San Francisco Road Trip

Last weekend, we went to the Bay Area to visit my grandma for her birthday, and we decided to head up to San Francisco, too.

I kept seeing these strange SNAIL garage sale signs all over town, and was very amused by them!



I had no idea what it was but I was fascinated. Finally my grandma informed me that it was the name of a neighborhood group and SNAIL was an acronym. I still thought it was funny, especially since I have a thing for snails.

I felt the need to post this picture of a pretty lily, too.



Note to self: do not take your sister's boyfriend's huge, four-door, lifted Silverado to the tiny, winding streets of San Francisco! Everywhere we went, our large, lumbering beast of a truck was a spectacle to be seen. I felt I should be waving out the window like I was on a float in a parade.



J.D.'s amazing parking job. He's used to parking a tiny truck.





Yeah, we couldn't fit the truck into the parking garages!!



House on a hill:



Yep, this was a tour of people on Segways! It made me laugh, so I kept taking pictures of them!



We always end up going to Chinatown, where they have some great pet stores. (At least for me, because they cater to goldfish owners there). I ended up coming away with a couple snails, including this beautiful nerite, and a new baby calico fantail goldfish.




On the way back, we saw a sign advertising a two for one wine sale at Casa de Fruta on Highway 152. Well, being the group of wine lovers that we are, we couldn't pass up a chance to go wine tasting! We ended up coming home with two bottles of Pacheco Pass Appellation Black Muscat Blush. If anyone is traveling that way, I'd really, really recommend wine tasting there! It was free, low-key and fun, and not too crowded when we were there on a Sunday evening.

Rainbows and Snails

These are some of my latest tiny polymer clay creations. There is a five-year-old trapped within me who still loves rolling clay into snakes and snails! If I'd had polymer clay when I was a kid... forget about it!

Recently I bought a polymer clay snail from a seven-year-old child on Etsy! His or her mother helped her kids list their items, which I thought was so cool. If I'd had the internet when I was little, I hope I would have been able to do the same thing!

These little guys can be made in just about any color. I think I'm going to make even tinier ones (these are 1") and sell them as scrapbook embellishments. If I ever saw something like them in a scrapbook store, I'd buy them!

http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=25016121

Snails can be a good thing!

Remember pouring salt on snails as a kid to watch them foam and dissolve? That gives me chills now thinking of it!

Those common garden snails actually go by the scientific name Hedera helix and in very rare cases even show up in sinstral form (where the shell opening is on the left hand side rather than the right!).

Anyway, they're seen as pests by most and I agree, having them mow down a flower bed of colorful verbena is very frustrating. But did you know that snails are actually a sign of a mature, healthy yard? My mom's house was built 16 years ago on a dry river bed, and it's taken about 14-15 years to start getting snails in the yard.

Of course, it's annoying when you walk on the sidewalk at night and find them crunching under your feet. They also have a tendency to fall into the fish pond, only to become a tasty treat for the koi and goldfish!

Here is my homage to the lowly garden snail. This is a one of a kind sculpture I made with polymer clay. I love and respect these little critters!

http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=19704664