Reality sets in...

Hubby and I both retired in 2016.  I retired April 30 (the day our 2nd grandson was born!) and hubby retired that August.  We had such WONDERFUL travel plans...

...sigh...

At the time, we had the Nissan XTerra.  While it wasn't a 4 wheel drive model, it WAS high clearance and we did do a little bit of exploring off road with it.  But, hubby never wanted to really push it.  I did!  He didn't want it scratched.  He didn't want it muddied...you get the picture.

Then, this summer, he traded it in for a... HYBRID!  YES!  He bought a Nissan Rogue hybrid (probably the last car we will ever buy)...We LOVE IT, but off roading?  Uh...nope.  We love the gas mileage and we both forget to fill it up!  (GOOD THING, with the price of gasoline here in California).  On the way to our daughter's home in Indio yesterday afternoon, gas prices ranged from $2.89 to $3.39, depending on the station.

So...our plans?

We have... NONE.  He's still recovering from a horrible cold (and has coughing fits).  I'm content working on my journals and my art books.  Hmmmm.....

I NEVER would have thought that he would be the homebody that he is!  As the oldest of 4 children, the other 3 are all over California!  But, hubby has settled down to within a mile of his parents' house in Rancho Mirage!  GO FIGURE!  If you had made me a bet when we were in our 30's, I would have bet we would have moved several times.  Instead, we have now been in our home for...41 years!  I guess we are turning into our grandparents!

I enjoy feeding the birds out front and back and doing a little gardening.  The Swiss chard I planted last fall made it through the summer and is now thriving.  So is the mint I planted out back and the 2 kinds of lavender!  I threw out sunflower seeds and I have little seedlings coming up ALL OVER out back!  HA!  The birds will have a feast this spring!  We both enjoy watching the Cooper's hawks (2 of them) that terrorize the neighborhood and the black & white feral cat showed up yesterday morning.  She was out back chewing on SOMETHING and after she left (she's VERY wary of people)...I couldn't find anything on the ground, so I guess it wasn't a bird she was eating.  Maybe it was a tree rat!?

So, life is slower now, but, you know, we are both enjoying it.  Hubby sits and watches the news all day and harasses readers on the Washington Post.  I feed the birds, do a little gardening, occasionally rake up the yard, and work on my journals.

We are content.

~~Cheryl Ann~

Winter plans

What are our winter plans?

HA~~~  We have NONE!  It looks like we are pretty much just staying home.  Hubby has a HORRIBLE, HORRIBLE cold and I took him to urgent care on Monday.  He's been coughing, sneezing, and wheezing now for 4 days.  Today he is going to Walgreens to pick up some antibiotics.  I haven't seen him this sick since the last time he had pneumonia!  Please send good wishes his way.

I'm currently working on two art journals, not writing journals.  I found a You Tuber lady up in Northern California whose work I really liked and she has about 30 tutorials.  I started at video #1 and now I'm on #13.  The books are SO FAT I cannot close them!  When I get done, I'll show you some photos and do a You Tube flip through of them!  I've made pockets, pop up pages, and windows.  It has been a lot of fun and I think one reason I haven't been sick (YET...) is because I'm so focused on finishing them.

After I finish them, I want to work on some spring journals.  We have had ZERO rain here since August, so I don't think there will be many wildflowers up on Highway 74 this year, although they have had rain when we didn't down here in the desert, so who knows?  It certainly won't be a bumper crop!

We went to see our son because granddaughter #2 had her 3rd birthday last weekend.  It was a fun day for all.  We gave her an art kit with crayons, colored pencils, and pastels and by that evening, she was busy making art!   :-)  Her dad (our son) was a fairly decent artist himself.  I have absolutely NO talent for art, however, and neither does my husband, so we don't know where our son got his talent...

So, we are basically just hanging in there for now.  No big plans for Christmas...I DO have a date to make Christmas cookies with our daughter, so that will be a fun filled morning!  That is after she's off for the 3 week winter break.

Stay well and keep busy!
Here are a few pics of what I've done so far...
~~Cheryl Ann~~

 I call this "The Wonder of It All"

 This is the pocket window.  The window is plastic.

Yellow flower on black gesso with stencils.

