Monday was a “hang out” a the “condo” day.. meaning beach and pool time and quite a few sunburns. Monday evening we were all going to the “Smith Family Luau”!! Fabulous Luau! We have been to several luau’s over the years and I do believe this one was the best! The food was actually wonderful! The grounds were gorgeous and the hospitality was outstanding! Entertainment was very unique. You will have to go when you come to visit!
Ev and I are doing a morning walk as soon as we get up in the morning.. This morning we walked about 6 miles!!! OMG!! Ev was tuckered out… I decided to go shopping with Rich & Judy for the afternoon.. I got two new dresses.. Judy & Rich bought me one for making all the travel arrangements, very nice of them.. Love both my new dresses!! Then they took me to drinks and lunch.. They spoiled me this afternoon.. Judy bought some really cute blouses too! Had a fun day!!
When we got back late in the afternoon, Ev was relaxing watching tv.. He had a nice relaxing day.. he took a nice walk..
Stay tuned more to come!!!
Beautiful Clearlake in California
Pacific Ocean/Mendocino Feb 2016
Tuesday, March 5, 2013
Kauai Monday & Luau 3/4
Sunday, February 24, 2013
Tim & Melissa and kids visit
We had Tim & Melissa and kids, Kassandra & Demetrio over for dinner tonight.. Ev and the kids played “corn hole” out front while we all visited inside.. Then the kids came in watched a movie and we watched the Oscars..
Got two announcements tonight.. Big news Melissa is going to have a baby.. 
Tom & Heidi Throw a Mardi Gras Party in the Keys!!
Fun time had by all who attended the Mardi Gras Party! Our host & hostess kept the drinks pouring! Lots of hors d'oeuvres, fun people and good music! Great Party!!
Wednesday, February 20, 2013
Flyers Designed by Linda Swesey
Several of the flyers I have designed for the Moose Lodge here at Clearlake Oaks, CA
Tuesday, February 19, 2013
Our 8th Wedding Anniversary
8 years ago today I married the most wonderful/loving/caring man! oops I almost forgot UNDERSTANDING!! I am the "storm" Ev is the Calm :) We are each other's best friends! We work and play together. We encourage growth in each other, we TRUST each other! We have made our life together fun/adventuresome/challenging!
I LOVE EVERETT WITH ALL MY HEART AND BEING! Happy Anniversary Huny!!! — with Everett Swesey.
Sunday, February 17, 2013
Our Friend Bill Hahn turns 94!
Bill Hahn celebrated his 94th Birthday today, yesterday and the day before yesterday!! Poor guy he is done in.. Had a wonderful time as you will see in the pics.. Tonight’s party was held in Orchard Shores at Clearlake Oaks. Bill had a wonderful turnout of family/friends!! He received some wonderful cards with congrats as well as 94 scratchers tonight.. He also had a party at the Moose on Saturday afternoon!! Goooo Bill!
Happy Birthday Bill!!
~Eventful Saturday!~
After getting home Friday afternoon I started cooking right away for the “Sweetheart Brunch” on Saturday morning at the Moose. Tina a new member is thriving to helping the lodge get more participation!! She has some great ideas!
I made up a Hash brown Casserole and an Enchilada dish for our contribution to the brunch. There were many delightful dishes!! Unfortunately we didn’t get a fabulous turnout. Will just have to try harder next time! We might have had about 25 people.. sad huh? Thankfully the food was mostly all donated, so the Moose did probably make a few dollars.
This is my cooking weekend!! I also made up a extra Enchilada dish for Sunday night over at Orchard Shores in celebration of a friend Bill Hahn’s 94th birthday.
Monday night at the Moose I will be cooking up some
Hearty Italian Chicken Soup with egg salad sandwiches!!
We have dinner plans with Rich, Judy, Larry and Lynn to go to dinner at TJ’s in Lakeport, meeting at Rich & Judy’s at 3pm.
Us girls wanted to do a little shopping before dinner so that is why we left a bit early.
We did a little shopping before dinner, not much caught my eye, however Lynn found a nice jacket.. We then met the “boys’ at the Clearlake Club where they were patiently waiting for us to finish up our shopping..
From here we went to TJ’s for dinner… geez no wonder I can’t loose any weight, we are always out to dinner!! Oh well.. Hawaii will have to take me as I am.. a bit chubby..
