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.

Sun, Fun and Ponytails!!

Thank goodness Emerald Desert didn't completely close a few years ago, it makes for the best spring outing. Palm Desert is profuse with flowers, snowcapped mountains in the distance, the lure of great restaurants and large swap meet. Combine that with good friends and food, it doesn't get much better than that. The weekend started right when Diane treated us all to a wonderful dinner Friday night, light, delicious and so appreciated. Thanks.

Judy started it, she came back from the swap meet Saturday with a new hat AND a full pony tail, a two for one combination. After many oohs and aahhs, the rest of the gals had to go get hats and tresses on Sunday. From red hair, to wavy, the style editor of the local paper missed out by not writing an article on R Gang gals.

Food, we are so good at making it and consuming it.

Jim and Tom cook the meat to perfection!

Sunday night, not a morsel of meat, we tried Vegan food. Jim went to the restaurant and came back with faux chicken sandwiches, portabello mushroom sandwiches, little pizzas and a salad ladened with goodies. Most everyone enjoyed the variety, we licked all the platters clean.

Telestrations, it's our new favorite game...we laugh so hard

at our drawings and guesses that we are worn out after about six rounds. It was amusing when "baby's father" turned into "labor pains", it brought smiles to Darlene and Eileen.

The devil is in the details and Eileen might have forgotten a few....this is her version of a cuckoo clock, the Swiss would point out she forgot their little house.

Diane had to draw "party pooper" - so of course many balloons later and a pooper.... with the pooper part circled, clearly, clearly would give the guesser a huge hint.