So the new front patio is awesome but we still get too much sun in the afternoon. I was looking at cloth sails or retractable shades but I did not want something flapping around in the wind making lots of noise.
I went to Highland Steel downtown LV and bought 80ft of angle iron. I wanted extra laying around for other projects. All the bamboo was sold out of Lowes/HD so I had to order a roll on line. I figure bamboo will let the wind through and block most of the sun.
Another good day for a bike ride. Mid 70s and slight overcast to keep the sun at bay. Some of the flowers are back this year. Some of the cactus are still alive. Last spring hardly had any flowers as there was not a lot of rain the previous year. This last year was much better but it will take a few years for new plants to get going again.
Now that all the concrete is out of the garage, we can ride bikes again. Fed the ducks at the lake. They like saltine crackers. I like crackers over popcorn as you can fling them far out into the water. Popcorn blows back onto the dock and then the seagulls attack.
Most of the rock is in place and mortared. I still need to make the west side flower bed, a property divider, fill with gravel, and touch up the paint. I am also going to weld up a sun shade for the far side of the patio. But the heavy lifting is mostly done.
You can see the small flower bed up front with red lanterns, rosemary, hibiscus, and gardenia. I hope they can survive this heat.
See all the pictures on the PROJECTS page HERE.
Milo’s is the nice wine bar in the center of town. They have great food and great patio seating. We went early to beat the monthly ‘wine walk’ event the town hosts.
We rented a car and drove out to Carlsbad California for our ‘half-anniversary’. Stayed at the Hilton right across the street with a balcony and view of the ocean. They had a decent restaurant in side and was quite nice. We did a LOT of walking along the shore. There were not a lot of people on the beach and we had miles of beach mostly to ourselves. We found a really good seafood restaurant in town, Bluewater.
More pictures on the gallery page and also at Shutterfly
A new diner opened up where the old Scratch House used to be. The Cornish Pasty Company has a few other locations around but I have never heard of them. Every culture has its egg-roll and this is what the English have come up with. Traditionally, a pasty is dough filled with meat and potatoes. Now they fill it with all sorts of stuff. We tried the cottage pie and chicken masala but there are lots of other options that need to be tested. They even have a peanut butter jelly one which sounds divine. Hidden on the dessert menu is a most wonderful sticky toffee pudding which is is as good or better than the expensive Gordon Ramsey version. Don’t skip dessert.
Update: we came back for more. Sadly, they were out of the toffee pudding.
How come nobody told me about this band. Japanese psychedelic rock – with a sitar. Name translates to geometric patterns.
