Opening Day 2013

Song - I Left My Heart in San Francisco by Tony Bennett


On Friday, Mr. B took me and some friends to the Giant's Home Opener.

While driving over there (I think we were on the Bay Bridge), I mentioned how I just love the "fly over".

Every year the Blue Angels do a low fly over just before the game begins.  It is so exciting, loud, thrilling and then they disappear within nano-seconds.  It's as close as I will ever get to going on a roller coaster.  But this year, Mr. B informed me that due to military cuts, NO fly overs anywhere.

Well....this was our fly over this year.....

I felt like Meg Ryan in the movie "French Kiss" when her stolen purse-backpack is found empty and she just keeps stomping her foot and saying "shoot, shoot, shoot".

So I was a little disappointed.

But the weather was great, we enjoyed our wonderful friends and we met half of our home town there!

The Jersey Boys sang the National Anthem.

Grace Slick & some of Jefferson Starship sang "God Bless America" and "Take Me Out to the Ball Game".

(Just exactly when did they get so old????)

 


Zitto was pitching but I was so busy, I forgot to take a photo of him.

Posey was catching and I took a lot of photo's of him.

But before the game, the 2010 and 2012 trophies were placed on the field and the Giants ran thru them to a round of applause!!!

Then the SF Fireboat that Mr. B and I rode on several months ago, brought the 2012 Championship Flag to the ballpark.

   

The players passed the flag from player to player and then they raised the flag.

I cried.


Not sure why but a lot has happened this year......

I am a sentimental sucker for tradition.

McCovey cove was filled with all kinds of party boats.

Even the more colorful fans!

Fans were dressed to kick some Saint Louis behind.

And my bud "Romo" was there to save us in the last minutes......

 And guess what?

We won.  1 - 0

Posey - Romo - Crawford - High Fiving after the game...

We hit the 21st Amendment which was packed so we walked on down to the Embarcadero to Red's Java House & the Hi Dive.

Fun was had by one and all...

 “There are three things in my life which I really love: God, my family, and baseball. The only problem - once baseball season starts, I change the order around a bit.” - Al Gallagher

Just Hopping By

Song - Morning Has Broken by Cat Stevens

The table was set, the flowers smelled wonderful, food (lot's of food) was prepared, the silver was polished and the place cards where set and even though it was supposed to rain, we woke to beautiful blue skies on Easter morning.

As I debated on weather to move the tables outside, the big gray clouds rolled in and made up my mind for me!

Mom let me pinch a couple branches off of her Dogwood tree to add some height to my Tulips.

We had bushels of beautiful Lilacs in full bloom.

And Mr. B cooked the biggest, best ham I have ever tasted! It was over 20 lbs. and took over 5 hours to heat through.

Friends and family arrived with babies, armload's of food, flowers and smiles.

They were greeted with a Mimosa bar.  Mmmmm....which I had to sample while helping to cook because I wouldn't want the Mimosa's to not "flow" properly!! You know how that can be.

After Brunch, the fun began.  We headed into the backyard to watch the kids hit Grandma Betty's traditional Pinata filled with toys and candy for the little ones.

Two year old Jackson gave it a good try.

My nieces two children, June & Calvin both went after the Pinata with gusto!

Junie getting some pointers from her dad, Brandon

Direct hit!

Calvin finally busted it up with a mighty baseball swing.

Then it was time for the adults to have a little fun.  My dad hid plastic eggs in the front yard while no one was looking.  Each one had a number inside and when you presented Cal Sr., with your number, he hands you an envelope with money inside - yep, real live money!  Now sometimes it's only some spare change and other times it is several dollars.  Of course there is also the "Better Luck Next Time" note as well......

My dad is looking pretty good for a temporary Easter Bunny huh?!

We enjoyed "coconut nests" filled with Jelly Bean "eggs" baked by Ashley, brownies from Katie & a wonderful fruit Cobbler from Mom.

And then.....the sky opened up and the rain came pouring down.  The guys pulled out their electronic games and Calvin was very generous with sharing his new birthday game with all of us!

Happy 6th Birthday Calvin!

Hope your day was filled with friends and family!!!

"An Easter bonnet can tame even the wildest hare."

   ~Unknown Author

Daniel

Song - Wish You Were Here by Pink Floyd 

Life is short
and oh so fragile.

Hold it softly

Treasure it dearly.

Daniel...

The world feels a little quieter 

and very empty with out you here.

You will be missed. 



"We all shine on...." - John Lennon

A New Line of Work

Song - Little Deuce Coupe by The Beach Boys 

Yes it is true. 

I am hoping to sell cars!

Well, paintings of cars anyway.

I just finished a painting of a BMW 507 Roadster (circa 1957) that was accepted into the BMW show next month.  Check out the information HERE.

