shoreline

Going wild in nature

| poppypeach

Well, my first week of the summer holidays was just a dream with catching up on so much stuff – namely sewing! It was so good to feel so free and not have any responsibilities of going to work or even study! I still need the calendar to get the kids to their chicken duties and the like but nothing dramatic. In exchange for credit card points, I got my hands on the Nikon Coolpix P900, this is a recommendation from a friend of mine in Queensland when we visited and I was blown away with the pictures of the kangaroos with their joeys.  This camera has the convenience of a point and shoot camera with a 24mm to 2000mm lens that is lightweight and perfect for travel. The pictures above are a few of the earlier shots in the day of a favourite subject of mine, birds – who knew!!

Here are my little monkeys in a paperbark tree striking their Anime poses – I love this camera to capture these shots when the kids are high up in a tree.

From afar I was checking out the Canada Geese taking their bath on the shore of the lake, the zoom in on the detail of the water over the feathers is spectacular. The best part of this is that we went out for a picnic by the lake for Fathers Day and I had the camera sitting in the basket of my bike as we were on the trail and whenever we found something to photograph we hopped off the trail to check it out – like these ducklings and a mama duck. The butterfly was a random find and I had no idea this little guy had broken wings until I looked at the image later.

The highlight for me for the day was going to see the baby egrets on Shorebird Way where Google has closed off the street for a few months so they can nest in peace high in the trees. I have always wanted to see these birds close up and now I can, it was so exciting! Again we just parked our bikes and hung out with the wildlife show, it felt like a David Attenborough episode in real life.

Afterwards, my son and I enjoyed time out in the big chair at the Google employee park next door with a couple of crocodiles and the bikes of many colours.

Today I was on a mission to take pictures of the ladies at McClellan Ranch as the kids cleaned out the chicken coop. I took a wander around the farm and found baby goats doing yoga on mama. The market pigs are getting ready for their time at the show, I asked Missy what she sees when she looks at the pigs and she said bacon! It is hard for me as a vegetarian but one day they can decide on their own whether they would like to keep on eating animals. Plus I had no idea how beautiful pidgeons could be until I was photographing them today. The quails in the coop are Flash and Steve, they just need a lady friend.

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It has been quite an eventful week after all with the new camera and getting out an about checking out what Mountain View and the surrounds has to offer. The best thing is getting on my bike and photographing whatever I find on the trail, I had been meaning to take my camera down the trail but my Canon camera has such a heavy lens but now I have no excuse for taking a crap picture with my phone camera of a rabbit on the trail. Next stop Australia and I will be taking some pictures of some flying foxes for my friend in O-town.

Party time after a busy week!

| poppypeach

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Last week felt like a turbulent wind had taken me up into the gusts with the many things I had to do. It all started fairly relaxed – I baked Anzac biscuits for International Day which was Thursday at our school. The map above is a snapshot of our school community including where ancestors were from and where everyone is now – here in California. I have a little string beginning in Sri Lanka and then to Melbourne and then to Cali. I love how this visual map of the world shows that we are all immigrants and a school community of just over 300 families can create such representation from many countries throughout the world. It helps we are here in the Valley where the population is so multi-cultural with thanks to all the tech jobs. I think I will think of this every time I hear any racist comments from the many idiots running this place.

My week began with research for my Science assignment which I completed the 1st draft on Sunday – yay! Plus I had my math unit as well which I have to keep on top of. The fun then began with planning the rest of the week with the party on Saturday and the middle school Walkathon on Friday (which I foolishly signed up to volunteer for). Still it was good to get the study done in the first couple of days of the week so I could focus on the rest of the stuff I had to do, like baking, sewing, volunteering, researching and driving the kids around.

Saturday came around and it was so sunny and beautiful! We were worried that it was going to rain but the sun came out for us in the morning and the warmth was the best 😀 We had a party by the lake and  hired out some paddle boats for the kids to play on and enjoy some exercise. They were knackered by the time our hour was up!!

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The fun part was getting around the lake with just a little bit of wind – the power of nature and pedalling around on the water is then that little bit challenging.

