Project

August 16, 2011 By
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I keep telling myself that I need to stop accumulating things.  Then I stumble across something priceless (to me, at least) at the home of one of my Meals on Wheels peeps.  She is having yard sales on weekends to divest herself of her lifelong collection.  Unfortunately, I have to walk by all of those treasures on my way to her door to deliver her meal.

 

I had no idea what I would do with it and wasn’t sure it would fit in my car, but I made her an offer and sealed the deal.  Best ten bucks I ever spent!

 

a classic

 

I finished my route and raced back to pick up the treasure.  After laying down the back seats, I managed to make it fit in my car … as long as Butterfly and I leaned forward in our seats.

 

sweet!

 

 

so pretty

 

 

an original

 

 

On the way home I figured out exactly what to do with it – and another that I’ve had stashed in the barn for a number of years.  I’ve been trying to give away the one in the barn, to no avail.  But now I’ve found a use for it.

 

work in progess

 

 

I won’t say another word about this little project until it’s completed.  Then I’ll show you the finished product.

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Veggie Garden

August 11, 2011 By
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Butterfly and I have never been big vegetable gardeners.  It’s not because we don’t like vegetable.  It’s because there are too many battles to wage.

 

Yum!

 

Here, for instance, is her dog, Linus, harvesting cherry tomatoes.  Granted, the only reason the plant is there in the first place is because some dog ate a tomato and then relieved itself in that particular spot.  We have volunteer tomato plants all over the property, thanks to the dogs.  Still, when your 5 dogs love tomatoes, it’s just more competition for the crop.

 

I love tomatoes!

 

Linus visits this plant regularly.

 

sweet cherries

 

 

He’s looking for these juicy red ones, but occasionally grabs a green one.

 

these are "close"

 

I found this mutant creature on the same plant.  I should pick it before Linus eats it.

 

In addition to marauding dogs, we must contend with deer (who just ate all the blossoms off my beautiful phlox!), rabbits, gophers, moles, voles and insects of all sorts.

This year, though, I got the bright idea to build some raised beds.  We need more work like a hole in the head, but for some reason we can’t stop ourselves.

 

The new veggie garden is inside a fenced area that used to be one of my fawn pens during my wildlife rehabilitation days.  I reasoned that if the fence had kept out coyotes, fox and lions, and kept in deer, it would surely be a safe place for our vegetable garden.

 

breaking ground

 

Construction on the beds began in March.

 

progress!

 

We made 6 beds, each 4’ x 8’, with 4’ wide paths in between.  Water lines were put in each bed, as well as a lining of  heavy-duty small-mesh wire to discourage tunneling visitors.  We then filled the beds with new soil and steer manure.

 

Butterfly and I began planting on April 15th, mulching everything well.  Every plant thrived; ever seed sprouted.  We enjoyed lots of delicious lettuce during the cool spring months.

 

squash plants (front) before moles killed them

 

 

Three little squash plants (above, front) took off and started production that soon had us overwhelmed with squash.

 

squash blossom

 

I don’t know if you’ve ever taken the time to notice, but squash blossoms are gorgeous!

 

a few months make a big difference

 

We actually had to cut away part of the lemon cucumber plant because it was trying to overtake the pathways.  On the side opposite the path, the cucumber plants are headed down over the side of the bed to heaven-knows-where.  There is no shortage of cucumbers!

 

We planted plenty of flowers to attract birds and beneficial insects in attempt to control the not-so-beneficial bugs; delphinium, penstamon, sweet alyssum, marigolds, straw flowers and a row of giant sunflowers in the back of the garden.

 

straw flowers

 

I’m trying my hand at drying the straw flowers.

 

flowers fight with veggies

 

sunflowers make me smile

 

The sunflowers are my offering to the birds.  The finches absolutely love shredding the leaves.  I guess the leaves are their “lettuce”.  Soon there will be seeds aplenty for the birds to enjoy.  In exchange, I hope they will be busy keeping the garden insect population under control.

