Our monthly dinner date with Debbie Keehn

November at San Clemente.

December at the Capistrano Train Station

Art class Christmas party and critique

Some of the artwork (mostly collages) that Mary critiqued ( a Christmas party tradition).

By Carol

By me

By Nina

By Doris

Some of my art friends, dressed in their Christmas finery.
Esther, Penny and Carol.

Santa Barbara Christmas

Our cozy little cottage.

Awakened to a beautiful sunrise.

Our hosts left us this cute little Christmas tree.

Megan's childhood stocking was hung by the chimney with care in hopes that her mother would fill it with presents fair.

One of the Montecito mansions decorated to the hilt.( We couldn't find Oprah's house)

Christmas morning at the Santa Barbara Mission with a wonderful choir and orchestra.

Christmas dinner at one of the only restaurants open- A Chinese restaurant. Fa ra ra ra ra!

Went to the movies and saw Frost/Nixon- very, very good. We couldn't see "Last Chance Harvey" as we would have liked because Megan had to wait to see it with her boyfriend, Martin.

His sister produced it and her husband wrote and directed it. We also saw "Slumdog Millionaire". Wonderful.

Then on to L.A. to stay for a night at Megan's friend Amy's new house. She's at her parents for Christmas.

Had dinner with my brother.
This house was around the corner from his. Every year they add new decorations until the little house is positively dwarfed.

The view from Amy's window.

A drawing of Amy's father by Don Bachardy hanging in Amy's office.

A Bachardy portrait of Amy.

A beautiful drawing by Amy's mother, Jesse Homer French.

Megan having breakfast at The Alcove. (Two comments overheard- " $9.00 for a friggin bowl of oatmeal! " when it came to the table- " This could feed a family of five !")

Then on to shopping at the Soap Plant, the most wonderful quirky book and gift store. We also shopped at the new Americana shopping center in Glendale. It's like shopping in a real downtown. It even has a trolley. The stores were very upscale. Nancy wasn't feeling well and the crowds were horendous so we didn't stay long.

We had a wonderful time and it was so much fun being with Megan.
On the way to Santa Barbara we visited with Debbie Hill (Megan's stepmother) who's off on a trip around the world with three friends.
All the animals were so glad to see us when we got home

Book Club Christmas Party-2008

We read" The Flying Troutmans", which we all enjoyed. It was the story of a very disfunctional family. The mother was institutionalized and the aunt was driving the two kids to reunite with their father. It was a very funny road trip. Troutman was the family name.

Our host for the evening- Roxanne, who decorated her house beautifully for the party.

Beth surveys the scene.

Beth D., Barb and Nancy

Vickie, Beth, Laurie, and Barb

Kathy enjoys the soup and bread.

Some of the wonderful food. Laurie made this appetizer.

Beth D.'s fantastic lamb chops

Grapes rolled in cheese and nuts. Delicious! Made by Barb.

A wonderful cheese dip made by Roxanne who also made a big pot of soup.

Nancy's pumpkin squares

Goat cheese and nuts, by Laurie.

I cheated and brought the cake from our photo shoot.

Another delicious cake. I can't remember who brought this. I should because it was sooo good. I think Beth brought it and got it at the Claim Jumper.

Vickie made a wonderful shrimp appetizer but I didn't get a good picture of it. She always has a beautiful presentation.

Kathie brought wine.

We all contributed to the Fallbrook Food Pantry instead of giving each other presents, although Kathie also contributed to a plant- a- tree organization in our name and Vickie gave us bookmarks from The Great Elephant Poo Poo Paper company. They actually make the paper from elephant poo and part of the proceeds goes to the conservation of elephants. They have an interesting website; www.poopoopaper.com/

Our beautiful avocado trees

I live in the middle of an avocado grove and we also have our office here. It's a nice place to work. We also have an unlimited supply of avocados. Sometimes we even get tired of them. Last year was a particularly good year so that means next year won't be good. That's how it is with avocados. It's going to be worse now because there's a shortage of water and the price of water is going way up. Being a farmer is new to me and I know nothing about it. Luckily I don't have to because we have a grove management co. that handles all the details.

Our beautiful avocado trees