After the boat rides we had a picnic lunch of pizza, chips, fruit and juice boxes. Everyone just played and were checking out this lovely mama goose and her nest with 4 eggs in it. This is why I love Shoreline Park so much because of the nature sightings – the egret above, the yoga sand piper and the mama goose.

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In between studying and organising I made this dress in the evenings when my brain was too foggy to concentrate on reading and research. The cat fabric is super cool and it looks beautiful on. Missy did have purple dye in her hair but it seems to have not taken too well, I think it was because the ladies had to use an oil to brush out her dreadlocks before dying it. Oh well it was a fun experience for her and also for me to go to the salon to get hair dyed.

Then came the cake after a bit of playing – I planned to make fairy bread lamingtons but I could not get it together to make them beautiful on Friday evening so it was a complete cake fail! So in the end I made a food processor carrot cake (made in 5 minutes!!) by Donna Hay which was very tasty with its cream cheese, ricotta and lemon icing. It was a hit or a miss with the kids – though I did have one little friend who really enjoyed it so I shared the recipe with his mum.

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The week was an absolute whirlwind with the many things that managed to get done and it all paid off on Saturday with the most amazing weather and sunshine. We did have a very bold ground squirrel who really enjoyed the crumbs from our table and did not mind his photo being taken 🙂 And here is mama goose on her nest of down about to take care of her little ones – spring is here so we will have to look out for some little goslings around the lake soon, so sweet!

 

A piece a week – Ceramics out of the Kiln

| poppypeach
This week I finally made it an Open Studio Pottery Session for 4 hours. I figured this week is going to be super busy so why not take some time out and make some bowls. As I was there I found 5 of my bowls had come out of the kiln. I was experimenting with wax resist and the glaze that made it easy to find the bowls I had made though the look was OK and would be way better if I take it an extra step and work out how this whole process works 🙂 Still it was fun and the colours that came out were very interesting combinations and I love how the glazes react with each other too – a couple of my favorites are in the close up shots. 
A bunch of bowls working away in the kitchen
A favorite combination of colors
Another favorite though this is a matte and gloss glaze combo

A close up of the wax resist
Tuesday night it was Sew Sew with FabMo at the Mountain View Library and here is one of the attendees with her Infinity scarf. We had 12 people who came to the workshop and we could have used another 3 sewing machines as there was a bit of waiting around. Still it gave people time to discuss the steps to be organized once it was time for them to go on the machine. It was a pretty easy project that everyone enjoyed! 
Finished scarf out into the night

At the library some promo material – time for me to start the next months project!

Thursday it was Arts Focus with the kids at school and we made stuffed animals – here is a little one made with some beautiful stitches – I am looking forward to seeing how these animals turn out as the kids really love this project!

A little red elephant!

Friday was a night out at the museum and we went behind the Project Lab to peek at a small amount of the Academy’s gem collection – I love seeing gems in their raw form and these were presented beautifully. Hopefully they will have a show in the future!

Love the colours of these stones

Sunday was a family bike ride before heading over to the theater to see Annie in the afternoon – it was such a lovely morning for a ride and here we are at the end of the road looking over the water! We rode about 8 miles at a steady pace which accounts for some exercise 🙂

On the jetty!

I love my bike! 

Checking out the stinky shoreline!

A piece a Week… NYE treats, a warm bulky knit hat and a Custom Draft Snake filled with Pinto Beans!

| poppypeach
In continuation of ‘A piece a week’ from last year I am taking the challenge to projects that I am working on to expand my knowledge of making. So with my craft room fully organized this year I plan to make clothes from the fabric in my stash and see what I can create and of course, learn!
I made some delicious treats for NYE for our neighborly celebration. For dessert this is a riff on Chocolate Crackles made with a mysterious ingredient I cannot find here called Copha. So I looked through Super Natural Cooking and made these from the Peanut Butter Krispy Treats recipe. This is using Almond Butter and Cacao Rice Puffs and they are amazing!!

