What Are You Doing New Years Eve? by Zooey Deschanel and Joseph Gordon-L...

I've been playing this one for years….VERY old favorite…love love love…happy New year everyone!!!

Bing Crosby & David Bowie - The Little Drummer Boy / Peace On Earth

More Xmas Magic!!  Seriously!!  Enjoy!  And when you're done with this one…go down below to the next post and have yourself the happiest of joys!  Fallen and Mariah!

XMAS ENCORE!!

Just wanted to keep things Xmasy around here, so brought back one of my favorite Xmas songs for a special encore performance…keep happy!!  CHEERS!!

ROCK ON GOLD DUST WOMAN!

Just finished a new piece…took a while, since I started it the summer before our wedding last year…!!  Laid everything down once the wedding took over and literally just got back to it this past month…hope you enjoy!  Rock On!  juner

A GREAT XMAS GATHERING!

So Saturday was our little Xmas Soiree.  We had last minute cancellations and loads of people could not attend, however, the few that did are the ones that counted and made it a big huge blast of fun!  We ate and sang and had carolers…plus celebrated our good friend Byron's 60th birthday…so of course that meant a flurry of dancing on chairs to the Beatles, Birthday Song…our family tradition.  After that we danced to our favorite party songs…starting with Tom Jones, "It's Not Unusual"…BEST way to start a party in my book!
The house looks festive and smelled like everything Xmas, from trees to food and treats.  The table was set with risers covered in white, with pale blue and green tulle and little white lights that gave a super winter wonderland effect…with tiny snowmen and candles, white roses…it was really pretty.   

So here are a few shots of our big fun…hopefully the little video of the Soquel High Xmas Choir works…it would be a pity not to add this bit of Holiday Magic to your day…Best to all..Mucho Xmas Kisses!!  xox juner

I hung spiral shiny ribbons of stars in aqua, green and blue in among the mirror garland.   And of course our strands of party lights hung over a year ago for Taylor's birthday that are still hanging, bounced color off of everything.

Everyone preparing for "They Say it's Your Birthday" to blast…Ray's in the cupboard ready to pump up the volume!

Sorry, the video won't upload…damn!!

THE LIFE I DREAMED OF

I'm staring out my kitchen window, looking out over the garden and chicken yard.  It's a pouring rainy and Xmasy grey day and I  love it.  I'm baking tons of cookies and cupcakes, my youngest son ran off to the market to replace something I already made a huge mistake on.  My one and only love is lying on the sofa reading and indulging me by blasting corny Xmas carols.  The trees are lit, and the table is set for our small gathering tomorrow.  
Our life has been extremely challenging in the past four months…we seriously don't have a pot to piss in and it's been very stressful, however, we made this little Xmas Cheer happen with the help of our friends and family.  My oldest son and his awesome girlfriend are coming in from San Fran tonight to help out and be here for the party, although our daughter couldn't be here, which is the only black mark on an otherwise perfect moment….and I couldn't be happier right now. 

When I lived in LA all those years ago I would drive home down the hill in Encino and dusk would be coming on, or it was already night…I would see beautiful homes surrounded by big trees and lights on in the kitchen windows where people were cleaning up and I would drive slow, or even stop sometimes, just to wonder at their lives…truly wondering if it would ever be the same for me someday.

Dreams  can totally come true….hope you are finding the magic in your day!

Jimmy Fallon, Mariah Carey & The Roots: "All I Want For Christmas Is You...

Time to spread some Xmas cheer….one of my favorite Xmas Songs….and it couldn't be performed better than this….enjoy!  Happy Holiday Seasons to you all! xox juner

SOMETHING NEW FROM PRESSED LEAF PUBLISHING

Thornton Berry Shire Press, Home of the Benjamin McTish Series: Welcome, from Thornton Berry Shire!: Welcome to Thornton Berry Shire Press, a division of Pressed Leaf Publishing. We are super excited to open this new division in YA publish…(click on first line for rest of post..enjoy!)

ANOTHER CANDLE IN THE WIND...

My perfect little all white Bantam Cochin, aptly named Marilyn, died on Sunday morning.  It was the saddest thing ever.  I cried all day.  I know she was just a chicken, however, she was my favorite and I adored her completely.   
Not certain what happened, only to say she wasn't herself for a while….blaming that on the testosterone addition to the pen.

Unbeknownst to me, when I picked out my three Bantam Cochins this past Spring, they all ended up becoming Roosters…not what I was hoping for.  One I was able to spot fairly quickly and thought, no worries, he's cool after all, and I really enjoy the idea of cockadoodledoo…even though most of our neighbors did not.  Anyway, I kept him and changed his name from Pear, aptly named because she was a Partridge Bantam…well, she became a he and I named him Elvis and called him E a lot of the time.  Then a month later I realized the other gal whom I called Miss. M…after the Divine herself, was actually a Mr. Kotter, and found a new home for him quickly, he was gorgeous, a Gold laced.  Little did I know that the little Red gal I had, named Gilda, both for the Red headed bombshell played by Rita Hayworth and SNL favorite, Gilda Radner…alas, another Rooster whom I called Red for the time being.  He was removed immediately as the sparring had begun.  This is when I believe my little girl had too much going on.  After all, even though none of us knew they were roosters, she did.

