Our Busy Boy

Saturday am you could find helpful Michael up on the roof with his always busy Dad.

If you remember the storm last week and how the rain water came blowing into our family room, my boys were up on the roof pouring water seal into as many nooks and crannies as they could find.

And cleaning the skylights while they were at it.

What a beautiful fall day from up on the housetop.

Then there were other things to take care of.  Like washing the car, driving it to a drop off  point, maybe working on college apps, showering, putting on a tux, and then off to Coronation.

The kids and parents all met for pictures before taking a bus up to Hirschman's winery for a great dinner.
Here's Nick Hirschman, Michael, and Jake Hackman-Salazar.

Then Kira showed up looking beautiful as ever.

What a couple of handsome kids!  Nice shoes Michael.
Have fun.
Wow, my baby is SOOOO OLD.
Me too.

Pistache Tree

When I was planning what to plant in our front yard a couple years ago, I made sure to include my favorite Nor Cal autumn tree. The decorative pistache trees around here have every fall color imaginable. They range from green to deep maroon, red, orange, and yellow.

This is our neighbor's fully mature Pistache tree. Such a pretty shape, size and amazing colors.
Right?

This is our Pistache tree. (it's the little one in the foreground). At this point there is hardly any color other than green. It is healthy and it's sure to grow big and strong in the not so near future, but at this point we are watching and hoping that it will not be too much longer, in dog years?, that we will have to wait.

Oh, and.....

I forgot to show my probably, nearly favorite of all the fall items.

I have these BEAUTIFUL glass pumpkins, gourds, leaves, etc. I try to add to my collection every year or so, but with Stephanie playing volleyball out of state for the past few years, I have had to miss our annual Los Gatos Pumpkin Patch. Maybe I'll again add to my stash next year, but in the meantime here are some of my gorgeous pumpkins for your enjoyment.

Decor Galore

I like decorating for the holidays, but also save EVERYTHING so i don't have to buy again or spend my time recreating.

Here are some examples of things we've accumulated around here for the fall Halloween season.

My seestor Kathy made this kitchen witch for me about 20 years ago. She rides through the air on a long wooden stirring spoon. Notice the wall plaque to the left with halloween decals gesso'd onto it. I made this at R.S. homemaking night about that long ago too.

I picked this up at the San Francisco gift fair a few years ago. Michelle Walton used to take me and we would spend our cash on some fun stuff like this punch bowl.

... and the glass mugs on the left top of this display.

... and this is probably my favorite. We bought these cool black feather tree's for hanging these awesome glass ornaments.  Because I like Christmas ornaments so much, this really fits my taste and is unique at the same time.

Just look at this Teddy Bear all decked out as a Witch. Isn't she just perfect?

I can't forget all the fun things my kids have brought home from school over the years. This little ghost isn't so young himself.
I also have great fall leaves all over the shelves, tables and counters. They add to the ambiance greatly.

Let's not forget the extensive wood painting that we did in R.S. in the 80's. These cats and pumpkin have been lurking around our house for probably 25 years.

This is another reversible fall wall hanging.  I think it is very clever.

Are you completely sick of this yet? I made these wonderful ghosts while still in college, at the art shop in the student union building. What a dork. But aren't they cute?

Lexy is quite the stylist. I think we are having fun trying on the witch head band.

Lena looks pretty adorable in it, don't you think?

So, after seeing a smattering of my fun house at Halloween, you probably think I'm a bit of a freak. But I just want you to know there are far more obsessed people out there.

People who spend all their time on what to do for "All Hallows Eve".


I found this site by clicking on "next blog" up in the left hand top side of my blog. I've done this a couple other times before and have been directed to sites that are in other languages, etc. I just thought this one was bizarre. I didn't know there was a whole group of people out there that had halloween as their first interest in life.
Velly Interesting.
Just thought you should know.

"Saturday is a Special Day"

We went on a bike ride, just the Hubby and me.
What a beautiful day it turned out to be.

After the long cool week of very crazy weather,
It ended up like Nor Cal - yeah it couldn't have been better.

Along the freeway it's very flat riding
Pampas grasses and sumac, it's not very tiring.

We found a walking bridge just over the loud road,

Went up it and crossed, found many other abodes.

Out trusty bikes took us on a little shopping spree,
Where we bought him a present (oh wait it's for me)

We rode back through downtown Campbell, looked like the place to see,
'Cause Oktoberfest was happening, a happy thing for me (?)

Then home we went, you could see on the trail
Many birds and some ponds, and many people with bells.

What a DORK!

The Deluge

Northern California has gone about 4 months with nary a trace of precipitation until today.

Wow, it was crazy. We got at least 3.8 inches - at least that was the amount reported in Los Gatos.
Check out the gutter on the bottom right of this pix.

I think it could've been closer to 5 inches, because our pool rose up past the last tiles, and decoration, clear to the top of the brick where it meets the deck of the pool.
You really have to click and enlarge these pictures to appreciate how much rain was coming down.

This back yard has puddles everywhere, and tree branches out on the lawn from our huge Ash's.

We have to sweep the debris away from the one drain that works. It then flows nicely for a while. The drain in the center of the patio is completely clogged with roots from the trees.
The wind was nuts too. Huge gusts brought rain down in all directions.

Oh, observe this too. It's raining in the family room. The Hubby and Michael repaired all around the skylights, gutter of the roof, and anything they thought might be causing this issue last summer, but somehow not all the leaks were fixed.

Nice tupperware bowls catching the frequent drip drop of the water pretty much all day. It spashed allover the area of the floor and we soaked lots of towels.
....And the internet was down for several hours. I'm not complaining though because at least we never lost power, and we do need the moisture.
Fun times were had by all.

I'd better go wash towels.

Relaxing

As a followup  to my last post, I want to indicate that I did accomplish a few things before we left on our week long vacation.
The lunch bags for my Young Women got completed, and the blanket all cut out.
I, however, got my direction turned when my daughter Stephanie called to say she needed me to bring a few things to Utah when I came. I then ran to the store for a zipper and finished repairing a couple pairs of pants so I could bring them to her.

Moving on, I want to say how beautiful Utah is this time of year. Park City is ablaze with oranges, reds, and especially yellows. These bright fall colors with the evergreens all mixed in, make for a spectacular site.

And this picture of the Salt Lake Temple taken from where Stephanie works in a restaurant across the street is pretty amazing too. We were able to take in General Conference while we were there. My Mom and Dad came to stay with us in the Park City Condo, and they were a delight.

Michael left on Sunday and Kathryn, Austin, and Ellery came that evening to stay the rest of the week.

Cute pumpkin hat Ellery. You must have a Gramvi that loves you!

Great grandparents seeing her for the first time.
We all enjoyed the week.  Stephanie, her roommate Hillary, and Jonathan came up to visit us a couple of evenings.