The IBRRI has been caring for and rehabilitating birds injured
in the November 7th San Francisco Bay oil spill, along with birds
coming up injured and starving along Monterey Bay due to unrelated
causes.

State officials now say that funds for cleaning and rehabilitating
oil saoked birds cannot be diverted to help in caring for birds in the
Monterey Bay incident because the source of the problem is not petroleum
oil but some sort of protein formed in the red tide algae bloom currently
affecting the bay.

Some 600 birds have been rescued and transported to care facilities
for cleaning, drying and feeding, but State funds now may not be used
to offst the cost of their care.

If you are a bird lover, or just want to do something great this holiday
season, consider making a donation to the International Bird Rescue Resource
Institute where these birds have been being cared for and treated for release.

You’ll find them here: http://www.ibrrc.org/donate.html

Just so you know, even without any additional support or State funding, the
many local volunteer groups who have been rescuing and caring for these birds
continue to do the work of capturing, cleaning, feeding and saving birds who have
been washing up on Monterey Bay area beaches with no water proofiing since
November 8th.

Today we took a trip to “Grey Bears” our local recycling and
re-uses non profit for senior support. They feed some 1200
plus seniors every week in our town. Cool, huh?

I found the most gorgeous hand made blanket there! All kinds
of bright colors on a black background. And nice and big for
curling up on the couch with a good book…

And it got me to thinking of the things I love most…
Hand made blankeets and quilts, great linens… I LOVE
the fine table cloths and runners from Germany, you know.
The ones with all the hand embroidery and such beautiful
fabrics!

And I love sweaters… Cashmere, lambs wool, fleece,
angora, you name it… I love them all. And one of the best
places to find these kinds of things, at INCREDIBLE prices, is
the local thrift store.

Now, I’m not going to say Salvation Army and GoodWill aren’t
great, but that’s really just not the place to look. Look in the
little out of the way locally operated places like Grey Bears, or the
local hospital zuxiliary thrift stores… MUCH better selections, and
much higher quality items with BETTER prices! Amazingly, my
oversized hand made wool throw blanket purchase today was only
$12.00. You just can’t beat that…

So if your mom loves sweaters, great old linens, quirky dishware
or any of those things that you just can’t find at the local Mall ,
head over to your locally operated non profit thrift store and you’ll
be thrilled with the finds you come across. AND you’ll be doing some
good for the community at the same time!

You just can’t beat that.

The winter weather has transformed the beaches
nearby… Great swaths of water and foam where
dry sandy beaches of summer once were…

Yesterday the fog was so thick I didn’t dare let
Doodle Boy off his leash. He just doodles off, and in
that thick fog there was no way I was goint to chance
having to spend the rest of the walk looking for him!

On our way home we again encountered our English
Setter friends, who were sporting their new Pet Blinkies
in White and Blue and Pink and Green. Very showy!

So we became DETERMINED to find these delightful and
clever LEDs with such power that you can spot them
even way down the beach…

And find them we did! Here they are! Pet BLinkies

I am getting a couple for each of the dogs, so they
can flash in different colors and really show off.

Pluse, that way, with my not so great vision, I’ll see them
no matter where on the beach they wander.

Man they are too cool!

Now it’s time to curl up by the fire and sip some nice tea
while we wait for the rain to subside.. no beach walking today!

After such a beaufitiful Thanksgiving weekend that
seemed more like summer than late November, it seems
winter has finally begun to arrive.

The ocean tides are sweeping up high onto the beaches
leaving not a lot of room for our afternoon walks - which
keep getting earlier and earlier to avoid being caught in the
dark on the beach.

We saw a great invention the other afternoon as the sun
was setting and we began to head back to the path home.

A woman with two big dogs, all curly fur and long legs,
was heading out to walk as we came back. I thought it was
getting pretty late for her to start a walk, until I saw the
coolest thing ever: she had LED blinking lights on a switch
on the dog’s collars so she could see them in the dark!

