It's Official...."R" Holidays can begin

It's TRADITION....the first Saturday of the month is our R Gang Christmas Party.

It's a great way to usher in the holidays with our favorite friends!

This year it was the "middle's" turn to host the party and they certainly knew how to make it special. The Bahia Corthinthian Yacht Club was Christmas festive "and the weather outside" delightful.

When it comes to ordering drinks Diane knows how to choose white wine. Being the gentleman he is, Steve offered to buy Diane's drink. Clearly he regretted that decision when the waiter needed to collect $48 for 3 drinks.....yes, FORTY EIGHT DOLLARS FOR THREE DRINKS! While Steve didn't think it funny, most of us had a laugh....at Steve's expense!!! pun intended :)

There were many decorated packages under the tree.

The food was some of the best ever. Caesar salad, beef medallions and lobster tail, butternut flan and vegetables, bread and butter all served on Diane's dishes she insisted on bringing to enhance our dining pleasure. It worked, it was SO good. Desserts were fabulous too, delectable and yummy.

Then it was time to kick back and open our gifts.

A good time was had by all.

Merry Christmas R Gang!!!

October Tails

When you are a blogger it is most important to bring a camera to the event you are blogging about. I didn't. Ordinarily, our Sept campout would have been reported here WITH PICTURES. Alas, my camera was left in my car at home. So, I begin with an apology to the Rabes who had a wonderful September weekend for us to enjoy. A new location, a train ride, soap making and great food, strolling peacocks for ambiance and HOT WEATHER. They set a prime example of first time wagonmasters.

Our weather has been strange, a cool summer, a few days of high temperatures and, for the past several weeks, cold, foggy drizzly days. Under cloudy skies the Irwins hosted our October campout at Yucaipa Regional Park. Normally, we can endure a bit of cool, especially after an extremely hot Sept Campout but....no fires were allowed in the area we were in. What to do? In desperation we improvised.

We planted two portable heaters in the center of our circle. We probably couldn't describe it as toasty, but, at least the word "warm" cropped up in the conversation every so often.

Saturday was a day of exploration. We went in different directions, to a quilt shop, scrapbook store, and apple festival, all fun.

On Sunday, we had a surprise birthday bash for five R Gangers celebrating "milestone" birthdays in the next couple months. Diane is the youngest at 60, Steve, Tom H are/will be 70, Darlene was celebrating her actual 75th birthday and Leo will be 80 in December. What a fun excuse to have a party.

The tallest "volunteered" to decorate. It was colorful and festive.

The Milestone birthday clan posed for a picture in front of a banner Eileen

made for the occasion.

How long had it been since we'd played Pin the Tail on the Donkey? This updated version

came with sticky tails and you can see below how accurate (?) the placements were. Note some of the tails were on the door....way off!

Leo proudly identifies his tail, the closest to the Donkey's tush.

We were drinking Leo's margaritas, perhaps that's why many tails went astray :)

Darlene thumbed her nose at all the celebrating in a unique way.

The clothespin was one of the gag gifts that Eileen and Steve brought to the birthday group.

Under Cloudy Skies

Not even to impress guests from Iowa did the weather cooperate for our June campout. Clearly, the yearly definition of "June Gloom" was well defined even this late in the month. We didn't let a lot of gray dampen our fun though.

We got to meet Cheri and her daughter Kaylan, sister and niece of Le Ann's from Iowa. We got to meet gunner, Mark and Roxanne dog, fondly taken care of by Alexander and Irena MOST of the time.

Sometimes the kids get smitten with Chico,

it is usually a one way proposition!

Many of us walked over to have our traditional Saturday lunch at a nearby restaurant....the outside heaters were on! Made it nice and cozy for a leisurely lunch. Our blog post nearly always has to be about the food and we had plenty of it thanks to the planning of the Hatches.

Sheryl's broccoli salad

Dave wearing his new table label...one he grumbled had

to stay on the table...NOT!

