March 16, 2014 by arletelouise - 0 comments

RLEHS Sunday Social

Joyce welcomed everyone to this month’s Sunday Social.

We met at the Calvary Lutheran Church Social Hall.

Sharon King and Randy Aeschliman presented a slide show and updated everyone on “What’s Been Happening in the Dry Creek Parkway.

Sharon was the artist who designed the mural for the Rio Linda Centennial Celebration two years ago. Both are excellent photographers and spend countless volunteer hours working on behalf of the Dry Creek Parkway. After a homeless camp was recently removed, Randy worked to clean up the remaining garbage for which RLEHS was most grateful. Red sesbania is an invasive non-native species which threatens to take over our local creek system. Eradicating this plant is a primary goal. This morning, Randy went out and collected many unwanted seed pods and brought his bounty to the meeting. In this half-filled garbage can are approximately 17000 Red sesbania seeds which will never sprout. Thank you Randy and Sharon for all you are doing for our community.

Mike Graninetti encouraged everyone to come out and volunteer for the next creek clean up project.

March 15, 2014 by arletelouise - 0 comments

LGA Bike Club Ride #2

Today was our second club ride. We met at LGA at 11 am.

First stop, Natomas Bike Shop.

Devin shopped and made a couple of purchases. Natomas Bike shop gives our club members a 10% discount, but you must ask for it before paying.

Angel thought the super-fat tire bike was interesting. It’s best used on sand or snow.

Ms McManus ran into an old friend.

LaTraye said one day he will be as good as the bike rider on the cover.

Adam noticed bikes with disc brakes.

After riding 6 miles, it was time to eat. Since Coach was concerned about riding in the Natomas Marketplace on a busy Saturday afternoon, she lead the group all the around the perimeter to get to In-N-Out.

Tanzanite is the best skate/bike park in the area. I know nothing about skate parks so LaTraye taught me about the 3 bowls and their levels of difficulty.

Adam took off down the steep slope while Ms McManus decided to walk down the hill and ride up.

Here she comes! Is she going fast enough to make up the other side?

Adam had to put a foot down before reaching the top.

Another successful ride. Once again, we all had a great time. Total miles = 12.

March 7, 2014 by arletelouise - 0 comments

Bike Rodeo: Bannon Creek School

Today WALKSacramento held a Bike Rodeo at a local elementary school. Miha, left, made a presentation in the cafeteria. Terry, right, helped at the helmet fitting station. In the background, Bike Mike from Natomas Bike Shop readies his bike repair station. Mark and Terry made sure each free helmet was adjusted properly. Students could also decorate their helmets with cool stickers. This station taught pedestrian safety. I was in charge of the bicycle drills: riding straight, stopping, avoidance weave, signals for turns and stopping, scanning behind while continuing to ride straight, and a few slow races.

March 5, 2014 by arletelouise - 0 comments

Early March in the yard

NOTE to Faithful Readers: Everytime my iPad gets too full of pictures, I get bogged down with the process of getting the pictures OFF the iPad and onto a memory card. There is no easy way, I always need to ask cousin Phyllis for help. We have to transfer the pictures onto her computer then transfer them back onto an SD card. Not being computer whizzes at all, it always takes a lot of time. Then I begin the process of catching up. And suddenly four weeks have gone by.

In a frenzy one afternoon, I attacked a couple of unpruned-for-in-six-years crape myrtles. I hope they forgive me in time.

Moving to the other side of the yard and borrowing a ladder from Justin, and with Doug’s help, I was much more careful. Actually I was in pruning and Mom glory. Doug did all the work and I stood nearby and gave lots of advice.

Bridal-Wreath:

Meanwhile, Odin began cutting the grass in the back yard with a dull kitchen knife. He said he wanted to do the entire two acres if Daddy said it was ok. Very enterprising.

February 24, 2014 by arletelouise - 0 comments

LGA Bike Club Meeting

Here’s some good news from our bike club meeting today. Captain LaTraye is holding the winner of the logo design contest. It will be the design on our club t-shirts.

