The Coast off 17 Mile Drive
Life continues to be swamped. Pretty much seems that the 2 hour per day commute kills my blogging and chore time. So, then on the weekends, I’m so busy making up chores that I am just not getting the blogging done then. What to do, what to do?
School is going well. I have about the sweetest, most well-behaved class I can imagine. My issues with them are on such a point of refinement that I can’t believe it. It’s amazing. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again . . . I love teaching 2nd grade!
Greg’s favorite dessert — his grandmother’s famous cheesepie!
The kids are doing well. They are loving their summer programs which is wonderful. Greg just had his birthday — thankfully he’s older than I am again so I can resume giving him a hard time about how old he is now.
Greg’s dad is still doing okay but is, honestly, fading daily now. It’s very sad to see. I stopped by to see them for a few minutes on my way home today and left there feeling very sad. He’s starting to be in a lot of pain and that’s hard — living from pain pill to pain pill. We’re seeing changes but no changes for the better anymore.
I had let my feeders get empty — even the birds are feeling the effects of my commute and schedule. I filled everything up this morning. I even made some Zick Dough for them. They were so glad. A pair of Pygmy Nuthatches came into the feeder while Ruthie and I were sitting on the deck basically under the feeders.
When Gulls and Crows are willing to beg together for food,
you know there are some quality scraps being handed out!
The picture above was taken on the famous 17 Mile Drive between Pacific Grove and Carmel, California. 17 Mile Drive is a closed, gated community that includes the Pebble Beach Golf Club — among many others. It is also a preserved forest however. The Del Monte Perserve. The trees are Monterey Cypress. It’s amazingly beautiful which beaches, views, birds galore, fancy-schmancy houses, and shopping opportunities at The Lodge at Pebble Beach — sure, I can afford a picnic basket from The Market at Pebble Beach — can you imagine why the birds vie for the leftovers? And, you pay $9 for the privelege of driving through — that said, it was pretty gorgeous and since I haven’t done it in about 20 years, I can’t honestly mind. We were on our way to have dinner in Carmel with one of Greg’s business associates from the DC area. He and his wife were on an anniversary trip to Big Sur. We had an utterly fantastic dinner with them — great food, great wine, and even better — great conversation. Oh, and great dessert!
The Oregold is on the far left — looking wilted.
I pruned everything so its hard to tell the new from the old!
Today, I planted three roses in my yard. They were free so if I end up not liking them, I’ll be more than willing to tear them out. A neighbor of my in-law’s bought a new place and thinks that roses are too much work. Whatever. Her loss, my gain. My mother-in-law got 3 and I got 3. One is Oregold — a beautiful yellow. One is a thornless red that seems very hardy. I have no idea what the third is. They all had tags on them that seem not to have survived the transplanting process. Oh well. The Oregold is the most unhappy about being transplanted. They had to sit in my mother-in-law’s carport for a couple of hours waiting for me to get them today. I put them in the ground with a good cup of organic rose food. Then I pruned them pretty severely. They were wilty and had buds all over them. I want them to get themselves established — not work on making pretty flowers right now. So, I went from two roses to five in one day. I hope they make it. It was really nice to get out in the garden and water them in and water the rest of my plants. Everything looked so nice out there — although we have gotten NOTHING done on the backyard since we put in the drainage. Sigh. We’ll get there!
mother. wife. friend. teacher. writer. reader. photographer. birder. quilter. blogger.
Liza Lee Miller 