"All of those cars were once just a dream in somebody's head."  --Peter Gabriel

Plan B

 Good morning!

It sure feels like Spring here in Northern California!

I am in the process of moving my website  http://jeanettebaird.com/ over to a blog format so that I can update it myself instead of having my son, Jon, the web-master, having to work on it constantly.

It is fun to go through my paintings to see how my art has changed.  Also to see what I want to add to my new blog and to delete those paintings that have been on my website for a little too long or have already sold!

When you have any kind of profile on the Internet, you tend to get some Spam. 

So several weeks ago, I received an email from an interested party who wanted to buy several paintings (clue #1).

We emailed back and forth several times and they were still interested in both paintings but were in the process of moving and going on vacation (clue #2). 

So I quickly set up this new painting blog that would have a direct connection to PayPal so that I would not have to be personally involved in any transaction. 

Their third email to me wanted to sent a "friend of theirs" over to my home to pick up the paintings and give me cash (clue #3).  I insisted that I only worked through PayPal and would happily ship their paintings to their new location. 

Suddenly they were no longer interested (clue #4).

Please check out my Painting Blog, say hello and let me know your thoughts  -  Click Here


When it is completed, I will change the name over to www.jeanettebaird.com but for now it is www.jeanettebairdsstudio.blogspot.com

Enjoy your lovely week.....

“And forget not that the earth delights to feel your bare feet and the winds long to play with your hair.” – Khalil Gibran 

Heading Home

Song - Heading Home by Jack Johnson & Donavon Frankenreiter

"Many people take umbrage

 when someone sets out

 to find his or her spiritual home. 

If you embark on a similar journey, 

you should expect some people 

to be shocked, 

to be angry, 

to tell you 

you’re breaking the rules. 

That has certainly been my experience. 

However, 

the rewards are 

inexpressibly wonderful. 

Heading towards 

that inner home 

will take you places—

both inside yourself 

and in the external world—

which your heart 

 will recognize 

as its native environment, 

even though 

you have never been there before. 

I would go so far as to say 

that this may be 

the purpose for human life; 

that we are set free 

into a lonely universe 

like homing pigeons 

meant to find our way back to joy."

 -- Martha Beck

Wiped Out

 Song - Pipeline by Stevie Ray Vaughan & Dick Dale

Valentine's Day is Mr. B's birthday, so with the long Presidents weekend, we decided to head on down to Santa Cruz for a few days to celebrate and relax.

The weather was just exceptional - in the mid 70's and clear as can be.

We took long walks on the beach every morning.

Stopped in at Gayle's bakery a few times.

Just to "smell" the wonderful pastries and goodies that she and her staff make! (wink....)

We watched the surfers enjoying the waves.

 We called this guy "Spidy" as he was dressed in Spiderman colors and he was quite the trickster!







And the Sandpipers were enjoying the waves as well......

 

In they go, run, run, run, run, and.....

...out they come, run, run, run, run!

 

 

 



We also found a little "honey bee" enjoying the waves too....well as long as they didn't catch her!


We enjoyed several new restaurants that were incredible.  Soif is a Wine Bar & Restaurant that had an excellent menu and Laili which is Silk Road/Mediterian food.  Both were wonderful &  Mmmmm.....can not wait to go back!



Andy and Ashley joined us for a few days and we went wine tasting.....

 

 

 

Both Nickelson and Alfaro Wineries were fun and beautiful late in the day.  They are both just little family run wineries but friendly and served some very good wines.



Saturday morning we headed to Natural Bridges to watch the Monarch butterflies fly North....

I guess with the weather being so warm they had taken off several days ago but there were still a few dancing in the air with eachother and basking in the warm sunlight.

.....good talks,

breakfast on the Wharf,

crab & spaghetti at the cabin for Saturday's dinner

and lot's of laughter!

 

I have never seen seals piled up like this, have you?  Usually they are under the Wharf barking or basking in the sunshine.

Do you know why they are doing this???

 

Raise your flipper if you know the answer.....

 

 

 

Luckily Ashley (who is now a Kindergarten teacher) was an Fourth grade teacher last year and provided us with the answer, which we promptly checked her on because a lot, I mean A LOT, of tall tales get started by Mr. B. but because it was his birthday weekend we tried not to bust him too much.  So we went after sweet Ashley instead.

 

She was right!!!  The seals form a "raft" and hang on to each other so they don't get lost while sleeping or in rough seas.  They hold up their flipper to regulate their body temperature. I guess it's kinda like we do at night, one leg under the covers and the other on top!

 

 

 

  

 

Remember after all.....you are still in Santa Cruz and you know the saying ......

 

 

 

"Surfing soothes me, it's always been a kind of Zen experience for me.  The ocean is so magnifiecent, peaceful and awesome.  The rest of the world disappears for me when I'm on a wave." -- Paul Walker