The Meandering Thoughts of Jan

Since I have been blogging about my travels this past week, I'm a little bit behind on updating about my life since I've been home.  So in no particular order, ummm, here's some stuff... My latest craft: This funny little creation is something I came up with for my dad for Father's Day.  My dad is a huge golfing fan, so I was trying to figure out how could I creatively give him golf balls and tees as a gift.  I put together this golfing bouquet, which is more like a golfing shrub.  My dad loved it, so that is what is important.  Here is how I made it, if you are interested. Materials: 6'' clay pot 5'' floral styrofoam ball 3'' paper cups (about 20) Acrylic craft paint (I used green to match the golfing theme) Golf balls (about 20) 100 golf tees Ribbon It actually was not that hard.  I cut little holes in the bottom of the cups.  Then I painted them green and let them dry.  Once the cups were dry, I put the golf tees throu

This is my last post from my trip to California.  For our last day in California, we took a trip to Stinson Beach, which was gorgeous. We got there early in the morning and had planned on going on an hike, but the   beach, sun and surf were too tempting.  So we decided to chill on the beach which was relatively empty and soaked a little bit more of the California sun in. Julia and her trusty ukulele.  I love my cousins!  Heidi, Julia and Me. There was more than one shark warning at this beach, so these feet stayed on the sand. Since there had been shark attacks there in the past, there were a few warning signs along the beach. We also noticed bear safe trash cans in the parking lot.  This spurred a conversation: if a grizzly bear came into the surf and got in a fight with a shark, who would win??  It was quite the debate and I can't remember what the conclusion was. Our next stop before the airport was the iconic Gold Gate Bridge.  We took a short walk in a park ne

We went on a whirlwind tour of San Francisco with our friend Katlyn, who is a local.  She showed us all the sights to be seen.  We started out looking for a parking spot so we could have dinner.  But some how we found ourselves up at Coit Tower at the top of one of the many hills in San Fran.  So we decided to tour it while we were there. The Coit Tower was built in 1933 by Lillian Coit who was a really rich lady that loved to chase fires with the firemen , so she built a tower in honor of them.  True Story. Inside the building there are many frescoes depicting life in San Francisco in the 1930's.  I liked the orange farming painting. Julia enjoying the art. After our visit to Coit Tower we were able to find parking near this cute little Thai place that we went to for dinner.  It was delicious.  In all the curry excitement, no pictures were taken.  However, I did take a picture of the bomb squad, who had closed off the street across from the restaurant. The rest o

We decided to take a day trip to Santa Cruz, so we could fulfill one of Heidi's childhood dreams... to visit the Mystery Spot .  The Mystery Spot is supposedly this area in the redwood forests near Santa Cruz that, for whatever reason, gravity laws are different there.  Perhaps it is just an optical illusion, no one knows.  That is why it is called a mystery!  Anyway, we went on a tour there which was full of all kinds of science experiments.  Honestly, the whole place made me really dizzy and left me feeling rather sick.  So I say they can just take their crazy, weird gravity and keep it to themselves!  Ok, just kidding .   But honestly, it was kind of bizarre to see compasses on people's phones (for people who are cool and have compass apps on their phones) go out of control and not point north when entering the Mystery Spot.  How mysterious.  The tour was fun and we can now check this off of our bucket list. Gorgeous Redwoods Our tour guide showing gravity defying exp

Our second day in California was super chill.  The wedding from the day before really wore us out.  We went to church and were spiritually lifted.  I then took a nap on the couch while Julia sang us some tunes with her ukulele.  We then made the most amazing dinner, which is pretty impressive when one person in our group is a vegetarian, another person doesn't eat gluten and we were in a little bit of exhausted delirium when we went shopping the night before for food. Eat up! Julia, Heidi and the wonderful Katlyn who let us stay at her house. In the evening, we went up to twin peaks, because our friends said it had the best view of San Francisco.  It was a beautiful evening and a great place to enjoy the sunset. The Golden Gate Bridge off in the distance. Me and the lovely city of San Francisco. Julia enjoying the sunset. A blurry picture of the city at night.