 

As any gardener knows, despite your best plans and intentions, Mother Nature will always throw you a curve ball.  Our lovely squash plants have gone to the compost pile, thanks to the dastardly work of a mole or vole.  So much for lining the beds with wire!  I guess this guy traveled overland to set up his new home.

 

I first tried a repellant to get rid of the pest (the active ingredient being castor oil).  I sprinkled it on all the beds and watered it in well.  He liked it so much he moved to the next bed, which is chock full of tomato plants.   I then resorted to a trap (and I cannot find a humane trap, which I’d prefer because I would be happy to take him for a hike, like I do the rattlesnakes).  The first night he managed to spring the trap without getting himself caught.  I reburied and reset it.  The second night he didn’t even spring it – he just filled it up with dirt.  DRAT!

 

Due to my own procrastination, we got hit with a batch of tomato worms, which did a fair amount of damage to a few tomato plants.  Nothing will make you groan louder than walking out into the garden in the morning and seeing fresh worm doodles all over the path.  Butterfly and I each got a clothespin and got busy picking worms off the plants.  They are masters of camouflage, so it’s a challenge to find them all.

 

oogly squiggly squishy

 

She wanted to squish them, but instead I took them down into the pasture for the wild turkeys.  They must have thought they found a gold mine when they ran across those fat, juicy worms!

 

As we worked, squealing whenever a worm squirted us with its “worm juice”, Butterfly said we sure could use Ginger to help us.  Ginger was the dog we had when I was a little girl.  Ginger loved nothing more than hunting tomato worms – and eating them!  She would come out of the garden with a green, foamy muzzle.  Good dog!  Instead of worm-eating dogs, I’m now stuck with tomato-eating dogs.

 

I’m now spraying BT on a regular basis and we haven’t seen a tomato worm since.

 

Despite these setbacks, all is not lost.  The garden goodness pours forth on a daily basis.  The tomatoes are ripening nicely.  Cantaloupes and watermelons are growing bigger each day.  Nothing tastes sweeter than strawberries freshly picked.  For some reason, the strawberries rarely make it into the house.

 

some of the harvest

 

The garden produces way more than we can use, so we always are handing extras to friends, as well as taking a good supply to the Senior Center every Monday when we deliver Meals on Wheels.  Yes, it’s more work, but it’s worth it.

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Annie’s Lame

June 17, 2011 By
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Our horse (aka “pasture ornament”), Annie, has been lame on the right front off and on for several months.  Initially I wrote it off as a stone bruise, or tender feet, because she wasn’t wearing shoes, or something.

 

something hurts

 

But lately the problem has become more persistent and more severe.  It hurts her most when she is going downhill (which makes sense, because that is when there is more of her weight on her front feet).  It got to the point that she couldn’t /wouldn’t go down the steep hill to get to the irrigated pasture, where she and Gem spend 2 hours every day eating their favorite dinner.  They spend the rest of the day in the fat farm (a 1-acre field with little or no grass – just trees and brush) and access to one end of the barn for shelter.  They get hay (a mixture of grass and alfalfa) for breakfast.

 

Annie is what you would call an “easy keeper”.  She just looks at food and puts on weight.  Gem, on the other hand, has trouble maintaining a reasonable weight no matter how rich her diet.  She gets a special helping of supplements each morning and still stays thin.  So that Annie doesn’t feel completely left out when Gem is getting her special meal, we give her a little handful of oats.

 

When you have a horse that gets fat easily, spring grasses are a real challenge.  Letting such a horse have free access to the rich green grass can result in laminitis, a condition caused by obesity (and other things).  Annie’s never been skinny, but she’s also never been obese.  I’m very careful to pull her off the pasture in spring once the grass takes off.  Unfortunately for Gem, she has to suffer life in the fat farm along with Annie, since the two of them are inseparable.