Saturday, February 16, 2013
HAPPY 8th ANNIVERSARY CHRIS & LINDSY
My daughter Lindsy married her best friend/soul mate February 16th 2005 on the island of Maui! Truly there isn’t a better union than Chris & Lindsy! As Lindsy’s Mother I am so very very proud of what a wonderful and beautiful young woman she has become! Lindsy is the best daughter I could ever imagine!
I Love her with all my heart and being! Her husband Chris is a great son-in-law, Lindsy made a very good choice and Chris didn’t do so bad either! We love Chris so much!! And of course the newest member of the family is our grandson Colin, whom is now 6 1/2, not so new, but a blessing for sure!! We love you all so much! We are looking forward to celebrating your 8 year anniversary as well as Ev & me’s 8th Anniversary with you in Hawaii!!
Love Mom & Ev
Happy Birthday Maryann!!!
Happy Birthday my dear friend! We had such a fun time with both Mike and Maryann!
We had been planning since before Christmas that we were going to get together for Maryann’s birthday at Valentine’s Day (her birthday) in Reno.
Our first night there Maryann had a beautiful table set for dinner with us as guests and longtime friends Kathy & Phil..
Mike served up some of his famous stir fry.. Not like any kind of stir fry you have ever eaten! He is a fabulous cook!!
Maryann did a delicious spinach salad with a nice light homemade concoction she made up.. Great company great food, what more could you ask for??
Next morning was up early 7am, got our sweats on and out the door for a 5 mile walk!!! And yes I do go and it was wonderful.. Brisk (23 degrees) walk to the 7-11 for coffee and back. M & M have some dear friends that own the 7-11, so every morning (most of the time) they walk there and get coffee and come home.. 
Mike made a gourmet breakfast for all of us. While he was cooking I got my shower and was ready for the day.
Soon after breakfast Maryann and I went shopping to TJMAX/HOMEGOODS and I found a wonderful “carryon” for travel to Hawaii in a couple of weeks..
M & M bought a tent trailer a few months ago, brand new from the factory. Mike hadn’t opened up yet, so I was up for the challenge and coaxed him that we should find out how worked!! Maryann said “I knew when Linda got here she was going to want to get that trailer opened up”, and she was right! Bless her heart, she is so cute..Love that girl!!
Mike & Everett pushed the small tent trailer out into the driveway.. Now it was time for set up.. Ev, MIke and I were getting the stabilizers down, checking out how everything works.. Now that we have it secured we started opening up the trailer itself.. It is amazing how fast this went up.. Nice quality material, very light, aluminum construction. With a few minutes we had it all up!! Pretty cool.. Now the hard part starts taking it down.. uummm..?? funny how fast you forget the steps you take to put it up and now taking it down.. Well there is the youtube video, yipeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!!! No problem got it all down and put away in no time.. aww..
Mike planned a nice evening out for Maryann’s birthday and Valentines day for all of us. He/they treated us to dinner at the Eldorado Buffet and a lovely magic show also at the Eldorado, “Magique”.
The Buffet was the busiest I had ever scene!! I will say for the first time ever going out on Valentines Day the food was very good, considering how many people were there! We were lucky to get seated pretty quickly.. If we had gotten there a few minutes later our time in line would have been much more! We needed to eat and get to the show that was starting at 7pm.. We made it!!
We had a really fun couple of days with M & M!! We left early (early for us) about 9:30am and headed home. We did make a stop at Winco.. GREAT PRICES!! We got home safe and sound about 4pm Friday afternoon..
Started cooking as soon as we got home.. Moose is having a “Sweetheart Casserole Brunch” on Saturday morning!
Monday, February 11, 2013
Fun Filled Weekend!!
Started Friday night at the Moose. Judy DeWolfe was doing a dinner for the lodge. I was her helper.. 
On Saturday we had plans to meet Cully a newer friend that we have known for a few years through the vacation rentals. Cully and Annie (girlfriend) and Cully’s Mom, Lynn came up here for a drink before dinner. We have plans to go to the Happy Garden for dinner. Ev & I had not had the pleasure of meeting Lynn (Cully’s Mom) before, so that was a nice treat. Mom & Cully are entering into partnership of buying a home here at Clearlake Oaks on the lake. They wanted to “pick our brain” about the vacation biz.. And we had so much fun doing it!! From here we went to Happy Garden for dinner. Annie and I went to the bar and had a “Grey Goose” martini..
Then joined everyone back at the table for some wonderful Thai food! Thank you guys for a very nice evening!!
Since I put the pictures in, I pick the one that looks the best of me..