So giving him away I now had one cock of the walk as it were, E…and poor little Marilyn got all his attention as they were the same size.  As a Bantam he looks like a little dwarf compared to the big standard gals.  That's the only thing I can think happened.  She stared going off into little corners by herself and not running out to eat with the others…so so sad.

She was super super fluffy and white and I miss her terribly!!  The pen is not the same without her.  It's really taken the joy out of greeting them every morning the past two days.  All the other gals are darker and big, and she was like a poof ball of white that just lit up the yard.  She and I talked back and forth to each other all the time and she let me schnuggie her. (that would be snuggle).

So now I believe we are going to find a home for Elvis as a Bantam and the others are Standards, it can get pretty aggressive and hens get hurt badly…so enough of that experiment…no more Roosters!

LIFE'S CELEBRATIONS

I wonder if I'm ever gong to keep up with real time around here!  Every time I'm away or take photos at an event I think, I've got to put this on my blog and I'm going to do it immediately…and then a month or more goes by….geez!

So here we are catching up again.

We went off and had our first anniversary a couple weeks ago..as you are aware.  We drove up to Tahoe and followed the backroads…it took double the time, but was well worth it.  We stopped in the little old mining town of Jackson and ate lunch in a park.  We sat under a big tree next to an old school house, then drove the backroads through the high sierra's past several lakes…it was a spectacular drive.

Then we arrived at our destination…Tahoe!!  It's like home away from home to us…and we CHILLED in a really big way.  Did basically nothing but sit and stare at the lake…three of them to be exact.  And yes, there is a black smudge on the lens…could not remove it for my life!  In the meantime I'm working on perfecting the "selfie"…as you can see, I haven't gotten very far with that yet!

Dinner with friends with a perfect sky and the afternoon at Fallen Leaf Lake, which is my favorite place in the world…although Ray has turned me on to Meeks Bay, which is where we spent our last afternoon and I almost began to cry when we had to leave…odd looking ducks swimming by and of course the little critters aren't afraid of any of us anymore…one walked right up to me assuming I'd feed him, which I wouldn't…wild animals aren't meant to eat salty human food…..and then there's my sexy husband…not bad for an old man, ha!…..we had just magnificent days!

This is the general store that was used by
Meg Ryan in the movie City of Angels…
still a very cool spot to hang.

                       

                            

Too bad for these folks..huh?!

Then we drove off the northern route towards Grass Valley and Nevada City to Yuba City where my brother and his wife live and spent the weekend with them….had a BLAST!  They have a super lovely home and an amazing guest bed by the way…beyond comfortable.  We tooled around Nevada City and took in the unique sites.  An old mining town again, this one is where the gold rush hung…so loads of crystals and gems and a little museum to check out just how involved the mining went…and deep, holy cow!  They had a model set up to show the depths…no thx!  One store had black rocks as the floor, it was incredible, really, you needed to see it in person, so unique and cool.  We ate and had fun.  Went to a party at a neighbors and everyone had their vintage cars….my brother is in the process of restoring his new little beauty, a 70 something Spitfire.

Solid loose black rocks floor…awesome!

I simply love traveling with this guy..
we are so good together!

Someone took Barbie for a ride on the back
of their motorcycle…
looks like she had a good time!

thats my tribe ahead..my brother Justin,
his wife Holly and of course my guy
and it was….good times! (couldn't resist!)

my kind of sofa…loved it!

beautiful country side

I came home to a load of tomatoes from my garden and got right to work…here's the harvest and the results! (actually I just realized I haven't taken any photos of the results yet, so there, something else to share in a couple of days…don't hold me to it!) And the other photos are of our Labor Day lunch here with a couple friends…forgot to share in the beginning…and the last photo is from my day bed in my den/library where I work everyday…it looked so inviting and beautiful I had to snap a photo and share….hope you enjoyed our celebrations of life and that you had plenty of your own this past summer season.

Several different varieties…Yellow Voi,
Yellow Brandywine, Purple Cherokee,
Paul Calabash, Juliet, Beefsteak.  I canned
them all…made some tomato soup
last night that was out of this world!

My fig tree is Rockin!!
Can't wait to make some jam!

Tomatillo's

my cute sweet son!

this was the BEST lemon meringue pie
 I have EVER made, bar none!!

my first time actually having pumpkins
show up..yay!!

                                   

also my first meyer lemons ever!!

   

Mucho love to all my besties and I do hope you all had a terrific summer…it's officially Autumn now, my favorite season…yay!  Loving the cooler days already.  Canning, making jams, and dog food, getting ready to dehydrate some treats for them as well.  Making my sourdough starter to gear up to bake breads and continue with my monthly sauerkraut and kombucha….simply enjoying being a farm to table kind of gal…fresh chicken eggs, etc…am loving life here in the foothills of Santa Cruz…love to you all..xoxo juner