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All FOURTEEN OF US STOPPED IN VANCOUVER ON OUR WAY TO ALASKA

20 Jun 2013 6 Comments

At the airport we had a delay, but who doesn’t these days? During our airport wait, I asked each family member to choose an animal spirit to use now, forever, but certainly during the trip. They wanted to know why and I told them I learned that many native people along the west coast of the North American continent gave their children animal spirits to guide them in their lives. All animals have different virtues and you can easily find yours if you have an animal or choose one soon. Do relax; the animal will come to you. Animals live in tune with the complexity of nature and we as humans have much to gain by adopting and or adapting to the spirits of animals we have chosen. Do you already have an animal spirit, if not choose one. The qualities of the animal you have chosen will astound you because those are already strengths, instincts and qualities you have eternalized. Some of the animals chosen by the family are: Lion, Puma, Cheetah, Black Panther, Dolphin, Wolf, Jaguar, Owl, Hawk, Eagle and Sloth. As more choose, I shall report.

I was given the owl spirit nearly 25 years ago by a Native American woman and lived well as the spirit guided me. A few days before our departure on this new adventure, I set the owl aside having adopted its powers and became a hawk. This new animal is a powerful visionary, is visual in all respects, able to touch the spiritual world and is fully focused.

Vancouver is a beautiful city, much more beautiful than I remembered on our first visit years and years ago. The new buildings cast off reflections in each direction in the downtown area and as you look, the reflective look feels doubly opaque. It is a very friendly yet expensive city. Young people wearing backpacks abound. I wanted to follow some of them to learn of their destinations. Maybe since we might have been the oldest folks on the street everyone felt respective and helpful, but the fact is that we were pointed and directed to many venues we did not even know existed. It is nice to be guided into some of the deeply local ventures.

We were invited to the top of Harbor Side, the building Curtis built! This is where I got my hawk-eyed view of beautiful Vancouver.

Fifth Grade Culmination/Graduation in West Hills, California Celebrating our Granddaughter’s Achievement

08 Jun 2013 10 Comments

by Sheila Clapkin in Family Activities, Family History, Social Events

As you can see, modern technology secures a record of this event for each iPad holder/user, but for me it screened out the event that I so desperately craned and wiggled to see. I know they did not realize that they were being obtrusive and prominently using up my space and the space of others to see their family member culminate/graduate. I enjoy bringing you the above photograph of the experience plus I have added the interior chuckle I have every time I see the iPads using my space or is it theirs once they have taken it?

Well thought out plans had been made for this event and many practice sessions had been conducted; all speeches were committed to memory, the songs well rehearsed, outfits for the event had been searched for and purchased by the celebrated child and family members. As the rewarded volunteers took their front seats, we the others, scrambled for the best leftover seats we could secure.

The prossession began. We were on the wrong side, oh well. The speeches began and songs sung. The school officials gave appropriate speeches of their love for the children, rewards given, culmination certificates lovingly handed to each child, another song was sung and the procession off to begin a new life began. The photo on the top is what I saw of the event for most of the time. But I am not one for the back scenes or do I like to sit on the sidelines, so I scrambled, nudged, gently elbowed and jostled myself in position to grab the shots of our granddaughter receiving two awards and her diploma for our family records.

Aside from enjoying and witnessing this charming event I saw so little of, I had an opportunity to feel like I was my mother. She so proudly came to these advancing events for our children and smiled with hugs. Now I am she.

The Madonna Inn, Cayucos, and the Central California Coast

30 May 2013 Leave a comment

by Sheila Clapkin in Sightseeing In California

On the Way to Cayucos you can stop at the very famous Madonna Inn for dinner and dancing. Hurry and experience this passing phenomenon. There are fewer and fewer of these events left and as the years, the musicians and participants pass, they may soon be non-existent. It is so much fun to dance as well as watch some of the experts. The food is good and plentiful.

When the eating and dancing part of the evening was over and we continued on to our digs at the Pier View Suites in Cayucos. Our suites had lovely views of the Central Coast of California and within view was the lovely and famous Cayucos Pier. The Pier View Plaza has facilities to satisfy all of your needs, plus two wonderful antique stores flank the plaza. Don’t miss a treat at the Cookie Factory and visit the Candy and Ice Cream store. The soup on the pier is wonderful.

