Sunday, April 29, 2012

Moss Beach Spring 2012

After two afternoons of weeding, planting ,pruning and watering the front and back gardens are looking wonderful!

Things are all a-bloom!  Here's a few pictures of the garden for your viewing pleasure!

 
Clematis' are growing like crazy - this purple one has huge blooms!

Tree roses as we look up onto the deck.  The roses have been exuberant this year!

Lots of color!

More color with the New Zealand tea tree blooming in the back flower bed

English daisies!  We transplanted these from another flower bed and they are much happier!

Looking toward the guest room

Peonies!  Our peonies are just loaded with blooms!  Can't wait till the fragrant ones in the front open - hopefully at the end of May





Entry way

Lavenders!!

Our rhododendron is blooming!

Rose bed in the front yard

Our philadelphus is doing beautifully - can't wait till it blooms!

We do enjoy our garden and all of our plants and flowers.   Come and join us on the deck!

Sunday, April 22, 2012

AGP 2012

As you probably know, the Annual General Picnic that is normally held in Auckland, New Zealand in February is being held on the Greek Island of Crete in May this year.  The AGP is held in a foreign location every 5 years.  The 5th picnic was in Sydney, Australia, the 10th was in San Francisco, CA, the 15th was in Noumea, and now the 20th is being held on Crete.

Lots of planning has gone into this, as we've known for years now that Crete was the destination.  Unfortunately, many of the regular picnic-goers are not able to make the trip, but there will be about 20 of us in attendance.

Tony and Deane are the original organizers of the AGP.  They are taking advantage of their trip to Greece to travel around the world!

Their first stop was in San Francisco (via LA) where they spent  some time with us before boarding Amtrak in Emeryville to travel by train across the United States!  They will spend a day and night in Chicago, and then travel on to New York, where they have tickets to several operas.  After a side trip to Washington, DC, they will fly to London for 10 days before heading on to Greece.

By the time Tony and Deane finish their train trip, they will have seen more of the US than I have - I'm jealous - had a tremendous urge to get on the train!!

We made use of the short time they were here - we visited Filoli, had lunch at Alice's Restaurant, visited a winery and enjoyed a leisurely time on the patio at the Distillery!

Thanks for making us the first stop on your incredible journey, you two!!

Arriving at SFO - Tony and Deane were amazingly chipper considering that they had been traveling for over 16 hours.

Lee put the New Zealand flag out to greet them!

And, still upright after champagne, dinner and after dinner drinks!

Timothy, Deane and Tony at Filoli

Timothy enjoying the gardens - this bear has been all over the world!

A beautiful, sunny afternoon at the Distillery

It was nice and warm, and we were treated to lots of whales spouting as they headed north to Alaska - a grand and glorious day!

Emeryville, CA - waiting for the train

Tony, Pat, Timothy and Deane

And now one with Lee, too!

Their train car

Tony and Deane were smart - they have a sleeping berth for the 54 hour trip to Chicago!

Have a wonderful trip across the US you guys and we'll see you in Santorini!!


Cabo San Lucas

On April 10th we left for a week-long stay to Cabo San Lucas, Mexico!  We had a companion fare deal from Alaska that allowed us to book a flight and take a companion for $99, so we thought that a week in the Cabo sun was just the thing to do!  

After all, our life is so stressful!!  Not!!  We found a condo rental three blocks from the beach so we were all set.  We had been to Cabo once before, for a 4 hour cruise stop in 2002.  It's changed a bit!  Cabo is located on the peninsula between the Sea of Cortez and the Pacific ocean.  The weather was gorgeous - mid to high 80's with a nice ocean  breeze.

We had lots of quality beach time, took lots of long walks, including going over to the Pacific side of Cabo and wonderful afternoons at the pool! We took a glass bottom boat on a tour around Lands End.   We were careful not to drink the water so we relied on cerveza as drink of choice.  We found a great little Cantina that had fabulous food with outdoor dining and we ate there several times.  

We hit the end of spring break, so our airplane was filled with young people who could hardly wait to get to Cabo and begin behaving badly!  Apparently the activity of choice is to drink as much as you can at all times!  We realized that we are old!

All in all a wonderful trip!  Cabo is still on our "to do" list, although we'll probably steer clear of spring break!

Looking down Medano beach toward San Jose Del Cabo

The beach scene!  Happy hour extended from 7 am to 7 pm!

The Sea of Cortez looking out to Lands End

Cruise ships!  Celebrity, Carnival and Holland America were all docked in the area near the harbor.  Visitors to Cabo were "tendered" into the town.

Along the waterfront harbor area.  The pelicans have claimed these boats to roost in

They make disposing of trash fun!

The pirate ship Sunderland

Off for an ocean cruise

This group of dancers were performing in one of the squares on the harbor

A very popular spot!  Lee and I had dinner at Senor Frog's in Mazatlan in the late '70s

Medano Beach, looking down towards the Riu Palace - this is where we'll stay when we win the lottery!  You can come, too!

The Riu is "all inclusive" - all food, all drinks and entertainment are included in the cost of your room - it's like a land-based cruise!

They have an amazing infinity pool!

We loved the loungers in the water

On the way back to town

Leaving the harbor on our glass bottom boat tour

Honeymoon Beach!  You can walk through here to the beach on the Pacific side, which is called Divorce beach!

The famous Cabo arch!

Valarie, as you can see, I made good use of my hat!

We loved this sea lion draped over this rock - wish we could have seen how he got up there!

Looks like a good resting spot!

We had an afternoon snack at Peacocks - we sat on the patio and  as the sign says, had 5 beers, chips, salsa and guacamole for $10!  And, no we weren't able to actually drink 5 beers - we had one each, shared the third, and they put the last two in glasses to take with us

This was a great, colorful place

Looking down the Pacific beach toward Lands End

Looking the other way on the Pacific beach.  The houses located on the hillside are owned by movie stars

Another reason to not smoke!

The pool at our condo - our afternoon routine!  There was also a grill poolside where we ate dinner a couple of nights.  They also had a swim up bar - lots of fun!  We could get used to having a pool like this and the weather to go with it!

Getting ready to cool off!!


Ok, I'm not usually inspired to take pictures of a bathroom, but we both thought that the lid to this toilet seat was very clever!



Voila!  Perfect for families with small children!


Not only did we have a great time in Cabo but we missed the torrential rain, hail, lightening storms and threatened tornadoes that were going on here at home!  And since the car was safely tucked in at the BART parking lot, we had nothing to worry about!