A different kind of journey

I've been home making a family memory journal.  This is the first one of its kind that I've done and it was QUITE an emotional ride!  It took me a week to make it and I already had 2 boxes of my dad's photos and family papers.  I just didn't want to rush it.  I wanted to take my time.

You can see it here:      https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YSxUmMFvM5Uhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YSxUmMFvM5U

I had a really hard time ending this one.  I still keep it on my desk and pull it out and look at it and frankly, it has been HARD to even start another journal, but I started one last night and I'm pluggin' away at it.  I NEED to move on.

I never knew my dad's family.  They all lived back in Connecticut and he moved out here to California before WWII.  He did take us back to Connecticut when I was about 4 years old (I do remember the train ride...), and his parents did come to California before I was born.  I wish I had known his parents.  It is a shame I really didn't...and I regret that.  They WERE my grandparents and, as a grandparent myself now, I don't think I could live without knowing our precious little bundles of joy (all 5 of them!)  But, I guess things were different then...My mom didn't like her mother-in-law (I don't know WHY...), so she "discouraged" any more trips back to Connecticut.  My grandmother died when I was about 12, so I could have visited her and I WOULD have remembered her.  I kind of resent my mother for that.

I did, however, grow up with her parents, whom I dearly LOVED.  And, my next family album (journal) will be about that side of my family.  I have many, many, many fond memories of that set of grandparents, but, you know, why couldn't I have similar memories of my dad's parents?  It doesn't seem fair...sigh...but that's life...

Anyway, have a great day tomorrow.
~Cheryl Ann~

Got my sunflowers planted and nasturtiums, too!

We didn't have any babysitting stuff yesterday and I'm taking a break from journal making, so I headed outdoors.  It was a nice morning here, so I gathered up my seed packets and did a quick inventory.  I have a TON of sunflower seeds, so I planted 2 packs (from 2016...) out back under the dripping hose and the bird bath.  There are a few already sprouting there from loose birdseed anyway, so I figured, why not?

Then I went out front and planted nasturtiums and some kind of white daisy seeds along the front walk.  The nasturtiums are coming up from last years' crop too! 

Today I'll go out and plant a few more sunflowers here and there.  I have about a dozen packets to plant.  And, like I said, some are from 2016, so I'm not sure how many of those will sprout.

I'm anxious to plant my sweet peas and hollyhocks along the back chain link fence.  I MAY get to do that Friday.  We have babysitting today, tomorrow, and Saturday morning...so we'll see...

This is a good time to plant things here in the desert.  This is one of the prime growing seasons.  There is a huge plot down by our daughter's home and sometimes I see a big green John Deere tractor there.  The 4 year old granddaughter always enjoys seeing the big green tractor!

Until tomorrow then...

~Cheryl Ann~

PEEK A BOO!

Our daughter and her two children getting ready to head out for Halloween.  Daddy dressed up as a pirate, but stayed home to pass out candy.

Black and white barn~For Gaelyn

Gaelyn Olmstead nominated me to participate in her black & white challenge this week, so I have been posting photos on Facebook.

Here is today's photo:

 Abandoned house somewhere in Arizona... for today...

 I posted this flower from the Living Desert Reserve...

The previous day was a photo up at the ranch where I board my horses.

And, yesterday's photo was this one of plant leaves at the Living Desert Reserve.

I've enjoyed changing some of these to black & white and I think I'll keep doing this!

Thank you, Gaelyn, for pushing me to do this!

Here's a link to Gaelyn's Facebook page:

https://www.facebook.com/gaelyn.olmsted

First Christmas journal ETSY

Okay, so I FINALLY decided to post and hopefully sell my first journal!  It is a handmade Christmas one, a chunky monkey, with over 164 pages!  She has Christmas stationery, coffee dyed papers, Christmas cards and envelopes, lace, fabric tags, and a fabric cover!

Here is the link to her at my newly reopened ETSY shop:

https://www.etsy.com/listing/554857582/christmas-journal-fabric-covered?ref=shop_home_active_1

PLEASE stop by and take a look.  I will be adding more journals today, after I take photos of them!

Phew!  I have about 7 other ones to add...2 fall ones, 2 cooking type ones, 1 horse one, and 2 more Christmas journals!  Hubby says it is TIME for me to do this and he's right...I think I've FINALLY got my journal making process down!

TIA (Thank you in advance)!

~~Cheryl Ann~