Sunday was our Philosophical Society Brunch.. I get to call my self the “President” because I do all the arrangements in setting up our brunch each month. We have been alternating between the Greenview Restaurant at Hidden Valley and Riviera Hills Restaurant in Kelseyville. I do believe next month our group will vote on one specific place to hold our meetings every month. I do believe the Riviera Hills will win out.. Kevin at the Riviera Hills is very accommodating/personable/comfortable, as well to making us happy as a group. It’s just not all about head counts and the money as we all feel at the Greenview.. We all have enjoyed the food at both places. We are a fun group and if you have to deal with a manager that arrogant and intimidating (he lurks around and is doing head counts, and makes it all about the MONEY)it kind of takes the fun out of it,. You know that feeling of anxiousness, feeling like if you don’t have the EXACT head count he wants to charge you extra! So that is the main reason for making a decision for probably not going back to the Greenview. Our meetings are fun and we want to keep them fun!!
Many times after our brunch meetings there are invitations to different members homes afterwards. Yesterday was one of those days where we were invited to Milton & Ellen Health’s home just outside of Middletown.. We had a lovely time. Ellen the gracious hostess gave us a tour of her and Milton’s home.. Absolutely lovely!! Milton had the bottomless wine bottle going.. MIlt was our tour guide around the grounds of the house.. Just beautiful.. I was the only woman that went with Milt, Ev and Jim..oh well.. Nice cement walkways for the most part winding around on the property.. we got to see one of the mines that were on the property.. Didn’t realize there were several mines in this area at one time, Mercury I believe.. It was fun.. We got back from our walk around the grounds and it was time to go..
We were invited to go to Jim & Shirley’s for one last “birthday” drink..
From their house we decided we should have a bit to eat. We drove into Middletown to the pizza place and enjoyed pleasant dinner with Jim & Shirley.. Had another great time!!
Wednesday, February 6, 2013
Camping at Jim & Shirley’s
At Christmas when Jim & Shirley were here visiting, Jim offered to put a pantry in one our cupboards in the trailer..I was so excited that he offered to do it.. I was excited because I know particular he is. I knew it would come out perfect!!
We were with the Walsh’s for Shirley’s pre-birthday celebration (her real birthday is 2/10) and discussed when would be a good time for this project. We decided it was going to be this week on the 5th! So excited..Also this would be our first trip out of the driveway with the new trailer.. eecckkk, was stressing out thinking I wasn’t going to make it.. BUT?? I did!! yipeeee yahooo!! Ev has been down trimming the bushes for months now.. So when we did pull it out we could take some extra ground for those turns!! His hard work paid off!!!! Actually went very smoothly…aaww relief.. 
So off we went to Jim & Shirley’s in Middletown.. We didn’t get there as early as Jim would have liked.. He was all set up and prepared to work.. he even recruited his brother Dennis that is a fabulous carpenter as well.. Geezz got two for the price of one (the whole job cost us a dinner I cooked), not bad..the best part was the company.. And to add to the great time we were already having, Rudy & Faith joined us for dinner too!!
My camera is still being a “stinker” so my pictures are fewer..
Not only was the pantry put in the cabinet.. Dennis also reversed the closet door (apparently at the factory someone put the closet in upside down, therefore the door was opening into the bed). Can’t even tell where the hinges were!! As you can tell we are just thrilled!!
Wednesday morning Jim & Shirley cooked us a very nice breakfast and even some gin fizzes!!
Got the Trailer out of the Driveway!!
YIPEEEEEEEEEEEEEE
The biggest challenge of taking out the trailer was getting it out of our driveway. Our previous trailer was 23’ this new trailer is 26’, however the pivot point was the same, but nonetheless it was pretty intimidating until I actually got it out! After getting it out I was in tears with joy after months of stressing about it. Our driveway is a horseshoe type and not much room to really maneuver in the actual parking area on top. Backing it into “its spot” is about it. When taking it out we pull it straight out down the back side of the horseshoe which is step a 35% grade at the steepest part I would believe then a sharp left turn around the island onto a level narrow frontage road with lots of brush that my husband as been trimming back to give just a little more room for a turning radiance.. At any rate I am very comfortable taking it out of the driveway now..
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Saturday, February 2, 2013
Celebration of Lynn’s Birthday
We celebrated Lynn’s birthday on Friday this week at Simona’s Italian Restaurant in Ukiah. Lynn’s birthdate is January 28th..
