Berryessa Blue Zone Driveway Happy Hour August 2026 #vellumdays
"... this was the best berryessa blue zone driveway happy hour
we've ever had! -but not the best one we'll ever have!"
"THANK YOU!" friends & framily -the evening was great fun exactly because you were here to make it that way
so grateful for your delightful company, your delicious contributions to the food and dessert tables, and the cooler
we have the best neighborhood & neighbors anyone could ever ask for
love, gratitude, blessings to you each; to you all
until the next time...
"Cheers!" "hallellujah & amen!"
mrs mickanen adopts humanoids by (me!) mrs sandra mickanen
mrs mickanen adopts humanoids by (me!) mrs sandra mickanen
______________________________
#vellumdays 2026 in progress...
***
some of the places family/grandson enjoyed during recent family visits:
million "thank you!" prayers... blessed visits & time together
World Labs. -highly intriguing to (me!) -sandra mickanen
pathway: watched emily chang interview fei fei li.. loved it.
most intrigued with using ai to empower not replace humans
and the direction; reaching beyond large language models, toward images/spatial intelligence
just purcashed, a pre-owned soft cover of the worlds i see..
will be the newest addition to my home library of memoirs; look foward to reading.. learning.
Marble by World Labs
selah & amen!
A+ TOY SHOPPING by grandma & grandpa mick -1st of many posts to come.. grandma sandra mickanen sharing
our recent family visit was the very definition of blessed, many pix forthcoming..
but, it was also REALLY, REALLY FUN! for us to shop in advance for our "grandson's visit!"
/yes, yes.. i do keep forgetting, don't i: for our son, daughter and "grandson!"
wink emoji write about here.
****
much of my shopping was based on remembering what my own kids enjoyed.. my own kids who are now, 29, 26 years old, so.. it's been a while.
but, when i was researching, and i came across the attachable steering wheel.. the one you can place on a grocery cart, and/or stroller..
i just knew it would be a hit! -and, A+ grandma, -because it was!
we vote for more toys like this.. they put the little ones in the driver seat, so to speak, and they love it!
this steering wheel worked pretty good on the stroller, and pretty good on the wagon; we never did use it on an actual grocery cart;
i think some engineering could result in an even better version; it was a little too much in his face; too close, with the way it attaches to stroller, and we tried/finagled... settled for what worked. also, as he did love it, and we used it often, -the steering wheel began to pop off too easily and be repeatedly placed back on; this was easy, but nicer if you don't have to.
and, i'm giving myself another A+ for the purchase of the pirate ship wheel, which A+ grandpa added to our felt board; he engaged with that periodically also.
learned it with my own.. applying it again: kids love to drive; to steer..
"Thank You!" toy makers
hallelujah & amen
***
GRANDPA gets an A+ for purchasing the hot wheels monster trucks @ walmart. Probably ranked as the #1 toy our grandson played with the most -and, they held up wonderfully!!
we did research and shopped quite specifically for portable activities too, toys appropriate for car drives, and restaurants.. the egg drop, the magnetic drawing board -big hits! the wooden feeding toy, an at home activity; so many pieces, but wonderful!
a wildly romantic proposal in God's gorgeous landscape.. my son, our son, "engaged!" -for real this time -writeousmom, sandra mickanen sharing
let us only very briefly revisit: the pix of jack & emma, emma with her hand held up, showing off a ring.. that showed up in my text feed several years back
how i sent numerous text announcements to family & friends.. "jack & emma are engaged!" i don't have any details yet.. just this pix
emma's family, her parents, with better vision and more insight.. they knew write away,
but not me.
jack sends a laugh.. it's a plastic ring, just a joke..
and then i had to rescind each text announcement..
they got me good.
