Outdoors Wednesday....Escondido Creek Style....

Here is a hiking trail we visited with our sons recently. The boys live quite a distance from us and sometimes we will meet halfway between our house and theirs. This is near Escondido, but midway to the coast. It is called the Escondido Creek and there are some nice hiking trails. The one we chose this day went pretty much straight up to the reservoir.
Of course, Lola being part fish, had to take a little swim before the hike got started.

There weren't a lot of wild flowers. By now, it is getting too dry and warm.

This is part way up. This is a water reservoir for the area. We sat by the rest stop and had a snack and a cool cup of water.

Aren't they a great looking group of hikers!

Taking in the view.

This is at the top. Straight out is the Pacific Ocean. It was such a beautiful view. The day was a bit cloudy which is typical June weather. We were happy for the cool weather. The hike was a bit difficult for me and the heat would have made it that much worse. I like walking a lot, and this was a great day, but the trail was quite rocky and I get nervous with a steep grade and a rocky trail. This view and the time with the boys and Anna was well worth it!

Check out Susan for more Outdoor Wednesdays.

Fun in the mud...

Yesterday we went to Glen Ivy to celebrate Anna's birthday. Glen Ivy is a wonderful spa in Corona. It is so relaxing with many waterfalls and tropical plants all over the place.
It was a really nice day, weather wise too. We spent the day going from hot saline tubs, to swimming pools, to the natural sulfur baths.

Debbie and Chelsey look so relaxed already...

But most of the day seemed to be spent in the mud!

I think Anna looks like she had a great day at the spa.

Happy Birthday Anna!!

Look what I found...

My sister, Debbie and I drove down to Buena Park for a summer craft fair. It was pretty small but I managed to find a couple of things that had to come home with me. I collect Fiesta Ware in Periwinkle and Yellow and even though this pitcher isn't Fiesta Ware, I think it will look nice in my hutch . I can't read the company's name on the bottom, but it says made in the USA and that means it must be pretty old because sadly, not much is made here any more.
I got a couple of signs to put on my front porch. They are bright and cheery and this one made me think of 4th of July which will soon be here.

This one just said Summer to me.

I put it in a tub of flowers and ivy that I keep in front of my front porch.

I found these vintage fabric strips there too and I thought I could make a scrappy table runner. Debbie got some too. Wonder what she'll make out of hers?

We stopped at a quilt store nearby and I found some fabrics to make a table topper. I hope I can finish it before the 4th of July. I think it will look nice on my kitchen table when we have everyone over for a barbecue.

I had fun yesterday. Thanks, Debbie, for going with me!

Outdoors Wednesday...San Bernardino style...

Today is going to be a hot one, so I headed out early to garden for a couple of hours. Yesterday was all about mowing and heavy work and I had enough sun, so I decided to just trim and dead head in the shade. This is part of the west side of my yard that's under the huge apple tree.
Here's another angle in that area. My grass is almost filled in from the bunny infestation we had last year. Those pesky rabbits ate everything in sight! Including my lawn!



This Polka Dot Plant loves the shade. Most people have them indoors, but then again...I'm not most people!

I have a dwarf peach tree and it is loaded with peaches. I think we started thinning to late though, because they aren't very big this year.

The Black-eyed Susan's are getting really big. I should have flowers before too long. I planted my first plant about seven years ago and that plant has been split many times for my yard as well as my son's yard in San Diego and my sister's yard in Rancho Cucamonga.
The Liquid Amber tree in the pot moves all about the yard depending on the season. It was graciously planted by birds in another pot that it out grew years ago. It is too small to go in the ground yet and we are still deciding on it's permanent home.

I couldn't sign off without a big flower picture. I love Gerber Daisies and I have them sprinkled all over the back yard. There are so many vibrant colors and they just perk up the scenery. I also love taking close ups of flowers.

How's your garden growing?

Yeah...that's me alright...

Today's trip to the library brought me right past this book, so I just had to check it out. I will be the first one to admit that I'm side bar and button challenged, but with the help of this book, how can I go wrong! Hopefully over the next couple of weeks I can learn something.

One never knows...

Some new bags...

It seems as though I am still in a black and white mood. This one is going on my Etsy site. It's about time I add something in my shop. It's in a pathetic state due to all the custom orders I have been filling...not that I'm complaining. Keep those custom orders coming! This red and aqua bag is a custom order I finished. I enjoy the red work and this one was so much fun to make!

It's been so beautiful outside lately that's it's been tempting me away from sewing, but today I managed to get in quite a few hours of sewing.
I hope you had a great day!

Here's more...

Here's more of a peek inside the botanical building at Balboa Park. This top picture doesn't do justice to the colors here. It was all purple and orange plants. Even the elephant ears were purple. The flowers were were breath taking. There were so many different types of orchids and I took pictures of most of them but I can only post a few. The fuchsias were beautiful as well.

Enjoy!!

Outdoor Wednesday San Diego style...

My sons had the day off today, so I packed up the car with goodies for them, and drove the 90 minute drive down to San Diego to visit them. I love San Diego and can totally see why they went down there to college and never returned.
Of course as soon as I arrived, they were hungry. What can I say...they're guys... and they are always hungry! We went to one of their local favorites. It's called Lucha Libre and it's decorated with everything Mexican wrestling. We talked to the owner and he said that they were to be featured on Man vs Food tonight. It's quite a cool place and the food is wonderful. Did I mention that all the food was named after wrestling too...I had the "Tap Out " taco. It's huge and wonderful. One of these and you are tapped out!

Our plans were to go to dog beach today. We thought Lola would love that, but it was much to cold to do that, so after we ate, we headed over to Balboa Park. This is where the San Diego zoo is located, as well as many museums. Most of the museums' buildings were built in 1915, for the Worlds Fair. The buildings themselves are works of art!



Here are my sons, Joseph and Stephen, trying to decide whether we should cut across the canyon or walk up amongst the buildings. I had to sneak the shot, they hate posing for pictures.



We decided to walk amongst the buildings and I'm glad we did. Here is a huge statue of a Spanish Conquistador. The boys tell me that if the horses leg is held up, the soldier was victorious.

We walked by a large water area where there were so many water lilies in every color imaginable.

And fish! Aren't they cute.

Here is a huge botanical garden building we visited. Inside was incredible, only its not really inside. It is made like a huge cage, so the rain will come right through. Inside it is meant to act like a jungle canopy and it does.

Here are just some of the beautiful orchids and plants that awaited us. I will post more of the flowers tomorrow.

We decided to end our day by visiting the Museum of Art. They had several rooms in there with artists from the 1300-1800's from America, France, Italy and Russia. It was interesting to see how the styles evolved through the centuries and how different each country's styles were. We had our favorite and it was an American painter with a painting called "Cranberry Harvest". I forgot to write down the artist's name, but it was painted in 1776. I couldn't take pictures inside so I have nothing to show except the building. This was one of the few buildings built after the World's Fair.

I had a great day as usual, visiting my sons. I will go back in a week or two and maybe then it will be warm enough to take Lola to the beach!