Hike in Armstrong Redwoods

Jason and I were both off for the long weekend.   Though we obviously wanted to get out of town, we are still under shelter in place across most of California, so we stayed put.

A few of our state parks did open their parking lots this past week, so we took advantage and headed up to Armstrong Redwoods State Park.   This park is a lesser-known version of Muir Woods--but it is equally beautiful.   It is located outside of Guerneville, on the Russian River.  We went there years ago, but haven't been back since.   So with the long weekend, it was a good excuse to go check it out.

The park was as beautiful as I remembered.   We took a 6.5 mile loop long the ridge (east ridge trail to the pool ridge trail).   It was lovely, and shaded most of the way, and we stopped for a picnic lunch.   We also saw a lot of wildlife--the highlight was a pileated woodpecker--such a cool bird.   Also a deer, a snake and multiple lizards.

We stopped for take out pizza in Petaluma on the way home and bought it to a nearby park for a picnic, and then went to Lala's creamery for some ice cream.   Overall, not a bad way to spend the day.

Mother's Day, Quarantine Style, and some Cherries

Last Sunday was Mother's day.   We usually have a brunch at our place, but with the quarantine, that didn't work out so well.   Eileen and Gary did drive down in the afternoon, and we sat 6 feet apart outside.   It was Eileen's first Mother's Day without her Mom, so she was feeling a bit sad about that, and the fact that she couldn't even give us a hug.  At least the weather was nice enough to sit comfortably outside.   Apparently it was snowing in Milwaukee!

Today, we drove out to the east bay to do some cherry picking.   The farms are open as "essential businesses", albeit with face masks required.   We got about 10 pounds of cherries and some blackberries too.   Gave us something to do at least.

  


    

Tonight I made a pie out of some of the berries.   Unfortunately I tried a new crust recipe and it didn't turn out as flaky as usual, but the filling was delicious.

Stairwell Project

So one advantage of sheltering in place is we have time to do things we have been putting off doing.   One such project has been decorating our walls.  Though we have lived in our home for almost 8 years (!), we have a lot of blank walls.  

Our first project has been the stairwell.   I looked at Pinterest for some inspiration, and then bought frames to go up the stairwell.   We carefully planned, measured and hung each frame in line with the staircase (harder than it looked!)

The next step was fun--we went though hundreds of old pictures to pick out some favorites to put in the frames and ordered prints.

The pictures finally all arrived, and Wow, our stairwell looks great!

I want to tackle the dining room next.....

Dad buys a house!

We are so exited to say that my dad has bought a house here in Marin.   He just closed this past week!   If you can imagine, it has been a bit of a tumultuous time....

He found the house when he was out here in March.   He had been looking at places all winter, but this one he fell in love with right away.   He put in a bid, and amazingly, got the home (9 bids were placed, and it was on the market for a week!).  I don't have any personal pictures, but here are some from when it was on the market.

As you can see it is really beautiful!   It is located in Mill Valley, only about 10 minutes from us.   So exciting!!!

Then, of course, CoVid happened.   He was not sure what to do, with the crazy stock market and uncertain financial times.   He did negotiate a slight price drop and prolonged his escrow time, but decided to go through with it.

We are so happy that he did.   Now the fun part, time to decorate!   We hope he can make it out here soon to enjoy the space!   Look at the view form the porch.   Beautiful!