We have a lovely tradition of going to The desert every December, this year it was Hanukkah, we all had a great time, the cousins all got along, so did the kids, so did we.
Only Aytan isn’t in the picture.
Here he is making a Hanukkah house
Mandy and Einav, she got a hair decorating kit and Mandy kept on decorating her hair.
Abba and Erez
Sienna was the star!
Three cuties
We went to escape room. split in two and each group won their challanges
Opening gifts
Playing games!
Yup, she was the center of attention.
Mandy just shared these pictures, her family always comes in for Christmas, I bet Grammy brought that dress!
The table is set, I know, I didn’t iron the tablecloth. For two weeks, the oven wasn’t working, I called a bad repairman – that is what happens when I use Thumbtack – no more, I see that Yelp has many more options. But that means that I don’t have an oven for Thanksgiving turkey.
A friend mentioned barbecuing the turkey. So I went to the internet and found a number of articles, found one that seemed very clear and detailed and I went with it! I don’t have a fancy Weber bbq, but guess what, it worked. so much so that I went back on Friday to buy another kosher Turkey that will live in the freezer until Passover.
Final result. I should have covered the legs and wings earlier, but we didn’t run out of turkey, until after lunch on Friday. I call that great planning.
The buffet with all the food. Westley told me that the cranberry sauce is the best to make everything else taste good.
Thank you Eyal for helping me make it earlier in the week. It has oranges, apple, honey and silan (date syrup) as well as cinnamon and star anise. YUM!
I still had a pumpkin out front, Aytan wanted to carve it, so he did, yes, he did get a few cuts, because the knife I gave him has a serrated edge but no point.
He did a darn good job!
Three grandkids spent the night! Sienna slept till 7:30! both brother helping change her diaper and dress her.
Of course there were pancakes for breakfast and she loved them! along with some fruit.
Screenshot
A memory from about 5 years ago
Cam brought in the lego, luckily she didn’t reach in for any of it.
since I got a dedicated puzzle table last year, I always have a puzzle going. It helps to have a friend who is constantly giving me more puzzles like this one. Made by Doddle. His puzzles are full of details and the shapes are weird, which actually helps
Then I did the Haloween one after Halloween. I don’t like all the gore, but the puzzle was there and it was pretty easy. Of course, doing all these puzzles, means I’m getting better at it.
Coming home from Mexico, I pulled this owl from a location no one sees – he is too beautiful to hide. I also notice, the detail in these objects from 20 years ago is so much better than what they are producing now.
Both of these were very very dusty. A damp rag and they cleaned up beautifully
The details!
This guy was hanging on a wall for a while, and yes, a few beads have fallen off.
Joel went with friends to a timeshare presentation, while in Cancun, I actually had a stomach ache. He came back with this egg.
And now I am still working on a cross stitch project, West and Cam are getting new quilts from me, won’t be ready by the holidays. It is time for more than baby quilts. Still waiting for the batting so I can quilt my large Jane Austen.
On our way home from the desert, we stopped at Oak Glen, a little valley north of Yucaipa, a mini Julien.
We were a little late for the Apple picking, so we stopped at Oak Tree mountain, a small center with kids activities and of course apple products. There are plenty farms around that have restaurants and apple picking, this was convenient.
Their permanent Yeti, with pumpkins, some are already rotting.
This was after lunch, so yeah, we are happy.
They have peacocks, and peahens, but they aren’t very pretty.
There is a cat on a fence, he is alive and real, but he didn’t move the whole time we were there.
Ok, he moved his head.
It was a Tuesday, none of this was open, there was also an area for kids, it was open for a cost.
Oh Look! they do Bar Mitzvahs!
We had lunch, above the Peddlers pack sign there is a picture from the 60s, with appropriate cars and people, I don’t think much has changed since then.
I did buy some apple butter for Thanksgiving. We bought an apple pecan pie for next days bookclub. It wasn’t very good, the crust on the bottom wasn’t baked maybe we were supposed to bake it for a few more minutes rather than just serve it. Who knows – all I can say is we had a lovely time. Friends are so important in life.
Being retired means going to Palm Desert with friends mid-week. The Coachella valley is surrounded by mountains on both sides. With all the rain we had, it was snow on the Mountain tops. This is part of the beauty of this area – desert with snow as a backdrop.
What does one do? go out to eat, we did a lot of that. Some of us had stopped at the Cabazon Outlets and spent money.
We enjoyed our large balcony and played Mahjong. I even won one hand, the first, then it was all downhill for me.
One night we went to the cliffside restaurant. I had to take this picture for Eyal. It is probably a Yael, different kind of mountain goat, but hey, I sent it anyway. The camera captured a lot more than the naked eye, like the fact that the birds have left their mark.
Not many more pictures from the desert.
On our way home we took a slight detour to see the mini Julian, Apple country near Yucaipa. More on that later.
We were on a large resort, we didn’t go into town, but we did go to a small local touristy village. A friend was telling me that she lived in that area in the 60s and everything was real third world. The village of Sayulita was a small fisherman community where they fished for sea turtles and sold their fat. Go figure.
