A Whisker Away ......

Sort of ...

I hope everyone enjoyed a nice Valentine Weekend. 

With Valentine's Day falling on Monday,

I know alot of people celebrated the weekend before...

it was such a lovely warm weekend for us
it was hard to stay inside.  My Valentine
always likes to do projects for me and this
past weekend was no different.
We have had several projects going and we
are a whisker away on a couple of them
Here's a short update.  But first
I will share my lovely Valentine bouquet that
I received from my Valentine! 

The Outdoor Room

I'll start with the project that is furthest from completion and

the one we are most anxious to have complete.

He has been very lonely the past 2 weeks, because

no one has come to add to his structure.

Maybe soon.... 

The Rose Garden

The rose garden is full of nice new soil

and has irrigation in place (ready for me

to pick out my planting scheme).

Kevin still needs to build the trellis structure

that will go

up against the block wall and block the neighbors shed, but

I think we will plant before he has time to do that.

We were watching the Harrison Ford version of Sabrina the

other night and we spotted  a trellis structure that

I think we will use as our inspiration

Do you notice the similarities between their house

and ours????

Maybe not so much

Looks like I can start shopping for a bench, some roses

and other cutting flowers.

Any recommendations?????

I picked these up this weekend....do the colors match

anything I have been working on in the house?  Do

they look like they may match my teaser PB picture.

Let me know what you think.

The Grape Arbor

The lines are up for the grape vines as well. 

New irrigationwent in and wire lines

are in to act as a trellis for the grapes.

I have never grown grapes before and am anxious to try.

Our inspiration for the grapes come from 2 of our favorite movies.

A Walk in the Clouds

(we shall call our vines Las Uvas)

and maybe Keanu will come and visit

and A Good Year.

White rock will cover the ground beneath the grapes

just like in the movie.

Here I am with Russel Crowe.

We are so close (not Russel and I even though we are) 

to finishing the grape arbor,

I actually started buying

Las Uvas

The Veggie Garden....

inspired by what?

"It's Complicated" of course.

I don't expect Meryl Streep's drama but I would love her vegetable garden.

Again ready with irrigation...

a little more dirt and it's planting time.

I know it will look slightly different than Meryl's

- hahaha -

movie magic and all.

But I may have to re-create this....

I am in love with this

Lastly,

I planted my fountain garden and my front porch.

We are expecting some rain today so I hope my fountain

area survives.  I know my newly cut and fed roses will be very happy to have rain.

I even pulled out my hanging cone shaped planters

It always feel like spring is on it's way

when I plant the porch.

Looks like I could use a new mat

and a little paint on my iron plant stand...

oh well, there's always something

I did say that this was a short post but maybe it wasn't.

Thanks for putting up with my planting drama.

I am linking to Outdoor Wednesday hosted

by

Susan at A Southern Daydreamer

Rollin on the River.....

... Or ..... Putting around the Harbor...

Every year Newport Beach, California

hosts a Christmas Boat Parade. 

The ladies I hang out with,

rented a boat last year to view the parade. 

They made a party

of it and had a great time. 

So great in fact, they decided to repeat the experience

this year. 

I didn't get to go last year,

but this year ....look out Newport Harbor.

We arrived to get our "Duffy"

armed with food and beverage

I was a little suspicious (or maybe just tentative)

of going out in a boat that

no one knew how to captain.

Enter Captain Mackey....

Captain Mackey is an experienced captain.  She

WO-MANNED the duffy

last year with no incident (????)

and if she saw this picture she would

KILL ME!!!

So off we went... food and drink

being served by the crew.
We enjoyed
appetizers, delicious corn chowder, corn bread, salad,
and assorted cookies and sweets.



Patty is very excellent when it

comes to multi - tasking.  She

can pilot the boat, enjoy a little food and drink

and ...

Take pictures of the passing boats.

Now, when you rent these boats there are a few rules...

considering

you need NO experience to rent these...there really are very few rules.

1. Don't leave the harbor and go into open ocean

2.  Don't run over any buoys

3. Don't hit any other boats

4. Don't go under any bridges

5.  Don't become part of the parade.

6.  Come back safe and sound.

Not too bad, we can abide by those rules ... I think.

So the Parade begins....

These boats were totally decked out

With huge partying going on ....

Now, do you remember rule #5?  That rule

seemed to be the hardest to follow. 

This boat tried to enforce the rule.

Unfortunately,

we enjoyed being part of the parade

and managed to sneak in every now and then. 

This is the boat we will be entering next year.

or maybe this one....we haven't decided yet.

Either way...we couldn't have had anymore fun

than we had.

Patty managed to get us a front row seat

and was the perfect captain

The boat can hold 12...so we

are now taking reservations for next year.

It will definitely be an annual event.

Thanks ladies for a great time.

and Patty you are the best, you organized

a great evening and brought us back

safe, sound and on time.

I am linking to  Susan at a Southern Daydreamer for

Outdoor Wednesday

Be sure to visit all the participants.

Sunsets, Sunsets, Sunsets

Welcome to Outdoor Wednesday!

It has been awhile since I have gotton to play, so

I am very excited to be back.

I am sharing our last sunset from our

recent trip to Maui.  Maui sunsets are amazing, and

no matter how many pictures you take of them,

it never really captures the true beauty.  I think

it's because you're missing the sound of the waves,

and the warm tropical air that surrounds you

like a warm blanket.

Kevin and I love Hawaii and wherever we are

or whatever we're doing we always stop and watch the sunset.

The last sunset of the trip is always the sadest.

We saw 2 romantic weddings on the beach that night.

as the sun was going down

As the sun set on the last night we reflected on our great trip...

 

and of course planned the date of our next trip

back.... maybe May?

Good bye to the sun...good bye to the beach...

good bye to feet in the sand...

good bye to the palm trees swaying in the breeze ...

and good bye to these really cool chairs we bought on the first

day....(and matching umbrella)  They will be missed!!

Thanks for visiting, be sure to visit Susan at

A Southern Daydreamer

for

more Outdoor fun.

not really good bye, just

Aloha!!!