Gingerbread Houses at The Cube

A few weeks ago, we visited the Hilbert Museum to view their special Christmas art exhibit. The artworks were challenging to photograph due to the glass protecting most of the paintings but here’s a selection of the ones with the least glare. They were all beautiful, though!

I think this one is my favorite. On the way home with a tree, to spy Santa in his sleigh. Even the doggie is amazed!

I loved this winter scene and the artist’s bio, which I included for your enjoyment.

I believe this is a genuine Dr. Seuss. Since I couldn’t escape the reflections, we posed!

This is a very special favorite. 🙂

Greg Hildebrandt was a prolific artist and illustrator. Among all the books and art he produced, one of his most iconic is an image for the original Star Wars.

Naturally, The Husband, who played both Scrooge and Cratchit (not in the same shows ~ LOL!) for 30 years at Knott’s Berry Farm’s Bird Cage Theatre, wanted to pose with the Scrooge McDuck artwork.

From there, we hopped down the street and around the corner to the Discovery Cube. After a French Onion Grilled Cheese sandwich, we wandered around the Science of Gingerbread exhibit/contest, oohing and aahing over some of the amazing architectural achievements. Here’s a bunch of the best:

For those of you with kids or grandkids, do they do the 6 7 thing? I’ve heard it’s just a silly phrase kids use to get a rise out of their parents? Anyway, this is pretty cute.

I thought the “solar panels” were adorable 🙂

Couldn’t resist the doggo’s!

The Capitol Records building has a place in my heart ~ The Husband and I met right down the street from that building ❤

This one reminded me of NASA. Our last, out-of-state trip before the lockdown was during the Christmas season of 2019, to San Antonio and Houston, TX. We spent a day at NASA, then went back again in the evening for a special holiday event. Lights, lights, and more lights, hot drinks and snacks, and wintery projections on the Saturn V rocket. Great memories!

Some of the displays were under colored lights… I tried to color correct but some worked better than others…

This one cracked me up!

Gingerbread men ~ they’re just like us!

One of several Small World entries.

Very Keith Haring.

Gru and the Minions.

This one reminded me of The Mom. We originally thought we’d be settling in the San Francisco area when we moved to California and we did visit up there but eventually settled in Orange County, in the southern part of the state.

Another It’s a Small World rendition.

Toothless and some cute sheep from How to Train Your Dragon.

Loved the small details and little critters.

And the Pièce de Résistance!

I’m sort of inspired to try our hand at a gingerbread house, but I think it’s too late this year. If I happen to see a kit on sale, it might be fun but I’ll probably use the next year to design a bookstore! Anybody out there have gingerbread projects to share in the comments?!

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Mazes and Hay Rides and Pumpkins, Oh My!

I’m always looking for new experiences nearby, here in Southern California, so when I saw a listing for the Tanaka Farms Hana Fields pumpkin patch in Costa Mesa, we had to give that a try. Jurassic-themed corn maze? Tractor hay rides? Pick your own pumpkin? And get to hand feed goats? Yes, please! Except for feeding goats, I’d never done any of those things, at least in recent memory.

We got our tickets for nearly half price on Groupon. I didn’t even know that Groupon was still a thing, but, Yay! We picked a day in the middle of the week and lucked out with a beautiful, clear sky and mild weather. If you’re in the So Cal area, it’s open till November 9.

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Happy Fall, Y’All

Thought I’d do a little catching up on the ole blog.

Here we are at the No Kings Rally last Saturday, October 18. Yup, we were part of the 7,000,000 patriots marching for the rights and dignity of this country.

On the writing front, I got a batch of beta reader feedback and now I’m pausing work on the book to complete the reader magnet, which details my main character’s spiritual origin in regards to seeing ghosts. I need to clarify in my own mind what her reasons are for finally engaging with a spirit before I can deepen her story at the beginning of the full-length book. So now, I’m looking at a 2026 publishing date… But it’s all good. I really want to bring you the best book possible!

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Hilbert Pastels and Watercolors

Not much to say—just wanting to add a little beauty to your day!

But first, before our trip to the museum, author and creative writing professor David Sandner spoke at our California Writers Club this Saturday. He specializes in weird – a word popularized from Shakespeare’s Weird sisters, taken from the Anglo-Saxon wyrd meaning fate or destiny – and has written several historical fantasy and sci-fi books. His talk about adding weirdness and fantastical elements to our writing was interesting but he was much more animated during the Q&A session, especially when he discussed the historical aspects of his book, His Unburned Heart, based on the true story of Mary Shelley’s determination to retrieve her husband, Percy Shelley’s, heart from his publisher after his cremation. Speaking of historical accuracy and understanding, he also talked about the fact that, until a few hundred years ago when capitalism and democracy collided to challenge humanity, people did not have any discernable control over their lives. Capitalism allowed people to break out of their predestined roles and caste systems to become entrepreneurs and move up the ladder of wealth and respect, and democracy gave them the freedom to have a say in the way their leaders governed over their everyday lives. 

