Christmas and Monterey

      Well, the Christmas season is in full swing.  You can tell because most of us have  performances and other activities to get to.  Marshall has already perfomed at the Old Logandale School's Tree Festival in a quartet with some of his friends.  He's the Cello in the group.  I was involved in the Zephyr Singers and Strings Christmas Concert last night.  That was so much fun, I really feel it was a success, and has added to the Christmas Spirit in the Valley.  Tomorrow night is the Perkin's Elementary Christmas Show at the High School Theater.  It's a real production.  Dancing, singing, comedy, percussion pieces.  I really have to hand it to the talented people at the school and in the community who put this on each year.  I am so excited to see it, and very grateful I will have children participating for another 5 years.  I will probably still go to see it after Beverly starts Middle School.  Next Thursday both the Middle School band and the High School Music classes have concerts.  The 2 teachers at the schools have worked it out so the parents can see one concert, and then move on to the other school for the other.  Not sure how I feel about this, but it's only one evening spent, one very long evening. 
      To keep on the Christmas theme I've started on, I volunteered to make the tree topper for the Art Guild tree that was auctioned at the Festival of Trees.  It's a mix of sewing, crochet, wirework, and a little beading.  I was aiming for a Colonial Mexico feel.   Most of the materials used were either vintage, or antique (in the case of the colored beads).  It was not quite as elaborate as I originally planned, but we do have time constraints.  Here's the pic:

      Now for Monterey.  I had the blessing of visiting my "baby sister" in her current home of Monterey, California.  We had a fantastic time!  We went whale watching, hung out at Fisherman's Wharf and walked to Cannery Row.  I got my old architecture fix, as there is so little of it here in Southern Nevada.  I took a few photos of some great old houses and the Wharf, just for insipiration.  I had a bit of an epiphany as I walked through one of the art galleries on my last day there.  There were, at the front of the gallery, 6 or 7 watercolors that I thought were quite nice, and then I realized, these are all things I could do!  They were on my skill level, and featured in an art gallery on the Wharf in Monterrey, California!  It is lots of food for thought.  Here are a few pics from the trip:

Well, Merry Christmas to all!  Hopefully I will have the time to include a post about Warren's Birthday, and his fabulous Birthday gift, an antique Royal Aristocrat typewriter.  I can hardly wait!!!  His day is the 21st, and I'm planning on posting photos of the whole thing.  Also, stay tuned for the completed "scrap afghan" and some fabulous fingerless gloves I am making for a gift.  So much fun stuff this season!