We Are Giants Fans!

There is a whole debate about using the term "Gamer Babes" to identify women (especially young women like my daughters) who are San Francisco Giants fans. Some find it "cute," some find it sexist. We find it mildly sickening, but whenever I don my orange and black scarf and baseball cap, they don their Pence and Lincecum jerseys, and we grab our rally towels and head for AT&T Park, one thing we do know -- we are Giants fans!

So that is how we spent Mother's Day this year -- at a Giants game. 

AT&T Park becons us!

 

 Walking over the bridge to the park... 

Love the huge mural and once you see that scoreboard, you are in game mode!

 It was a full house for Mother's Day!

 Often we are sitting in the second or even third tier, but this time we had great seats in the bottom section, overlooking the diamond where we could catch all the action easily.

Lou Seal, the Giants mascot, drove around with his "mom," tossing out goodies.

You can't beat Lou Seal as a mascot! He never speaks a word, but he has the moves! Here's a little clip of him getting his dance on with Keenan Cahill and Giants players Brian Wilson and Cody Ross: Dynamite! In case you are not familiar, Keenan Cahill has a unique story of his own. He was diagnosed with Maroteaux–Lamy syndrome and some of his lip sync videos are to promote fundraisers for his condition.

Lou Seal has been inside that 25 lb. head for many years now! Want to know more about this devoted man? Read this entertaining interview: Inside the 25 pound face!  Hey, who can't love a guy who's flirty with women of all ages!

It was fantastic, as always! Behind the Marlins many innings, and then in the last inning the Giants came through and won the game!  Whoo-hoo! Baseball season is in full swing and we're lovin' it!

Bloom!

 

From "Bloomin' Words" to "bloomin' fun," "Bloom!" was the theme for a Women's Conference I attended in April! I don't know about you, but I love to refuel my soul from time to time with some girlfriend time and healthy inspiration!

We were greeted with uplifting music, a light breakfast, and packed goodie bags. See the little package that says "BLOOM" on it above the orange juice? That unfolded to be a cute tea towel. Inside the paper bag were flower seeds, a magazine full of beauty tips, a journal and pen, snacks, a water bottle, a compact mirror, a cosmetic bag stocked with hand sanitizer, lip balm, and kleenex, and an assortment of other cards and coupons.

After some light-hearted ice breakers with the people at our tables, we broke into small groups for different classes. I attended one on "Leaving a Legacy" that was thought provoking. The speakers promoted the importance of sharing our life stories in order to help others live through their challenging experiences. Then it was on to an "Event Planning" seminar, full of good ideas. We came back to the main room for a tasty lunch and then listened to the hilarious, but motivating main speaker--author Kathi Lipp.  Kathi had us in stitches, telling stories we all could relate to, including the one where someone cut her off in line through a drive-through Starbucks on her way to church and she reacted as we all want to in such circumstances -- by yelling out the window to him, "Unbelievable! Who raised you?" The story ended with the barista telling her that the car in front of her's paid for Kathi's drinks and said to tell her they were "raised by wolves!"  I've been skimming Kathi's book "The Me Project," in hopes of finding inspiration to move forward on some projects I have in mind.

Sometimes we just need a little kick in the pants or a fresh perspective to quit procrastinating and get going on projects. Check out this quick "antiprocrastinator" site: antiprocrastinator.com

Are you ready to bloom? I am!

French Soul Food and Scottish Art

Like the rabbit in Alice in Wonderland, "The hurrier I go, the behinder I get!"  I can't believe it is the last day of May already, so get ready for some catching up posts here on the Bloomin' Words blog!
 
Ash's birthday was in April so we celebrated her special day on Easter this year. Ash, her boyfriend Rob, Lys, and I all met up at Brenda's French Soul Food Restaurant in downtown San Francisco for Easter brunch!

Despite it's modest appearance and the line to get in, the food was delicious and worth the wait! I had the french toast with butter-pecan sauce. We all indulged in apple filled and chocolate filled beignets! Yummy!