There was the annual Flea Market going on at the end of the road. Oh heavenly days, I do love a flea market where you can peruse and own goodies of the past and present to your hearts content. You can finally find and buy what you have always desired, plus own something you never thought of in your life. That’s the fun.

Since Cayucos is between San Luis Obispo, Morro Bay and further north Cambria and San Simeon, you have a lot of sight seeing choices with your main base Cayucos in the middle. Don’t ask me about the food in Cayucos because I don’t really don’t know how to answer that, but I will tell you, at one restaurant in particular, several of us asked for an extra empty plate which they were only too happy to bring, to the tune of $1.50 per plate. It IS on the menu in teeny tiny print that you will be charged for an extra (empty) plate. I should not reveal the name of the restaurant, but it is called by my father’s name.

I highly recommend you explore the Central Coast of California. The weather is mild, the sunsets are legendary, birds dive straight down into the sea to dine, people are friendly, the scenery is breath taking as it shows off the most majestic coastline in the world. California’s Central Coast has developed into a world-class wine tasting region, and you will see that there is a hope for our future that resides in these environs.

Brandeis Day Trippers at Auntie Anne’s Pretzel Store

16 May 2013 4 Comments

by Sheila Clapkin in Adventures in Tarzana, Reflections Tags: food, having fun, pretzels field trips, restaurants

Thirty ladies from the Day Trippers Study Group converged on Auntie Anne’s Pretzel store in Northridge, California, to become Honorary Pretzel Rollers where we gained expertise in the ability in hand rolling and twisting a pretzel. There are Auntie Anne’s throughout the world, so be on the lookout and you, too can become an Honorary Pretzel Roller, or if you don’t have time for the field trip, you can become an Honorary Pretzel eater. They are delicious.

How Pretzels came down through the ages: Monks, in order to reward children who learned their prayers invented pretzels as a little reward. The strips of dough were folded to resemble arms crossing the chest in prayer, and baked into soft bread. One day the keeper of the bakery fell asleep, left the pretzels baking too long and dried out the pretzels. The head baker chastised the napping baker, but through his nap, the crispy pretzel was invented.

An anti-bacterial soap was used to wash our hands and then they were held under a black light. My, my how we left residue on our hands even though we washed and washed them. Gloves were also used as protection. Prizes were given for the best pretzel, (Cindi) and the cleanest hands, (Susie). Our own individual pretzel was baked, plus bagged along with an Honorary Pretzel Roller pin and coupons for our next visit. We will never pass an Auntie Anne’s without our lovely memories of learning and sharing.

After this fun filled kid based field trip, where everyone had such a good time, I began to wonder why some of us past childhood do not go into the past and re-capture fun for kids. I would love to relive riding on a pony and bouncing with my heart in my mouth and my hands clasped in a death hold on the saddle knob. Why not go to a petting zoo and be the one to pet instead of the one who now watches the little one who pets? How about going to the tide pools and watching the activity there. Be sure to bring a sun hat. I would like to go back to the Gene Autry Museum and the zoo. Want to build a project with Lego’s? Let’s just have a Play Date, a picnic, pitch pennies, play a board game, take a dance class, or how about visiting the fire station, police station or the post office as a first time field trip, no letters to be mailed in hand. How long has it been since you collected fall leaves, played marbles or hide and seek, had a water fight, planted something, or gone on a hayride? Make a kite and fly it, play Frisbee, jump rope, or how about go bowling? Let me know what your special go back in time things are…

Visit the Flower Fields in Carlsbad, California: March 1 – May 12, 2013

18 Apr 2013 3 Comments

by Sheila Clapkin in Family Activities, Sightseeing In California Tags: calabasas flower fields, heaven on earth

When your eyes become acclimated to the hills awash with brilliant flower colors, you come back down to earth and realize this is heaven on earth. It is what I envision heaven to be. As soon as I earn the two points I am short upon arrival, Saint Peter opens the opaque gates and flowers, flowers, flowers is the first impression and then it goes on from there. This is not a lesson on heaven, Saint Peter or the pearly gates; it is just a sharing of joy and an invitation for you to enjoy the Carlsbad Flower Fields @ 5704 Paseo Del Norte, Carlsbad, CA. The only kink unfortunately is for you to be prepared to stand in a long line to pay your admission fee. You would think on such busy days they would have more than one-person selling tickets.

