THE BIG SNOW OF 2023

So it all started like this

while walking the dog and picking up her poop next a palm tree.

What's this?

Snow???

No way!

In my lifetime it's only snowed in Southern California 2 other times 

that I can think of,

the non mountainous areas that is.

And as we kept walking more came down,

on roof tops and parked cars.

Such a novelty,

and our pup Sophie loved it!

We had heard it was going to snow in our mountains

 but had no idea it was going to come down to us here in Anaheim Hills.

We are anywhere between 410 to 745 feet in elevation.

So I texted our neighbor Rebecca who lives below our cabin 

and she said it was snowing like she's never seen before!

She is a fifty something Army veteran 

who grew up in Crestline

 and said she had never seen it snowing so hard there.

Crestline is at 5000 feet,

the lowest elevation of all the mountain towns in So.Cal.,

but apparently the hardest hit.

Luckily she had she son there with her.

She said she heard trees falling and branches breaking.

Thank goodness her home survived.

The next day on the TV news channels, 

we heard that our only grocery store,

Goodwin and Sons in Crestline,

 had it's entire roof collapse.

Another store,

 our only hardware store's roof collapsed as well.

Oh no!!

And the roads were blocked and no one could get in or out.

It took Rebecca and her grown son

3 days to shovel themselves out of their front door

to get to their car.

And it was completely buried in snow.

But still no one could drive their cars 

because there was even too much snow for the plows.

She measured her snowdrift at over 6ft. tall.

So many were stuck with no food, heat, medicines or mail service.

Rebecca could not get her medicines.

I think they were eventually helicoptered in.

Goodwin Market in 1946

Goodwin and Sons in 2023 before the Big Storm came in

Ariel view of  it's collapsed roof

Demolition began after most of the snow melted

For days after the storm and collapse,

Goodwin and Sons,

Crestline's family owned grocery since 1946,

 was giving away undamaged food and other necessities for free

to anyone who could get into town.

This was an all in one store,

 complete with not only groceries,

but an old time soda fountain and candy shop, fishing supplies, gift shop,

mountain gear and house hold necessities.

I can't even image the cost of all they lost in this disaster.

Townsfolk were distributing the freebies to neighbors who couldn't get into town.

Our dear friend Chris,

 who lives up in Crestline full time,

knew the storm was coming so he went down the mountain to Costco

and bought $400 worth of food for himself the day before it started.

Thank goodness because 2 of his close neighbors were without heat or food.

They were barely able to walk thru the snow to get to his cabin

and he invited them to stay in his one bedroom place.

So for two weeks he feed them

and he said they watched a lot of movies.

Couldn't do much of anything else.

Chris loves to entertain.

He grew up in his parent's Victorian Bed & Breakfast in Seattle Washington,

and helped run the place for years.

Meanwhile,

back at our little cabin...

Driveway in front of our cabin and big lump of snow on the right is our Jeep

a week after the Big Storm when Rebecca was able to walk up to our cabin 

she took these pictures for us.

My little art studio with a wall of snow against window

Zach with little sis Danielle

Of course my own children were living it up in Mammoth,

a popular ski resort for Southern Californians.

Picture above was a couple of weeks before the Big Snow hit.

And this pix was taken during the storm.

My son and his wife drove thru the blizzard to ski that weekend.

Crazy kids!

When they got done skiing 

and went to find their car it was completely hidden in the snow.

Ha ha!

A good month and a half  later Jim and I finally ventured up 

to try to start our Jeep.

We were really surprised that the soft top hadn't buckled as well.

But it was sopping wet inside.

YUCK!

We did a bit of shoveling so we could back it up and get the battery going again.

But of course it was deader then a doornail.

 We also noticed right away that the yard was a total disaster.

Many downed trees and large branches,

but my dear Camellias survived with their buds ready to open.

How about that?.

Thank goodness there were no leeks inside the place.

Just the pilot light inside had blown out.

An easy fix.

But then we had another revolting development.

When we headed into town for a new battery,

we had a bit of a misstep,

more like a slip and slide into a 6 foot snowbank

 with Jims classic Mustang Convertible,

his boy toy.

Yes another accident!

I wasn't driving,

thank goodness,

 and I had on my seatbelt.

Can't say the same for my significant other.

Some of us don't learn our lessons.

And it was an expensive one.

We had to be towed all the way back to Orange County 

and it was $12 a mile.

Let's see,

with tax it came out to about $450.

Yep.

With an overweight 40 lb. pup in our lap between us,

we squished into the cab of the tow truck.

It was quite a picture.

Sadly our Insurance Co. won't pay to repair this gorgeous car 

that my husband has taken such loving care of.

