Rotate-create

Thomas has been doing studies attempting to instill play or activity into daily life. Rotate-create (or so it is currently named) is a 4 foot by 4 foot by 16” square that is made up of different block modules. The blocks all share a similar dimension, which allows them to be rotated and reconfigured into a great variety of configurations. “Rotate-create” was originally designed to be a furniture scale toy for children and adults to aid active imaginations.

“Rotate-create” began through a study of the “lego” module.

Above are some images of the painting process.

These are images of the first prototype. The prototype was made of wood (specifically ultra-light MDF). It is intended to be manufactured out of a high-density foam so that it can be easily manipulated by both children and adults and have more of a long-term lifespan.

Vineyard Sunset

The sun sets early now and Camerin was able to capture a few shots on her way home from work at the winery one evening. There have been many beautiful sunsets, and we wish we remembered to take our cameras with us more often.

A Little Color Project

After rearranging the living room furniture about a month ago, Camerin decided she wanted to organize the bookshelf by color. It turned out looking pretty fun and bright. Now we just need to work on collecting more books in the 'Roy G. Biv' categories!

Don't worry, the bookshelf is not leaning perilously. It only appears that way in the photo.

Autumn

It is hard to believe autumn has finally arrived here mid-November. The air has a refreshing crispness to it and the days are certainly shorter.

Although we miss all the seasonal beauty of the Midwest, here are a few fall photos from right near our own front door. Pumpkins on the doorstep, a wreath on the door, and some leaves turning yellow.

Remember:
Everyone must take time to sit and watch the leaves turn.
-Elizabeth Lawrence

Lone Oak

The tree is more than first a seed, then a stem, then a living trunk, and then dead timber. The tree is a slow, enduring force straining to win the sky.

~Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, The Wisdom of the Sands, translated from French by Stuart Gilbert

Big Sur In Pictures

A bridge scene to begin the day. You can see the fog was pretty dense.

Happy travellers.

The infamous rocky coastline.

A view of the beach where we were able to enjoy a picnic lunch.

High up in the mountains about half a mile inland. Here we are above the fog layer and out in the beautiful sunshine. What was supposed to be a great trail for views of the ocean actually turned out to be the original driving route. Needless to say, we decided not to hike the entire 10 miles!

Ooops!

We entered at our own risk but were fortunate enough not to be swept away by any massive waves that day.

The water is so crystal clear and the prettiest shade of greenish blue.

Hope you enjoyed a little trip down Highway 1 (minus the hairpin turns and sheer drops).

Big Sur Preview

Having just realized that it has been nearly two weeks since we lasted posted something on our blog, we thought we better let everyone know we are still here. Where does time go?

Camerin has been guest blogging on a wedding blog, Elizabeth Anne Designs over the past week which has kept her busy and part of the reason our Big Sur photos are still not up.

Here is a little preview shot of us on the beach. You can see it was pretty dense fog. And another photo of the closest we will get to a fall scene here on the Central Coast. More photos soon!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY CAMERIN!

This is a special day!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY!

Due to the unfortunate fact that Camerin has to work today (on her BIRTHDAY ) we celebrated her birth all day yesterday. We went hiking up in Big Sur. Tonight we will continue the festivities with Birthday Dinner and homemade sugar cookies (with icing of course).

Beach Bums

Preceding the big wine tasting adventure, we spent some time at the beach with Marty. The previous day he wanted nothing to do with going near the water. However, the second day he really warmed up to it. Since Marty is a very nervous and timid dog, it was refreshing for us to see him running and having fun outside. He chased his ball, ran into the surf, stirred up a flock of seagulls, and ran himself crazy. Evidently he is a beach dog!

A mid-air catch!

Please ignore the 80s style bangs the wind had turned my mop of hair into!

The whole 'family'.

A nice portrait of the mutt. He's so happy!

A Visit from T & K

We are a little behind in our posting but wanted to try to bring everyone up to speed on our most recent activities. Thomas' parents had the opportunity to visit us at the end of September for about 5 days. The week was pretty full and included a nice dinner at our house, some time at the beach, a long day of wine tasting, and a visit from the Bakersfield family as well.

Thursday we took the day off to show them around some of the 'unblemished' areas of Paso and the wineries where we both work. It was a big day but they were able to cart home 2 full cases of wine on the plane. We started the day at Four Vines, travelled from there to Whalebone, then on to Tablas Creek and Carmody Mcknight Estate. By this point we were all getting a little weary so we went back into town for some lunch. We then pressed on to EOS Estate Winery and took the grand tour of the entire winery facility. Unfortunately, there were no grapes coming in for crush. One last stop took us to a family favorite, Eberle, but not much tasting went on by this point in the day.

T & K really enjoyed the Zins at Four Vines. Camerin's favorite was Tablas Creek by far due to their production of Rhone Varietals. Thomas couldn't pick a favorite.

All in all we had a great visit. It was a lot of fun to have guests out. We can't wait for more people to come!

A sunset shot from Pismo. What a beautiful view.