Our Shag Rug

Sometimes Meika just sprawls out and she looks like a worn out old shag rug.

The Last Act

You have to look at the previous post to get the story. This is what was left of the lizard when the Praying Mantis finished. We took this picture about an hour after we took the pictures for the previous post.

The Praying Mantis

This afternoon Barb was in the Spa and I was watching TV. Suddenly she yelled

"Bring the camera out here!". And this is what we found. A Praying Mantis had caught a lizard and was eating it. I thought they only caught small insects, but what do I know.

Some More Ron and Mieke Memories

We were amazingly lucky with with weather for Ron and Mieke's whole visit! How many days do we have clear sunny weather at Santa Cruz, Aptos, and Monterey!! On this day, by the cement ship (which actually sailed at one time!) we saw pelicans nesting, albatros, pods of seals, and even pods of dolphins.

We spent a whole day at the Monterey Bay Aquarium. What a fabulous place it is. This visit's special exhibition was the sea horses (previous post), but I am always amazed by the jellyfish. This is one of Ron's pictures. I packed the binoculars instead of the camera! Can you believe it! Point Lobos was also on my agenda, but I was outvoted.

Ron is totally into steam trains. He has traveled on them all over Europe. This is the one at Roaring Camp in Felton. He also made reservations for a steam train at the Grand Canyon and was very disappointed when he learned they had changed it to diesel!! While at the Grand Canyon, they took a helicopter ride, which they loved. We haven't seen those pictures yet.

Ron is also into caching. He and Mieke have done this all over the world. This one is right out of Valley Springs. I pass it every time I go to Angels Camp and think of Mieke and Ron and how wonderful it was to have them in California with us. They said the caches in Palm Springs were much better than the ones in Valley Springs!

After they left us, Mieke and Ron went to Visalia (King's Canyon), Las Vegas (Hoover Dam), southern Utah (Zion, Bryce, and Snow Mountain), the Grand Canyon, and the Petrified Forest. On the way back, they stayed at Palm Springs. They were in San Francisco from Sunday night until Thursday. They walked across the Golden Gate and saw Vista Point, walked the Presidio,

took cable cars (even to Lombard Street), went to Chinatown and Fisherman's Wharf and took the boat to Alcatraz. They had amazing weather for the city. It was sunny and in the 70's everyday. The fog didn't come until 3:30 on Wednesday. We drove over Thursday, took them to Headlands, then to Sausalito for a delicious lunch on the waterfront. NO MORE SUN! It was cloudy until we hugged them goodbye, then the sun came out! I cried all the way home. We shall both miss them. What fun we had!

Ron and Mieke visit from Holland

Ron and Mieke came to America for the first time this fall. They have been planning this trip for a year. We met them in Bali several years ago and visited them at their home in Holland when we went to Italy. They visited us here for a week and we showed them the sights around our area. Then they toured the west for three weeks, visiting southern Utah, Grand Canyon, Los Vegas and San Francisco.

Mieke (sounds like Meika) brought Barb a pair of wooden shoes.

Ron painted a picture of a windmill in Holland and gave it to us.

We celebrated their arrival with their first taste of Budweiser. They said they liked it, but I am not so sure.

We visited Big Trees State Park.

But it never rains in California in the summer.

Walking down Pacific Ave in Santa Cruz.

Ron wanted a picture of himself sitting on the stage of the Catalyst night club where Jimi Hendrix played in the 1970's.

At the Monterey Bay Aquarium.

Hi there!

Giddy Up!

We went to Yosemite. The fire had just been contained and the roads were open again.

We met them in San Francisco after they returned and had lunch to see them off to Holland.

Meika's Friend

Every morning when I take Meika up on the road, the horse across the street walks over to say hello. Meika goes over to the fence and the sniff each other. I think Meika looks at the horse as a big dog.

Fun with our Family

We always like to go to the Melting Pot, so, of course, we have to get our usual group shot. The most fun wine (label anyway) was Menage a Trois. Julie said, "No Way!"

Our first activity was to go to Zach and Cam's T-Ball game. We cheered loudly and laughed until the tears came. What cute kids! At the house we were amazed by all their new landscaping. We loved our visit with Bryan's family! The boys were off riding bikes, but dropped by for a short visit. We got to meet the tiny and adorable Sadie and to watch their bloodhound open the deck door and let himself into the house (wish we had grabbed the camera to record it!)

We loved our sunny day in Park City with Jake, Jen, Shea, and Seth (who just celebrated his first birthday). We had dinner in a Mexican Restaurant next to Casey's new shop, and drank two pitchers of Margaritas, then walked home to their cute little house for a visit.

Harry and Marji kept us very busy. We
went to a concert and a street faire the
first day, then out to a delicious dinner.

The next day we played tennis, hiked

around Tony Lake and took wildflower

pictures, then went to a pops concert after

dinner.



We enjoyed Jeff and Mary's roses and

petunias, visited their impressive new

medical center, then had fun with Lynne

and Andy and their very active family,

including the new baby, Jacob, born on

July 8th and weighing over nine pounds.

Lynne was out gardening two days later!!
Super Woman!

I had such headaches with the spacing of this! Chuck and I have nooooooo blogger skills. If this isn't ghastly, I think I'll just leave it, because it is time for wine on the deck and I haven't seen Chuck for an hour!