Photos from Brenda's French Soul Food Facebook site.

Then it was on to Golden Gate Park to take in the Botticelli to Braque exhibit at the De Young Museum! We all love art and strolling through museums on a lazy Sunday afternoon. Featured were masterpieces from Scotland including works from Rembrandt, Botticelli, Raeburn, Monet, Picasso, and Braque, among others.  We all looked for the rainbow in the painting of Niagra Falls by Church...

 Many of us recognize Skating on Duddingston Loch by Raeburn...

 

I'm fond of Monet and have several framed prints of his in my home...

 

After reviving ourselves with refreshments in the museum cafe, we took the elevator up into Hamon Observation Tower for a view of the city. The floor to ceiling windows offer beautiful vistas.

 View of the Living Roof at the California Academy of Sciences...

 and a peek of the Pacific...

 It's always fun to figure out where familiar places are on the huge map on display...

It was a lovely birthday for my daughter and a lovely Easter.

Beautiful Day!

 

Some days you wake up with a plan and the day unfolds with beautiful unexpected delights. I had decided to get up and go to the early church service. Life had gotten so busy that I was neglecting that aspect of my life and knew I needed to get back in the groove. I was looking forward to the drive along the Pacific Ocean on the way, and hoping the sermon would speak to my heart.

The bulletin announced a special afternoon class on the role of church, Bible study, and prayer, so I decided I would attend that as well. I had some time between the end of the church service and the luncheon/afternoon class, so headed to the beach -- only a couple miles away from the church. It was a glorious day and walking along the bluff, listening to the crashing waves and squawking seagulls, was simply the perfect way to spend the rest of my morning.

At the end of the fishing pier is an old concrete freighter: The Palo Alto. Making a ship out of concrete makes no sense to me, so I had to do a little reading about it here.

See those stairs? There are many flights from the upper bluff level and the lower beach level. It's a great way to get in shape!

It was a wonderful day. Felt inspired, gained great ideas, and met some new people.

The Second Best Exotic Marigold Hotel

 

Yesterday was "girls day out" where I joined a couple of friends for lunch and a movie in Monterey. We went to see "The Second Best Exotic Marigold Hotel," and it was even more charming than the first one ("The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel").  If you haven't seen these movies, I recommend them! The first one is on pay-per-view on TV, the second one is in the theaters.

Here is the trailor:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O96og_f-Omk

I love movies that not only provide good laughs throughout, but also provide substance and words to more serious thoughts circuluating in my subconscious mind. Here are some of the quotes from these movies that stuck in my heart:

Evelyn: The only real failure is the failure to try. And the measure of success is how we cope with disappointment. As we always must. We came here, and we tried. All of us, in our different ways. Can we be blamed for feeling we're too old to change? Too scared of disappointment to start it all again? We get up every morning, we do our best. Nothing else matters.

Evelyn: But it's also true that the person who risks nothing, does nothing; has nothing. All we know about the future is that it will be different. But, perhaps what we fear is that it will be the same. So, we must celebrate the changes. Because, as someone once said "Everything will be all right in the end. And if it's not all right, then trust me, it's not yet the end."

Evelyn: [about their new environment] Initially you're overwhelmed. But gradually you realize it's like a wave. Resist, and you'll be knocked over. Dive into it, and you'll swim out the other side.

Sonny: Everything will be all right in the end... if it's not all right then it's not yet the end. 

Evelyn:  How many new lives can we have? As many as we like!

Enjoy your weekend! Enjoy your life!

Beautiful Big Sur

Last weekend Ash and Lys came home to celebrate Lys's birthday, so we headed down to Big Sur!  Spectacular vistas, gorgeous weather, and yummy food awaited us.

Serenaded by the Rolling Stones, Bob Dylan, and Coldplay, we drove through Carmel and the Pacific came into view.  Soon we were passing Point Sur with it's turn-of-the-century lighthouse. For an interesting read about it, click here!

 

Our first stop in Big Sur was the Big Sur Bakery for pancakes and eggs.

