A Great Start to the New Year

 Happy New Year dear friends.  I hope that you had a wonderful Christmas holiday and a great start to the New Year.  I've had a wonderful holiday season with my family.

 

 Yesterday afternoon all the family ventured to the Montage Resort where we sat outside on the veranda and enjoyed coffee.  It was a perfect afternoon to watch the ocean and do a little people watching, too!  It was my daughter's idea (photo above) and we all agreed that this was a great way to start the New Year's Eve celebrations.

 

 Christmas at my home has been all boxed up until next year (although I hope the true meaning of Christmas is in my heart throughout the coming year).  My home is slowly coming back to it's normal, eclectic decor.  My dear son bought me these lovely pink carnations.  They brighten up the family room.

My beloved knitting needles have made a reappearance, too this season.  I'm knitting a pair of socks from the very talented Helen Stewart.  They're called Vintage Fairy Lights socks and you can find the info here on my Ravelry page. (Lilly insists on sitting my my lap when I'm knitting!)

I love to knit socks.  I taught myself how to knit them; unbeknownst to me that they can be a bit of a challenge. Luckily, I and my four DPN's get along very well.  I love the yarn I found on Etsy.  It's from Southern Skeins; she is an indie dyer from Florida.  Her yarn creations are so lovely and best of all, her prices are very reasonable!  My yarn is called "frosted berries"  which I thought was so appropriate for this project.

Speaking of the very talented Helen, she will be hosting The Handmade Sock Society.  There will be six sock patterns included in this KAL.  I can hardly wait until it begins in February.  Fun times ahead!

I received some beautiful and useful things for Christmas.  I love the perfume tray that my dear daughter and her family gave to me.  It sits on top of my Grandma's antique bird's eye maple chest which is in my closet.  It was fun to clean and rearrange the top of this much loved chest.

Lilly wanted to say "hello" to everyone.  She had a great holiday and is enjoying her catnip toys.  I hope everyone out there who has furry family loved ones, to wish them all the best for the New Year, too.

Thank you dear friends for being my friend and visiting my blog.  I wish everyone a very Happy New Year.

With my best wishes,

Pat

Palm Sunday at Crystal Cove Beach

I just wanted to write a short post today to say "hello" and share with you some photos of a beautiful Sunday afternoon.  We spent the afternoon at Crystal Cove State Park.  It's located off the Pacific Coast Highway between Newport Beach, CA and Laguna Beach, CA.

Our little grandson was in a church procession today and after church we headed to the beach for lunch.  There was quite a crowd since the weather was so warm.  Here's some photos I thought you might enjoy...

 We had wanted to eat here at the Beachcomber but the wait time was so long so we climbed back up the stairs to Ruby's Shake Shack...

The view was even better and the waves were really kicking up today..

We ventured back down to the beach after lunch...

Crystal Cove is a historic beach community dating back 100 years.  It is now a state park with lots of little, old, quaint cottages that you can rent..

Here's a peek inside of one that set up as a type of museum from with furnishings from years ago....do you see that large flowery print fabric?  I once lived in a home that had drapes made of pattern....

This is the little inlet from the ocean....do you see the beautiful nasturtiums in bloom?

Some seafaring artifacts from long ago....

The view from the other side of the little inlet....

I stayed in the shade while they walked on the beach....

And, I so enjoyed looking at this little succulent garden.....

I hope you had have a great weekend wherever you may be.  All is well here at Lilly My Cat.  I look forward to writing again soon.

With my best wishes to all of you,

Pat :)

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