Week 41, 10-2-2016

Thoughts and Quotes: I’m so glad I live in a world where there are Octobers.

                                                                                                Anne of Green Gables

So am I, Anne, so am I. I love the feel of October with cooler nights, mellow days, and preparing to tuck in for the winter. I also love October because it brought me a baby boy on the 8th when the trees were so bright they seemed to glow. And as it turns out, my son also turned out to be very bright. 

So goodbye to the last of the flowers 

and the tomatoes

and baseball for the St. Louis Cardinals

I even put my rally towel out, hoping we'd make it to the play-offs. The Cardinals had to beat the Pirates and the Giants had to lose to the Dodgers. The Cardinals won, but so did the Giants. The Dodgers put in their "second stringers", and didn't even pull the starting pitcher until he had allowed five runs. It felt as if the Dodgers were throwing the game. Now there's no chance they'll have to travel to St. Louis to play the Cardinals. It's a short flight from Los Angeles to San Francisco to play the Giants. Maybe that's why they didn't even try today. It really hurts to lose by one game, though.

So hello to mums - those little $3 babies grow up to be big boys

As you remember, my son was here this week for a brief (too brief) visit. After the brunch I posted last week, we just "goofed off", or as we say in the Ozarks, we spent the time "gommin' and piddlin'". We went to my local thrift store and didn't buy a thing, but he got to meet Baby.

We visited my bench at the studio on Commercial Street. After I made it, I realized it was too heavy to bring home, so we added it to the "art" park.

The benches they make now are bigger and more advanced.

My daughter-in-law loves this "yard art", so we took lots of photos.

We saw this 6' chicken outside a thrift store and Mike said, "Oh, Kathy would love that in our yard". 

Really?

We went looking for coffee beans called Black Satin which Mike has decided is the best coffee in the world. We were unsuccessful, but I loved this sign in one of the Heros Coffee shops.

Tidbits: I believe that I've mentioned that I always look at the Five On Friday where bloggers link to Amy at www.lovemademyhome.blogspot.co.uk. I loved Tomoko's (from Japan) photos from last week of the monks cleaning the giant Buddha and also the Candle Festival. Take a look.

And this week Mascha from Germany, who takes photos of old doors, bridges, factories, churches, etc. posted this door photo with five little mini-stories about it. You'll be charmed. Read all of them. So sweet. Click here.

And then Pat, from California, took us on a knitting retreat on the Michigan Island called Bois Blanc which means White Wood. You'll wish you'd been along. Take a look.

It was a banner week for Five on Friday and I'm only through the first five. I'm looking forward to tomorrow when I'll have time to look at the other 21. Aren't we lucky to have the internet so we can see how others around the world spend their time just living their lives. 

And now back to California so we can finish up and return to my original purpose for this blog.

The Richard Nixon Presidential Library

The Nixon boyhood home was moved here. It's a tiny little place.

Richard and Pat are both buried here.

And the canopy from Tricia's White House wedding is in the garden.

The grounds are beautiful.

I love visiting presidential libraries. They house papers of the president, but much more. The gifts from foreign countries, dresses of the first lady, a replica of an office, sometimes a car, and lots of history and a movie of the president's life.

There's also a room full of world leaders, made to scale. You can walk around and introduce yourself.

There's a replica of The White House which is housed in Florida and travels around to various locations. I was fortunate enough to see it twice at the Nixon Library. It's an incredible undertaking. Anytime something is changed in the real White House, the replica is changed also. And the seasons are changed, as you'll see in my photos. And the first time it was there, they brought along the statues of the presidents. I think the second visit was to honor the completion of the East Room - an exact replica in the library - which will be used for events.

The East Room

Some of the statues

The White House

And then it was winter and Christmas time. The little TV's actually worked.

There was also a replica of the Nixon birthplace

After seeing the meticulous details of the replica White House, I was surprised at the rather lackluster website with little information. The replica is at home in Clermont, Florida, and if you're ever near there, it's worth a stop. I think there might be other worthwhile exhibits as well, but I had a tough time navigating their website. Here it is. Wait for the photos to change, and you can see the other collections - White House china, First Lady gowns, memorabilia, etc.

The Ronald Reagan Presidential Library

Now that you know all about presidential libraries, I'll just add the photos randomly.

Construction was underway for the building to house an old Air Force One, but I left California before it was completed. Here's the mock up.

The Oval Office

I used this layout to figure out how to deal with my large living room

Nancy is buried here, but my visit was before she passed.

Wonderful views from the back 

We're almost finished, but I must show you some of the angels. I saw moose in Toronto and cows in Dublin, but I like the angels best.

And finally, a quick stop at the Knotts Berry Farm Sunday Brunch. They have the world's best fried chicken and biscuits.

I love my house, but sometimes I yearn for my small two bedrooms-one bath condo with only a deck. I could clean that place in no time. It was all upstairs above the garages. I called it my penthouse.

You entered from the garage at the bottom of the stairs.

and ended up in the living room

An ajoining dining room leading to a deck. The kitchen is behind the wall shown above.

A roomy bedroom. I locked the door going into the bath so I'd have room for my chaise and just used the door from the hall

Only one sink and a shower over the tub

I used the second bedroom as an office/den. Life was simple, life was good. Still is, even with all the weeds.

So we leave California, but keep the memories of other times. Now to get back to the original purpose of this blog. We have miles to go before we sleep. So back to goals and back to organizing my closets.

EAT AN APPLE EVERY DAY

EAT YOUR GREENS

DRINK SOME TEA

AND LOTS OF WATER

30 MINUTES OF EXERCISE 5X A WEEK

THANK YOU FOR SHARING MY LIFE