Can it really be almost the end of January 2012! The last few months seemed to fly by! We enjoyed our Thanksgiving and Christmas holidays, our 37th wedding anniversary and my hmmhmmth birthday . . . we went camping for a few days here locally at Santee Lakes . . . we refurbished and re-rented our rental house . . . and oh yes, Bentley is still Bentley, driving us crazy (but loveable nonetheless).

Bob continues as a Sr. Volunteer for the Fire Department, entering his 5th year. I'm still volunteering as a Friend of the Library and we were treated to a nice luncheon this week for our efforts last year. We raised around $75,000 for the library through sales in our Book Shop. Not bad for books that start at 25 cents and rarely sell for more than $4.00!

Sending out best wishes for this New Year. For the first time ever I didn't send Christmas cards, forgive me my friends, but I do think of you often.

Spent a week with Julie, Jarrod, Ian and Jack in Phoenix and we enjoyed our visit so much. The boys are growing by leaps and bounds and their individual personalities are evolving ever stronger. We made rice krispy halloween squares (pumpkin shaped), Jack learned to play the card game War, we played Jacks, read some new books, made paper airplanes and more. Of course the kids LOVE their WII and Nintendo the most, and they are great at it. They have their Halloween costumes ready and can hardly wait for Trick or Treat Night!

Bentley was in heaven. Julie has a fully fenced huge back yard which is completely dog proofed and Bentley could run and play endlessly with her Otis (bloodhound) and Yoshi (golden/cocker mix) . Yoshi is about the same age as Bentley and they had a ball romping with each other.

I couldn't get this picture from Julie and not share it with my friends and family!

Ian and Jack are off to the first day of school. Ian is in third grade, loves school and is an old hand at this stuff . . . but it's Jack's FIRST YEAR OF KINDERGARTEN and it sure looks like he was all set to join his older brother. Taking the bus, no less . . .VERY BIG DAY!

I sure wish they lived closer and we saw them more often. I think we'll take a trip to Phoenix late September/early October when the weather cools off a bit. Meanwhile, thanks for the pics, Julie.

What a great week we've had. Bill took a well-deserved vacation for a week, and we were delighted he chose to spend it here visiting us. It was so good to spend some quality time with him.

The picture above was taken in Coronado, with the San Diego skyline behind us. Coronado is a great place to ride bikes; it's beautiful, they have great homes to view as you bike through residential streets, they have a vast assortment of eateries . . . . .and most of all, IT'S FLAT--no hills!

Bill was able to spend time with some old friends from school and past jobs, so he wasn't stuck with us old folks the entire time! He brought his Harley with him in a trailer, as well as his bicycle, so he had every possible mode of transportation available to him. (He never did travel lightly . . .)

I know the rest of the country has been hot, hot, hot but I must tell you that our weather has been pretty gorgeous lately.

Now, if Obama and Congress would keep their mouths shut and stop putting a further drag on this economy and our country, perhaps we'll be able to keep enough of our money to continue to enjoy our old age!

 
Summer has arrived in Escondido. Lots of beautiful plants in bloom all over town. I love the jacaranda trees this time of year. I'm enjoying some great tomatoes (only have three plants, but that's enough for the two of us). My favorite at my house right now is shown above--clerodendrum thomsoniae (bleeding heart vine). Bob hates it because it's dormant all winter on the patio and doesn't look great, but to me the summer showing makes it all worthwhile!

Bentley is now eight months old. He's graduated from Puppy and Beginner 1 class (8 weeks each) and will start Beginner 2 in a couple of weeks.

Bill's planning to visit us for a few days later this month and we're really looking forward to it. We hope to take a nice bike ride down by the harbor and whatever else he might want to do.