We bought Mom a Mother's Day ring with her children's names on it, along with their birthstones. We paid a bit more to get the real gemstones as well. Thankfully nobody was born in April; that's diamond, and that one was really expensive.
Optometry CE dinner in Santa Cruz.
The Sponsor was CooperVision. They've bought up some other contact lens companies, and now have a variety of hard specialty lenses.
They also have a myopia progression reduction lens for children.
Which is interesting, because the speaker performs LASIK. If CooperVision sells too many myopia progression reduction contact lenses, he will have fewer patients to perform LASIK on.
There was a good turnout.
Every time we drove to Santa Cruz, I'd point out these angled trees and take a picture. I didn't even realize it until Ogii laughed at me one time, saying I take a picture of them every time we go by.
Some new dresses for Ogii.
I read Wicked. I greatly preferred the play; the book seemed very... hmm.... non-detailed? It seemed to not dive as deeply as I would have liked into a lot of topics it brought up. Plus, it's a little full of itself; it has a reader's group guide at the end.
Third Thursdays at Devendorf Park in Carmel.
Some games.
A kids area.
Live music.
Food.
Making pottery.
Fresh fruit.
A drinking fountain.
With its own little ecosystem in the drain.
Dinner at The C Restaurant in Monterey.
Bar.
Dining.
Private room.
For a dinner sponsored by Baush & Lomb on their Infuse contact lens.
The room was decorated with books by John Steinbeck; neat idea.
Good appetizer.
Really good steak.
Dessert.
I bought a s'mores dessert for Ogii.
Some goody bags.
With contact lens solution.
They also had trial contact lenses to try.
The birds can barely fit through the hole in their nest.
Peeking out.
Three bunnies in the front yard.
We get McDonald's most Friday nights. The hot fudge sundae fits much better in the RAV4 cupholder than the Prius one. The RAV4 one is bigger, so the entire container goes in. The Prius one is smaller, so the lid usually gets lifted off, and since they overfill the sundae, I get chocolate all over.
The worst start to Wordle that we've won.
Vespertine in LA still hasn't opened since closing during COVID. I always wanted to go there.
We were watching the Chef movie about a chef who buys a food truck, and they very briefly showed the Grilled Cheese Truck in one of the scenes; that's my favorite one.
Old car.
A bunch of elk just east of Salinas.
The menu at the Beef and Bernadus dinner at Rancho Cielo.
Pouring the first wine.
All of the wines were from Bernadus.
Appetizers.
Beef tartare.
Beef kebab.
Sweetbreads, which were quite hot; I loved them, but they were too hot for Ogii.
Outside they had different stations you could got and get food from. The chefs are still cooking, so it's not quite ready. This was New York steak.
Zabuton.
Cooked on a salt block.
Roasted bone marrow.
Lots of toast.
Braised short rib.
The chef.
Our second wine.
A cabernet sauvignon.
And our third: marinus.
There were a fair number of people.
More wine.
And some for Ogii.
I wasn't good at keeping track of which wine was which, but the bigger the glass, the sweeter the wine.
Time to go grab some food.
Serving.
Cutting.
Juice.
Some sides.
There's plenty for everyone.
That looks great.
As does that.
Ogii ready to dig in.
Then back outside for round two.
With some potatoes.
Can't forget the bone marrow.
It was all really good.
Desserts.
Panna cotta with fruit compote.
Macaroons.
Chocolate truffles.
Chocolate-dipped strawberries.
The students.
I get to pick which ad I want to watch? What kind of weird option is that?
Time to change the furnace filter.
Although it's not too dirty.
Neat mural.
And another.
So many poppies.
This guy was on a bicycle in the middle of the highway. California allows lane splitting, but I'm pretty sure that's only for motorcycles.
A ton of goats.
Grazing away.
Some mountains up north.
Snow covered.
No snow on this hill, though.
Metal cow sculptures.
A metal dragon.
Painted barn roof.
Wall-e, EVE, and two plants.
The back of his pickup is painted to look like Biden is tied up inside.
Akorn went out of business, and they sold some useful drops.
Thankfully there are other companies that make most of them as well. And compounding pharmacies can make some of the combo drops only Akorn offered.
It's nice to see you can purchase a single Nanodropper from a third-party vendor. A while ago, the minimum was twenty, available only directly from the company.