Sunday July 22

As I sit here and type this, the thunder is very loud. Lots of lightning too. I didn't expect this. At first I thought the noise was the neighbor taking the garbarge can to the road, but wondered why it was so loud.
Earlier it was hot. After church today, Pat invited me to go with her to Alden Lane Nursery in Livermore.

The nursery was huge and spread out. Today was special with artists set up outside. There were painters with pictures and cards they had painted; several jewelry booths; pottery and sculptures.
See the large tree behind Pat. The next picture is a close-up of it.

It's a very interesting tree and through the archway was an area for children to do some painting or crafts. Pat and I loved this nursery. I found a red Penstemon plant that I've been looking for for two years and also bought a Coreopsis with a large single yellow flower.
It was really a fun afternoon.

The sculpture the man is working on is very impressive. Very clear detail. People were drawn to his work. He has a webpage.
If this nursery was closer to home, I would go there often!!

July Doings

It's been a while since I wrote on my blog. On Friday, July 13, Jill called to say she and Laura were in town wanted to meet for lunch. Laura suggested the Jantz Cafe. So, there they are, sitting across from me having lunch. I complimented Laura on her very pretty necklace, a horseshoe inbedded with sparkling stones. It was a birthday present from her boyfriend. Nice.
We played catch-up on what was going on in our worlds. They are keeping very busy.

Here's a picture of Kathryn with the beautiful quilt she made for Mandy, my granddaughter and her great-niece. Kathryn worked hard on it and got it done in record time. She really did a beautiful job.
It must be hard to give away something when she puts so much into it.
Kathryn showed me material for her next project; a quilt for herself.
My daughter Sandy is always knitting. I think it must be difficult for her to give away some of the beautiful things she knits. Must be nice to have talent.

4th of July in Atwater

Atwater always has a nice parade on the 4th of July. This year my friend Carole asked if I would like to ride in the rumble seat with her in her cousin Don's Model A. Of course I said yes. It sounded like a lot of fun.
We parked about 2 blocks from where the parade was to begin; an easy walk. We found Don and his Model A on Winton Way. A friend of his was trying to get the car started!! Don had driven to Ballico and all over and it was working fine until now.
Couldn't get it started, so we left the car, walked a block to watch the parade. Several minutes later and before the parade got started, Don decided to walk back to the car and try to start it again.
He walked back to get us and and said he got the car started. We got back in the rumble seat and moved slowly to get in line. Don had a good position this year in the parade. Number 3 in line. The Model A's were all riding together, and we slowly inched along. Then everyone stopped. Don's Model A stopped too. And wouldn't start again. That was the end of our riding in the parade.
We watched the parade in the shade of the big trees on the corner of Elm and Winton Way. It was still a fun day.

Here is a picture of Carole and her cousin Don.

4TH OF JULY LUNCH AT RANCHO GRANDE
At 2:00 p.m. the residents started filling up the Club House at the mobile home park for a lunch that was served at 3:00 p.m.
After lunch there was a drawing for cash prizes.

Here is John the manager calling out a winning number.
His wife Shirley let the winner choose an envelope with cash inside. The envelopes had different amounts inside.

John insisted he was shaking up the tickets, but the numbers called were nowhere near what Carolyn, Betty or I had. But near the end, Carolyn's number was called (543) and she won ten dollars.

After another winner my number was called (#544) and next finally John called out #545 and Betty won. She looks like she isn't going to share her prize.

So, now I'm home and listening to the fireworks both outside and on TV. Saw some beautiful fireworks outside. The ones that went high enough to be seen from here. They were going off in all directions. People must be shooting them off from their homes. It can't be legal. They are beautiful though.