Empty Nest

This has been quite a week--nothing having to do with my business. My daughter flew in from Vermont last Friday and her boyfriend got here from Texas on Saturday. They both left this morning. My youngest son, Chris, will leave today for his summer job. Yesterday the Empty Nest thing hit me. But here is a glimpse of how we spent our week. We spent a day in San Francisco--taking the ferry to Alcatraz, watching the sea lions at Pier 39, visiting Coit Tower, and ending with a walk on the Golden Gate Bridge and a visit to the Marin Headlands for a look over the bay.

Isn't this a perfect plant to have at a prison? Look at those spines. Actually, this was part of a decorative garden. The employee families used to lived on Alcatraz and had normal lives other than the fact that the kids took a ferry to school.

This photo is taken from Marin County, northwest of the Golden Gate. Alcatraz is the island to the left of the north tower and San Francisco is south of the bridge.

Katie celebrated her 21st birthday. I guess this was the first time she has tried to blow out candles with her hair not in a ponytail...or maybe its just the number of candles that was a challenge.

Katie and Aaron painted the barn!!!

We visited son and daughter-in-law in Pollock Pines and drove up to the Forest Service helispot where Matt works so that Aaron (from TX)  could see what real mountains look like.

We also went back to San Francisco to see the show, Wicked. This is the story that explains the history of the Wicked Witch and the Good Witch in the Wizard of Oz, including how the Scarecrow, Tin Man, and Cowardly Lion originated. It is an excellent show--well-done and very funny. It's a great experience if you ever get the chance to see it.

Here is the culmination of the weekend.  Chris, the #3 kid,  graduated. He leaves for Lake Shasta today so he can start work tomorrow morning on a Forest Service Hotshot crew. He spent all night at Grad Night and I hope we can wake him up in time to get there before dark today!

Tomorrow--back to work for me. I have ignored everything. I have wool to sort and get to the mill, buttons to finish, looms to warp, classes to plan, website to update, etc. My husband now has 2 months off (teacher) and his next task is to enlarge my shop/classroom! We'd better get busy. Maybe that will keep me from realizing that there are no happy little faces in my house anymore.