 

Given all of this, I had the vet out to assess the situation about 2 weeks ago.  She watched Annie walk and spent quite a bit of time using the hoof testers on her.  There were no outward physical signs of laminitis and there was no sign of an abscess.  Still, she was tender to the hoof testers.  So, we decided to put her on phenylbutazone (“bute”), the NSAID commonly used for horses.  We also decided to try shoes on her front feet to see if they would help.  Some horses persistently have tender soles and can’t go barefoot.  We thought that Annie, though she’d never been this way, might be in this category.

 

Fast forward a couple of weeks and Annie had not improved with the shoes.  The bute helps, but of course that was masking the symptoms and we needed to know what was causing the pain.  We checked her again with the hoof testers, and she was definitely tender in the toe area of the left hoof.

 

The next step in trying to diagnose the problem was getting x-rays of both front hooves.  Thankfully, Annie is a very mellow horse and a very compliant patient.

 

Booooooring!

 

"Off, darn shoe!"

 

First her shoes had to be pulled.

"This is a lot of work!"

 

The vet had her work cut out for her trying to get them off!

 

so glad she knows what she's doing

 

step right up!

 

Annie had to stand on blocks for the first set of films.

 

good horse!

 

don't move!

 

 

The metal chain taped to the front of her hoof showed the toe profile.

 

almost ready to shoot

 

checking the distance

 

ready – shoot!

 

same thing for the right hoof

 

taking her off the blocks

 

one hoof on, one hoof off

 

For the next set of x-rays she stood on a plate holding the film.  She was such a good girl she never moved a muscle.

 

The results showed absolutely no sign of laminitis, which was wonderful news.  There is some pedal osteitis, which is an inflammation of the bone.  It’s caused by normal wear and tear and the vet did not think it would be enough to cause the level of pain she was showing.

 

So, the vet ordered 2 weeks of stall rest for Annie and 6 days of bute, to be administered morning and night.  Before I turn her out in 2 weeks, I’ll have her shoes put back on her so that she has some protection from our rocky fields.

 

"I've got this handled!"

 

Annie hopes that rest will bring about a cure for whatever ails her.  Me, too.

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Doggie Update

June 15, 2011 By
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Today it was time for Hellan to go back to the vet to have her eyes rechecked and to get more news about Lucky’s x-rays.  Click here to catch up on what happened last week with her eyes and good ol’ Lucky.

 

Happy Hellan

 

The vet once again stained her eyes (I said he dilated them last week, when actually he had stained them then, too).  He feels that the inflammation is less, but that the lesions she already has will probably stay forever.  They no doubt affect her vision to some extent, but she shows no signs of having a problem.  He changed her eye drops to a stronger drug.  Lucky for me she only needs them applied twice a day, instead of four times a day like we’d been doing.  She’s much happier, too!

 

Next week I’ll be taking her to an animal ophthalmologist to get a second opinion.  As my vet says, he’s no ophthalmologist, so it can’t hurt to have her checked by a specialist.  I’d never forgive myself if she lost her vision because we’d missed a diagnosis.

 

We then discussed Lucky’s x-rays, which the radiologist had looked at.

 

Lucky Dawg!

 

“He said that the area I was concerned about was just her stomach,” Kent said.

 

“Excellent!” I replied.

 

“But … he said he was concerned about the size of his spleen.  He said it’s enlarged and he could have lymphoma,” Kent said.

 

“What the heck?”  I exclaimed.

 

“AND,” Kent continued, “he also said he’s concerned about his 6th lumbar vertebra.  It shows loss of bone density.”

 

“So you’re telling me he might have lymphoma AND osteoporosis?” I said in disbelief.

 

Kent laughed.  He then sobered up and said, “Well, no … actually, that kind of change in a spot in the spine is almost always cancer.”

 

So we discussed all the what-ifs and how to proceed.  Using Hellan, he showed me how to check Lucky for pain in the area of the suspect lumbar region.  He said pain there would be the first manifestation of cancer that I would probably see.

 

When I got home, I quickly checked Lucky and he showed no signs of pain.  I am chewing on my options, and I think I might have the preliminary blood work done that will check for signs of lymphoma.  I don’t know that I would put the poor old guy through any treatments, but I’d like information on hand when and if he gets sick.  I’d rather know in advance what we’re dealing with and have time to decide how I’ll handle it.