As the dogs headed off down the beach ahead of her they
were very easy to see, even in the failing light… because their
collars were flashing away! Bight green on one, bright pink
on the other.

When I asked her about these amazingly clever flashing lights
she said “Oh yes, they’re great aren’t they? And they make
perfect stocking stuffers for any dog lover!”

Well, I had to know where to get them, then, didn’t I?

Turns out they sell them at our locally owned and operated
animal feed and pet supply store here in town. Now for the
rest of you, I have to go find them online so you can get them
too!

Don’t get caught walking your pooch in the dark without one,
they make it SO easy to see where your dog is, even in the
pitch dark, AND they will help keep you both safe if you are
walking along a road way, as they are so bright any passing
motorist will surely see that you are there.

Now THAT’s a GREAT IDEA!

This Thanksgiving we were in our new house-
for the first time, there is only one child living
with us… It’s so different!

But the great thing about that is, that all of them
(except for the eldest who is spending a year in Africa)
came home for Thanksgiving!

What a treat to have such interesting and engaging
young adults come to visit for the holiday! And they’re
your kids!!

The entire event went way too fast for me, but that’s
the nature of a great time, isn’t it? We spent all our
time talking and walking the beach with the dogs, (including
one of our son’s visiting dog, “Gir”) lounging in the bright
sun, and then thoroughly enjoying the great feast.

It was a kick to send everyone home with big bags of left
over turkey, stuffing, pumpkin pie, gravy and cranberry sauce.

But the house sure felt empty when everyone had gone home
again! Even our youngest took off to spend the weekend with
old friends back in the old neighborhood!

There’s no doubt about it - for moms the best holidays are
the ones where all the kids come back to visit, fill you up with
all their new adventures and ideas, fill themselves up on the
great food they’ve come to expect from mom, and leave you
peaceful and content with a whole new passle of memories, and,
if you’re lucky, maybe even some great new photos!

What a GREAT holiday!

While it is months away from Christmas and the
greens are all of new leaves and shoots coming up
out of the soft spring earth, it’s a great time to
appreciate how Spring can inspire exceptional
gift ideas for mom!

From gardening tools to bulbs and flowers
Spring time is alive with fun and beauty. All those
bright colors make you want to get out your paint
set, or maybe your water color pencils..

In Spring the delicate fresh scent of lemon blossoms
and jasmine fill the evening air… as longer days stretch
twilight across the sky, it’s easy to forget those darker
winter evenings when scented candles and lights
were our only comfort against the early darkness

Now the evening light is in the sky and our doors and
windows are open to the breeze and light. Summer
is on it’s way, and soon enough it will be Mother’s Day.

So put that inspiration to good use, and find
mom a super Mother’s Day gift when it strikes!

Fresh live lobster! If ever there was an impressive gourmet food delivery, this has to be it! Lobster so fresh and sweet, it could only have come from Lobster Gram!

Imagine a live Maine lobster brought to your door this Christmas season! If you’ve never received a live lobster delivery, you have missed out on a truly top of the line gourmet food experience!

Now, if you grew up in a fishing town like I did, you MAY have had such a “fresh food” experience… Perhaps you had a lobsterman as a friend, like I did… Of course, my friend didn’t deliver me fresh boxed lobsters! He just routinely left me a couple live lobsters in the kitchen a few times a year!

Let me tell you, nothing upsets a watchdog more than a live lobster crawling around on his kitchen floor! I don’t recommend that you pull this kind of surprise delivery!

There is just something about these creatures - antenae waving, claws reaching, tails curling… One thing is certain, you have no doubt of the freshness of this food!

Nowadays, with LobsterGram, you can have a live Maine lobster delivered just about anytime, anywhere with only the click of your mouse or a simple phone call. Really, our ancestors would be jealous! Such a superb food delicacy so easily available!

So break out the butter and set the water on the stove - it’s time to live it up with a live lobster delivery for the holidays!

