Day after some rain

T and I drove to Shell Beach to check out the beach, have a nice drive and check out the sunset. There were dolphins (we think out in the ocean). We walked by some beautiful mansions right on the bluff. The sun was setting as we were walking back to our car.

A fun month

The sky was beautiful this morning. The clouds are rolling in and we are supposed to get some rain. Yay!

This month on my birthday, I threw a party for myself. I think I'll do that every year. Folks helped out with hors d'oeuvres, vegetables and wine. I got to cook my favorite foods and made my favorite cake. Delicious and fun if I do say so myself.

A few days later we went out to dinner with new good friends and had a waterview seat. We spotted a couple of whales and a beautiful sunset. Those were just added benies to the wonderful food and company.

T has been doing lots of training classes for the Clark Center. He is now the resident trainer! Many ushers have come up and told him it's the best training session they've ever been to.

We also attended a Judy Collins concert and a Jigu concert (Chinese drums)using our comp. tickets. We took cousins P&S both times. T and I met at a Judy Collins concert 42 years (almost exactly) at homecoming at Colby College. She autographed the program for us.

Yesterday, we went to check on the progress of the butterflies returning to the Monarch Grove in Grover Beach. They're back..... It's a bit early so we're hoping it will be a big year for monarchs at the grove. On our walk to the grove we saw at least 3 whales spouting in the distance.

Fall is coming to our area too. Most of our trees don't turn color but there are a few liquid amber trees that are just beautiful this time of year.

On top of Bishop's Peak

On a beautiful warm and sunny day cousins P and S and their kids, S's brother and sister-in-law, and good friends of the family and T and I hiked back up Bishop's Peak to spread the ashes of P's parents and S's parents. P wanted to spread the ashes at 10AM on 10/10/10 which we accomplished. Cousin K remained behind and she prepared a wonderful brunch feast for us complete with Chinese roasted chicken and duck and char siu and 2 Chinese vegetables, sticky rice and moon cakes. It was a great tribute to her mom.

Ladies who Lunch

Diana, a new good friend, and I have been meeting for lunch once a week at the Grill at our pro shop for about 6 months. Our network has grown to almost 40 women. It's a no guilt lunch and people are invited to come if they can and bring a friend if they like. We've had anywhere from 1 person to 13 join us for lunch on any given week. Today there were 12 women who gathered not only to have lunch but to celebrate my birthday. Someone bought my lunch and another woman bought a cake from another one who is trying to set up a personal baking business. Two women brought flower arrangements and I received many cards. What a great way to begin the birthday celebration.

current heat wave

It's been hot in the county since Friday with temperatures breaking long standing records some going back to the 1800s. We are very fortunate to live in the micro-climate that gave us more moderate temperatures than cities all around us. On Sunday when I left the house it was a comfortable 75 degrees at noon but by the time I turned inland the temperature immediately started to escalate and by the time I hit San Luis Drive it was 106 degrees. It has been that hot and hotter in SLO Monday and today as well hitting 115 in some places yesterday and 110 today. It's cooling down nicely tonight and looks like the heat wave will break tomorrow.

Bread pudding

For years in Connecticut I made bread pudding for Loaves and Fishes in Hartford. Once a month St. James's in West Hartford prepares and serves lunch for about 150 - 175 people at the soup kitchen. About 20 years ago I noticed that we gave away a couple of cookies for dessert and I volunteered to prepare a bread pudding for them. In the summer time at the previous site, the soup kitchen asked that we not use the ovens as it made the church too hot so I made a chocolate bread pudding which could be served cold or warm from home. Then in the new location this was no longer an issue so from then on we served regular bread pudding with caramel sauce.

The Senior Lunch program at my new church was looking for an idea for dessert so I mentioned bread pudding. The lunch was today and the pudding was a big hit. We are in the middle of a heat wave here and I wasn't sure how a warm dessert would go over. Not to mention that I heated up the house baking the bread pudding this morning. It was a great success with many of the seniors sharing stories of eating bread pudding. Only one person (a Brit of all things) didn't like bread pudding.

Harvest Festival

This weekend was the Harvest Festival. Arroyo Grande is 100 years old this year. This festival is a beautiful local event which showcases so many of the organizations in Arroyo Grande. It has been going on for over 70 years. There is everything from judged bake-offs to dachshund races, adopting rescue dachshunds, bands, food and harvest goods. It was a beautiful weekend with the first longer run of warmer weather.