Aptos Gold

I have not disappeared off of the planet, but I've been doing a few non blogging things. I'm trying to figure out if we should/can redo our backyard along with refinishing our 36 year old plaster in the pool, and digging new drains for the patio so that we don't get flooded in the winter.
We have these wonderful huge ash trees in the yard. They provide cool ample shade in the spring, summer, and fall so we put up with the leaf, pod mess in the winter.

My closest guess is that they are Green Ash trees and should live 50 more years in the urban setting that is our back yard, so we sort of want to plan around them.

We do really need to fix a few things that are falling apart, so as long as we have a tractor back there, we have to figure out what else we can/should do.
I have never liked the bricks as pool decking because it can be so gritty and dirty when lying wet on the red bricks. They are super hot to the feet in midsummer, the grout in some areas is sandy, and the brick wall around one of the Ash trees is cracked. So should we replace all the brick for stone? or stucco?
The main patio off of the house is aggregated concrete circa 1975, is uneven and lifted up because of the root system on the Ash tree, so ... should we just repair and have it look patched? or actually replace it all. We have to dig up a good portion of it to replace the drainage pipes anyway.
These are some of the questions we've been trying to find answers to. How much $$$$.
Should we just re-plaster the pool, or use the newer Pebbletec? If we are changing the decking can we reroute the solar pipes through it? How 'bout the irrigation pipes?
Do you like this rock?

It is called Aptos Gold. It's from Arizona.
 Or this?

 More for the walls and fireplace.  Or this?

Should the wall rock and the decking be different?
Should we use concrete?
How about coping around the pool?
Replace the pool tiles?
Put in more lighting?
What about a new sound system?
Electricity?
Maybe consider natural gas line to the new outdoor kitchen?
I always like fireplaces outside?
Natural gas to that?
Built in heat lamps for cool California nights?
We could spend as much as we bought the house for. Maybe we should try to spend something like we bought our last house for. Maybe we should spend something like we bought our 1st Portland house for in 1981. Oh, but then we couldn't re-plaster the pool.
Decisions, decisions.
I'm going to go make some cookies.

Barelegged or Hose?

Yesterday as I was perusing my followed blog list, I ran across a survey that I had voted on last week. I usually don't make a comment when looking around, and if I do comment is is a very short snippet of conversation because I am too lazy to spend much time on comment forms, but I will often take the 3 seconds to check a voting box and SUBMIT key.
Anyhow, now is the time that I have to admit I have started following a blog called "What Kate Wore."

I am slightly intrigued that the now famous Princess Kate is wearing dresses that are generally modest and classy, and I really like that because perhaps the fashion world will begin to make lower priced modest dresses for me and mine. 

Well the poll was all about her hosiery, or as the English call them "tights" and whether or not people might start wearing them again now that they see them on her.
All the comments were about being a throwback to the 80's and I thought,
 "It was way more than a style of the 80's that we were referring to."


I remember my mother talking about drawing a line down the back of their legs when nylon's were hard to come by during WWII and that they tried to fool people by making a fake seam down the back of a womans leg with eyebrow pencils. Apparently nylons made, out of the miracle new fabric, had just been on the market starting May 15, 1940 and were quickly a huge success selling 64 million pairs within the first year.


Women started wearing the far more comfortable panty hose in the 60's. Spandex had been introduced in 1959 and the extra stretchy bounce of that material made nylons fit much better and being able to lose all of the other undergarments and just wear nylons up to the waist was a much more comfortable fashion.
Skirts became shorter probably because of the new pantyhose. (I had never thought about this before, but it totally makes sense to me)

I have 2 personal childhood stories about nylons. 

1.   When I was in 6th grade my mother bribed me by letting me buy nylons if I would choose the lower healed dress shoe. I gave in and felt older even without the higher heel.

2.  When I was in 7th grade, the same cute mother let me buy a garter belt and 3 pairs of colored opaque stockings to wear with my various school dresses. I thought it was really cool to be able to wear an old fashioned garter belt that had hooks on it to attach the thigh high stockings, but now that I think about it, perhaps that was to prevent me from hiking my skirts up too high as the fashions were very mini in 1970. 

That Joyce Kelly was one smart (or tricky) mother.

Okay, now for the purpose of my post.
As I was polling about nylons, I was reminded about an older woman at my church now, who is prone to ask me inappropriate questions from time to time.


Example: "Did you know that that style of skirt makes your back side look wider than it actually is?"
Yes, she really said that to me a few years back.


Another time she asked, "When was it that you decided it was okay not to wear stockings to church?"
(I should have answered with, "When was it that you decided that tacky and rude were going to be part of your personality?")
This is the question I was thinking about as I read the article. Apparently I was not the only woman who had decided it wasn't necessary to wear "stockings" to church.


FYI, I have modified my stocking wearing the past few years. During the cooler months I wear them and the warmer months I don't. 


I am unsure what the rest of the fashion world will do, but for now that is my decision, and I'm sticking to it.