 

Presently, both Hellan and Lucky are happy and doing all their regular doggie shenanigans.  With any luck, that will continue for a long time.

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Monday Mish-Mash

June 13, 2011 By
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Butterfly is working on a puzzle that is driving her crazy.  She knew it was going to drive her crazy before she opened the box.  She made me take a picture of it before she took it apart because she fears it will never be seen this way again.

 

Holy rocks, Batman!

 

Once she took it apart, this is what she was faced with.

 

salamander shapes

 

the right way and the wrong way

 

You know you’re in trouble when there are these kinds of “hints” on the box.

 

Mother Nature was at her best and her worst this last weekend.  Robby’s and Rita’s offspring are thriving.

 

 

baby robins

 

 

Both parents are busy gathering food to keep their brood filled to the brim.  Our weather has turned very warm, so Rita doesn’t do much sitting on the nest.   Robby spends some time sitting beside them, watching over his little ones.

 

One of our projects last weekend was to start cleaning the barn.  This included moving hay, in preparation for a new load of hay to arrive.  We started finding dead baby rats.

 

baby rats

 

There were 2 dead babies out of the nest, and 4 more in the nest.  Apparently Mom was killed … by a snake, or an owl or …???  Mother Nature can be cruel.

 

On the happier side, Mother Nature does see to it that beautiful flowers continue to burst forth in our gardens.

 

tree rose gone crazy

 

This “Little Fairy” rose started out as a tree rose.  Butterfly moved it to a fence and allowed it to go wild.

 

little fairy

 

iceland poppy

 

iceland poppies

 

Last year Electric Horseman picked up some flower seeds at the Amsterdam airport.

 

red poppy

 

Butterfly now has quite a big patch of these gorgeous poppies blooming.  We’ve started transplanting them to my part of the yard.

 

peacock pose

 

This guy lives at a neighbor’s house, much to the neighbor’s dismay.  He’s called me asking how to catch it and remove it.  They are noisy and messy, but I see that he has not yet been captured!

 

I think you know that Butterfly and I deliver Meals on Wheels every Monday.  Butterfly makes sure to take a bouquet to the Senior Center’s cafeteria, where we pick up the food to be delivered.

 

another beautiful bouquet

 

The matalija poppy in this bouquet is a stand-out!

 

How was your weekend?

Filed Under: Featured, Flowers, Shenanigans, Wildlife Tagged With: , , , , , , ,

Dogged Day

June 7, 2011 By
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The day started sweetly enough.  Although chilly, we finally had a clear blue sky and lots of sunshine.  I had only the morning booked with a doctor’s appointment and blood donation, with big plans to get out in the garden in the afternoon.

 

While enjoying my morning cup of coffee, I was playing with Hellan out on the deck.

 

Hellan - good dog!

 

I was rubbing her tummy while she gnawed on my arm, delighted with herself.  Suddenly I noticed something in her left eye.

 

“What’s that in your eye?” I asked her.

 

“Ri ron’t ro!” she replied.  (I don’t know).

 

“Seriously, Hellan, give me back my hand and let me look.”  I gently held her eye open and took a good look.

 

“What IS that?” I repeated.  “There are little white spots in there, and they aren’t moving.”

 

“Ruh roh!” she said.  (Uh oh.)

 

I immediately called the vet and made an appointment for that afternoon.  I could sense my day was starting to go sideways.

 

“I’m probably over-reacting,” I told them.  “I’ll cancel in plenty of time if it goes away or my vision clears.”

 

An hour later I checked and the problem was still plainly visible.  Not only that, but I could see it in her right eye, too.  Really big UH OH.

 

Another hour passed before I had to leave for my doctor’s appointment.  All the dogs milled around as I got in the car to leave, which is normal.  As I was backing the car around to get it turned around, I felt a thump and heard a noise.  What the heck?  There’s nothing behind my car.

 

Lucky - good dog!

