A Walk on the Beach

What a lovely day.  Things have been so hectic lately.  I am a bit overwhelmed with school and some other things right now.   I was a bit frustrated last evening because I lost half of my assignment on my computer. Usually on Sundays we are up early and at church.  Afterwards we normally have lunch then do errands, chores or I catch up on homework.  With things being a little stressful, I had a terrible night of sleep and was up and down all night. 

 

My sweet baboo suggested I sleep a few extra minutes, after which we would take Liesl to the dog beach in Carmel.  Liesl was very excited.  The beach is her Disneyland.  She gets to run, fast and free since dogs do not have to be on lead there.  Lots of dogs run free so she gets to make lots of friends, chase her ball, and run and play in the smaller waves like a big dog.  In the picture above, you can see she is a hot mess.  She is wet on her legs and belly, has sand everywhere, including in her beard, and wet sand all over her body.  This, of course, meant she was cold and in need of Daddy cuddles.  I think the only person who spoils her more is him.  Oy vey! 

 

As we were leaving the beach we stopped for a moment to share the gratitude for the beautiful morning.  As we looked out at the horizon we said, "Thar be whales!!!"  There was a huge pod of humpback whales.  I think the Monterey Bay count yesterday was 64 and there had to be somewhat close to that number this morning.  In all of my years on this Peninsula, I have only seen spouts of whales.  I have never seen any breach - until today.  They were jumping out of the water and these huge tails were sinking into the sea.  At one point they were within about 100 yards of the beach.  People were lined up all along the roadways to see them.  We must have watched them for another hour.  It was so amazing, so beautiful and such a blessing. 

 

Liesl cuddled up in her daddy's arms all the way home.  She was so tired from her adventure.  We took her home, tucked her in with a cookie and decided to try the new Panera in town for lunch.  It was quite tasty and we got to just sit and chat for a while. 

 

Upon our return home, Liesl's Daddy decided he needed a good nap.  So he went and rested while I recreated my lost assignment.  While I was doing so, I realized that I had made an error yesterday, so it was a good thing I lost it.  I wrote up an even better assignment and submitted it on time.  

 

It turned out is was much better for us to take that time this morning, as our little family, and just enjoy our time together.  It was good to not be productive, but to be in the moment.  We got to have an amazing experience watching those beautiful, majestic whales.  It really is so important to stop and smell the roses, or the beach.

Hello, Autumn!

Wow!  The summer just flew by!  It has been a busy, busy time!  I have been taking really hard classes for my job, so it has not left a lot of time for stitching and blogging.  But I am learning a lot and like what I am doing.

I am so glad we put the sod in back in May.  Liesl loves her queendom and spends hours outside.  She was always joined at the hip with me, but this summer, her days are spent lying in the grass under the shade of the tree. Hours go by before she comes back inside. She loves to watch the landscape for any gopher that has the audacity to pop up in her yard.  Once she knows she has an intruder she will skip meals and everything to stand over a gopher hole.  She is so happy in her yard.  She is really happy when she gets to follow her daddy around while he works out there.  They have a very special relationship.  I wonder if she now sees him as the alpha because she will especially seek him out in certain circumstances.  If she needs to go out in the middle of the night she will go over to him and tap on his arm with her paw until he wakes up so he can go with her to protect her.  They are so cute together.  He says that she is very special to him, too.

 

Liesl had to supervise her daddy's construction project this weekend.  He was able to build the large raised bed garden box for the back side of the yard.  It is beautiful with gorgeous railing and corner brackets.  We decided on redwood for durability and look.  He did such a beautiful job.  The bottom is lined with chicken wire to keep the gophers out of our harvest.  We are getting ready to put in our fall garden, and have the seeds coming from Park Seed this week.  We will be growing lettuce, broccoli, Swiss Chard, spinach, and a really pretty radish.  This is the first try at fall gardening, but I am excited about getting started!

 

I was super stoked when I went to Target today!  Pumpkin stuff is out!  They had a nice big stock of International Delight Pumpkin Pie Spice creamer.  Yummy.  They also had Toll House Pumpkin Cheese cake cookies.  I bought a good supply of pumpkin goods and I am officially ready for Autumn. 

 

Hope you are having a happy season, too!