back to the farm

Once again, Christmas Eve eve was spent on the farm, working on our clay pigeon shooting (even Mom joined in this year), and then toasting the evening with wine and cheese on the levee. This year, we upgraded our trip from the house to the water with a tractor-pulled hayride, and Mother Nature gave us (and the ducks) one spectacular sunset.

oh-twelve wrap-up: fleet week, wine, music, florida and more

October and November are some of the best months in the Bay Area, with warm, sunny weather and lots of outdoor events (turns out it’s a great time to be in Florida, too). Even though it’s now a few months later (I got a little sidetracked), allow me to show off some highlights.


Hardly Strictly Bluegrass Festival in Golden Gate Park; yoga for a cause in Union Square


The Fleet Week air show (with blue angels, a stealth bomber and more) in the bay


A visit to Ram’s Gate Winery in Sonoma with my aunt, in town from Missouri!


Thanksgiving week in Sarasota, Florida: Watching kitesurfers in St. Petersburg; waiting for the sunset at the Hurricane in St. Petersburg; sun setting over the Gulf of Mexico and creating a gorgeous sky; Siesta Key; Longboat Key; buddies at the Mote Aquarium; a manatee kiss on the aquarium window; a rather random group of animals at the Gulf Coast Sanctuary in Sarasota

summer snippets

A random assortment of photos from this summer, the below represents what went on between our weekend excursions to Vancouver, Lake Shasta, Sonoma and more. From street festivals to baseball games to day trips to a birthday celebration in Vegas, it was a busy, and surprisingly sunny, summer in and around SF.



From top left: a high-flying seagull catching views at a Giants game; pre-gaming with 21st Amendment’s famous watermelon beer (only available in summer); the waterfront Bar Bocce in Sausalito; the annual North Beach Festival; horse races at Golden Gate Fields in Berkeley; a breakfast of beignets and café au lait at Brenda’s French Soul Food on Polk Street; Brenda’s wall of vintage mirrors; heading to Off the Grid, the weekly food truck event at Fort Mason; Off the Grid crowds; a windy day (perfect for kite flying) at Marina Green; another Giants game – this time with better seats; another day trip to Sausalito, this time to check out Salsalito, a colorful (and clever) Mexican joint where hot sauce is in high demand; a truly awesome sight – this brave man surveying the Sausalito waterfront on a jet pack!; my baby cousin celebrating her 21st birthday at the stroke of midnight; scenes of the Venetian, Palazzo pool and Bellagio conservatory + botanical garden (four shots); a third day trip to Sausalito (I love Sausalito, in case you couldn’t tell); an afternoon ‘field day’ picnic with friends in Golden Gate Park

down on the farm

Back home in Missouri for the holidays, we headed out of the "big city" (Springfield, of course) and drove southwest to the boonies for a little pre-Christmas Eve country celebration. First up was a lesson in clay-pigeon shotgun shooting. I was two for five...a pretty good record, if I do say so myself. Then we piled in pickup trucks and some sort of 4WD golf cart on steroids that looked like it was going into battle in Afghanistan and drove down to the levee to watch the ducks come home for the night. It was freezing, but it was worth it to see so many groups of ducks fly in from all directions and land in the water at sunset.


Lucas showing us how it’s done before we all took turns shooting (top left); Seb turned out to be a good shot – beginner’s luck, I’m sure (top right); Lucas giving Raine a lesson in holding the gun (above); Skyler also proved to be not bad – she hit her first two (below left); ducks coming in for the night (below and bottom)