 

I jumped out in time to see poor old Lucky come from behind the car and high-tail it for the front door, holding up one hind leg.  He never gets in the way of the car.  Well, he never did before.

 

I took him in the house, where he shook in fear (and probably pain) and made sure the door was closed securely behind him.  I apologized profusely to him and checked him over.  He was favoring the one leg, so I called the vet again to tell them I was bringing Lucky right in.  Next I moved my doctor’s appointment and cancelled my blood appointment.

 

Then I coaxed Lucky back outside.  He did not want to go.  The car, after all, was out there.  He plopped his butt down right at the front door and refused to go any further.  I had to leash him to get him to go to the car.  The poor dog learns quickly!  He finally acquiesced and got into the car for me.  Even 3-legged and 14 years old, he’s quite agile.  Good thing, too, because he’s a big boy at 90 pounds!

 

I left Lucky at the vet’s for an hour or so while I went to the doctor.  On my way back to the vet’s I pulled over to use my phone and happened to hear lots of barking and howling.  In the empty field next to me was an old truck with a camper shell parked in the sun.  I couldn’t see any people around, so I reported it to Animal Control and requested that they do a welfare check.  They dispatched someone while on the phone with me.

 

When I got back to the vet’s office, he met me with 4 x-ray films.

 

“His back legs are sore,” he told me, “but they look ok.  I was concerned about a possible fractured pelvis, but that’s ok, too.”

 

I breathed a sigh of relief and then he said, “But …”

 

Dang.  Why is there always a “but”?

 

“This,” he said, pointing to a round mass on the film, “is what concerns me.”

 

“You mean that thing that looks like a big tumor?” I asked.

 

“Exactly,” he said.  “I’m hoping it’s just a stomach shadow, but I need the radiologist to look at it.”

 

What did I do to deserve this?

 

“Fine,” I sighed.  “Just give me my dog and I’ll take him home.  I’ll be back later with Hellan.”

 

“There’s probably nothing wrong with her, so don’t worry,” were his parting words.

 

Fast forward a few hours and I’d had time to take Lucky home, grab a quick lunch, and put the horses out on the pasture to graze for a few hours.

 

pasture ornaments

 

They reside in the fat farm the rest of the time, so they don’t explode from the green grass.

 

Next it was Hellan’s turn at the vet’s.

 

He looked, and looked and looked.  He dilated her eyes and looked some more.  Then he sat back and said, “Well, she is a shepherd.  I believe it’s pannus, or chronic superficial keratitis (CSK) – also known as German Shepherd Dog Keratitis (seen mostly in shepherds).  It could also be episcleritis, but since they’re both treated the same way, I recommend starting treatment and checking her in a week.  We need to get this under control and it may require changing medications.  If pannus is left untreated, she can go blind.”

 

He went on to explain that pannus is believed to be an immune-mediated disease, where the animal’s immune system is derailed.  She already has an immune problem with her nose, so why should I be surprised with this news?

 

He took pictures of her eyes to have for comparison purposes and sent me on my way with oral prednisone and steroid drops for her eyes (4 times a day).  If it is pannus, I will be treating her for the rest of her life.

 

Once home, I of course consulted with Dr. Google.  I found this link that sums up everything I learned at the vet’s.

 

....zzzzzz....

 

We’re all dog-tired.

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Robin Birth Day

June 5, 2011 By
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This year has been a rough year for Robby and Rita in the reproduction department.  It started out normally, with them setting up housekeeping in last year’s nest.  It happens to be under the roof of my covered deck, which makes it easy for me to keep an eye on them.

 

In short order, Rita began laying eggs.

 

Beautiful robin's egg blue!

 

She stopped after three eggs, when normally she lays four.   I never saw her sit on these, or lay another.

 

The next thing I knew, they had started construction on a new nest.

 

nest construction

 

It was a whopping several inches away from the old nest.  When I went up my ladder to play building inspector, I saw that they had covered the three eggs with construction debris (you know, bird-sized two-by-fours and such).  I confiscated the three beautiful eggs and they now reside in a cute little dish in a bookcase.  I also removed the old nest since obviously they were dissatisfied with it.

