Alot for one week

Starfish in the fountain

Monday - The House. We went and saw The House, in person, officially with a realtor. For anyone that missed it, this house is SOLD. The walk through was an exercise in motivation and torture. A little high on the torture side. It was even more perfectly OURS than I had first thought. I loved every little bitty thing about it. Before David (realtor) got there, we walked up the back acre pasture and it was just so lovely... there was a little breeze, and the sound of windchimes (Hope?) and twittering birds. It was incredibly peaceful and beautiful. Here is the view from near the top of the property, looking down towards the pool.

I would have liked to have taken photos of the inside, but Dave was there and I thought it might seem just a little bit TOO stalkerish, all things considered. I refrained. I still adore this house, and all that it represented. So, I guess in that way, it was still a good thing that we did this walk through. It's good for us to know that something like that is there for us when we are ready. And I have this nice fantasy that we will win the lottery and I will go up to the current owners front door and make them an offer they can't refuse! :)

Monday night we drove to Malibu and met cousins Dave and Kim, who were making a quick trip to CA from NJ. We met them for drinks and dinner at a beachside restaurant called Paradise Cove Cafe. It was a really nice night weather wise and it was so great to see them and catch up a little bit! After dinner we walked on the beach a little before parting ways. The next day they were going to be driving up the coast on Hwy 1, which is truly an incredible experience. I'm excited to hear how they liked it, and see pictures too...

Tuesday verrry early in the morning Mario took my mom to the airport for her trip to NJ to visit family and friends. All accounts point to her having a fantastic visit so far! For us, our friends from Miami, FL, Sean & Jules, came for a quick visit. Sean was a groomsman in our wedding and has known Mario since high school. We went to their beautiful wedding in Florida a few years ago. They are flight attendants, and for Sean's birthday Jules got him a trip to CA to visit his old stomping grounds. Wed night we went to dinner at good ole bad behavior causing Cafe Fiore where I had a couple absinthe drinks! whatchout! We had an awesome time, sharing history and laughing at their stories of life in Miami. We made plans for Wednesday... When Sean was little he spent a month every summer at Gaviota Beach with his dad and sister. They swam, played in tide pools, body surfed, explored the lagoon, etc for days and days on end. I loved hearing about his summers there, it really made me feel like I had lived it in person. I had the day off and we got to enjoy re-experiencing Gaviota with them...

Jules (Venezuelan) told me that Gaviota means sea gull in Spanish. Here's a gaviota at Gaviota, on the pier.Here is Sean and Jules at the bottom of a stairwell that leads straight to the water from the pier. Sean swung from the rope in the background, but our picture turned out blurry.

We found so many gorgeous rocks. We started making these and couldn't stop. It was so relaxing and fun, just snuffling through the sand, adding and sharing our little treasures to the growing cairns.

We were so enthralled with the shale formations at the beach that a hiker asked if we were geologists! LOL

After leaving Gaviota we decided we were hungry, and headed up to Buellton to the famous Pea Soup Andersons. It's been there forever (80+ years is olllld in CA) and is a funky little fun spot to have some of their split pea soup (of course). We ordered ours in giant sourdough bread bowls. We also posed as Hap-pea and Pea-wee!!

Afterwards we hit up a couple local wineries. Here's the front porch area of Sunstone Winery. I just love the lighting and ambiance of this view...ahh...

We ended up driving home on the scenic and windey 154, then down State Street to really get some Santa Barbara flavor. We ended the night with pizzas on our patio, and full on doggy and kitty lovins for the guests. Julietta - who is in school to be a massage therapist - gave me an awesome massage. It was sooo relaxing and fun. She's so strong, especially for a lil peanut like she is. I wish they lived closer!

This is an unusual shot for my area of California, so I wanted to share. This was on the way to some trims, in Santa Paula right on the border of Ventura. They were grazing a recently mowed hay field right near the road.

The image below is the paint job that Mario did on the bottom of the fountain. He used a couple different colored blues, plus a sprayer of water, to create the liquidy effect. I love it! The final (?????) cans of sealer came in the mail yesteday and he's going to finish sealing it all tomorrow. Might have new fountain pics soon, with water in it. Ya never know...

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Bogey sitting near the fountain and being cute

Linx posing in the avocado tree

After the relaxing day in Gaviota, etc., we had 10 horses to do on Thursday and it was 106 degrees in Ojai. It was a little like trimming in an oven. After that long tiring day, we stopped by the barn to give the horses their supplements and i found that Jordan was colicky. He wasn't bad, just really not quite right... so we ended up watching him, walking him, watching him some more, etc. for hours. Each time I thought he was ok he would act funny again ... pawing a little, even layed down, looking distant, etc. But he peed, pooped and drank, and color (gums) was good and I just kept thinking it needed to get better so I could go home, or worse so I could call the vet. We finally left at 9pm and went back at 10:30pm and he was totally fine. The woman that lives in the house nearest their corral said she would check on him too and she called later to let us know all was well. Phew!

Friday I had 6 horses and it was muggy and about 98 degrees. While I trimmed the last horse (at our barn) Mario gave both of the horses much appreciated showers. Jordan seemed perky and fine, thank God. He is a sensitive guy, and likes to keep me on my toes. Faith is a rock - always sound and not a scratch on her!

Saturday (today) I had a mentoree coming up to work with me from San Diego area. It was a little hot in Agoura where the trims were...

We drank probably 20 gallons of water today! Mentorships are good in many ways but today we did 5 horses in about 7 hours. That's about 4 hours longer than I would normally take - even considering talking and interruptions, etc. It's just that teaching takes so long, and trimming students are just kind of slow to be honest. They don't have the tool handling skills down, and we spend so much time explaining, demonstrating, discussing and show-and-telling that everything is drawn out incredibly. The heat slowed us up as well...

Tomorrow we're going to breakfast with Stephanie, Nick and our friend from high school, Sharon. I haven't seen her in a few years, and it's been something like 13 years since she's been to our neck of the woods! Afterwards I am going to try to ride, even though it will be in the middle of the day, because I have a conference call in the evening. We've got a packed trimming week next week. It seems like there is no rest for the weary!

Phew that update took me forever! I am goin' to bed! NIGHT ALL!