I forgot to mention that LaTraye also found the “best” road treasure on the last bike ride.

Thank you, Ms McManus for locating a better-sized bicycle for Alex. Congratulations Alex for qualifying to go on the next club ride. Here is Alex with his dad:

And, good news regarding our email to Sacramento City Councilman Steve Hansen regarding the hazards noted on our last bike ride. We received a response from Consuelo Hernandez, District 4 Director along with his staff’s report. A Street Maintenance team determined the hazardous bike trail was not a City Class I bikeway, but rather a privately constructed path. A work order was created to remove the electrical panel box that Devin spotted. (Removed by March 9!) So far, a rather productive civics lesson.

February 23, 2014 by arletelouise - 0 comments

From the sewing cave

The pillowcases and 20″ pillow are done and ready to send to Billie in Virginia!

Using more of the leftover Amy Butler scraps, I made Kylie’s doll quilt #3, just 14×24 inches. Kylie is Adrienne’s granddaughter.

When I showed Justin these finished pieces, he said now I had to start thinking about what to sew next. I told him it was far worse than that. I already have the next two projects started and six more waiting in a drawer. And that doesn’t include the the “wanna-do” projects rolling around in my head.

February 22, 2014 by arletelouise - 0 comments

Signs of spring

In Merrilyn and Bob’s back yard.

Near Justin’s house.

At Dave and Phyl’s house.

Happy cows because

Justin mowed the lawn.

February 20, 2014 by arletelouise - 0 comments

Cherry Pie 101

Cherry pie is my #1 favorite pie, but I hardly ever eat it. Way too rich but mostly it’s really hard to find a good one. Last 4th of July, I had the best cherry pie ever at Merrilyn’s. today, Phyllis and learned how to make it.

From scratch. Neither Of us feels like we can make a good pie crust.

Because it’s not cherry season, we used frozen cherries.

Lattice top, precisely measured, and cut with a pizza cutter.

Latticed, edges crimped, and ready for milk wash and Demerara sugar.

While the pies were in the oven, we had brunch, then cracked some walnuts.

HOT! from the oven.

Unbelievably delicious. Warm with ice cream. Ahhhhh.

This was a hard post. I have 40 great pictures and could easily have written a tutorial. The next pie will definitely happen in fresh cherry season. Merrilyn, I know Phyl and I love the cooking lessons you’ve given us.

February 18, 2014 by arletelouise - 0 comments

High Hand Nursery

And best of all, lunch with Ade in the conservatory.

February 17, 2014 by arletelouise - 0 comments

LGA Bike Club Ride #1

Everyone arrived early at Leroy F Greene Academy. In fact, Devin (blue shirt) got there an hour early.

Waiting for Ms McManus.

At last.

ABCQuick Check and a review of the ride plan before we head out.

On the bike trail near Orchard Park. Adam is the student ride leader for this section.

Maintaining a ghost space (or a bit more) between riders.

Turtles sunning themselves on a log in the drainage canal.

I told the riders to be on the lookout for hazards. I had something specific in mind, but not what Devin spotted. Good job Devin.

We stopped for some hill climbing

and some fast descents.

At Heritage Oak Grove, we played an exercise-filled game of Jeopardy using the information from the plaques. Julian and LaTraye are running back with the question that goes with “The scientific name for Valley Oak.” (What is Quercus lobata?)

LaTraye, Adam, and Julian looked for an old rusted pulley high up in some oak tree in the park.

We spent some time practicing a proper left turn at a nearby low-traffic intersection. And then it was on to our ultimate destination, Baskin Robbins Ice Cream.

L-R: Adam, Julian, Captain LaTraye, Devin.

We practiced riding straight through a very busy intersection as a group. Everyone stepped on their power pedal as the light turned green. This is the beginning of the next section of bike trail. Everyone noticed that the access was not bicycle-friendly.