Toooo relaxing??

The Harpers hosted the May campout at Guajome County Park. Ordinarily I'd say a great time was had by all however, below is proof it wasn't all that motivating for some of us.

For the second year in a row Pat brought her kiln and the gals had the fun of making glass sandwiches. These piles of colored glass, after roasting in 1,400 + degree heat, end up to be colorful pendants. The piles remain a mystery until they come out of the kiln, melted and transformed. In fact, it takes a bit of looking to recognize which creation you made. Thanks Pat, it was a lot of fun.

Here are the finished pieces.

Sunday morning dawned dull and rainy, .... the weather changed just in time for a bagel and egg breakfast. The sun played hide and seek in the clouds most of the weekend. Our jackets were on, then off, on and off, that's May in Southern California.

Game time.

The weekend conversation was dominated by our murder discussions...poor Victor from our Castle retreat, gunned down in a property dispute. After our creative brainstorming, detectives on the case might want to consult us for our opinions, mostly nonsense scenarios of why it happened.

A little yarn

We voted him newest R Gang member, the friendly bird that showed up around the campfire to listen to our conversations....and eat our crackers.

Bob and Donna wowed us with hospitality at their April campout. Donna prepared lots of food with her assistant Bob. We thoroughly enjoyed each tasty meal.

Caught "pink handed", Steve filling his beer can with Sangria Blanca.

It was good to the very last drop.

While that gals were winding yarn, the men solved the world's problems.

Teams competed in a bocce tournament, some balls were so close they had to be measured.

Bob, completely satisfied with Donna's homemade cookies.

The club room turned into a yarn scramble on Saturday as we learned how to make corded necklaces. We twisted yarn on cording nearly every spare minute of the weekend to get us to the point of completion late Sunday afternoon. Everyone's necklace had a unique look and we were all pleased with our creations. After Leo made margaritas, Nancy's necklace was modeled by...Jose Cuervo.

The end!!!

Harem Gals & Sleepless Knights

Marie's Explorer loaded up and ready to go, April 8th, 2010

Months of planning and high expectations culminated in a fun filled crafting retreat at the castle in Temecula for eleven lucky ladies, err Harem gals.

The jeweled crafters with glittery faces, made cards, learned new techniques, accepted challenges, ate like queens, slept very little and laughed A LOT. It was one surprise after another...for instance the first dark night in the harem room Eileen thought a knight was trying to crawl into bed with her. She was awakened from her slumber, not by a knight but LeAnn, who was trying to find her own bed in the dark and stumbled into the one next to hers. Or the delicious drinks that Kay brought, the stunning presentation with fresh mint and tiny umbrellas...about the same time she brought them IN, a thief was taking a few of our cards OUT. A robber, clever enough to act innocent while all of us were keeping an eye on him. Later, the "loot", all three cards, were found in his suitcase. What was he thinking, it was 11 - 1 and we were angry!

We enjoyed wine tasting Friday night, as 80 year old Mr. Wilson from Wilson Creek Winery gave us the most interesting facts of his foray into his "retirement" years as a winery owner. Suzanne and Victor participated by making their castle, our castle for a the few days. Originally from South Africa, they had some extremely funny tales. Victor told about his nanny, who tossed her boob over her shoulder to feed her baby. The visual on that one had us hysterical after dinner one night. Late Friday, after wine tasting and dinner, we began a Telestrations game, all of us. Suzanne had to come in and ask WHAT was causing so much laughter.

Goodie bags awaited the harem ladies.

Display of cards, our thief took three.

Romantic card....and the winner, a very proud Roxanne!

These were the BEST drinks!

At feast table set for kings and queens.

Our group with Mr. Wilson after tasting several of his wines.

And quietly, in her own little corner, Leanda made a quilt!

All too quickly we had to say goodbye, but not before scheduling a "next year" which we are very excited about.