Pineapple Sage, Succulent and my sneaky cat, Oscar

Came outside to water
and
photograph my plants.
This is my 2 year old Pineapple Sage.
Put a leaf between two fingers
and smell fresh Pineapple, YUM!!
You can also bake with the flowers, once
they arrive later in the year
and the red flowers bring hummingbirds.
Cannot wait to get flowers.

My large succulent that my Mom's neighbor
gave to me in February 2010
is doing really well. I love it.

Suddenly appeared Oscar.
I guess I will have to close our sliding screen door
better the next time.

Oscar loves to check out everything from the table
and loves to be outside

Though it was warming up quickly
and very sunny in our backyard
so I grabbed him up and we came back inside.
Nice beginning to a nice day.

VISITING DEBBIE AT THE HOSPITAL - SUNDAY 7/24/2011

I cannot say enough about Debbie,
such a strong, sweet and caring friend,
battling terminal Cancer.
I was so lucky to see her on Sunday 7/24/2011
as we were in the Bay Area.
I finally got to give her a big hug multiple times,
a kiss on the cheek,
I brought stretch lei's to wear on our heads for photos,
told her I love her,
and held her hand.
Love you girlfriend and thinking about you every day.
Debbie's favorite place to visit is Disneyland:
"Happiness is being with my magical friends
where there is no chemo and everything is beautiful!"

VACATION - JULY 2011

Our first stop on our first day trip was at
Folsom Lake

It is pretty there and tons of huge homes
already built and more being built

Just a quick stop, then on our way.
Left the tripod in the car.

This was out of the norm for me,
but the restroom in the restaurant
that we ate at had the most beautiful decor

Lunch was fantastic at
Sir Vesa's
Mexican Grill in El Dorado Hills

What a beautiful drive up Hwy 50

A young couple was taking photos and
I offered to take photos of them with
their camera and they returned the favor.
BRIDAL FALLS

Bridal Falls
Highway 50, El Dorado County

Snow on the mountains and clouds in the sky
People actually went skiing on July 4

What a beautiful drive

We tried to get to Bassi Falls in El Dorado County
but our car would not make it over the
last huge hump in the road
so we stopped on our way out
and enjoyed Big Silver Lake

Big Silver Creek

Big Silver Creek

American River Creek

happened to catch this creek as we started heading home

What a beautiful drive home

The end of our first day trip - 7/6/2011

The following day we headed out once again.
We drove into Grass Valley to get directions
to where we were headed in Colfax
to find the waterfall we were looking for
and saw this interesting painting
on this building

We drove to Colfax and asked
and searched for the waterfall,
but we could only find Bear Creek
which was not to much to see,
but a nice end to our waterfall ventures
for this vacation.

MY HUBBY MAKES THE BEST DINNERS - CHICKEN SHISH KABOB'S-6/2011

Soak 4 skewers for a couple of hours if using wood
Melt 1/3-1/2 cube butter, saute 8 mushrooms,
1 peeled fuji apple cored and cut into 8 pieces,
4 pieces of red onion (optional),
sprinkle over all with garlic powder
and saute for about 5 minutes,
then add
4 raw chicken tenders cut in 1/3's just to white on the outside
(not shown in this photo)

Prepping the Shish kabob's
chicken, mushroom, red onion (optional), fuji apple,
chicken, chunk pineapple from a can, fuji apple,
chicken, mushroom

Grill about 2 minutes each side
Medium/Off/Medium on a gas grill (place on the off burner)
indirect heat on a charcoal BBQ

Oscar loves to have my food
He gets to have a plain BBQ chicken tender on his diet
Yummy, dinner with some couscous

OUR OSCAR FEELING WELL AGAIN

Munching on his crunchies and watching the birds

Neighbors nice big tree with a variety of birds

Keeping those eyes on the birds

Enjoying our sunshine day with me

Oscar was playfully diving under our blankets one night and the next morning so very sick. This has been a few weeks ago now, 5/22/2011. Throwing up, not eating, not drinking, and not using his cat box. He threw up in the early evening and a few times later that night and got worse so we took him to the vet the next day at lunch time. He had so little life to him and I truly thought we were losing him. An x-ray and exam were done and he was diagnosed with Pancreatitis. He was put on an IV with fluids as he was dehydrated, given antibiotics, a blood test to confirm his diagnosis and to see the level of illness he had, pain meds, anti nausea meds and kept over night. He was only allowed water to let his body/Pancreas settle down. He was given a small amount of bland soft food the next day and wolfed it down, much to the surprise of our Vet as cats with this illness rarely eat at all. We got so lucky and Oscar bounced back well and came home one day after his diagnosis. Now for home feeding. Bland canned food that he was given at our Vet for a few days and introduce him to some of his regular canned food. He tried it and left it. We went back to the bland canned food and then introduced his regular crunchies and he is very happy with them. He is doing well. We have had to lock him in the bedroom as he wants our food and cannot have it any longer. Surprisingly he is begging less and less each day. He is very smart. We give him a few crunchy treats, and use his regular crunchies as his treats and that seems to work well. I am so amazed that such a transition has gone so well.

CRC JAZZ BAND PERFORMANCE - 5/17/2011

The last performance of this semester
and
the music and singing was great
Erik did an awesome solo, in the last song
"The Phat Pack"
Lorraine came with her husband
and video taped the performance for us,
and Kris (a good friend of Erik's)
also made it to this performance.
What a nice evening we had.

MOTHER'S DAY - May 8, 2011

I love my flowers from my husband for our
Anniversary/Mother's Day

Oscar loves my flowers too

Remembering my Mother-In-Law today

And thinking about my Mom across the miles
HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY 2011!!

OUR 32nd ANNIVERSARY

TIME SURE DOES FLY
SEEMS LIKE YESTERDAY
HAPPY 32 TO MY WONDERFUL HUSBAND

A VISIT FROM THE DUCKS

Suddenly there was splashing in our backyard
Hubby opened the screen door and
our cat Oscar flew out the door
One male bit the other male duck and

one male flew away and the other stayed
with Oscar watching on.

These two ducks had a great swim
and Oscar did not move

The female showed off

Oscar got a little more comfortable
and watched the two ducks
as did we

Oscar has never seen ducks in our pool
They sure made themselves comfortable

They seemed to be fearless
and just enjoying themselves
with Oscar fixated on them

The male joined the female on our pool deck

They were so beautiful
As fast as they came and we enjoyed them,
they flew away.
Maybe they will visit us again,
as it had been a long time since we had a duck visit