Look! You are greeted and kindly asked to enjoy the fields.

If you were aware and fortunate enough back when these homes were being built you would be able to enjoy this view all spring and early summer. What a backyard bonus.

The fields are planted several weeks apart to insure months of flower productivity and viewing.

The lady in the next photograph was posing for another photographer and I joined in. She was so down in and among the flora, I envied her. I think there may be something illegal about posting her photo, so if this is you and you are opposed this posting, let me know, and I will immediately remove your photo from this post, but in the meantime, let us enjoy your loveliness, your enjoyment and endorsement of the flower fields.

Visitors were walking around smiling and full delight was the order of the day.

You still have time to enjoy the flowers and if you miss them this year, plan for a visit next year.

STANDING ON YOUR OWN GRAVE; ALIVE AND FULLY CONSCIOUS

08 Apr 2013 5 Comments

by Sheila Clapkin in Reflections Tags: burial, death, living, mount s, Mount sinai

Fully aware that you are alive and well, you are ready to make the hike up the gently rolling hill leading to # 2042, your awaiting burial plot. You think you are standing on the very, very, very spot you will inhabit most probably for eternity. You wait for some existential experience. Nothing out of the ordinary happens. You stare at the view. It is beautiful and serene. You still wait for something extraordinary to happen, something to give you a rush. You’d get more of a rush from an espresso coffee than you have standing on your own GRAVE! What did you expect? Lots.

This spot of burial earth and funeral expenses are already paid for and inscribed in the annals of Mount Sinai Memorial Parks and Mortuary. The money paid into this death account makes 6% interest as long as you live. Tell me where you can get that guarantee in today’s world?

When you are standing in the exact spot depicting your eternal resting place, you try and analyze death realizing nearly in the same thought that you have to analyze life first. Langston Hughes states that – “Life is for the living. Death is for the dead. Let life be like music. And death a note unsaid”

Don’t we try to live to the fullest? Don’t we tell ourselves to live, be free, smell the roses, be observant and enjoy? Constantly, so why then do we often times find our thoughts on death in a quagmire? Are we not conscious enough or too conscious? Is there a happy medium when discussing your life and death? No, it requires stamina and concentration. It requires the help of others. If you start a discussion of life and death and our preparations for both, with friends soon, I imagine they will be inching away from you and bolting, maybe.

I imagined myself dead for a moment while I stood on my spot of land where I will be more than six feet under for perpetuity. Oh, the view is spectacular. Perhaps I will enjoy this view from this well sought after internment spot. I will wake each morning to sunshine, visitors, freshly mown grass, shadows and a sprawling view. Heck I will. I will be so far down under; I will not see, feel or hear anything. I will be gone. Thanks for the hope of the view and the hope of eternity in this lovely paid for piece of real estate, but it just isn’t the truth. Standing on the spot where I will be interned meant nearly nothing to me except for the reality and eventuality of my death someday. Big deal, I think about death as an eventuality every day whether I am standing on the exact spot or not. I don’t have to be there until some time after death, so I will dwell among the living, and when I visit those whose time has come to be permanent guests of the park while I am alive, I will exalt them and in death I will join them.

Please add your thoughts and ideas on this topic. I found it hard to be open and think of everything.

Why is this Morning Different From All Other Mornings?

10 Mar 2013 13 Comments

by Sheila Clapkin in Reflections Tags: reflections, santa monica mountains, santa suzana mountains, spirituality

This morning I sat, coffee in hand, with my chair facing our back yard, and on all other mornings I sit with coffee in hand and my chair facing the television watching the news.

I realize that when I have my back turned to the action, I miss the woodpecker pecking a hole in the closest of three hollow trees on the bluff. I wonder at his/her pecking and tried to count the number of pecks per minute. I lost count. With my chair facing the yard and all of its inhabitants, I see the clarity of the bluff in the foothills of the Santa Monica mountains and further the Santa Suzana’s softly displaying the tiny snow cap of Oak Mountain Peak far in the distance.

