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.

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.

Owen's Burial at Sea

On what would have been Owen's 79th birthday his ashes were gently cast upon the ocean, to sink quietly to their final resting place. Twelve friends and relatives were there to comprehend the complexities of life and death and celebrating that Owen would have loved this method of final release back to nature. As flowers were thrown, the boat circled the descending ashes, the sea calmed and we were all awed by the peace.

We started the ceremony by singing Happy Birthday....we just know Owen heard. God holds in His hands one of the finest of men, Owen Hesse Richelieu.

Thanks to Suzanne Savory and her boat Gaspra and Mike and Judy for the touching ceremony. We were also impressed by the dolphins, whales, sea lions, and pelicans....who accompanied our boat and provided exclamations of delight.

Owen's ashes merging with the sea.

Tossing flowers

Catherine and Jacqueline

Owen's delightful sister Ann

Hail, Hail the Gang's all Here!

The whole Gang went to Pachanga Feb 27 and though it rained all day Saturday, it didn't dampen our spirits! We always fill our time with eating, games, Cricutting, eating, reading, laughing, eating, and relaxing. Kay planned the best meals, Susie's spaghetti, yummy garlic bread, green salad and three "motor" home baked pies...incredible. Brunch was awesome too.






Our meeting brought us up to date on future campouts. Scheduled places include Palm Desert, Tecalota Springs, Guajome, Chula Vista...it all sounds exciting. Judy and Mike are promoting a summer week in Big Bear, dates to be decided but around the middle of July. This would be a vacation that we would all participate with planning and execution.

Telestrations is a new game we are enjoying...it is like the old "telephone" game only you sketch, pass the drawing, someone guesses, and it continues on around the players. At the end, the revealing is hysterical, a tadpole becomes sperm, then a fish. We had dinosaurs mating and smoke stacks polluting and all of us laughing.

Happy New Year!!