Cacao Rice Crackles

3/4 cup almond butter
1/2 cup maple syrup (the cacao puffs are super sweet)
1 teaspoon fine-grain sea salt
2 1/2 teaspoons agar flakes
3 cups Cacao Rice Puffs
Combine almond butter, maple syrup, sale and agar flakes in a large saucepan over LOW heat and stir constantly until smooth, hot, melted and bubbling just a little BIT. Add the cacao rice puffs and stir until well coated. Transfer to individual baking cups using a tablespoon or more to fill. Refrigerate until completely cool, then enjoy! 
Makes around 30
Super tasty cacao crackles!
As the dinner was a eat what you like from the table type meal I made a broccoli cous cous with a harissa dressing which went down a treat. This was inspired by this recipe.
Broccolli Cous cous with the Harissa dressing on top – mix it through and it is perfect with smoked salmon and salad
The spread of tasty morsels on the table including a babaganoush dip, cheeses, olives for snacks
How can I forget the cocktails – this mint inspired vodka cocktail is from a recipe I found on Food and Wine making the base sugar syrup with the herbs and adding extra vodka and lemon pieces when serving – refreshing and you can drink a fair amount and be very happy! 
Vodka lemon mint cocktail
The kids were enjoying the time by the fire and eating popcorn with nutritional yeast and watching Elf – I have to thank my friends for recommending it as the best holiday film ever! The kids all loved it very much 😀
Super warm
Popcorn with nutritional yeast – oh so good!!
The night was complete success with our neighbors leaving around 9:30 very happy and ready to get their kiddos into bed though our pair were so keen to stay up until midnight so lucky for us we had some holiday films to get through with Santa Paws and cat videos on YouTube!
Happy New Year to all!!
We had a busy New Years day with catching up with friends for brunch, lunch and dinner and in between a bike ride to Shoreline. A wonderful start to 2015!
As it was the last weekend before school was back into the swing of things we decided to go for a drive to Elkhorn Slough to check out some wildlife – sea otters, birds and whatever else we might find. We went prepared after our chilling hike last week and the weather turned out to be absolutely stunning with sunshine and warmth. Such a perfect day for a walk in a very peaceful part of the world. We spotted a sea otter cleaning himself through this super scope and borrowed binoculars from the visitor center who were full of information. 

Checking out the sea otter!

Hang on and don’t fall in the mud

Selfie with a background sign

Sea otter skeleton at the visitor center

After our walk of about 4 miles we were pretty hungry and decided we wanted to check out Phil’s Fish Market. Man we waited and waited in line for maybe one hour and we were just about to faint when there was the cashier! Thank goodness we ordered and sat down outside with the aggressive seagulls and our food was with us in about 15 minutes. We ordered sardines with a lemon and caper sauce, a salmon burger, chowder in a bread bowl and the kids had fish and chips and squid and chips. What a feast – there was no dinner for us when we got home! I would say this place is well worth the wait and judging by the line even when we left it does not matter what time you get there, this place is very popular. According to the guy we were chatting to in the line Phil’s has been in Moss Landing for over 20 years and has always been excellent. Oh and keep a lookout for the black cat near the boat.

The freshest fish in Moss Landing

Entertainment with the fisherman

 I knit a bulky hat for our walk as last time we were hiking it was super cold – this time I did not necessarily need this as it was warm and sunny but I could not take it off because of hat hair! This hat is super comfy and warm and made from a hand spun merino my friend gave me from Australia – I love it! Super easy to knit up and fast as well.

With Mr Ash who enjoys Selfies!
Our farewell to Moss Landing

 A friend of mine at school ordered a custom snake at the holiday boutique and wanted it as a draft stopper so I filled it with a pound of pinto beans in between the stuffing! Here it is ready to go to it’s new home!

‘Drafts be gone!’

Oh and how can I forget our last day of the holidays and a ride to Shoreline again – 8 miles with the kiddos going at their pace still worked my legs! We stopped for a ice cream and sweets and headed back home in the cool evening air. We found this friendly ground squirrel wanting a snack!

Hanging at Ground Squirrel HeadQuarters at Shoreline