It was going to cost them too much so they are totaling it 

and giving us a bit above Kelly Blue book for it.

Jim had just put in a brand new engine last year.

I thought he was going to cry.

Oh yea,

and then this happened a couple of days later.

We went back up with our one remaining vehicle,

my VW convertible,

to put in a new battery in the Jeep, 

but that made no difference.

The starter was frozen or something so AAA to the rescue again!

When it rains it pours that's for sure!

And hear we are today,

back to our bedroom community of Yorba Linda/Anaheim Hills, 

looking into the distance at our beloved mountains.

 This one is the San Gabriel Range and Mt. Baldy.

P.S.  Went to cabin again today to pick up our repaired Jeep.

It was just some loose wiring.

Probably a little critter climbed up to shelter itself from the storm.

HEARTROKEN

My daughter-in-law Nicole, her mother Mary an my son Zach

during Mary's first chemo treatments in June 2016

It is with deepest sadness that I share the passing of my dear friend Mary,

mother-in-law to my son Zach.

She has been in the battle of her life for the past 6 years

with a nasty form of un-curable stomach cancer,

the doctor giving her hope that at the most 

she might last 10 more years with this form of cancer.

In each of the past 6 years,

 chemo was tried,

and she'd go into a few months of remission.

She'd lose all her hair,

 and then her cancer would rear it's ugly head 

and come back with less and less time in between treatments.

If I remember correctly,

her longest remission after her first treatment was 13 months.

But this past year was the absolute worst.

Finding none of the regular chemo drugs working anymore 

to get her a few months of relief,

they tried a new clinical trial drug which pretty much decimated her body,

and took her to skin and bones.

She couldn't keep any food down and her stomach had to be pumped every 2-3 weeks with fluid build-up.

But if you didn't know her,

you'd never suspect there was a thing wrong with her,

other then her rapid weight lose.

She was determined to beating this 

and living at least the possible 10 years after her terminal diagnosis.

Mary Rock Climbing into a Cave in Las Vergennes Canyon in May 2017

after 1st Chemo treatment

Mary was a 6 foot tall,

 incredibly strong woman.

An athlete;

 jogger, hiker, swimmer, and renown yoga instructor.

A crafter of needlepoint and quilts with an incredible eye for design,

along with her impeccable craftsmanship.

A leader and generous giver to her Quilt Community and Church.

A fantastic cook,

 she passed down her recipes and skills in the kitchen

 to both of her children as well as my son.

An expert on salt water aquariums,

who maintained a large one until a couple of months ago,

and a cat lover and rescue mama to 3 sweet kitties.

This last year, 

on the clinical trial drug,

Mary shrank down to,

 at the most,

  80 pounds on her ravaged body.

Regardless,

she stayed so very strong for one more Thanksgiving, 

Xmas and Easter,

 helping her daughter Nicole,

 along with Zach, 

prepare and cook all the food for each occasion.

She loved to entertain,

loved being surrounded by family and friends,

and loved sharing hysterical stories about her growing up years!

But she finally allowed her daughter to cook for her this last Mother's Day.

As ill as she was,

she even traveled by air twice this past year with her husband Nick 

to visit their son, his wife & their first grandchild in Texas.

And Mary was still hand piecing her last quilt pattern every single night 

until the day she died,

trying to beat the clock to finish it.

Mary in December 2020 after 4 years of Chemo Treatments

A lover of nature,

she was a gardener extraordinaire.

She created the most beautiful garden oasis in both front and back yards,

in the very scorching hot climate of the San Fernando Valley.

A couple of days before she left us,

 she was still driving herself to the garden store

to buy plants for her yard.

But this past weekend put her in the hospital for a night of severe vomiting,

and her family knew she was getting close.

She didn't want to stay there so Nick brought her home,

bringing in a hospice nurse,

and her entire family flew in to say good-bye.

A child of the 50's, a teenager in the 60's and a free spirit in the 1970's,

 Mary was the eldest of 7 siblings,

a child of Dutch immigrants,

and grew up in Grand Rapids, Michigan.

She left home at 17 and put herself thru hair college,

while working several jobs to pay her bills.

Did I mention what a strong willed, determined woman she was??

After marrying Nick in 1979,

Mary became a Navy wife.

They raised 2 children,

Jordan and Nicole,

  living in several different parts of the country,

all Naval bases in beautiful port cities.

I believe Annapolis was her favorite in Maryland.

Nick would be gone for months commanding a Nuclear Submarine

and Mary became a very strong independent parent.

(Mary 4 years into her Cancer on a river boat adventure with Nick thru her native homeland of Holland)

This past weekend, as weak as she was,

she was still trying to entertain her siblings with food 

as they all flew in to say good-bye.