My objective this afternoon is to tell you of the wonders of this morning sitting in the turned chair looking into a seemingly empty landscape. There is a tiny snail inching along millimeter by millimeter leaving its gelatinous stain, the squirrel scampering across the patio is so energetic, the tiny bird is pecking at something nutritious on the newly swept concrete, the mating birds on the lawn leading to the hill are enjoying circling each other, and the sun kissed hill and all of its ground cover revealed nearly undistinguishable fluttering. When watched more closely, there revealed, were many and varied species of birds devouring the newly sprouted buds. Several pair of quail came strutting along the bluff line. I know what they are doing! They will have baby chicks to show us later in the spring. One year we counted twenty-eight quail, including chicks and parents.

In order to gain an added entrance into this world, I opened the sliding glass door in front of my turned chair and was further entertained by sounds and smells of our backyard. Hearing the woodpecker loudly and clearly gave me the realization that this bird must have a special built in brain protection against concussions.

This lovely scene must go on every morning and I think how I have missed all of it for years by just the turn of my chair. Certainly more often than not, you will find my chair turned, coffee in hand, because the real action is not coming from the inanimate box streaming the reality of others, it comes from my backyard, and yours. If you have a balcony, go out every day and see your reality. Just turn your chair in any new direction and report back what you see that you have heretofore, not seen.

THE TEA PARTY

28 Feb 2013 2 Comments

by Sheila Clapkin in Life Events, Reflections Tags: Chocolate covered strawberries, egg salad sandwiches, sunkist fruit, Tea Party, watercress sandwiches

As we drove into the citrus groves, we realized by the fullness of the fruit on the trees. We knew that the Sunkist fruit pickers would soon be by to pick and all of the yellow and orange globes. The trees, after a short hibernation will start the cycle of fruit production and in the spring they will show the fullness of fruit all over again. What a beautiful setting for Alice and all of her friends. You bet Alice was there; what’s a tea party without Alice. All of her friends were there, but we were so heavily camouflaged that who would know who was who? This was a very special tea party celebrating the eminent birth of baby boy Tash.

All of the ingredients for a tea party were set up and the partygoers were politely attacking the food. The egg salad sandwiches were plentiful; the cucumber and watercress sandwiches were harder sells. The turkey croissants with cranberry sauce are an American addition, perhaps, but delicious. British gentry would approve.

Scones you ask? Oh yes, and none have ever looked or tasted better. I wished that I had armed myself with little plastic bags at the bottom of my purse for take home sneaks. The conversations between mouthfuls were satisfying, informative and there was camaraderie in sharing the event.

I put clotted cream and lemon curd on top of a crumpet and actually wept as the flavors singularly combined. Weeping over food is usually not my forte. I had a second helping all the while delighting in finding a clot in the cream and a tang in the curd. Having an affair with a huge chocolate covered strawberry was luscious and the licking and lapping was certainly forbidden. Then, it happened. There was a tiny yellow stack about the height and width of my ring finger. I just popped it in my mouth, and then another followed by another until I realized there were chocolate stacks as well. They were my next ecstasy.

I needed something to drink, so I looked to the beverages. I thought I had poured lemonade, which as I think back would have been a disaster. It was grapefruit juice. Now that is a way to cleanse the palate I did not know existed. How clever. After a few swallows of grapefruit juice I was ready to start with another round, changing my choices somewhat. Oh Alice, there is heaven on earth and magic, too. The only thing I missed having is THE TEA.

I will have to go back to that tea party time and again in my mind and when I do I will sample all of the teas. I will experience the eye tearing clotted cream and lemon curd. I will have an affair with my chocolate covered strawberry yet again. I will not be shy at the dessert table and I will taste the frosted cookies and the raspberry tarts. I will remember that tea may not be the most important part of a tea party.

OKAY KID, YOU DON’T HAVE TO LET THEM KNOW IT IS YOU

15 Feb 2013 6 Comments

by Sheila Clapkin in Reflections Tags: expansion, freedom of spirit, journey, limitless possibilities, philosophy, spirituality, think outside the box

Okay kid, you don’t always have to let them know it is you. You don’t have to always use I to tell the story. You don’t have to insert yourself into the photograph, give the reader a break. Put it back on them, they can take it.

