Nosy Neighbor

 

                  

    I'm pretty sure we all have one...a nosy neighbor. My nosy neighbor is at our second home in a neighboring city. I consider it my sanctuary. It is a small cottage directly across from the beach - a humble abode with a million dollar view.  It has a nice front yard with lawn, roses, various plants and a few trees that frame our yard. It's a joy to garden there in spring and summer. All is pretty much perfect at my little Shangri-La, except for my neighbor to the left of us...

    There are no tall fences between our two properties. I have a white picket garden fence and a very narrow street between us. Facing my home is her kitchen window; which when she is not outside talking as loud as humanly possible to every passerby there is, she is at the kitchen window - watching every move me or anybody makes. She has a vegetable garden on her side yard that faces me. She tends to it a lot. I can hardly go outside without her bellowing out, "Hey Linda, haven't seen you for a while!" Her voice is SO loud too. Sometimes, I wait to go outside until she goes back into her house.

    Last year, this woman walked onto my property when I was not there and cut down my rose bush by two or three feet. She claims it was blocking her ocean view while she cooks. Are you kidding me! Of course, I complained to the HOA and she was told to not touch anything on my property again. I was so mad. I mean, who does she think she is? I jokingly said to my husband that she thinks she is the mayor of that little corner of our community. She put a sign in the street (with an underlying threatening tone) during Covid that everyone needs to have a mask on when walking down the street that divides our homes. (Almost done venting...) She would even yell at people from her front porch, who were out for their daily beach walk, that weren't wearing masks, "Hey, put a mask on!" 

   

    For the most part, I think she is harmless. She is just terribly, terribly annoying and has no boundaries. I'm a little concerned though...a tree that lines the left side of my property line, that blossoms beautiful purple flowers has suddenly died (?). A healthy tree for six years, has shriveled up and died. This is a tree she asked us to trim three years ago, and like good neighbors - we trimmed the top down, so she could have an ocean view while she is at her kitchen window. From her front porch, she has a 180 degree view of the ocean. 

    We've been doing some renovations to the house the past few months, so she'll be seeing a lot of me. And for the record, we are planting a bigger tree where my dead once purple blossoming tree is now.  When we bought the place, a quiet lovely couple lived there. Sadly, they moved and we got a new neighbor. 

    Thank you all for reading my rant of a blog. I wish her no harm, but I do wish she would keep her voice down and only use her gardening sheers on her property. As for my dead tree, with once beautiful purple blossoms...we are installing Ring cameras. 

Maui

     These are the shores of Kihei, at the southwest end of Maui. We spent a week in Kihei - summer of 2022. It was our first time renting a condo for our vacation. In the past, we stayed at the Fairmont in Wailea. We decided to try something different. I went online and searched for ocean front condos. I found Kihei Condos and liked what I saw. Two things attracted me: the condos were on the beach and I liked the price!

I couldn’t help but think of all the money we would be saving on food and drinks. It also sounded private and relaxing. Before arriving, we stopped at the grocery store, stocked the fridge, bought some snacks and drinks; we were set for the week. The picture above shows the endless shores on the beach. This made for miles of walking and reflecting. 

    We were told by some locals that we had to experience Sugar Beach bakery. We brewed some coffee and set out on foot for some sweet treats. It was an interesting and colorful place. There was a line out the door. They were only letting one customer in at a time. I’m guessing because of Covid. They didn’t accept cash, but lucky for us and our iPhone  - Apple Pay! The locals were right, the cookies were rich and delicious. There were several beautiful roosters walking about the tables in front of the shop. This was one handsome fella!

    This is our view from inside our condo. We were on the second floor. Now that is what I call a deck with a view. I’m pretty sure I took this picture in the late afternoon…palm trees, stunning ocean, ever changing hues in the sky, and always a warm gentle breeze. I love the weather in Hawaii. For that one week, I never had to worry about feeling cold. I don’t like being cold! I live on the coast in Aptos, California (Santa Cruz County). It is a beautiful place to live and I feel blessed to live here, but it does get a little chilly at times.

            How about this for a walk on a warm evening with your loved one, a friend or by yourself.  

    If you could zoom in on this picture, you would be able to see the many stars! I was in bed sleeping and woke up during the night, opened my eyes and this is what I saw. I immediately grabbed my phone. You can see the white dots, but in real time, the bright stars were dancing in the jet black sky. 

     See you in May Maui! 🌴

Laundry room/She shed

    This is my laundry room.  It is also my office and art room. My husband designed this laundry room to also serve as my creative space. It has everything I need: light, a sink, water and lots of storage for "my stuff." If you opened every door, you would find watercolor and acrylic paints, brushes, color pencils, pens of every sort, yarn, crochet hooks, a sewing machine, creative journaling supplies, drawing tablets, lettering books, zentangle books and various art teaching books. Yes, laundry supplies too. I also have a pull out drawer to the right of the dryer, that unfolds into an ironing board. This room has it all...a little work and a lot of play.  

         I usually have a cup of coffee by my side when I'm working on a project or just playing around.

        I also do a little embroidery.  I penciled a design for a kitchen towel (that's an orange embroidery ring). To the left of that is my sketch journal and water colors on top. In the corner is an older picture of my six children. If you look closely, you can see five boys and a little ballerina. 