 I think it really sapped her remaining strength.

Monday late morning my son texted me and reported that she was failing quickly.

I was supposed to do the a.m. watch Monday nite

so my bags were already packed and I drove up to the Valley.

I got there around 3 p.m. and by 5:20 she was gone.

It was so heartbreaking to say good-bye

 but she was surrounded by love.

Held closely in her husband's arms of 43 years,

he whispered his love and good-byes.

Her daughter on her other side resting her head on Mary's shoulder

and holding her hand,

my son kneeling in front of her with his hand resting on her knee,

 and her son on the cell perched on his dad's leg,

telling her what a wonderful mother she was 

and how much he loved her.

She looked so very beautiful at the end as peace came to her.

We will all miss her dearly.

(Mary the first year I met her in 2012)

Until we meet again dear Mary.

An aside.

This was written on May 24th 

but I didn't have all the pix I wanted to include until recently.

Mary left us on May 16, 2022,

and is buried on the most beautiful hill under a shade tree.

 A lovely cemetery in the Santa Suzanna pass surrounded by large boulders 

where the Hollywood Westerns were filmed.

There is a 4-5 mile trail thru those rocks 

that we are planning to hike thru in memory of Mary.

Her spirit will be with us.

JACKSON POLLOCK / MORRIS LOUIS INSPIRED

 As my son Zach and his new bride Nicole moved into their first family home recently

in the San Fernando Valley,

a little 1950's bungalow that has been remodeled;

they wanted to celebrate their first night with family and friends by throwing a painting party.

Brave kids!

Nicole had found a video on this super fun painting technique where everyone is successful,

sort of,

 unless you accidentally drop it upside down on the cement

which of course did happen.

No names.

Ha ha

We mixed up standard tube acrylic paints into cups,

thinning each color with water and 2 magic sauces.

One is called Floetrol to help paint flow wildly,

the other is Silicone to create the cool looking cells.

  And you never know what you are going to get.

Then each person got a cup and filled it with their color choices,

placed the canvas upside down a top the cup,

then turned the entire thing upside down again,

lifted up cup then started tilting canvas this way and that letting the paint do it's thing.

There was a lot of oohhing and ahhing,

 screaming and encouraging going on as each person took their turn.

Zach's piece reminded us of a wave above.

But man oh man did we make a mess with a lot of dripping going on,

and the clean up was horrific but so worth the results and fun.

Everyone loved someone else's more then their own and we just couldn't decide on a favorite.

Nicole's above received my son's vote for favorite.

Ahhh,

that's my sweet boy!

LOVE rules!

But mine was this one above made by both Nicole's parentals,

Nick and Mary.

Loved the color choices,

red, green, yellow and white

 and how they mixed and worked their way across the canvas.

This last one was my creation.

I limited my paint colors to a monochromatic scheme with silvers and golds as accents.

I wouldn't advise doing this with young children because of the mess

 and because acrylic doesn't wash out of anything, 

including fingernails, sidewalk cement and clothes.

But boy oh boy did we have fun and some great laughs!

HELLO FALL ON THE MOUNTAIN!!

The light has turned magical up at the cabin.

The air so fresh with the smell of pine wafting thru the air.

And the temp has finally dropped into the 70's during the day and the 40's at nite.

Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!

Down below at home is a different story.

Once again in the 90's this weekend.

Yuck!

The kids (my son and his wife) 

joined us this weekend and they pulled out the hammock

and took turns in it.

We took a 3 mile walk around our Lake Gregory

and identified 3 different  mountain native plants and 4 different pines

pressing the flowers and needles into our little books.

But our biggest pleasure was finding a fresh water lobster...

or as Google identified it a crayfish or crawdad.

First Zach tried his hand at capturing it,

then Nicole took her turn,

both unsuccessfully.

The little guy was about 4 inches long and looked so much like an ocean lobster.

And man or man,

could he scoot and turn on a dime to get away from us.

A first for all.

So much fun!

TYING THE KNOT

After more than seven years together,

buying a home, 

3 cats and a saltwater aquarium full of fish and coral,

these two adventurers have finally gotten married in front of family and friends

on the big Island of Hawaii, Kona side.

They are world travelers together in search of the perfect scuba dive areas,

the coolest waterfall hikes, 

and the deepest gorges they can climb down into.

They are also crossfit partners and instructors 

where almost the entire gym membership joined us for the wedding.

Here are just a couple of the many photos that were taken.

Our lovely bride being walked down the ocean path by her father

who is also a crossfit gym member and retired Navy nuclear submarine captain.

Note the gorgeous island flower bouquets and hair pieces.

Almost all the wedding party on the most beautiful clear Hawaiian day. 

All my son's best friends as groomsmen.

