My son Jason and his family left this morning at 4:30 on their way back home to Southern California. We rode the Skunk Train again – always a treat – and the Train Singer remembered to play my two favorite train songs: The City of New Orleans and Freight Train.

Train Singer

My grandsons Nathan and Aidan had a great time. One of the things they truly enjoyed was splitting logs with Grandpa.

Nathan Chopping Logs

Aidan Giving it a Try!

Their job every afternoon was to collect the kindling for the campfire. The first night we had s’mores, of course, the rest of the time we just sat in front of it and enjoyed the crackling of the fire.

Their mom, Cresta, and I enjoy knitting and crocheting, so we had a great field trip ourselves to Navarro River Knits.  There, the owner, April, helped us with our needs (I needed a circular knitting needle to knit Nathan and Elena’s soon-to-be-born baby an afghan) and our wishes: I am always a sucker for colorful and natural yarns. I have to remind myself: “one project at a time”!

On Sunday we all went to the Living Light Family Picnic at the Mendocino Coast Botanical Gardens.  We all brought a dish (I brought potato salad) and totally pigged out! We had raw, vegan, and vegetarian dishes that were so tasty: cauliflower couscous, pate wrapped in kale leaves, raw crackers and raw cookies, raw green bean dish, watermelon, several salads – no two were alike – all were delicious. I wonder if any of the recipes were from our website?

Karen before Max's Transgression

The highlight of the day was Karen’s (the Student Services Manager) dog, Max. I looked up from my plate and there was Max making a bee line for the croquet set. I knew exactly what he was going to do, but he was faster than my mouth (a feat indeed!). “NOOOOO MAX, NO!!!!!!”  Too late. . .he marked the set. Everyone was silent and looked on in horror as he “did his thing”. Karen was mortified, and as she dragged Max away everyone broke out in laughter. Half an hour later I noticed the children playing with the croquet mallets. I started to say something, but realized it was too late as they were already playing. I learned later that one of the adults had wondered why her grandchild’s mallet was so wet.

What are you talking about? I didn't do it!

Opps! Bad dog, Max!

Remember. that the deadline for video submissions  for our Hot Raw Chef Video Recipe Contest is midnight Pacific Time on July 4th, 2010.