Here is one of the venues of the Black and White Ball before things got started.

There is no other bridge in the world like the Golden Gate Bridge, the view is from San Francisco looking toward to Marin County.

The Transamerica Pyramid building makes San Francisco’s skyline one of the most recognizable skylines in the world.

It seems that Coit Tower stands proudly above the City from almost any vantage point.

San Francisco’s China Town has fabulous restaurants.  This is Debbee Thibault’s favorite!

We try to go here when Debbee visits us.

SF’s Playland was torn down years ago, unfortunately.  But many of the items from Playland can now be found at the Musee Mechanical on Fisherman’s Wharf.  This is Laughing Sal, who greets visitors with a very loud and sometimes frightening laugh.

Here is another view of the beautiful Coit Tower.  When visiting SF, you should go inside the tower to see the magnificent murals.

This is Lombard Street, the “Crookedest Street in the World”.

A view of the San Francisco Bay Bridge looking toward the Oakland Hills.

Alcatraz Island is a great place to visit, but you wouldn’t want to live there!  It is a fun excursion, but seriously cold out there on the bay.

Christopher Columbus looks out to the Golden Gate.

Known for its hills, San Francisco is beautiful from every angle.

I think that the building in this shot is Mission Delores.  Please correct me if I am wrong.

Here is the perfectly manicured gardens in Golden Gate Park between the Aquarium and the DeYoung Museum.

To the west lies the beautiful blue waters of the Pacific Ocean.

Are you still singing?…..”when I come home to you, San Francisco…”

Here are pictures of some of my favorite items in my own garden as well as my sons’ yards.

A beautiful coleus was planted in a vintage European planter with a statue of a little boy holding a fish.  This is on my front porch.

Jeremy hung two old windows on either side of a vintage screen door.  The garage wall was a blank canvas for yard art!

An outside room between the garage and house is decorated with bright, fun items.  Jeremy and Amy love Disneyland too, so they framed and hung posters of Disneyland attractions on the walls.  A wire basket of vintage billiard balls sits on the Dr. Pepper patio set.  This is a great ‘room’ for entertaining his high school cross country team.

Noel and Sarah placed a love seat on their backyard patio.  It is a perfect spot for relaxing after dinner.

Every yard should have a water feature.  Ringo loves to drink out of the fountain.

Rodger is crazy for these vintage garden gnomes.  He even has gotten our sons hooked on them.

An old metal headboard serves as a trellis for pole beans and basil.

A new gazing ball adds color and sparkle to our yard.  Gazing balls were particularly popular during the Victorian period.

We just purchased this “stone” bench for our backyard.  It is five feet long and curved.  Rodger needs to get some ground cover planted around it now!

I will post more yard pictures soon if you are interested.  Please leave a comment!

#1.  This is in the queue for the ride Indiana Jones Adventure.

#2.  Reconstruction is what’s going on in the Rivers of America at Disneyland.

#3.  On the left is Cruella de Ville, on the right is Sharon…please do not mistake them for each other!

#4.  I am looking at the pond between Frontierland to the left and Adventureland to the right.

#5.  No NOT gears…it’s a Hidden Mickey!

#6.  There’s a Hidden Mickey in the doorway to the Disney Vault store in Downtown Disney.

#7.  I’m the Blue Fairy.

#8.  I’m Pluto and I play the drums just like Rodger.

#9.  I’m Minnie Mouse and I’m running to”take a break”.

#10. Who’s the leader of the club?  No doubts here, it’s Mickey Mouse!

Stay tuned for another game and I guarantee it will be much easier!  Check back soon for a very easy game.

Picture #1…Where Am I?

Picture #2…What’s going on here and where am I?

Picture #3…Who are these two beauties?

Picture #4…Where am I?  Please be very specific.  Hint:  Look at the top right and top left corners of this picture.

Picture #5…What do you see?

Picture #6…What do you see?  A bonus point if you know the location!!!

Picture #7…Who am I?

Picture #8…Who am I? What musical instrument do I play?  Hint:  it is the same instrument that Rodger plays!

Picture #9…You surely know who I am, but why am I walking so fast?

Picture #10…Who’s the leader of the club, that’s made for you and me?

Need a little help????? click on this link for help and some fun!!!! You may see an advertisement first, just be patient!

You have only until Wednesday, May 26, 2010 to answer these pressing questions!

The last time we were in Atlanta we met up with our good friends, Art and Vicky.  We spent the day at the World of Coca-Cola.  If you like coca-cola memorabilia, this is the place to be.

"Brain Tonic" sign was just one of the fabulous old signs on exhibit.

One of the beautifully restored Coke machines.

There were lots of great old Santa and a Coke advertisements.

Afterward, we headed over to the Varsity for some of their famous hot dogs.  What'll ya have?

A view from Art and Vicky's backyard.  They have a boat on the lake, it was too cold to go out for a ride!

So after a great day at the World of Coca-Cola and then The Varsity and a whole lot of talking between girlfriends……where did we go in Atlanta?  Can you guess from the above picture?

That's just CRAZY…we went to dinner at a Texas Bar-B-Que bar.  It was so fun. 

Here I am with Vicky and Nicole, our server, at the Texas Bar-B-Que!  You gotta love that cow hide tablecloth on the table behind us!

Atlanta sure was fun, now let's get our friends back to California so that I can visit them more than once a year!  See YA'LL later.

All of you know that we love Disneyland.  While we were there this past Saturday, my worst nightmare came true.  I know that many of you LOVE the "It's a Small World" ride, but I am not a big fan of that ride.  You LOVE the sweet little dolls that sing incessantly as you slowly travel down the canal.

But it happened, horrors of horrors!!!  The ride broke down, yes with me in the boat next to those dolls that sing and sing and sing!!!!!  Their DARLING little faces glaring down at me as they continued to sing over and over and over…."It's a world of hope…..It's a Small World after all, It's a Small World after all, It's a Small World after all, It's a Small, Small World."

This is where it all happened!  These "Chuckie" like dolls singing and glaring, singing and glaring at me.  We were stuck on the ride for 40 minutes, not moving at all.  The dolls continued to sing and glare at me.  Finally, an announcement, "we are working on the ride and it should be up and running shortly"….Shortly…what does that mean, get me out of here!  After the announcement was made, I incorrectly assumed that they would turn off the music and the dolls.  NO, the music volume increased.  After awhile, a cast member told us to "just sit tight" they were still working on getting the ride up and running.  I thought I would die!  The children in the boat behind us sat there loving every one of those long dreaded 40 minutes.

This son thought it was funny to see me in such torturous pain and agony!!

This daughter-in-law never complains and yet she was getting irritated.  

This son and daughter-in-law expressed my grief and complete disbelief that we would be saved from the singing.  Finally, the music was turned off and what did we hear?  The clicking, clicking and more clicking of dolls with their sweet little faces beaming at me, scaring the life right out of me!  And believe it or not, we continued to sit there helpless in this Twilight Zone.  My ears were literally bleeding…LITERALLY.  Finally, the ride started back up, we were saved.  I made a statement…."I will NEVER go on that ride again"…..well I probably will, but not for a very long, long time.  Now to get that song out of my head, what can I do?