Zach met them on his first day of kindergarten in the late 1980's,

and they have remained friends thru boyscouts and so much more.

The bride and groom being introduced by Nicole's brother who officiated the ceremony 

as the newly Mr. & Mrs.

And their first kiss as man and wife.

One of the best days of my life.

More to follow eventually of this week long adventure.

FRENCH GENERAL INSPIRED

Over the Thanksgiving holiday I spent the weekend with my son and his fiance'.

They asked me where I'd like to visit and I immediately said French General,

a fabulous French based arts, crafts & antique store in downtown L.A.

It was my second visit to this impressive store,

and to really see everything it would take at least an hour.

But I tried really hard to not make the kids wait that long.

  LOL 

I spotted this very cool Boro Tote kit.

It came in Indigo or French Reds.

I asked Zach's fiance' Nicole if she liked the look of the finished tote on the package

and which color she preferred.

She chose the Indigo Blue.

YES!!

I was actually buying it for her mother as a Xmas gift.

Her mother Mary is an outstanding stitcher/quilter/knitter,

but after I brought it home to wrap I just couldn't seem to part with it.

It seemed to be calling to me.

So I ended up getting Mary something else just as nice.

I've been interested in Japanese Boro for about the past 5 years,

researching the techniques,

even looking for an original antique piece to buy to teach with from Japan.

But I've never used the technique myself.

It's a mending process,

used for hundreds of years to patch clothing with.

I rationalized this was my big chance to try it out.

So I kept the kit for myself and worked on it my entire Xmas break and beyond.

I have to be honest,

at first I wasn't a fan,

but the more I stitched the better I liked it.

Hundreds of stitches go into it, 

and I was sewing thru 3 layers of cloth;

the indigo fabrics, many of them overlapped,

a piece of cotton batting and the linen tote,

so sometimes 4 where the overlaps were.

What was really great was that there were leftover Indigo fabrics,

so I used them to make a pocket on the inside (above).

which wasn't part of the original kit instructions.

I also didn't use the stitch patterns they suggested.

In addition,

I wanted the bag to have more structure so I sewed up the bottom corners,

(something else that wasn't in the instructions),

used a piece of Indigo Shibori fabric I had in my stash,

and a piece of plastic netting material,

and made a bottom to support the bag.

All hand sewn and appliqued.

A 7th grader last year had given me an Indigo dyed velvet button he made as a gift.

I saved it and used in on the front along with an antique crochet covered button from my stash.

This Wednesday I'll be attending the courthouse wedding of my son Zach to Nicole,

and it will be one of their many wedding gifts I have planned.

I'm super excited and just can't believe this day is finally here.

We will be flying to Hawaii for their actual destination family/friend ceremony 

so I'm hoping they can use it as their beach/travel bag.

The courthouse wedding is just a technicality 

because the state of California requires it if you are getting married out of state.

This is news to me.

But two celebrations are better than one!

P.S.  I gave the bag a good washing to help fray many of the cloth edges

Look closely at the third photo.

BRINGING IN THE NEW YEAR...

by celebrating our son's engagement.

Destination wedding on the big island of Hawaii in March,

and I will be taking a week off of work.

My art sub that I had set up,

alumni Jordan Joyce,

 just got a real job teaching art at Azusa High School,

so now I don't know who to trust my kiddos with.

But I'm thrilled for you Jordan,

congrats!

Shopping for mother of the bride dress,

something that will hide and slim,

not easy  Ha!

And getting so excited to see these two get hitched.

Also wishing my Mother and Aunt could have seen this and been with us,

but I've got to believe they are with us in spirit.

SO GOOD TOGETHER

A preview of my son & his fiance's engagement photos.

Are they going to make some beautiful babies or what?

It's getting so real,

with the excitement building.

I'm so thrilled they have found each other and that Nicole is the one.

Thank you Nicole for making my son so very happy,

for loving him as hard as you do,

and bringing so much joy, fun & adventure into his life.

You two are so perfect together.

Photos shot by Brett Gover,

Zach's lifelong friend.

Thank you Brett, 

these are beautifully done.

FIRST TIMERS

Recently I had too much fun giving my son and his fiance their first watercolor lesson.

It was something they both wanted to learn how to do,

so I was thrilled to be able to do this for them.

Day 1 I took them thru an 11 hour lesson plan that I take my own students thru,

but I was able to get them thru it in 2 hours.

Then they both chose a subject on their phone and spent another hour and a half 

testing out their new skills.

They did pretty darn good for their first time.

And enjoyed it so much that they asked for a follow-up lesson

over the Thanksgiving weekend.

How about that?

We were thinking of tackling this still life below, 

but ended up eating the poms instead.

ha ha