 

finished nest

 

It didn’t take long for them to complete construction on their new home.

 

Rita's prolific

 

Within days, Rita had produced four perfect eggs.

 

Rita incubates her eggs

 

She settled down to the business of keeping the eggs warm and toasty for the next two weeks.  She had her work cut out for her since we’ve been having cold, wet weather this spring.

 

Throughout all of this, Robby has continued to amuse himself by bashing into my windows.  Today, however, he bashed only a few times, which made me curious.

 

Robby checks out the kids

 

Then I spotted this!  This is what Robby does when the eggs start to hatch.  He sits on the side of the nest looking befuddled.

 

Holy hairdo, Batman!

 

Sweet!   Three out of four have hatched.

 

"Feed me!"

 

And one is already starving!  Robby and Rita now have their work cut out for them.

 

And I can look forward to a few weeks of peace and quiet while Robby spends his time hunting for food to feed his new family.

 

This is my favorite time of year.  Quiet time.

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Mother’s Day

May 8, 2011 By
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Butterfly burst into the house this morning, laughing.

 

“Happy Mother’s Day to you, too!”  I said.  I didn’t even want to know why she was so amused with herself.

 

“Someone left something at my house for you,” she snorted, wiping her eyes.  What is wrong with this woman?

 

stunning gift wrap

 

“I can tell,” I told her, “from the exquisite wrapping job that that person would be you.  Nice card, too.  Where’s the envelope?”

 

She continued laughing.

 

“Haven’t I told you to stop buying me stuff at the thrift stores?” I scolded her.

 

That sent her into more gales of laughter.

 

dressed to the nines

 

She’s so proud of herself.

 

ok ... I give up ...

 

The true mystery here is what the heck is this thing?

 

potential yard art?

 

Whatever it is, Butterfly was truly pleased with herself.  We may turn it into yard art.

 

Happy Mother’s Day!

Filed Under: Butterfly, Featured, Shenanigans Tagged With: , , ,

Déjà vu en Provence

April 30, 2011 By
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Have I mentioned that I went to France for two weeks?  And I didn’t just “go to France” but returned to my old stomping grounds in Provence.  Having lived there for almost three years and meeting the woman who would become my best friend, I was itching to get back for a visit.

 

Two friends, Kay and Cindy, joined me and I think I can speak for them when I say that we had a most excellent vacation.  I always start feeling at home when I get to Paris, even though it’s only to spend a few hours in the airport to catch a plane to Marseille.  There’s something about being around all things French that makes me go, “Ahhhhhh.”

 

When we touched down at the Marseille-Provence airport, I started to tear up.

 

home sweet home

 

I will always have a fondness for this airport.  I remember seeing the movie “Love Actually” shortly after we had moved back to the States.  I was still in the midst of what turned out to be at least a year-long adjustment to life back in California.  In that movie, one of the characters decides to move to Provence to “get away” and write.  When I saw the scene of his arrival at this airport, I actually started crying.  No one else in the movie theater was crying.  Just me.  It made me so homesick.

 

Isabelle, my best friend and the hiking leader from hell (more on this another time), was ready for us as we came down the escalator and out the doors.

 

the end of a long trip

 

I am known for having my luggage go missing.  I am especially used to some of it going AWOL on the leg between Paris and Marseille.  Once, while I was filling out a lost luggage form in Marseille, the attendant said to me, “There’s not enough room on the plane coming from Paris for all the luggage.  What do you expect?”  Silly me.

 

no suitases were lost in transit

 

This time, we were pleasantly surprised to find all of our luggage tripping around on the carousel.  We loaded up two luggage carts and started for the parking lot.

 

But wait!  I had to make a stop … my usual stop.

 

I never pass up a bathroom

 

Isabelle has a habit of taking pictures of me either entering or exiting toilets.  My mother taught me at a very young to never pass up a toilet.  And to never, ever sit on the seat!  You would have been proud, Butterfly!

