Welcome to St. Anthony's

Welcome to my community of Faith in Mendocino. St. Anthony's was established in the mid nineteen fifties, and has been active ever since, even though fire has destroyed the building more than once. The most recent fire was in 1990. Coming to St. Anthony's reminds me of my home-St. Anne's Chapel in Raymond. 

This beautiful stained glass depicts a fisherman casting his nets.....

And another showing the whales as they reach for the sky.
A local artist painted the backdrop for the alter.. It's very life-like.
And, here's the exterior on a typical day on the coast...

Art and Anne Come to Visit

Art and Anne Aitken are good friends from my home base, Park of the Sierras. They stopped by overnight on their way to visit their children and grandchildren in Washington. We were very happy to see them-actually it was way out of their way so we were especially glad they took the time to visit! They were laughing about their good timing.....it was 91 @9:00 in the am and predicted to climb to 114 that day in Park Sierra. 

As you can see, Art & Anne are dressed for central CA, not Mendo

So glad to be in cooler weather-but I thought it was pretty warm today.

They're not unhappy, just full after enjoying Bay View Cafe's hot crab and jack sandwich. This is a resturant right across the street from the Ford House and has some spectacular views.

This is the front of my site at Headquarters. Gary and Cecile helped get the fire started before I got back from work.  We enjoyed another fantastic meal-smoked salmon (Gary smoke last week), roasted corn and yams. Cecile made one of her famous trifles..yum! 

Fourth of July in Mendocino

This is my first 4th of July in Mendocino, and I had no idea what I've been missing! We sold polish dogs with or without chili and/or saurkraut, roasted corn on the cob and sodas. All the revenue goes to the Restoration Fund for the Ford House and this year we made $1,000! Sweet! 

But that's not all, folks. Mendo has an annual parade that could make you cry for your childhood. It lasts a little over 1/2 hour and goes right down Main street-right in front of us! There were lots of political statements as well as newly married couples celebrating the Supreme court ruling. Sadly, there were fewer firemen 'cause they're still out fighting fires. We kept them in mind as we celebrated our unique holiday.

The parade begins... This is the Bay View Cafe, right across the street from the Ford House. Lots of folks decorated their trucks. 

Here's the crew setting up for food sales in the staff parking area of the Ford House.

And Cecile and I are the money takers

Jenny Heckeroth is our Ford House manager.

Denise Mueller is one of the docents for the Ford House and obviously an Obama  fan.

Gary, our Lord of the Corn Roasters got quite a workout this day-it was so yummy no one could resist!  

The Cassidys Come To Mendo

It's out of order again... This K and JH watching "Aristocats" 

The Cassidy family are good friends with Kris and Sandi, and they are neighbors, too. Kris and John have worked together in construction for the past couple of years, both in commercial and private home repair. I told them about Mendocino  and offered my site to them so they could spend some time here. John and Allyson have three wonderful children: K who is 12 and 1/2, JH-9, and C who is 8. Together with my girls Kris and Sandi and my beautiful Grandbaby C who is 2 and 1/2 we had a busy 4 days. First was the trip to the farmer's Market in Mendo, a tour of the Ford House and of course, the Mendo Headlands topped by a little shopping. The rest of the weekend included Glass Beach and The Big River Beach and lots of activity at the campsite. All the children pitched in and brought firewood from the woodpile. I had so much fun and will miss them all! At least they promised  to return....

Kris is practicing her duck blind position-or is she hiding from the kids?

Here's our camp site. Kris is setting the table for a meal

Nothing is neater than sitting around the fire with a good book. Sandi is on the left, Allyson on the right, Kris is in the background. John, our Lord of the Flame kept the fires going for cooking and warmth.

All Round Guy-great cook and flame keeper . John should be sharing his recipes for one pot meals

The kids had some down time and watched "The Aristocrats" C and JH on my bed.

A Grandbaby turning Toddler

I'm blessed with wonderful girls-they came back to Mendo, this time for a four day visit! They brought their good friend and neighbors, the Kennedys. (More about them on the next blog).  It's obvious that C is growing up so fast! This visit she was so busy with all the activities with the Cassidy children she didn't have time for Grammy. 

We went to Big River beach. It's an awesome place with lots of sand and blue sky and lots of driftwood. C has figured out how fill up buckets and dump them upside down.

I couldn't resist...a baby plumbers crack

This is a water table-they have the cutest toys for kids nowdays- and C gets water from the hose in the big pail, then carries the pail all the way across the site to fill the table. Then she spends hours pouring water from one container to another. 

This is C's "I'm pretending you're not there" look. 

I'm not sure if she saw herself as an official or spectator at the volleyball court. Either way she was enjoying herself!

All that pretty well drained the stuff out of her. Kris rocked for just a few minutes and C was out for the duration. 

Then back to sand play!

Ryders say Goodbye

Janice and Ken were all packed up and ready to go early this morning. They will visit some favorite spots on their way to Camp Cascadia. We'll miss them but the Thompson's will meet them in 6 weeks and I'll catch up with all of them at Winchester Bay.  

"C" and "J" are saying goodbye to the Ryders

Denise brought Ranger over to have a quick play daydate with the kids. Ranger just loves getting hugs and scratches!

So, Ranger is going back home and the kids are going to the beach! I'm going t work......

Dutch Embroidery in Mendo

I took a class in Dutch embroidery many years ago, and made them for myself and sold quite a few. We were discussing activities for our annual Stagecoach Days (a four day festival at my home park) and one of the crafts we came up with was Dutch embroidery. It was very successful and Cecile, Janice and I are now working on cards to sell at the Ford House in Mendocino. We're concentrating on coastal themes, lighthouses, fish, sharks, and sailboats. They take forever to sew, but the end result is worth it. 

Ken is our fansastic pin pushing hole maker. It takes a steady hand and good eyesight!Janice is beginning her second (her first was the class @ Coarsegold) card and will do it from start to finish-no preset punching! The woman in the background is Denise, one of the Docents here at the Ford House. We work the same days so one of us can man the desk while the other can do some tour preparation. 

Poor Cecile-she's very puzzled about how this card will turn out. 

OOOPs...She definitely doesn't like this pattern.  We didn't like it, either.
Janice, on the other hand, like hers very much. She took a very difficult pattern and worked through all the twists and turns. Nice job! Now there's a story why she has so much color on her face but I'll let her tell the tale....