Care to have a seat?

After being properly fortified, we drove down to the Henry Miller Memorial Library -- a bookstore, really -- set in redwoods.

 

 

We were greeted by these funky sculptures. Not in the picture was the ping-pong table where anyone is invited to play and the guy doing yoga on the front porch (we wanted to respect his privacy).

 The interior of the library was equally unique. Books hanging from the ceiling...

 and a sort of room divider...

... made of money -- all foreign currency.

From there we drove down the coast another 7-8 miles into Julia Pfeiffer Burns State Park for a little hike. The billowy clouds against the mountains and deep blue sky were gorgeous!

 

Pelton is a family name so I was especially curious about the Pelton Wheel!

Our goal was a short hike to see McWay Waterfall. We started down a path which led us to a tunnel.

 

On the other side of the tunnel, the ocean came back into view!

 There's nothing like a walk on the edge of the world! 

This was our trail, skirting the cliffs over the Pacific.

 

 Nestled in the hills along the path were morning glories...

 

 ...and other friends!

  McWay Falls were skinney (can you see it?) but the view was magnificent!

 

Staying there forever, breathing in the peace of Big Sur, was very tempting, but soon it was time to turn the car around and head back on the long and winding road home. We decided we were feeling hungry again, so stopped at the famous Ventana Inn.

 

 The weather was so nice, we opted to eat outside, with this as our view from our table...

 

 We were under a huge table umbrella and soon heard large raindrops falling. It became quite cool, but we were finished eating and by the time we got back to the car, the sun was shining again.

The Bixby Bridge welcomed us back to the Carmel Highlands area and soon we were home, warm memories dancing in our heads.

 

This is a trip I highly recommend to anyone visiting the Monterey area!

The House on the Pebble Beach Knoll

 

Several years ago when I lived in Pebble Beach, my daily walks led me to this small cove. You've heard me talk about it in past posts. I called it "my beach" because it's where I went to reflect on life and death and everything in between. Overlooking the cove is a house on a small knoll. It stands alone and brave, quite close to the water,  and I always wondered about that house. Did someone still live there? Did they have ever water lapping at their back door in a bad storm? What was the history of that house on the sea?

Yesterday I was invited to a private lunch in Pebble Beach. My friend had told me the place can be hard to find so we met at one of the entrance gates to Pebble Beach and I followed her through winding roads to 17 Mile Drive. I was so excited when we drove past "my beach," but imagine my surprise when her car turned into the driveway for the house on the knoll! That is where our luncheon would be held. After all these years, the mystery was finally solved. It was raining when we arrived, and we hurried down the path to the front door, shook out our umbrellas, and stepped inside. The house had been turned into a private meeting place. No one currently lives there. Eventually I made my way to the back picture windows and snapped these pictures...

 The cove ("my beach") itself...

We enjoyed a delicious lunch of chicken, risotto, fresh vegetables, and martini glasses filled with chocolate mousse topped with raspberries and blueberries. Then we listened to an inspiring speaker. He is a prominent physician in the area and started out talking about the heart, but soon became philosophical and talked about how we can have fixed mindsets or growth mindsets. Fixed mindsets are held by those who say, "That's just the way I am," and think they can't or won't change.Growth mindsets are held by those who make mistakes but learn from them, who are willing to try new things, who say, "I can do this," when confronted with a challenge. He told the story about the British Tour de France team who, instead of saying "we're doing the best we can," tweaked everything they were doing just 1% more and went on to win the race. You can read more about that here. I hope I'm one of the people who are willing to learn things through my whole life!

By the time we all parted ways, the rain clouds had moved on and the sun was out. We walked past this fascinating sideways tree. The wind may blow, but the tree adapted.

 Even a little caterpillar came out to enjoy the sun.

Adjacent Pacific Grove is known as the Butterfly Town and I imagine this caterpillar will soon become a beautiful butterfly and join with others to add color and joy to the monarch habitat sanctuary. Enjoy reading about this special butterfly habitat and monarch migration here.