mountain. It was only about 15 min from where we were and so off we went.
We were surprised to see so much snow up on the mountain. The snow was very low. We were probably unprepared as we only had our work out clothes and sweatshirts on. We had just been stretched, and wringed, and limbered in a yoga class. however, we did at least have our trails shoes on. None the less, and probably foolishly, we began to hike up the Ice House Trail.
The trail was icy in some parts but mostly filled with packed snow. It was beautiful, tranquil and so worth cold hands and red noses as we continued up the trail a little over a mile. I love the quiet of the snow--the way the snow blankets the earth and caresses it. It reminds me of sleep.
The river that ran beside us with its icy blue waters added to the beauty. All in all, despite the fact that i was second guessing our decision in the beginning, and my friend Brynna joked that she never wanted to be one of "those" people that had it written in their obituary that they had died during a hike or excursion because they were unprepared... we ventured forth and had a wonderful time. btw these pics were taken by my little cell camera. so glad I had that to record our trip.

Kids

Trunk or Treat and Halloween

Here are the cast of Characters:

Willow as Guess Who. . . You guessed it Beetlejuice

Lily as a Pirate Princess

Emma as a Go Go Dancer

Owen as the ventriloquist dummy Slappy from Goose Bumps Night of the Living Dummy

Other Characters include

The Muppet Guitar Player in Animal's Rock Band

Madeline the French School Girl

Cleopatra.

Sir Owen the Lion Hearted

More Cute Pirates

"Dorothy" The Photographer. Gotcha

RAM Off the Wall

"Every artist dips his brush in his own soul, and paints his own nature into his pictures." ~Henry Ward Beecher

I love the arts and human expression of any kind. Sadly, however, over the past 7 years, education has stripped the arts out of it's curriculum. If we parents want our children educated in the arts, we better do it. Luckily,

human expression will never be squelched--we were born to create and as long as we are living humanity will make its mark.

This past weekend I had the opportunity to attend the opening of the Off The Wall sale and exhibit at the Riverside Art Museum (RAM). The museum offers it's walls to aspiring artists or anyone wanting to share their talents with the world. All you have to do is frame your piece so it can be hung and it can be shown and perhaps sold to those who appreciate

it. Prices are affordable for art enthusiasts ranging from $50 - $300. The RAM is a beautiful setting for the show. Once the old YMCA of Riverside it is Spanish Colonial Architecture and full of wrought iron and paned windows. It is just as enjoyable to be in the building as it is to view the art.

I have always liked Riverside for it beauty and for it's support of the arts. The Off the Wall show is an example of this.

My freind Lucile, a happily retired teacher, introduced the event to me at lunch. The happy event of Lucile's retirement opened the door for me to get a job at the high school in which I teach. Since working there, I've noticed that people who retire from my school don't actually leave. They come back to the site for sub jobs or just to visit for lunch. It gives you a good idea about the environment in which I work and the caliber of people who work there. So now that I work away my day in Rm 6, Lucile spends her days having lunch with friends at the Bridge Club, volunteering for charities: The Jr League that support women's causes and improving communities and The Riverside Art Museum. She is a grand lady for sure.

I got to the RAM early the day of the opening because I spied a small oil that I liked. It is a california landscape and have a passion for those and it was only $50. Lucile met me at the door and we waited for them to give out tickets that would designate the order in which you can enter at the opening of the show. I had heard that once those doors open, it is pandemonium. We met our good friend Doug and his son there as well, Doug is the art teacher at our school and a gifted artist, together we planned our method of attack: The show is in two rooms and four of our paintings were in one room and the other two were in another.

We had decided that Cody, who is six foot six inches would go for my painting since it is about 7 feet high on the wall, and I would go for his, since it is on the bottom half of the wall. Doug would go straight for Lucille's two paintings that were in the opposite room and his own favorite, an original illustration from a children's book which was created by one of his students. It was agreed that we would show good decorum and not knock anyone over in our attempts to retrieve our prized paintings. Getting there early and securing the first spot to enter just behind the sponsors of the exhibit allowed for a successful retrieval of all the paintings. Where was Lucile you ask? She was behind the table taking money and assisting the happy customers.

Some of my kids favorites: Lily loves the horse photograph. Will's favorite is actually very similar to the painting that Doug purchased for his son. Very similar painting in size and style. Owen was attracted to the color and the geometry of his abstract painting. Emma didn't seem to have a favorite, but isn't she beautiful? And in fact, aren't they all? Notice will giving the artwork from the Off the Wall Jr. a discerning look. Youth up to age 17 can submit work to be sold from $10 - $30 dollars. He admired some of the work and is confident that he will submit some of his work there next year.

My Snorkeling Buddy

I absolutely love water. I love the outdoors but when water is a part of the equation, my joy seems to be intensified ten fold so naturally I gravitate to the ocean as that is the largest body of water in my area. There are, of course, other bodies of water near me, Lake Perris and Lake Elsinore, but I wouldn't want to swim in them. Heck the fishes don't even like swimming in them, enough said about that. So it is to the ocean I often go to find peace in a busy life and joy in recreation.

I hope to by like my mom. She was swimming in the ocean the summer before she passed away. She was always game for a swim and we all loved that she would join with us. Yes, that is they type of mother and grandmother that I desire to be.

These last summers I have been attempting to acquaint my kids to snorkeling in the ocean. I bought snorkel gear for them last year and they did a little diving w/ the masks and snorkeled in a pool, but were a little afraid to venture into the ocean's open water. It is a little scarey to see what is underneath those emerald waters, especially after "Shark Week" so not many were willing this year with the exception of Will.

Twice he has gone into the ocean with me to see the depths of the sea. This is one of those events. We took the kayak out in La Jolla Cove and he paddled like a little trooper out to the sea caves. He did awesome. It was so amazing to share that experience with him and brought me so much joy. He bravely ventured into the waters and was thrilled to see so many fish. He clung to my elbow as we swam together and explored the underwater structure and fish. I wasn't able to take many photos because unfortunately the water was cold and he got a chill, but it wet his apetite for more and better yet he had bragging right to the experience which makes his older sisters choke down their fears and want to go next time. Nothing like a little positive sibling pressure to get others involved.

I so love my Willow and feel grateful for that time spent with him. Way to go William the Brave Heart!