When do you get something for nothing? Working backwards from yesterday the summer vacation free score is a winner...

...we asked the neighbor 2 doors down if they wanted to sell their driveway basketball hoop to us. It was used by them for many years by their now teen son who has outgrown it. Perfect now for my pre-teen son. They not only agreed but offered it FREE. These are good neighbors, we've had many a BBQ between us. Their teen wheeled it 2 doors down to our place and I gave him $10 for his trouble. (PS Craig's list didn't have ANY, so we lucked out!)

Quick aside, please take a peek at a summer jewel from my 'Oyster' collection.

Oyster Necklace (Gold)


How does it feel to open a shell and find a pearl? Here's how with a tahitian colored freshwater pearl cemented into a natural shell. Handmade gold filled bail, 18" fine link gold plated chain.


Oyster Earrings (Gold)



Mussels from the sandy beach of California made into a rare treasure. I collect the shells, sterilize and cement a freshwater pearl inside. Then handmake the bails and hang on 14K g.p. hooks.

Both available now at the Harbor Village Gallery (Ventura) or contact me here to order.

...on the first unscheduled vacation day I smartly had an outing with the kids to the library. We haven't been for awhile since both are older and do most of their school assignments from home materials. It was a treat! A good time was had by all. Near the hand binding book references (my choice) were were How to Draw Animals and Collage and Wire Crafting and Card Making books. The kids just stopped and dropped and were consumed for 20 minutes on the spot. Then up in the children's area my girl got excited about revisiting a couple books on tape (now disc) which we used to do 5 years ago when she was little. She wanted to regress a little! Happily so and other good reading was taken out for both!

...the first week of vacation we went to Washington DC (it was hot but not as hot as now!) and shared a room with my husband who already was there for a business trip. I suppose though we paid for extra people in the room, the experience was priceless. My favorite off-the-beaten-path place? The National Geographic Society exhibits on their first floor. FREE. At this time it was an in depth look at Leonardo Da Vinci. Including a full study of the Mona Lisa restoration of original colors and portions that have disappeared (due to the oil paint fading). Kids loved it, they know that picture! Also some hands on replicas of his inventions, ie wood gears, balancing machines, etc (you were supposed to try out). We chose to buy each of their best friends (who were babysitting the pet mouse and pet fish) a thank you gift here.

...You already know all the big museums are free in Washington DC. And we did the biggies, ie the Natural History Museum, the Air Space Museum and the National Archives. But one other FREE lesser known attraction worthy of note in Washington are the walking tours by