 

anything fragile???

 

Our next adventure was to try to fit everything into Isabelle’s car.  We managed.

 

our driver, and my BFF, Isabelle

 

Everyone knew that despite 18 or 19 hours of travel, I had just one thing on my mind:  Lebanese food at my favorite restaurant in Aix.  Because I am such a nice person, however, I agreed to first go to the house we had rented so that we could settle in and freshen up.  It just about killed me to be nice.

 

The house we rented in the village of Eguilles was lovely.

 

all Kay and Cindy need is wine

 

Isabelle has a business managing vacation rentals and we relied on her to pick the perfect place.  It was right in the center of the village, so visiting the boulangerie each morning was a just a 5-minute walk.  It was very dangerous – who knew if our clothes would still fit after a week in this house?!

 

But more about the house another time.  I had Lebanese food calling my name.  Unfortunately, Kay was suffering with a nasty migraine and was not able to join us for dinner that first night.  She knew, though, that we would be eating lots of Lebanese food during our stay!

 

hard to believe we're actually at the restaurant

 

Divan d’Antioche (Turkish and Lebanese food) is one of my favorite restaurants  -anywhere.  Period.  While we lived in Aix-en-Provence, it was our home away from home.  Let me explain it this way:  for a few years our picture was on the menu.  I think that means we spent too much time there, don’t you?!  You know how it is when you find a place where the people are so welcoming and the food so good that you just feel at home?  This is one of those places.

 

When they finally decided to include English on the menu, all the pictures had to be removed to make room.  “Our” menu was retired, but I have a copy that makes me smile every time I look at it.

 

The first person I saw upon entering the restaurant was one of the waiters, Mahwan.

 

talk about being made to feel welcome

 

I think he was happy to see me!  I know I was delighted to see him.

 

He immediately offered to bring us an aperitif.  He looked at me and asked, “Whiskey Coca?” with a grin.  What a memory!  I declined the caffeine-lade “Coca” and went with just whiskey.  I needed it.

 

berek - one of my favorites

 

When he returned with drinks, he also brought me one of my favorite foods, berek.  There’s goat cheese inside those little buggers!

 

When Semir and Layla (the restaurant owners) appeared there was another hug-fest.

 

big hug for Semir

 

I took him a bottle of California po

 

more to drink from Cindy

 

I was surprised that the Flower Man recognized me!

 

hard to believe the same man is selling flowers

 

He loved Tony, who would always buy a rose for each woman at the table.  Flower Man asked after “Mister”, which is what he always called Tony.  He gave a rose to Isa’s granddaughter, Eva.

 

a flower for a sweetie

 

As usual, our table was overflowing with food within a short time.  I was deliriously happy to finally get my very favorite salad!

 

salade blanc de poulet - YUM!

 

sleepy girl

 

Eva’s eyelids were getting heavier and heavier.  I couldn’t blame her.  After an incredible meal and a day of travel, so were mine.

 

The next day, Sunday, was the perfect quiet, rainy day.  We went to Isa’s for lunch.

 

pick a size, any size

 

Isabelle's table looked beautiful

 

we enjoyed appetizers in the living room

 

Cindy with Isa's sons, Clement and Adrian

 

Isabelle, Clement's girlfriend, Adrien's wife, me, Kay

 

delicious dinner

 

Isa likes Eva's little piggy dessert

 

yummy desserts

 

Eva gets ready to eat her piggy

 

 

Isabelle's husband, Jean Marc

 

We wanted to stay up until a “normal” hour to try to reset our jet-lagged clocks, so we decided to go to a movie that evening.

 

Cindy, me and Kay at the top of Cours Mirabeau in Aix

 

It was such a treat to be back in Aix and walking the streets I love.

 

these guys look like they have headaches

 

Guess what I'm doing ...

 

Look!  It’s me, with a camera, taking a picture!  Imagine!

 

Cindy disappears into the Renoir Theater

 

When I lived in Aix we enjoyed visiting this theater frequently, where we could see American movies (as well as “foreign” films).

