Live, Love, Laugh.... WOW what a year!

life is not a journey to the grave with the intention of

arriving safely in a perfectly and well

preserved body, but rather to skid in broad-side,

thoroughly used up, totally worn out and

loudly proclaiming

"Wow, what a ride!"

                                                                                              anonymous

Seven Days in December

The hills and fields are turning green.

Christmas is in the air.

Maria and I went for a bike ride along the foothills last week.  And enjoyed many a conversation and took in the surrounding beauty.  This is some of what we saw.

A beautiful gate entrance to a working ranch.

The rolling green hills.

Majestic grand old oak trees.

Cows grazing on the hillside and travelers across the sky.

A hanglider in the sky feeling the freedom of  a bird in flight.

Ralle on our regular morning walks.

Every morning and evening Neta and I take Ralle on a walk around our neighborhood.  It is always a fun and happy experience for all of us.  We meet people and we see the world around us.

A Blackbird with red markings near a pond.

So many birds.

Exactly how we feel every morning.

Many houses have decorated for the holidays.  It is fun to see.

Beauty is everywhere.

This little guy on our back porch was torturing our Mister Kitty. 

Morning shadows make for a soothing comfort.

A smile in the making.

The last few days have been cold and rainy making for a different beauty.

The sun can sometimes peak out of the clouds and shine on someone.

Someone has a pot of gold.

The Rain.

Last Thursday I drove Neta and Maria to Monterey to go shopping.  Ralle and I went to the coast for a walk.  There were unusually high and low tides during this time.  The waves were strong and high.

The Beauty.

The Power.

The Diversity.

We are lucky to live in such a large park (golf courses).

So many stories.

Looking out our dining room window as we have our morning coffee.

Neta sitting and reading in our living room.

Watching Ralle.

It is a wondrous miracle on this planet.

Snow Chaos in Stockholm - Not Here :-)

While we sip our first cup of Joe in the mornings we usually check up on our friends over in Sweden.

I admit that I still feel like I /We have one foot over there......

Here in California the citrus fruit is ready for harvest.. lemons, oranges and limes along with persimmons.  Trees loaded and naturally decorated for the Holiday ahead!

Yes snow is nice.  Yes snow makes the otherwise dark country side light.  And yes Ralle would like a good roll in the snow right about now.

There are moments especially this time of the year when I might say that I miss it but for the most part... not so much.

All those CLOTHES!  Yikes.

The following is a pictorial of this mornings Ralle walk.

Not bad, if I might say so myself.

The only bad thing this morning was that it was a ZIP ( 0 ) golf ball day!

Came back to a cozy home.

Wild Weather in the West & Other Stuff

Storm warnings heeded!  We get out the door in an attempt to get the morning walk in before it gets too crazy.

It was too early for  even the bravest of the golfers to have started Ting off yet so we did a NO- NO and walked on the golf cart paths.

We ran in to a huge flock of turkeys and a hare and Ralle on his long line got to do a bit of chasing and loved every moment.

It was a "two golf ball" day too.  Every day we find some on our walks.  The record being a "five golf ball" day.  We have Pinacles, Callaway, Noodle, Nike and Titleist plus oodles of striped driving range balls.  For me it is a bit like it was with the peacock feathers in Mariposa.... it is not "right" to just let them lay there!  We find them at the edges of the streets where we walk everyday. If you are in need of golf balls just call us!

As we were "speed walking" on the golf course this morning we had a woman come running out of her house in her robe!  "My name is Valerie," she said.  "I see you walking so often and I just want to meet your dog".  There we are, the wind is ripping at her robe, Ralle is really exited as he was just chasing that rabbit, so he is really animated as we stand there and chat about what a delight he is!  Great fun for all of us!

Then we came home.  Brewed a PROPER pot of tea and settled down to check on the internet news.

"A daily drink can help bones" caught my eye.  Sure enough, Urszula Iwanec at the Oregon State University did a study and published an article about "a moderate amount of alcohol for women over fifty-five years of age have a lower risk of osteoporosis if they consume a glass of wine or two a day".

"A moderate amount of alcohol protects the bones and slows the rate of bone turn over and therefore these women have higher bone density".  Hmmm.  I like that report thank you very much!

Then as I read yet another article that said: "Tai chi prevents falls" and I new I had hit the jack pot! Problem was I thought it said Chai Tea another one of my most favorite drinks.... Oh well, you can't win them ALL.