It is still cobblestones, but it is all bars, restaurants, tourist shops and yes a nice beach.
Everywhere they have these instagram signs. They also had a lot of day of the dead sculptures all over, I didn’t take pictures of them.
try to take a picture with Eyal, and quickly he turns away.
More flags against a blue sky.
Colonial architecture
Colorful painted wall and door.
I guess I like taking pictures of architecture more than weddings.
I love mosaic!
This is the part of the country that makes these beaded sculptures. In the lobby of our hotel, with over 3 million beads, a jaguar head.
For the upscale crowd, a refined elephant
A beautiful rhino
I do love this beadwork!
On the beach, a dad created a skeleton and a jaguar! Very creative
Second time in two years we go to Mexico for a wedding. Last time a niece, this time a nephew.
I didn’t take a lot of pictures, I did have a good time. Mai, the bride had a number of beautiful white dresses. There was a dinner on Thursday night, the wedding, to which she wore this gorgeous dress. I like how Jason chose a mint green suit – but not like the tuxedoes in the 70s! They are quite the couple and they planned an incredible wedding. Or was it a rave with a wedding tacked on. It clearly was for their friends, family – we had to accommodate.
We cleaned up very nicely, Joel officiated, and did a great job.
two funny items, that necklace, I’ve had it for 20 years, bought it in downtown LA, Yes it is unique and interesting, but compared to the Jewels that most women were wearing – and yet I got so many compliments. Thank you, I do have great taste and don’t spend a fortune.
The second is the bag, I literally bought it at Marshalls the day before our trip. I agree, it is adorable. Once again, a ton of compliments. Mostly from the young crowd, they really like the necklace and bag.
Here we are before the wedding, enjoying the amazing beach.
I admired these simple floral arrangements on Thursday night. Little did I know, these were also used at the wedding, which is great. the amount of florals was slightly obscene. Did I enjoy it all, of course, they probably cost more than all of my sons wedding put together.
These are the two cutest people at the wedding. Avital and Einav. Avital is only 5 months younger, but look at the difference in height. The two were inseparable for the 4 days we were there. Meanwhile, Eyal and Gabriel, also almost the same age got along fine, but like boys – didn’t have an intense bond.
The Dads’ enjoying the pool.
The next night, a bunch of us went out for fish dinner. The best Red Snapper is found here – I don’t know how they make it, but it is amazing. Of course this view, the ocean, the sunset, all amazing.
I hate all the ugly scary morbid decorations. More people decorate for Halloween than Christmas. They are choosing death over life. And we see it in everyday living, not just these two holidays.
So here are some nice decorations. At least the orange skeleton isn’t 12′ tall and I do like the pumpkin head.
Beautiful Sienna
Not a good picture, the only one I have of the under the sea family.
Big flamingo.
Yes Sienna, Westley is very strange looking.
The Waldos, a chicken and the carwash guy.
A cute house with a model of itself in the front yard.
It’s bird migrating season, pelicans, cormorants, geese and ducks. as well as the resident egrets.
Lets start with nature and fall colors. I have some fall decorations outside my house. This tree isn’t mine. Unfortunately 90% of my neighbors who put up Halloween decoration are into the gore and grisly. I can’t stand the skeletons and ghouls anymore. So I’m not sharing pictures of that.
someone carved and hung these pumpkins in the park, I just wish they hadn’t spray-painted the tree. Another thing I hate, graffiti. I remember when the left told us that graffiti is really art – and now our cities are filthy and ugly – way beyond graffiti.
Speaking of the left, here is a picture of me with my brother and cousin at 17. I was wearing a Kafiya, but now way was I on the left. At that time, mid 70s’ Arafat wore a Kafiya, but no one else did. It is from Iraq, and had it not been ruined by the ‘we hate Israel and Jews – by pretending we care for Palestinians-crowd.’ It is actually a lovely scarf.
Sienna is getting very big, she is covered head to toe with soup I made. Always good to introduce them to Santa cooking early.
Pre-Halloween, as a pumpkin.
Enjoying frozen yogurt. with Shira
and Aytan.
26 applique blocks for the Jane Austen quilt
This is not the final setting for the blocks, but you can see how the quit is growing.
I always have a puzzle going. This one is actually very hard. Not impossible but hard.
I don’t take a lot of photos when I’m busy living life. First night of Rosh Hashana we were 10 people, second night – 30. Here is the set up for the second night. I do love having such a wonderful backyard for hosting.
Look at this cutie, back from her first European trip.
Yes, she loves her cousins.
Love how these cousins enjoy a lot .
These two playing UNO and yes, Einav did win a game.
My niece just had a baby boy!!
Joel wearing Celines’ wedding green bow tie. I heard that one of the cousins sent one for the new baby – to the baby
With proud grandpa!
the name, Henry Orrin in English – Henry, cuz they want a classic name, Orrin for grandpa. The Hebrew name, Emanual, which is Gregs’ fathers Hebrew name- so Sephardic, which is great, seeing that Celine is half Sephardic
Joel reading part of the prayers at the Bris.
Then we ate, incredible Mizrachi food, once again, no pictures. The table decorations were great, and the food amazing.
