Renaissance Man

Yesterday Steve and I drove to Ojai to visit a young man we haven't seen since he went off to college 30 years ago.

We parked beneath a giant oak tree and entered a property alive with creativity.

Scott began taking pottery classes when he was an engineering student at the University of California San Diego.

He worked as a mechanical engineer for 7 years, but this Renaissance Man needed to be working with his hands.

For the last 20 years Scott has been honing his craft.

Seven years ago Scott moved to Ojai, California and bought a piece of property 

that is a work in process.

An old barn sits at the back of the property

and I hope he never touches this chippy goodness.

I am curious what plans he has for the outhouse.

The potter's wheel is in the main house, but there is so much more going on outside.

This is the wall of one of the work spaces - the vines that appear decorative are actually hops he grows for making beer.

Two different varieties of his three world class home brews were tasted.

I remember Scott as a teenager interested in space camp and surfing so I was totally surprised to get a glimpse of Scott's varied interests.

He recently finished building this kiln using his engineering skills.

He is refurbishing a guest house on the property by himself,

but it's taking a lot of time

because Scott is making every single tile for the kitchen himself.

He made this beautiful hollow, wooden stand up paddle board in the style of Tom Blake.

He raises chickens and grows veggies -

of course I love the color palette of his crops.

The gardener in me fell in love with his flowers -

 how about these sunflowers!

Before we left, we strolled through this building to pick something out and I was torn between white or colors.

We settled on this beautiful two toned jug.

It was so fun to reconnect with someone who was just 18 years old when we last chatted.

And, we hope he invites us back for homemade pizza from the outdoor pizza oven he built.

 You can check out Scott Chatenever's work at Village Potter.

Out of Whack

In my last post (over a week ago) I wrote that I was Finding Balance.

I was busy making pillows, embroidering

and creating vignettes.

 But, I think I jinxed things because we just had a crazy mixed up week.

We scheduled our house to be tented for November 1 - termites are an issue in southern California.

We escaped to a charming spot in the town of Ojai, just a few miles inland and took Lulu on her first vacation ever.

She started crying (what a Drama Queen) when she saw the suitcases and was surprised when we told her to hop in the car where she found her crate filled with her favorite blankets and toys.

She had fun playing in the meadow in the back 40 of The Blue Iguana - new smells and the crackle of leaves beneath her feet kept her busy.

Steve and I  were happy to tuck into one of the cute cottages to simply relax.

Lulu was happy to be back home and oblivious to the fact that we were frantic due to a gas leak.

Fortunately we were able to have a new gas line installed the following day

and life is back to normal.

I'm busy preparing for guests on Wednesday 

and happy that things are no longer out of whack.

Old Friends

Last week was a frenzy of decorating and creating for two events on Sunday.

I was hard at work creating decorations and gifts for a baby shower I could not attend.

And, cleaning/organizing the house for a reunion of high school friends we were hosting.

Other than sprucing up the garden and cleaning house,

my biggest challenge was setting the table for 11 people.

I have lots of different linens, but only in sets of 4 or 6 so I decided to paint napkins for this get together.

I had to mix and match dishes for the two tables - my little dining room won't hold 11 for dinner.

I think the colorful mix of napkins tied the tables together.

I usually have table topic questions as part of the table setting, but I knew this group would have no difficulty talking so I went with little fact cards for 1966 which was the year we graduated from high school.

With the inside of the house clean and

the outside all spruced up,

I was ready to have fun with the "boy and girls" I hung out with in high school.

We had so much fun laughing . . . talking . . . remembering . . . eating . . . and I did not pick up my camera once - thank goodness everyone else was snapping fun pics of everyone.

I did take photos of the wonderful chocolates, coucougnettes, napkins and apron that Linda, who lives in France, brought for me to enjoy.

My high school friend and college roommate, Cindy, who reads my blog and knows my style brought me a beautiful candle lamp.

All of Linda's French candy and the colorful candy Kathy brought were eaten right away, but the lovely orchid Kathy brought sits on my window sill reminding me of a fun evening with old friends.

Everyone stayed at the Emerald Iguana in Ojai so we spent yesterday exploring Ojai, walking on the beach by our house, of course eating, and discussing the destination of our next reunion - I am voting for Linda's house in Serres-Castet.

The frantic preparation is over and I awoke this morning ready to relax all day long.

And then I found all the baby shower supplies sitting on my porch - I guess I get to clean up even though I didn't get to attend the shower.

But before I clean, I am going to eat one of the chocolate hearts Linda brought me from Maxim's.

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I am sharing at 

Green Willow Pond - What We Accomplished Wednesday

Coastal Charm - Show and Share

Cozy Little House - Tweak It Tuesday  

Savvy Southern Style- Wow Us Wednesdays

Cedar Hill Farmhouse - The Scoop