     I know what you're thinking...that I must be a pen hoarder. I prefer to think of myself as a  pen collector. I have always been very fond of writing implements. It all started with a color crayon many, many moons ago. I enjoy portrait and sight drawing and I've also been following a few YouTubers as of recent to learn how to "journal my day." It's like a drawing diary. It's great fun. Lettering is anther one of my favorite art mediums (calligraphy type writing). Amazon is my go to for most of my art needs, but there is nothing like browsing in your local art store. It's like therapy for me!

    If you're wondering why I mentioned She Shed in my title, it's because a friend of mine who lives in Auburn, posted pictures on Instagram of her adorable She Shed her husband built for her. I fell in love with it and wanted one. I expressed my desire for a She Shed to my husband. We were about to start landscaping our back yard, so I figured the timing was perfect. I was told I wouldn't be able to have running water or electricity in the shed. That was a deal breaker for me. Since then, he refers to my office as my She Shed. 

Kitchen

     This is my new kitchen. It's a dream come true! We had this home built and moved in December of 2020. It is a fry cry from the kitchen I was cooking in prior. I loved my old kitchen too. It was very small with green cabinetry. It was definitely cozy, with little working space.  It's' interesting how "you make it work." With a large family like mine, it was a challenge. I cook a lot. A family get together is a feast. My kitchen is a place where I can love up my family; through food!

    With that being said, I am in heaven with my new kitchen. The above picture is the view as I come around the corner each morning. I enjoy being up before anyone else, which is usually the case. A quiet and peaceful morning is my favorite time of day. No complaining or grouches allowed in the a.m. I honestly greet every morning with gratitude. The challenge is to stay in the mode of feeling blessed throughout the day, because life happens. Back to my kitchen...                                                                            

     It's pretty much state of the art. I am able to connect all my appliances to wifi. I could literally pre-heat the oven while I'm at Safeway grocery shopping. That would mean I'd have to pull out the manual and read the directions of how to do that. I just haven't felt like doing that. I don't mind turning my appliances on manually and I detest the thought of adding one more app to my phone that I have to figure out how to use. It just seems unnecessary. Someday, I'll do it when I have nothing better to do (which could possibly be never).

                                   

                                                    My new air fryer from Costco - love it!

         

                                               and our newest addition...an espresso machine! 

                                            yummy lattes made in the comfort of our own home 🤎

    

    Writing this blog has given me the idea that when I am feeling consumed by a little problem or something that is not going my way ~ to step into my kitchen and remember how fortunate I am to not only have a beautiful kitchen, but that I have a roof over my head, a stocked fridge and staples in my pantry. Attitude is everything.

              I can't forget this guy who goes with me from kitchen to kitchen.  A wedding gift from my 10 year old nephew, Jon who insisted to his mom he buy my husband and I a gift for our wedding. He was the ring bearer in our wedding 38 years ago. He bought this toothpick holder at the gift shop of the Radisson Hotel in San Jose, where we got married.

Joker

 

 

    

      This is a fun sketch I did of the Joker character from one of the latest Batman movies shown in the theaters. I watched the first Batman movie that came out years ago, but never watched the following versions. They seemed too dark (literally) and unappealing.

    

    I do, however remember the Batman TV series. I can still hear the theme music in my head. It was a good after school show. Adam West played Batman, Burt Ward as Robin and the insane Cesar Romero as the Joker. He was my favorite.  He was flamboyant, crazy and funny. He took clown make-up to a new level.  

    Cesar Romero probably displayed the most acting talent of the show; although the Penguin was pretty good too. When the Joker appeared on the the television screen as the villain for that episode, I was excited and became more engaged.

    During the Batman TV episode era, I had to get up from the sofa, walk over to the TV console, turn a knob with my hands to turn on the TV and  turn another knob to change the TV to one of 13 channels. 

Those were the days... I was probably having a bowl of after school Cornflakes too.

    

Incarceration

                                                                                    

                                                                     If only...  

                                                                    No freedom

                                                                    Confined

                                                                    Afraid

                                                                    Remorseful

                                                                    Chained

                                                                    Exposed

                                                                    Restitution

                                                                    Angry

                                                                    Tired

                                                                    Idle

                                                                    Offender

                                                                    New reality

(quick ink sketch I did)

                                                                         

                                                             

                                                                                    

                                              
 

Hammer

 

                                                                                   

    This simple picture holds much meaning. This small hammer is 60 plus years old.  It was my dad's hammer that he used for minor repairs and small projects. I was very close with my dad from a very young  age. I just loved hanging around with him and fascinated with everything he did. We spent a lot of time together mowing lawns, building fences and hanging out in his workshop that was in our garage.

    He could fix anything. He had that attitude of being able to fix anything and appreciated every fiix-it challenge. I watched him fix a lot of things and also re-purpose things for use in his work shop.

    I raised six kids, five of them being boys. I inherited my dad's skill and attitude for fixing things. I have fixed a lot of toys. It started with my attitude of,  "Sure, I can fix that. Let's take a look. " I was a good trouble shooter. Today, I look at things before I throw them out and think to myself,  "I can use this for this...or that." It's not that I can't afford to shop for new containers, fabric, jars, etc.  It's just something that is branded in my mind. I can still see my dad's lockers where he kept all his many tools, nails, screws and gadgets, that were stored in various re-purposed objects. I love to repurpose things! 

When my dad passed, I had to have this little hammer. It sat on his work bench and saw a lot of pounding in its day. It lives in my office/craft room. A lot of memories and inspiration in this little old tool.