Post Thanksgiving

Ok, in a nutshell: The dinner was amazing thanks to hubby making wonderful food, the friends and fam were mellow which always helps and it was my birthday to boot. Our sailor called twice to say happy birthday to mom and give the heads up to his graduation, which is next week. Can you believe it! Everyone have a great weekend.

Benbow installment #3

Oopps! Took me a few days to get back to the Benbow weekend story, sorry I know you've been waiting with baited breath. We continued to drink champagne, I did mention earlier that the hotel provided us with a little split and also Jana brought a bottle, yumm! The dinner was great in the beautiful dining room of the hotel, Jana had grilled salmon with herbed mashed potatoes and I had bay scallops on rissotto. After that we played drunken checkers in the lovely lobby with a wonderful warm fire in the picturesque fireplace. Then for dessert we finished off the champagne and ate the wonderful chocolates we bought in Garberville earlier that day, did our usual facial and footsie soak, played around with some prompt creative writing cards and then when we couldn't keep our eyes open drifted off to dreamland. The next morning unfortunately we had to take off but not before having coffee on the little balcony overlooking the garden and the stone bridge. Headed off down highway 101 stopping at Ardellas in Willits for breakfast then home. The fact that I forgot my camera and Jana's memory card wasn't in hers (had been left in the computer in her office!) didn't matter, we will keep the weekend and beautiful scenery in our memory, that's where all my wonderful times live anyway. Have a greatful and happy thanksgiving tomorrow, and I'll have a great birthday too. Oh and I think this is my 100th post so on that note, watch for post 101 coming soon!

Benbow weekend continued

So where was I, oh yes just found yarn at the local Radio Shack. Then could hardly deal with The Garden of Beadin, cute name for a shop but could they burn anymore incense? We wrapped things up in Garberville and headed for Benbow to partake in teatime. The tea was warm and lovely with heart shaped scones on the side, yum. The fire was set in the beautiful fireplace in the hotel lobby, very cozy. We had a great room in the more modern section of the hotel which was built in the 1920's. There was a little balcony which looked out over the garden area that had a path that heads down to the river that runs under a beautiful old stone bridge. Looking out at the bridge prompted us to take a little walk before cocktail time. It was the most perfect crisp autumn day and along the road we collected a few leaves, twigs, pebbles and flowers for our little shadow box craft to be done later that evening. We always seem to need something as a project during our girlfriend gatherings. Ok, isn't this a fun story, you want more you say? Watch for the third installment tomorrow. Have a great Saturday.

A fab birthday treat

Last weekend I was treated by my bff Jana to a girlfriend over night at Benbow, a beautiful historic hotel in the redwood forest near the town of Garberville. We got a nice early start Saturday morning and up the highway in Laytonville visted a cute quilting store called the Fat Quail. A great little shop and with the friendliest shopkeeper Debbie. Jan bought some fabric for a quilt she is working on and I bought beads in case I was feeling crafty later. We then kept motoring on up highway 101 and stopped at the Peghouse, one of those typical shops near the road in Humboldt county where you can find all sorts of redwood trinkets etc. Arriving about noon in Garberville we decided to do the tourist thing before heading to the hotel to check in. If any of you know anything about Garberville, it is a very small town with a mixed population of rednecks and hippies with a varied collection of shops so when we inquired as to whether there was a yarn shop in town from the woman behind the counter at the Humane Society thrift store we shouldn't have been suprised at what she said. We were told to look at the local Radio Shack, oh yeah I thought she had been smoking a little too much of the local crop if you know what I mean! But the girls at the Hemp clothing store also directed us that direction. You gotta love a small town where the Radio Shack also carries fabric and knitting supplies! Well, watch for tomorrows post so I can continue on about our lovely weekend, drunken evening and all...

Navy boot camp news and other stuff

We got another letter from Navy boot camp yesterday. The sailor had his wisdom teeth out and I guess while he was under the influence of some pretty good pain meds told his C.O. that he loved him and that his smile brought joy to the world. Bet the Chief loved that. On a positive note we did find out that there hadn't been a phone call yet because the day that would have happened he was still passed out recovering from the teeth extraction so it isn't due to him having some infraction and getting priveliges yanked. He will get to spend Thanksgiving with some other recruits at local families homes with a program called adopt a sailor, he sounds like he is really looking forward to that. Told Tiff to make sure her phone was charged so the call will go through for good old mom's birthday and Thanksgiving. He is also very much enjoying all the snail mail especially commenting on the letters from his childhood pal Garrett who is also a sailor, his godparents the Manzanos and old family friends the Merians. Well, in closing want to thank all of you who have been so wonderful in showing all your love and support to us and the newlyweds while Dan is off beginning his career in the Navy. Have a wonderful weekend and watch for more interesting post from The Fridge Magnet Chronicles!

Samhainn...

Last Friday I spent the evening with a room full of women sharing a goddess circle. Our hostess Tina took us through the pagan celebration of Samhainn and it was an amazing experience. She offered a beautiful beaded "talking" stick that we each used in turn to invite a special loved one from the spirit world to join us. We then received a length of string with which we could tie knots to represent things in our lives that we want to banish so that we could start the new year without the burdens holding us back from achieving successes or good health etc. As the evening progressed we were asked to share unless it was too emotional to do so. I was moved to tears at a few of the declarations from some of my circle companions. The string was then buried under the oak tree in Tina's back yard and we were giving a lovely acorn to represent the growth we can now experience burden free. I can only say from my own experience of the evening is that I am now feeling worthy to progress to the completion of my story collection and that my fear for what the future has in store for D and T isn't so intense. Our next gathering will be in honor of the winter solstice, looking forward to what the goddess circle will bring forth next.

One more month til graduation

Well, one month from today barring no attitude from the sailor that could delay his graduation we will be at the basic training station of Great lakes Illinois! Have gotten our flights and then low and behold found out that we can take an airport express the 29 miles to the base. Was I ever relieved, we Californians were not looking forward to driving a rental car on unfamiliar highway in who knows what kind of weather. So have a good first week of November, isn't this last part of the year just flying by! Will keep you posted.