Shelter Island

We have just returned from a week in San Diego.  We spent four days in the city and three days north of the city in the area where we lived before moving to the Northwest so many years ago.  We relaxed in the sunshine, enjoyed some good food, did a little sightseeing, shared a bit of quality time with family, and of course, took lots of pictures.

Our first two days were spent in an area of San Diego called Shelter Island near Point Loma.  It's not really an island, but rather a long narrow man made point that is attached to the mainland of San Diego and was built in the 1930's. It's home to wonderful restaurants, marinas and hotels, as well as a large waterfront park. Our hotel was situated on a lovely private marina right across the street from the bay.

 

 Even though it was a bit hazy we were able to look out over the boat launch and see the city skyline across the bay from our hotel balcony. 

After we were settled into our hotel, we spent our second day with my cousin and her husband doing some sightseeing.  We visited the old historic Point Loma Lighthouse, built on a cliff overlooking the entrance to San Diego Bay in 1855.  I have fond memories of coming up here as child with my family.  It was one of a number of places my parents would always bring guests who had come to visit. 

Views from the cliffs above.

 It's always interesting to see how the ocean breezes affect the direction that trees grow.

We finished our day by returning to Shelter Island for a lovely meal together at a local restaurant overlooking the bay.  Delightful!

As this was our final day on Shelter Island we took a short walk along the bay side public park in front of our hotel. 

 There is a navel base close by so we were able to watch some of the navel ships coming into port including the super aircraft carrier USS Nimitz which is among one of the largest navy ships in the world.

And as the day came to an end we were able to watch the dusk begin to fall and watch the lights of the city skyline begin to glow in the upcoming darkness. 

It was time to head back to our room and prepare to head out the next morning for North County.  We loved our time on Shelter Island and look forward to returning here again one day. Adieu!

 

Kitty Day Care

In has been a number of years since we have had a pet in our family, but I still get my "kitty fix" from time to time when we pet sit for other family members.  This past month we watched over my daughter's kitty while she and her husband were out of town for a week.

This is Abby.  My daughter has three cats but the two boys are much younger and have a tendency to bully Abby when no one is around.  So she spent the week with us.  She knows us pretty well, as my daughter first got her as a kitten when she was still living at home.  Even so, she was a bit skittish around us for the first couple of days before settling in.  Her favorite spot was in what used to be our daughter's room and is now the guest room.  She didn't really like getting her picture taken all that much.

While she always had a bowl of fresh water in the kitchen she let it be known that she preferred her water from the tap!

She was also very good about letting me know when it was meal time.

A few days after Abby went home Kitty Number Two arrived. This is Molly.  She belongs to my mom who was visiting friends in California.  She has stayed with us on numerous occasions but it had been a while since she was here.

Molly is used to sleeping with my mom, so even though I don't really like animals on my bed, I let her be in our room.  She likes jumping on plastic bags.  So I left a shopping bag on the floor for her to play with...not so great at 5:00 in the morning!  My mom is an early riser and Molly is used to starting her day a little (actually a lot!) earlier than I am used to.

One morning she thought she heard something outside and she had to go investigate.

 Molly really didn't like getting her picture taken all that much either and would often hide whenever I brought my phone out.  However, I did manage to catch her peeking out from under the sofa.

 She returned home yesterday but will be back in a couple of weeks to stay until the beginning of the new year while my mom travels to spend the holidays with various family members over Thanksgiving and Christmas.

Meanwhile, I did a little baking this morning before heading out for lunch with a friend.  More Pumpkin muffins, yum!  Tomorrow I will bake some Cinnamon Streusel ones as well.  Then they will all go into the freezer to enjoy with fruit and coffee in the mornings, or to share with a cup of tea if a friend should stop by.

I did a little window shopping after lunch.  Still love looking at all the Fall/Thanksgiving items.

But I am also getting ready to start the process of turning my thoughts towards Advent/Christmas.  This such a lovely, festive time of year.

Next week, we will be in San Diego, hopefully enjoying a little bit of sunshine.  When we return it will be time to begin preparations for all the holiday seasons ahead.  For now though, may God richly bless all who enter here. Adieu!