FAST FORWARD to the real deal.. and we could not be happier.
and that, and how, my son, went to great lengths to select the ring; organized, planned, the proposal, AND! a surprise engagement party,
which included having his sister, taryn and her boyfriend jerran fly in; included having emma's parents fly in, my dad (jack's grandpa) and chris, me and robert.. hosted by jack's dad, john & laura..
very; very special!!
and, there i was, all proud of myself for keeping my composer.. revisiting with emma's parents, john and laura, my dad and chris, of course.. celebrating and reliving the romantic proposal with jack and emma directly
and when i went to visit with my daughter taryn and her boyfriend jerran..
yeah,
jerran goes, "i was gonna ask you.. so how does it feel?"
and with that very question, my composure abandon me to happy tears.. i could feel it happening..
so immediate! emotion.. i just kept repeating.. "that's the question.. not THAT question.. i was doing so good..."
but i can answer it now: it feels GLORIOUS!! I am filled with love, gratitude, happiness, hope,
-blessed case scenario for their lives as husband and wife...
GRATEFUL, HAPPY.. HAPPY, GRATEFUL... it literally overflows when i look through all their -very romantic engagement pictures.
/have been thinking already about that mother/son dance at the wedding..
loves me like a rock by paul simon.. think of jack every. single. time. i hear it..
****
now, as mentioned above, -we are not pushing, rushing.. we do entirely trust God's timing,
that said and acknowledged..
i jump up and down on the inside with excitement & anticipation..
because we think taryn & jerran
jerran & taryn..
they might be next.
****
what a season of love & weddings!! my sister emily & josh just married, my brother nate & paige just married, our daughter rose & tony marry early 2027...
i've said it a million times,
as crazy as the world seems sometimes,
people are still falling in love, getting married and making babies.
everything is gonna be okay.
Praise God..
more later... happy, happy, happy writeousmom..
LAKE TAHOE -newest addition to our indigenous word art collection -the micks #iwa
newest addition to our indigenous word art collection
#iwa
#laketahoe
Mrs Mickanen adopts humanoids rescue series -by (me!) mrs sandra mickanen
________________________________________
____________________________________________
_______________________________________
84 Charing Cross Road!! -havent revisisted that CH in a long while.. -sandra mickanen sharing
watching oprah's podcast,
listening to interview with author of the correspondent, which i've yet to, but will definitely be reading. i think i may have gifted it, without reading it myself first, -based on raving reviews from so many different people
the purpose of my post however, is just to consciously choose to re-visit the cerebral hyperlink that results from seeing the book 84 charing cross road.
remember i already told you; time is the master editor; i can bullet point as a result.
love the book, 84 charing cross road; gifted to me by my artist friend, nancy eddinger
****
from 2005 to 2014 FOR NINE YEARS
i read and responded to leonard stegmann's blog. i loved reading his humorous blog, and i loved getting to respond. i can't begin to tell you how much this enriched my life.
at some point, -divorcing, struggling financially, still paying chapter 13 bankruptcy payments..
at some point, i really tried reaching out to literary agents; publishers..
NINE YEARS WORTH OF correspondence -his blog posts, my comments..
fun! entertaining! enlightening! -writers having fun writing, back n forth..
and i would describe us, as " 21st century, online, digital version of 84 charing cross road..
-many queries went ignored; most rejected..
i kept on..
at one point.. to my great surprise! a bite...
but when i went to leonard's blog and looked..
NINE YEARS WORTH OF MY COMMENTS WERE GONE; NINE YEARS WORTH OF FIVE DAYS A WEEK COMMENTS, -written with humor, honesty, craft, joy
of course, i thought it was a virus.
i contacted leonard with the bad news..
and he explained, that because he was publishing his blog posts, in book form, via amazon books, i think it was,
he could not have his blogs published; or my comments, because there was some rule about only being able to publish the book -couldn't also be published anywhere else.
****
this was devastating news to me personally. and he would not re-publish or send me my comments, or he did offer to send me my nine years worth of 5 days a week comments but without his blog posts that i was responding to.
****
we kept in touch for several years after.. he would send me pictures to add to my 'the heart seen' collection.. brief email exchanges. every once in a great while, i would ask again..
he was forced to refuse being able to republish the blogs/comments due to publishing rules; and he went on to publish.. 5 books? not sure; don't remember.
****
all communication stopped many years ago. i let it all go.
but, that nine years.. 5 days a week,
the way i looked forward to reading, to laughing, to crafting a humorous response..
that daily dose of joy
a huge contributing factor in my healing process. so, "Thank You!"
hallelujah & amen.
.png)
.png)
.png)
.png)
.png)
.png)
.png)
.png)
.png)
.png)
.png)
.png)
