Thank you, Ruthie J!

This past Saturday, most of my family had the opportunity to meet Ruthie J of Nature Knitter and part of her family. My husband, daughter Red (aka Heidi) and I met Ruthie and her brothers in San Francisco. We met for lunch at Castagnola's. And it was such a bright sunshiny day in "the city" as we South Bay folks call San Francisco. Typical of this city, especially on weekends, it was wall-to-wall people everywhere around Fisherman's Wharf.

Meeting of the "clans." Below, back row, Ruthie's brothers, Phil and Dave. Ruthie's in the middle, and I'm in front (on left), Heidi (Red), and my husband Dave. It was such a special day for us bloggers to meet and get to know each other a little better. I felt I have known Ruthie all my life; but then so many other bloggers have said the same thing after meeting another blogging buddy.

Ruthie came bearing gifts for Red and me. You'll have to check Red's blog (http://mmatm.blogspot.com) to see what Ruthie brought her. Ruthie gave me a pair of fingerless gloves, and below is a picture of one of the gloves. Thank you, Ruthie! Even though our weather is beginning to warm up now, I know they will certainly be handy for next winter, and I look forward to wearing them.

And I'm now an "official" member of the Blogger flock! Again, thank you, Ruthie! I really enjoyed our time together and hope some day I'll be able to come visit you in Minnesota, or meet up with you at a birding festival. We would certainly have a lot of fun together.

Following our lengthy lunch we set out to walk around Fisherman's Wharf before heading home. Red and I had seen some beautiful tulips over by Pier 39 and we wanted very much to get photos of those beauties. The sights we saw as well as the tulips will be in my next post.

Dad's visit

My husband's dad, 91 years young, came to visit us last week. He flew in from Phoenix - a two-hour flight into San Jose. He arrived Saturday, July 21, and just flew home yesterday (Monday, July 30) These two photos were taken at church Sunday. The first one is during coffee time and the second one was just before bible class began.

This past week we visited our nephew and his wife who live just north of Santa Cruz. We visited them Thursday evening for dinner, and then again Sunday for a picnic. These beautiful flowers were sitting on the table welcoming all who arrived. I think I was told they are Star Gazer Lilies.

While visiting, my daughter and I wanted to go walk down to the beach area. This photo is looking back (east) toward the place where my nephew and his wife live, toward Highway 1. This area north of Santa Cruz is protected from development and will always be zoned as agricultural. The land between the highway and the bay/ocean is all farm land. What you see here is a field of brussel sprouts.


When we got to the beach we could see birds flying out around the water. I not only had my camera with, but also brought my binoculars. The wind was blowing pretty hard and it was a challenge to plant myself firmly in the sand and focus out on the water. I knew there were seagulls flying around, but I could also see dark colored birds. I wanted to know what they were. I finally got a decent glimpse and realized they were all brown pelicans. This was the best I could do for a picture.

On our way back from the beach we saw this bumble bee on a thistle. Photo taken by "Red." Here are other photos taken by Red (my daughter) on our way back to the "farm."

Looking back to the bay/ocean - looking north toward Half Moon Bay.

Looking south toward Monterey. You can see the marine layer (aka fog) between Santa Cruz and Monterey.

And here is another shot looking south toward Santa Cruz and Monterey. We were standing on the dirt road between here and the brussel sprouts.

And here is one more shot of Dad enjoying himself during the picnic.