The Met

When we were in NYC a couple of weeks ago I made the Hodgpeople gang go to the Metropolitan Museum to see the Alexander McQueen show that is there until next month.

Austin and the little people went to other areas of the humongous museum and looked at armor or something because there weren't any strollers allowed in the overly crowded McQueen display.

So Aust sacrificed and stayed with the kiddies.

......And got to see cool things like Medusa's head in the hand of Perseus?

Anyway back to Lee Alexander McQueen.

This English clothing designer who first designed for his sisters and then the theatre, was best known for his controversial catwalk shows, low riding jeans, skulls, fantasy, and dramatic influence on the fashion world.
He was the head designer for Givenchy design house int he 90's and left for his own company in 2001.

Looking at this Met show entitled Savage Beauty, it becomes apparent to the viewer that, "He was a troubled soul," as Katz would say as she roamed through the display with The Hubby and me.

 This piece is from his 2006 "Widows of Culloden," show. I actually kind of like this one, maybe because of it's name and my affinity for Diane Gabaldon's books about Scottish history, or because I just like tartan. Such an eclectic mix of fabric.

And his shoes were out of this world.

 What would you say if you walked past someone with these on the end of her legs?

This particular dress caught my fancy, because there was a McQueen quote next to the dress that stated he used live flowers because they die, and he wanted to show that everything dies. Weird.
Most of the mannequins showing the clothing were faceless, or their heads were covered in odd hats. My cousin tells me he influenced her hats and costumes for the dance shows she has done.

He lived 40 years, then ended his own life last year. His brand will live on as celebrities and princesses wear it today.

Crazy world we live in.

#4 is a Busy Girl

Our Stephanie is gearing up for quite a busy fall semester.  Here she is showing off her New Teacher Handbook received for her new job internship that will last all of next school year.
Steph is to be teaching 2 sophomore American Literature classes and 2 junior British Literature classes. The assistant principal of American Fork High School let her choose her class room a couple weeks ago and she chose the one with greater light coming into the windows.
In addition to teaching and getting her student teaching done while getting partially paid for it, our organized girl also is going to be the head volleyball coach at the HS.  She hired the 2 other coaches and is working out 3 days a week with the team.  The team is also doing a week long camp and getting prepared for the fall season and tryouts in August.
As she takes masters classes during the summer, and has another night class for her masters in the fall, she is trying to get her HS teaching lesson plans underway, so she can take some of the load off of the 4 crazy months coming up starting September.
Go Stephanie!!!! You can do it!!!
WOOOO  HOOOOO

Red, White, and Cute

This little babe is showing off a new dress that GramVi made for her.
I guess I always revert to the smocked items when I'm looking through my books for ideas.

This is a little sundress that has just a few rows of smocking under the round yolk, and then some flowery type circles at the junction of the up peaks in the design. The blank areas between the obviously smocked ones are back smocked from the wrong side of the garment so that the pleats stay put.

Then a couple of red ribbon widths are used for detailing and waalaa, you have a dress for the 4th of July.

And her moms toenails even match. Bonus!

3 Hour Tour

The weather started getting rough, but we were undeterred in our trip around Manhattan Island last week.
The Hubby took some great pics.

Photographer needs to give the memo about no glasses in this pic. Sorry.

 Should probably change camera lenses if we want the city and the visitors in the same pic.
 "Oh, you wanted to know (see) where this picture was taken?"

The rest of the week Ellery call her "The Lady" without even being prompted. Very appropriate.

 So many bridges, so little time.

This tour gave me many ideas for subsequent trips to the big apple.

Megan's Wedding Deux

We have little mini reunions whenever a cousin gets married and this time was no exception.  Out of the 19 grandchildren, we are down to the last few singles and so we are going to have to come up with other means of getting together. Many were able to come for the wedding including 9 big boy cousins. A couple of second generationers were shooting around at the beginning and were enjoying the scene.
This particular day following the wedding luncheon which was held at Kathy's church building, the big boys all played some hoops while they were killing time before the reception.

You will never see as intense a game of cousins basketball than exists in my extended's. That is a FACT.

Some of the rest of us shopped and played in other venues for the afternoon, but these boys had the most fun.
Thanks Megan, for providing a little cousin bonding time.

Nieces Wedding

We went to Portland for a wedding a couple of weeks ago. This seems to be turning into a habit. Every year we have been heading to PDX for a wedding.
Well Megan, one of our girl cousins (we only have 2 out of 14 on my side of the family that are female), found herself a nice man and they went to the Temple and got married.

 I've been a little reluctant to post about this because apparently there aren't a lot of pictures out there for this fine event and I wanted to make sure I got ours to the bride before jumping all over it.

But ... it looks as if they apparently like one another, so this is a good thing.

 I like this pic

 And the father helping out his adorable last child.

 The cute mother of the bride.

 Nice cousins abound.

 Happy and unhappy nieces and nephews.

 Proud grandparents,

and siblings.

Thanks Hun for always being there to take great pictures. The hired help is always so slow and not nearly as fun.