Whitewater Preserve

So, our daughter, who is still on winter break (she's a teacher, and so is her husband), PLANNED a day trip for us and their two young children.  This trip was up to the Whitewater Preserve.

Now, let me preface this by saying our two 10,000 foot mountains have... NO SNOW!  No snow in January, 2018!  UNBELIEVEABLE!  Not a drop of snow anywhere...sigh...

So, I wasn't sure how much, if any, water would be in the Whitewater River, which runs next to the preserve.  I was surprised to see that there actually was some.  I think our mountains got their last "dusting" of snow back in October  (I could be wrong about that...)

Anyway, we met them at the Whitewater exit and drove up to the preserve.  It was Tuesday morning, 9 a.m. and the parking lot hadn't filled up yet.

OH MY GOODNESS!

There were beautiful orange, yellow, brown, and even red leaves... EVERYWHERE!  They covered the roofs above the picnic tables.  They covered the tables.  They covered the parking lot.  They covered the ground and the 2 grandkids were delighted to kick them everywhere!  Such joy!  Such youthful pleasure in simple things!

I stood there with my mouth OPEN just soaking in all the colors of the leaves! 

(It will probably take me 2 days to post all the photos I took)!!!!!!!

So, here goes:

 This is the view of the mountains which SHOULD have snow on them this time of year!

 The Whitewater River

 Leaves in the parking lot

 I loved seeing all the leaves on the roof!

 Lots of LOTS of leaves!

 Whee!  Such JOY!

 Awesome!

 More awesomeness!

More photos tomorrow!  Stay tuned!

Hubby and I took a day off yesterday!

After Thursday and Friday's mad DECLUTTERING, hubby and I took a day off yesterday.  Well, HE DID.

I mopped the kitchen floor, vacuumed the entire house, and dusted off items in my office!  I still have some work to do in it, but that can wait.  I even made a new video for my YouTube channel (deserthorses5)...It is about my own, personal journal.

We'll be back at work decluttering and donating today!   :-)  FOR SURE!  It's our last chance before the new tax law goes into effect and we are NOT happy about THAT AT ALL!!!!!!

Have a safe, happy, and sane NEW YEAR!
~Cheryl Ann~

CLEANING, purging, and decluttering... oh, my!

You know, I hadn't purged my closets since I retired in May, 2016.  It was TIME, especially with the new tax law going into effect.  So, Tuesday I retreated to the bedroom and purged... and purged... and purged.  Later that day, I had 10 HUGE bags of clothes ready for the thrift store and then I purged some more and I had 5 more!   :-)  I certainly DO NOT NEED a bunch of dress pants, skirts, and tops! And dresses!  No, no, no!  I'm a jeans and t-shirt gal now!  I also donated 10 bags of books!  PHEW!  Then, I spent 2 days cleaning up and rearranging my office.  NOW I can actually GET INTO IT!  YAY!  I set my laptop up on my table near the window, but away from the dust.  Our son is always reminding me that sitting it right next to the window is a BAD IDEA and then he has to come and blow out all the dust! 

Lesson learned.

Yesterday hubby went through one closet of HIS work clothes and we now have 10 bags of his stuff to go to the thrift store.  And, he still has his MAIN CLOSET to do today!

PHEW!  By 7 p.m. last night, we were both exhausted!  Cleaning is very tiring!

If I don't post again until the new year, have a
HAPPY NEW YEAR!  and STAY WARM!

~Cheryl Ann~

Merry Christmas and Living Desert pics

No words needed here except Merry Christmas!  Okay...maybe a few words for each photo!

 I've always loved this garden gate at the Living Desert plant center.  They CLOSED the plant center and they are busy turning it into an animal exhibit!  Bummer!  I bought quite a few plants from them.

 Another view of the garden patio.

 I LOVE the tall, stately palm trees!

 This fella was cleaning himself!

 Pretty buds.

 The 20 month old is learning "OUCH, STAY AWAY!"

 More "OUCH!"  No, he didn't touch any of these.  He was off looking at the jaguar.

 Lights hanging down at the gift shop.

The little guy LOVES the Christmas tree with all the stuffed animals and balls on it.

MERRY CHRISTMAS to you and your family!
~Cheryl Ann~

Living Desert visit with the grandson

Our daughter, a teacher, is off now for 2 more weeks (winter break), so yesterday she wanted to take the 20 month old to the Living Desert Reserve to wear him out.  HA, HA!   He wore GRANDMA out!  I came home and took a 2 1/2 hour NAP!!!!  Actually, he went home and slept for 1.5 hours, and so did his mom, so it was a success!

Unfortunately, he fell head first onto one of the rock lined drinking fountains and got a new boo-boo on his forehead.  I could hear him screaming 100 yards away!  (I went ahead to the carousel, DETERMINED that he was GONNA ride it with me).  So, we picked out an appropriate animal (the lion) and off he went, SCREAMING again!  OY!  My ears!  And, those were once again REAL TEARS streaming down his face!   :-(  He couldn't WAIT to get back to Momma and away from mean old NANA!

Oh, well...At least we got out for the morning.  Hubby took his new LUMIX hand sized camera and took photos and videos.  I'll be able to use that one for my YouTube videos now!  WHOOPIE!  And, I won't have to upload videos from my cell phone!

Below are a few photos from that HORRIBLE morning (horrible for the 20 month old, I guess)!  The rest of us enjoyed our outing and we are RETURNING this morning with the 4 year old.  It's GOOD for Nana and Papa to get out and WALK!!!!!

 He LOVES the trains!  This is one of the largest model train exhibits in the country... 3/4 acre.

 Yup.  He's ALL READY for his big adventures!  Look at the pants leg.  And, he INSISTS on carrying his backpack full of diapers! 

Getting tired (FINALLY).  He climbed up onto EVERY BENCH he saw in the park!   OY!

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.