The Luck of the….

A daughter is the happy memories of the past,

the joyful moments of the present,

and the hope and promise of the future.

~Author Unknown

Irish luck

Scottish luck

in

either

event

I am blessed...

we

are

given

miracles

in

life

and

we

all

need to

count out blessings

just

plain

luck?

luck? blessings? miracles?

I have my girl

and I am so proud

Last year

I

did

a

blogging Mommy

thing

(not to be confused with Flogging Molly)

that you can read here

about

my

Annie

And today

March 17

I

celebrate

her

again

and

congratulate

her

as

she was just accepted into

Cal Poly's

Master' Degree Program

in

Public Policy

Beautiful daughter,

I

am

PROUD!

…only if you believe

"Fight for a just cause

Love your fellow man

Live a good life"

when

my

sweet friends,

Barbara and Nattie,

tell

you about

a

favorite

place

you know

it will be either

1. the best fish tacos

or

2. a most amazing place

no tacos this time

but

definitely

a walk through

heaven….

the

light

shining

down

from

above

was

a sign

that

heaven

and

someone

from

above

was

present and

had

way too much fun

with

paints

and fragrances..

hyacinths

ahhhhh

and

little angels

keeping

watch

surrounded

by

the

first

blossoms

of

Spring

pink

painted

Magnolia trees

in

their

full glory

The

Filoli Mansion

is

extraordinary

grandeur

especially

as

the

warm days

and cool nights

of

Spring

call

out to the

artist from above

no

fragrance

from the tulips

just

color

beyond the beyond

….just saying

the history

of

the

Filoli Estate

is described

here

the life style

and the

family's

wealth

is

beyond

comprehension

30 minutes from

San Francisco

the kitchen

caught

MY

attention

…so like

Giverny

John and I

strolled

through

the

paths

...

inhaling

the

beauty

every

Spring

bulb

had

awakened

bees

seeking

sweetness

and the

painted

masterpiece

reveled

in

every blossom

dozens

of photographers

and their

tripods

were

front center

here

capturing

the

yellow daffodils

reflected

in the

pond

…keeping time

dear

angel

Lurline Roth

gave

the gardens

to us

to inhale

and

delight in

not

quite

the

pearly gates,

but

heaven

was

not

far

the meadows

of

daffodills

and

the new

fragrant

blossoming

fruit trees

were

awe - inspiring

and

back again

closer

to the

main house

the pots

filled

with

hand painted

color

possibly

God's

paint brush?

(only if you believe….)

The Beautiful Bounty of the Central Coast

Farmers' Markets

anytime

anywhere

are

such

fun

places to visit

farm to table

salsa

flowers

radishes

onions

glorious

beets

strawberries

red

ripe

and oh, so sweet

we are

SO lucky

to have

local

seasonal

produce delivered

to Petit Soleil

every two

weeks in great big boxes

from

SLOVeg

this weekend on Petit's

morning fruit tray

are

sweet local kiwis, strawberries and

grapefruit

we'll make

amazing

Brussels Sprouts Quiche

Broccoli and Bacon Strata

Carrot Muffins

and tonight

at

our house

for dinner

Salmon with Sauteed Kale

We so

appreciate

all the local

organic

farmers

that work so hard

to

bring us

such

gorgeous and delicious

produce

and thank you,

SLOVEG

for bringing it to

Petit Soleil

p.s.

check out

SLOveg's website

for

delicious

recipes

and ideas

on

how to prepare

the seasonal produce

"Go get Nottie and call me!"

We

adopted

Wally's best friend.

Nottie,

from

Wood's Humane Society

in 2009

for us,

going

to

an animal shelter

was

quite

an

emotional

adventure

as

we wanted to adopt

ALL

the animals

Annie

sat in front

of the

cages

and cried...

so many puppies,

middle aged and older dogs

needing

homes

and love

we seriously

wanted to

adopt them

all

we brought Wally with us

to choose

a friend

after

a bit of

hesitation,

Nottie and Wally sniffed

and

chose

each other

we think

Nottie

was a

barn dog

that had to

fight for food

and

attention..

adopting

isn't always easy...

some animals

(like people)

have issues

LOVE HEALS

Wally loved

Nottie and Nottie loved Wally...

Nottie missed Wally when he died...

but

Love heals

yup,

it does

twice the love

came

when

we got Huckleberry and Phinn

and

they adopted

Nottie

as their

"Nottie Mommy"

quite a trio

a contented and

LOVED

smile

;

love heals

the

"go get Nottie and call me"

is when

Annie and Andrew

were

tag team

baby sitting

Nottie

and Nottie

decided

to chase the wild turkeys

in our neighborhood.

Annie's friend

heard

her tell

Andrew to

"go get Nottie and call me"

Blarney, Blessings and the Irish Hills

May you have the hindsight to know where you've been
the foresight to know where you're going
and the insight to know when you're going too far.

a wee

Irish Blessing

to

begin

our

hike

in

the

wild

Irish Hills

Annie,

John

and I

thought

the

sunny

cool

day would be perfect

for a hike

the hike

actually starts

(or ends)

right behind our house

and

goes

up

and up

and follows

the hills

canyons

and valleys

west

behind

Costco

you can see

SLO

hidden

behind

the foothills

of San Luis Mountain

it's

pretty

rocky and rough

along the way

we followed

the Froom Creek Trail

babbling creeks

and

waterfalls

break the quiet

of the

deep canyons

evidently

folks hike

these hills

and forage

for Chanterelle mushrooms

they say when

the

weather

is cool

and moist

there are hundreds of Chanterelles

hidden

under logs

and

tree roots

you would

have

thought

that we found

the

'shrooms

but

no,

just happy

the poppies

are

just starting

to

pop

waterfalls

trickle

down

throughout

the canyons

and after

about

five

miles

of trails

you end up

(or start)

behind

Costco

and

return

to civilization

May brooks and trees and singing hills
Join in the chorus too,
And every gentle wind that blows
Send happiness to you.