Oh, Dear! What Can The Matter Be!

That little song is going through my head: "Oh, Dear, What Can The Matter Be! Dear, Dear, What Can The Matter Be...and you know the rest! I've missed my blog the last two turns. What can the matter be?? I've been out and about each Friday it has been my turn to blog and then way too busy catching up. Can it be possible that I have missed every opportunity since the end of June? Yes, I checked my calendar. But just to bring you up to date on what I have been doing and lay my excuses at your feet, here is a run down on my activities. The 27th and 28th of June I had grand kids who were up at 5:00 wanting to start their day with Gramma. What fun we had swimming, shopping, going to Chuck E. Cheese, making fruit pizza, then swimming again. Love it when they come, love it when they go home! Saturday Glenn put the top down on his little blue Mazda Miata and we drove to the coast to walk on the beach and have lunch in Ventura, then did some exploring on the way home at the little town of Piru. On Friday the 12th of July, our 55th anniversary, we were in the depths of King's Canyon National Park exploring the river and meadows and canyons. So beautiful!!

Again, we put the top down on the car and enjoyed gazing up at those towering mountains thousands of feet above us. I do believe King's Canyon is every bit as spectacular and beautiful as Yosemite. The giant redwoods and sequoias in Sequoia National Park were amazing! And it was delightfully in the shade of those giants.

Friday we drove out of the parks (had been there a couple of days) and down to Fresno where we explored the Forestiere Underground Caverns excavated for about 40 years by a Sicilian immigrant who wanted to grow orange trees. Incredible!

Then on Saturday we drove to Cambria and Moonstone Beach, stopping on the way to explore Mission San Miguel. One of my buckets list items is to photograph each of the 21 missions and make a beautiful Shutterfly book of them. I only have a few left to complete my mission!

Spent Saturday afternoon exploring Cambria and walking on the beach, enjoying fish and chips within the sound of the ocean.

Unfortunately, we both had Church assignments so left at 4:00 a.m. Sunday morning to be at Church. But what a fun anniversary we had - from the High Sierras to the California Coast! My next assignment was July 26 and on that date we were in Cedar City enjoying the Shakespeare Festival with our friends - we meet every year and see some shows. This year we enjoyed Love's Labor Lost, The Tempest, Peter and the Starcatchers and Cole Porter's Anything Goes. I highly recommend Anything Goes and The Tempest. I was disappointed in Peter - thinking it would be as delightful as the Disney children's book about how Peter Pan became....Peter Pan. But it was full of innuendos and uncomfortable stuff instead of just being wonderful. It was a little hard hearing the women's voices in Love's Labor Lost, though it is a fun story. We did drive up to Cedar Breaks National Monument - spectacular! The wildflowers were still in bloom. what a lovely drive.

So there, dear friends, are my excuses. I'll try to be more faithful in the future in fulfilling my commitments, but I have to tell you, I am thoroughly enjoying my retirement! Life doesn't get much better than this.