So you want to be a free spirit, well who doesn’t? Celebrate the freedom of spirit. Take a walk outside of the box. You don’t have to tell them you are doing it, make them think they are. Now, evict boundaries, expansion is what you want to know. Expanding opens the door to limitless possibilities. Possibilities that are limitless sound so enticing, but in reality you will find many roadblocks on your quest for the limitless highway. You can incorporate adjacent possibilities and embark upon your journey by: taking a class, looking for employment, or new employment, changing a relationship full of limitations, or simply expanding your horizons by gathering new experiences. It is a journey and only you can take it.

Okay kid, how did you get on this subject? You stopped talking about yourself and now you are talking to yourself. You have banished your self-imposed barriers and began to see there is nothing you cannot do or create. Talking to yourself, not about yourself has unlocked a newborn awareness of how limitless you truly are. Here we go, this is your new sense of spiritual freedom, this is your turn to shine.

So you want to know what to do with this freedom? It is your journey so enjoy choosing.

Okay kid, I heard you. You want me to know that real freedom of spirit is not all in the choices we make, it also has to do with freeing oneself from one’s internal demons or negativity. Everyone wants to be free. No one likes feeling trapped physically or emotionally. Freedom is just a word, but means sit up, speak up; be heard and don’t stop until you can live as you choose and not under anything unpleasant or unwanted. Okay kid, you say hold up here a moment, it is not that easy. Who said easy, we mean freedom of spirit and that will be defined and determined by each individual as they see it. Okay kid, you have made your point and you did not have to say I one single time. Thank you.

Better Bend Your Butter

31 Jan 2013 15 Comments

by Sheila Clapkin in Entertaining, Recipes, Trials and Tribulations

Better Bend Your Butter

I have to make a cake for a 70^th birthday party tomorrow. I was the baker of the cake at the 30^th, 40^th, the 50^th, and the 60^th, so I have a tradition to uphold. I have all the ingredients laid out on the counter. Usually, I just throw in whatever I want, neglecting to measure anything for fear of making a mess. This time I have to painstakingly measure out each ingredient. Each has its time to go into the bowl. Not a minute before or after. The main ingredient that needs the most special care is the butter. You absolutely must have the butter at room temperature when you cream it. I know that this for a fact. If it is too cold the cake will be flat and will not crumb properly. If it is too warm it lumps up and does not allow the cake to bake evenly. The sides cook too rapidly causing the middle to bulge up into a peak. If you are going to frost the cake you must expertly slice the bulge off making a smooth surface for frosting and layering. If the butter is too cold it will break into pieces. If the butter is exactly at room temperature you can bend it beautifully. If you can bend your butter, you will have a well-crumbed cake. Well-crumbed cakes are important. Aren’t they? I am telling you about bending your butter because my mother used to walk the floors of our home with an Emily Post’s book open to just the right page for everything we were doing. She had special cookbooks that told you what to do each step of the way. She had an oven door that gave the correct temperatures, the correct measurements and all of the things you needed to know when you cook. I don’t know any of those things today and just put handfuls sometimes, or a palm full here, a palm full there, plus some sprinkles of things into a pot or bowl and it all comes out delicious. Well usually, but there are those very few occasions when I bomb. Now, my mother would never have allowed herself the leeway to fail. Perfection was my mother’s motto. It must have worked because after all she has the perfect daughter. Oh sure. But seriously, my mother is the only person who could make chocolate chip cookies, brownies, cakes and anything else she made more than once come out exactly the way it had the first time. I have her recipe file and I can tell you I have never, ever been able to make the dish, cake, cookie or brownie, made previously come out anything even like that former dish or baked goods. Here is to the perfectionist, bravo. Here is to all of us who may be on the way, bravo to us, too.

Sheilaclapkin's Blog;

All FOURTEEN OF US STOPPED IN VANCOUVER ON OUR WAY TO ALASKA

The Madonna Inn, Cayucos, and the Central California Coast

Brandeis Day Trippers at Auntie Anne’s Pretzel Store

Visit the Flower Fields in Carlsbad, California: March 1 – May 12, 2013

STANDING ON YOUR OWN GRAVE; ALIVE AND FULLY CONSCIOUS

Why is this Morning Different From All Other Mornings?

THE TEA PARTY

OKAY KID, YOU DON’T HAVE TO LET THEM KNOW IT IS YOU

Better Bend Your Butter

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