As if that weren’t enough that these folks will deliver you a live lobster - they also offer top of the line gourmet steaks so you can serve up a real Steak and Seafood gourmet meal at home this holiday season!

Live lobster deliveries are turning out to be one of the top holiday delivery items this season. To get in on the action, Now you can Click & Save 15% - Holiday Gourmet Specials Lobster Gram delivers the BEST GIFT - Live Maine Lobsters, Steak & Seafood to their door!

Returning home from the airport last Thursday night after seeing my now 25 year old first born son off to his flight back to the east coast; it dawned on me that my carreer as “mom” was my longest standing gig.
It’s outlasted my first marriage now by some 17 years… And while I certainly hope it won’t outlast my current marriage (a mere babe at only 8 years in the running). I can see that momdom has shaped me and my life in more ways than anything else I’ve ever been done.
A major component and challenge of momdom is the art of learning to find what is good, what is wonderful and what is uplifting in the world and the people around you. To become the steady center of love and appreciation at the heart of a family is perhaps the most challenging and potentially rewarding role a woman could ever have. Not in the old fashioned sense of being the emotional creature for all of the family members; but in the whole hearted sense of being her authentic loving, creative, engaged and engaging self, and allowing those around her the freedom to do the same.
Christmas time and the holidays in general are at once exhilerating and overwhelming for moms, whose lives have been filled to beyond reason in our ever faster moving world… For myself, even in those extended days of our Thanksgiving visit; the days were full and fast moving. They seemed to fly by, and in the end we all felt it had passed too quickly. So many more things we had wanted to talk about, to do…
The flip side of this of course, is that we get to bask in the love and adoration of our families as we share our gifts, open special presents from our children (and if we are lucky, our mates) and feel that glorious exhileration of seeing all these rituals and wonders of Christmas come alive in the hearts and faces of our children.
In the face of all of this, thinking of presents as something we receive rather than as something we have to provide for others is not always “first nature” never mind “second nature” to moms. Which is another good reason to find ways to surprise and delights the moms in our lives… It is also a reason it’s not always the easiest thing to do.
Moms are notorious for saying things like “Oh, that’s fine dear, don’t worry about me.” and even “I really don’t need a thing!” As if that was the point!
Finding exceptional and exquisite gifts for moms may be the best fun I’ve had in a very long time! It’s even given me reason to think back on some of the best Christmas presents I’ve received over the years as a mom myself. And the memories that go along with those special gifts may be the sweetest gift of all.

It’s time for some direct communication.
There are a few rules to this great present for mom game that

you should really be aware of…
Well, I mean, you could skip it, but… You run the risk of ruining

the entire exprience.
Let me see if I can help you out.

Rule Number One:

Do NOT ask mom “What she wants for Christmas”!
This is the lowliest of low blows. Not only does mom have to do

all the work of making the holidays  happen  from  food to  gifts

to decorations and family traditions… She has to tell you what to

give her for Christmas?!?
Get a grip.
If you really aim to make an impression, asking how to do it

IS NOT a good beginning…

Rule Number Two:

Have some intelligence and character of your own! Let her know

you know what you know… Don’t try to  be “better” than anyone

else, or out compete a sibling…  Just be who you are and let her know

you know who SHE is.

Finally,

Rule Number Three:

If you can’t have fun with it, then don’t do it. If getting mom something

that says I love you and I think you’re great isn’t fun, for dang sake,

spare yourself and MOM and don’t do it. She never wanted it if it wasn’t

from the heart anyway, so just go do something else.
If she’s your mom and you can’t figure it out, then trust your gut

take a leap of faith and do what feels great to you… She’ll love you

for it, regardless.

It’s true isn’t it?
Everyone loves stocking stuffers. Finding great stocking stuffers is an art form all its own. Some people are really great at it… others not so great!
Well, the folks at Wrapables have solved that problem for all of us…
They have a team of folks who figure it out and give us the best there is… every year! How cool is that? Pretty cool!