We started out by going shopping to Kohl’s and Penneys. Found a few treasures.. First we had a cocktail at “The Office” above Simona’s. Lynn had fun opening her gifts.. Fun evening…
Friday, February 1, 2013
Shirley Walsh Birthday Celebration!!
We are just blessed so much with such wonderful friends! We set up a lunch/meet with Jim & Shirley a couple of weeks ago to go to the Greenview Restaurant.. After having one drink at the Hidden Valley Golf Course (where the Greenview) is located, we decided to go over to the Twin Pines Casino for lunch instead.. However we made a stop at Jim & Shirley’s place for cocktails.. 
So next week we are taking out our trailer (For the first time) over to Jim & Shirley’s for a couple of days.. we are going to camp in their “yard”. Jim has offered to do some shelves to make a “pantry” in one of our cupboards in the trailer!! I can’t wait, it will be so fun! And I will barb-q some dinners and we will have a great time.. Rudy & Faith may join us with their beautiful “Phalen” Motorhome they just bought! OMG 40 feet with 4 slides! It is gorgeous.. or they may just come and have a party with us.. In some of the pictures you will see we were in the motorhome last night enjoying stories with friends and some really good wine!!
Wednesday, January 30, 2013
Lake Pillsbury
Wednesday morning during breakfast we decided to take a ride over to Lake Pillsbury. The lake isn’t really too far away.. about 50 miles one way..
We decided to go up through Upper Lake and out Elk Mountain Road.. Most of the road is paved, about 8 miles was dirt.. The dirt road is probably in better shape than the paved.. It was a beautiful drive.. We did find that there are a couple of campgrounds back there.. and some great places to quad ride.. maybe we will try taking the quads next week.. The weather has been wonderful, so as long as it holds.. we will probably go..
Sunday, January 27, 2013
Reno Bound 1/23/13
WOW it is already Wednesday! And we are headed to Reno!
Originally Lynn Ringuette and I were going to Reno for a couple of days. Then when my brother Rick & Lynn were coming down, we all planned to go. Lynn (my sister in law) with my friend Lynn would ride up in one car and stay in one room (Lynn my friend got comp’d rooms) and then Rick & Ev stay in another room. They were gonna get up early on Thursday and head up to ski. Good plan..
As we were driving up to Reno we decided to stop in Truckee for lunch at a little Mexican place.. Ended up Rick & Ev got to eat lunch with us too. They took a different route than we did..
We got to Reno about 3ish and Lynn R. headed straight to the Pai Gow table..
My camera this last week wasn’t working very good this last week! Hopefully I got it figured out..
Thursday morning Rick & Ev headed to the slopes bright and early. Got a call from them about 9am and they were headed back to Reno.. Apparently, it was raining at Northstar and it wasn’t cold and the price of a lift ticket was $100 plus.. so they decided not to pay that price to ski in the rain all day.. Don’t blame them a bit.. Lynn R was up and gone each morning before 7am for her Pai Gow.. Girl is nuts for that game!
The guys got back from their morning ride up the mountain and wanted to go up to Virginia City.. Sounded fun to us!
We had such a fun time! We did lots of site seeing, did a lot of bar hopping.. lots of bars!!
Met this little lady from Canada, Lillian.. She was traveling with a group of people on a bus. They were headed to Vegas and Laughlin.. She didn’t really know how to use her camera phone so gave her some lessons, hopefully she remembered.. She was so sweet..
We continued bar hopping and playing a little here and there.. Weather was cooperative, a few showers here and there..
We are meeting Lynn R for dinner so we started back to Reno.. We stopped by Cold Water Creek where I bought a coat.. nice jacket.. Then we stopped at the Peppermill for about an hour and then back to the Calneva for dinner with Lynn R.
We ate in the steak house at the Calneva. Lynn R had comps in excess of $100!!
Of course we all had steak of some kind and some different sides and some wine.. The bill wasn’t much over that $100.. 
Good dinner.. I retired early.. I was soooo tired.. They all stayed out and partied till 11pm plus!Thank you Lynn for treating us to a great dinner! And a really good time! No one won any money on this trip.. We all made a donation… So next month Ev and I will go up and visit our money..and see Mike & Maryann..
Friday was going home day. Rick & Lynn left about 9ish and were head home by way of Lincoln City, OR (didn’t loose enough money in Reno?) and to Chinock Casino..But?? Rick won and won most of all the money he lost in Reno.. aaww relief…
We left Reno after breakfast, about 1030..
We arrived at home about 4ish on Friday.. Rick & Lynn got home Saturday late afternoon..
