The Kite Festival for 2008 has come and gone. We had a super mellow week with wonderful guests, most of whom have been coming here for close to a decade. Visiting with their families and friends who dropped by was great fun. The weather was fabulous the last three days and on [...]

Long Beach Washington Kite Festival—
Originally uploaded by danslide

The 2008 Kite Festival is coming! Hooray! We are so excited that our favorite festival is fast approaching. We’re filled that week with beloved return guests. This enables us to enjoy the festival also!! We’ve had a very busy July with lots of guests [...]

I apologize for being so out of touch recently. Our webmaster and host’s server got hacked into by a malicious internet terrorist. It didn’t affect the integrity of our website, email or blog site, but hundreds of his clients were knocked offline for three days. This blog just came back up. You could be standing [...]

This is my favorite pastry recipe that my mother got from her mother, a career baker. When my brothers and I were kids and needed a real treat, Mom would whip up a batch of kolaches–we called them Apricot or Raspberry turnovers. The pastry recipe is so simple. You can use any kind of [...]

It was not supposed to be a nice day at the beach. Well–we fooled the weatherman. It was quite beautiful. Last night’s sunset was hot pink and misty, unlike anything I had seen before and today was springy and lovely. We have a full house for the next few days which makes [...]

The Hawaiian Chieftain and The Lady Washington—
Originally uploaded by freeloosedirt

It is currently 83 degrees in Long Beach and these beautiful tall ships are moored at the Port of Ilwaco this weekend. You can take tours, go on an adventure cruise or just gaze at these majestic ships! Saturday Market along the waterfront has [...]

Hi dear blog readers! I mentioned my brother Jeff’s new book being released next week, but already available on Amazon.com for pre=-ordering at $16.47. The proper name, that I blew the other day, is The Long Baby Boom: An Optimistic Vision for a Graying Generation by Jeff Goldsmith, Ph.D. A good [...]

Deer, Not In Headlights 3—
Originally uploaded by Bayou & Lach

I was told by my cousin Rosi that you can communicate with the creatures that love your garden as much as you do. So the other week,while there were seven deer in my garden, I went out to meet them and have a pow wow. [...]

Long time, no blog. I’m sorry about that! A very odd coincidence happened to me while I was away for a few days in Orlando for my “other” career passion, at the National Association of Professional Geriatric Care Managers (GCM’s) Annual Meeting. My sweet Bill minded the store while I was gone! [...]