 

We couldn’t end the evening without a digestif and post-movie discussion.  We had seen “Winter Bones” and I had already smacked Isabelle up the back of the head several times (during the movie) for picking such a dark, depressing film.

 

Cheers!

 

a drink for each hand

 

Isabelle was the designated driver.  The rest of us ordered kirs, a popular French cocktail made with a measure of crème de cassis (black currant liqueur) topped up with white wine.  We’re not sure why we each got two.

 

As was the case the entire trip, there were 4 cameras wherever we went.

 

say "Cheese!"

 

We have lots of silly pictures of ourselves taking pictures.

 

there are scads of fountains in Aix

 

Before we left Aix, the city of 100 fountains, we took one more picture on the Cours Mirabeau.

 

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Where’s Waldo?

February 27, 2011 By
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Chelsea went to Pensacola, Florida, in January, to attend 5 weeks of air safety training with the Navy.  She was one of only two civilians in the class of 60 or so Navy and Marine pilots.   Don’t ask me how she manages to get herself into these situations, but she does.  (Truth be told, it’s called “networking”.)  She managed to be the first non-military, non-Department of Defense, and non-law enforcement related civilian to attend the course.  Of course she did.

Since she’s studying for her Masters in Aviation Safety/Human Factors at Embry Riddle University, it was right up her alley.  Her Pensacola studies included Aerodynamics, Reporting (Mishaps), Safety Programs, Structures (how things break and why), Investigations, Human Factors and Aeromedical Physiology.

She just sent me their class photo and all I could do was laugh and think of the old “Where’s Waldo?” puzzles.  You remember those, don’t you?

 

Where's Waldo?

 

Where's Chelsea

 

If she’d gotten into a flight suit I never would have been able to pick her out of the crowd.  Civilians, though, weren’t required to wear flight suits, so she didn’t drag hers along.  That’s her in the front row, in case you haven’t figured it out.

 

She crashed (figuratively) with a friend of a friend in nearby Gulf Breeze.

 

Sunset in Gulf Breeze

 

She was delighted to find that she shared the dwelling with a resident cat.

 

Bacardi

 

At first Bacardi wanted nothing to do with her.  She was the typical aloof cat.  By the end of Chelsea’s stay, though, Bacardi had taken to sleeping with her instead of her mom.  She helped Chelsea study and demanded attention constantly.  Just like a cat – fickle!

 

Chelsea’s days were spent in the school house on base.

 

School House

 

The group was divided into two and she ended up in the Blue Group.

 

Classroom - not too shabby!

 

She made the most of her time in a new area.  One weekend a bunch of them went to New Orleans to visit the National WWII Museum.

 

she LOVES planes

 

Salvage Yields

 

No visit to New Orleans is complete without paying a visit to the Café du Monde.

 

beignet - YUM!

 

Something tells me she didn’t eat the whole thing herself.

 

Twice her study group took breaks to explore the National Naval Aviation Museum on base.  Chelsea loves museums, especially ones related to aviation or anything military, so this was her kind of study break!

 

Blue Angels F4's

 

more planes

 

Another weekend she scored an opportunity to go flying with one of the class instructors in his Piper Pacer.

 

pretty view

 

beach view

 

perfectly good airport

 

Here I can just hear the two of them saying, “Oh, look!  An airport!  Maybe we should land there … but wait, what’s that we see over there?”

 

I can't look!

 

“Yippeee!  This is way better.  We can land on the paved strip on the right, or better yet, the grass strip on the left!”  (Please, don’t let there be prairie dogs in Florida!)

 

I’m kidding.  They knew what they were doing.  This guy’s plane lives at Ferguson’s Field, the airport with the grass strip, which is where they chose to land.

 

Ben, Chelsea, Dave

 

Chelsea had one photo taken with the two guys she spent most of her time with.  Ben, on the left, flies H60 helicopters (aka Blackhawks).  Dave flies the F18 Hornet.  Poor Dave was stuck sitting next to her in class.

 

Fly safe, ladies and gentlemen!

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