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A Thursday Adventure

After several weeks at home hiding from the heat, we ventured out! I’ve got a list of things I want to do this fall when it gets cooler. The forecast for the next week or so gives me hope that autumn is here, but I’m not trusting it completely ~ LOL!  Can’t wait for the serious cool weather to get here. I’m ready for long sleeves, hot chocolate, and thick blankets! Believe it or not, it really does get chilly in Southern California 😊

Today we went to the Bowers Museum in Santa Ana to see the Terra Cotta Warriors exhibit. To be honest, I thought it was anemic… We had gone to the original exhibition in 2008 with over 20 figures, ranging over several rooms in the open behind ropes, if I remember correctly. It was fabulous! The current exhibit only features five full size warriors behind glass, plus a horse and partial figure. Two chariots with horses and drivers, the centerpiece of the warriors on display, are replicas, although very impressive nonetheless. But most of this exhibition consists of bronze and jade ornaments and weapons, some pottery and sculptures, plus quite a bit of history regarding the location, peoples, architecture, and creation of the warriors themselves. If you’ve never seen the Terra Cotta Warriors up close, and you have the opportunity to catch them before they leave the Bowers (October 19 or if you’re in the Houston area, it moves to their Museum of Natural Science on November 14), you should go. The story of the clay army and the unique details of each warrior is worth a few hours of your time.

Ready for a couple of pictures?!

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Thursday Thoughts ~ August 28, 2025

Happy Last Friday in August Eve!

Can you believe summer as I knew it as a child of the 60’s is almost over? Nowadays, school starts in mid-August in a lot of places, including SoCal, where I live. What kind of summer vacation is that?? To be fair, they don’t generally have “snow days” or the desert equivalent here, so they get out earlier in June. But going to school while it’s still August?? Ugh…

The weather’s hot and we’re mostly hiding indoors, trying to keep the cats cool. But we did venture to Knott’s, where we had lunch after The Husband’s nearby Tuesday morning class. Took a few pics in the Mine Ride:

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Thursday Thoughts ~ August 21, 2025

Welcome to When Is Summer Finally Over Eve?!

I dream of living near San Diego, maybe Oceanside or Carlsbad, where the temperature rarely goes above 80 degrees. Right now, where I am in SoCal, it’s 95 degrees Fahrenheit. Is there a patron saint of moving?? LOL! I have to say, though, painting the house light blue has made these hot days a little more bearable than the dark green 😊

I’d been concerned about our diabetic kitty, Patchwork. A month ago, her numbers were very high, and the doctor suggested adding another ¼ unit of Vetsulin, the feline equivalent of insulin, to her current dosage. Last week, we had her tested again. Monday night, we got a call letting us know her numbers were way down and within acceptable range. Whew! I had told the doctor that sometimes Patchwork gets what we call Growly (scratchy, grouchy, growls) and refuses the shot, which she had done the night before that first test. Not sure how much that affected the numbers, but I’m just happy to know she’s doing okay.

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Thursday Thoughts ~ August 14, 2025

Happy Friday Eve! This used to have significance when I worked, but now it’s just a way to keep up with what day it is… LOL.

Summer is probably our least favorite season. The heat, kids out of school, and tourists crowding SoCal. And the heat… In all honesty, it’s been a fairly mild summer so far, heat-wise, but it’s still uncomfortably warm and saps our energy a bit. We’ve been boringly lazy, except for a quick trip to Knott’s after a class The Husband is taking right around the corner on Tuesday mornings. Knott’s Berry Farm, the amusement park The Husband just retired from earlier this year, is about a half hour from home, so when we’re nearby we take advantage of our lifetime passes. It gives us a chance to chat with old friends and get some steps in for the day.

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Thursday Thoughts ~ August 7, 2025

Happy Sugar Diamonte’s Birthday Eve!

Sugar Diamonte is the main character in my cozy mystery series. Her birth date is 8/8/88, the same day I started the best job I ever had, at The Pennysaver, a weekly print advertising mailer in Southern California. I worked there for 27 years with the finest group of accounting folks that became family, many of them employed there as long or longer than me. It’s my little homage to them and our time together, giving Sugar a birth date so close to my heart.

Sugar looks like Sandra Bullock in While You Were Sleeping and a pivotal scene in the book unfolds at a movie theatre after she and her neighbor, Maybelle, see The Lost City.

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Thursday Thoughts ~ July 31, 2025

Happy August Eve! Can you believe July is just about over? Knock wood, the summer temps have been mild so far, but it looks like heat is on the way according to my phones’ weather app. But Mother Nature doesn’t watch the Weather Channel, so, really, anything can happen! Who could have predicted an 8.8 Russian quake that resulted in volcanic activity and a tsunami??

I had a lovely birthday last Friday. We started at The Hilbert Museum in Orange (CA). The last time we’d been there, it was housed on the campus of Chapman University. It’s since moved across the street to two connected buildings of their own and it is a beautiful space, wide open in some areas and intimate in others. And it’s free, with advance reservations. Here are some of the highlights.

This painting brought to mind The Grapes of Wrath. Turned out the artist, Emil Kosa, worked for the 20th Century Fox studios in the 30’s, when The Grapes of Wrath was filmed.

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