Council of Indoor Gnomematters

The gnomes that live here were inspired to pose for a group photo--they are all proud members of their local chapter of the Council of Indoor Gnomematters:

Cedric and Timson are so happy to have the other gnomes join them!

Cedric's holidays so far

Cedric is loving his holidays!  He was King of the Thanksgiving Turkey!

And he loved the table setting, and eagerly awaited all the guests' arriving.

After all the guests arrived, he was too busy socializing to take pictures--everyone had so much fun!

Cedric visits the new eastern span of the Bay Bridge

Cedric got to join a tour of the new eastern span of the Bay Bridge!  And you can see Paul there, too, taking a photo as well.

Cedric visits the Norton Simon

We had a great time at the Norton Simon in Pasadena. A rather small museum, it has a wonderful collection, so one could spend just a few hours or even all day.

Cedric particularly enjoyed the sculpture garden, especially "Mountain" (above) and the beautiful landscaping:

Cedric at the Gate

Cedric and I were lucky enough to go sailing on Alma, and even luckier that Captain Jason and his wonderful crew took us just out the Gate! This is Cedric as we were approaching the Bridge, all of us very excited.

Celebrating Earth Hour with Cedric

We had a lovely Earth Hour this year. Most of the neighborhood was very dark, and we lit a lot of candles. I knit, Paul read, and also took this photo of Cedric celebrating with us:



Timson was afraid of the candles. He gazed at the stars out the window.

Cedric visits Alma and collections storage

Cedric had a grand day out--he got to accompany us on a tour of the work being done to San Francisco Maritime National Historical Park's scow schooner, Alma. My coworker, Gina, was also there, modeling her hard hat (we're librarians who get issued our own hard hats!):



We got to go aboard Alma, and Captain Jason told us all about the work being done, and it was very interesting! Cedric is standing on new wood, and the older looking wood in front of him (under the tools) is part of the work done on Alma in 1992:



After our tour of Alma, we got to tour some of the collections storage, and Cedric was so excited to learn what it would be like for him to live in a museum, and be an object in a museum collection--he would be assigned a special number, and photographed in a very special way:



Cedric thought retiring to a museum would be a wonderful way to live, but not for a long time--museum objects don't get outside much, although they go get to travel if they're lucky enough to be loaned to another museum for an exhibit. Then, they get to meet lots of people who visit the exhibit. Until then they lead a very restful existence in their special home. Right now, Cedric likes traveling too much to think about retirement.

Cedric at Point Bonita

Cedric had a wonderful time visiting Point Bonita earlier this month. Although it was foggy, it wasn't too foggy--the views were spectacular.

On the Alma

Cedric got to go sailing on the Alma and had such a wonderful time. We sailed around Angel Island, and got to see the Immigration Station and Fort MacDowell from the water. The sun even came out for a while!

Thanksgiving

Pumpkin, apple, and cherry.

And Cedric had a wonderful time at Franklin Canyon, part of the Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area. The hikes are delightful--we saw a woodpecker, black walnuts, and wild cucumber seed pods--and the visitors' center has this amazing stuffed mountain lion that you can see very, very closely.

The Nimbus Fish Hatchery

We had so much fun at the Nimbus Fish Hatchery! You can get fish food for a nickel, and we used lots of nickels to feed the baby trout. Paul took this photo of Cedric from his favorite vantage point--the water and all the hungry fish made him a little nervous.

There were tons of huge salmon at the gate, some brilliant red and others pink or black. They'll be opening the gates the morning of November 9--go visit!
http://www.dfg.ca.gov/fish/Hatcheries/Nimbus/index.asp

When Cedric hides

Cedric was with me during this lunchtime walk, when we spotted the hawk on the light pole. I think it was a red-tailed hawk, but Cedric wouldn't come out to give his opinion. All he'd say was, "Polly wants fresh meat!"



I don't blame him. I think all of Cedric is smaller than this hawk's head.

Cedric's lunchtime walk

Cedric has been joining me on my lunchtime walks along the Marina Green promenade. When the weather is sunny, we find the wind bracing if we walk at a good clip. It wasn't his first view of the Golden Gate, but this is still the closest he's been. (Someday I'll take him to Fort Point.)

Of course, Timson wishes for a hot chocolate after such a brisk walk in the wind, but we have work to do, and can't risk spilling chocolate on the books. We have to wait until we get home for that.

Cedric and coral

Cedric loved his visit to the Birch Aquarium at Scripps. Besides the seahorses, the coral reefs were his favorite--he's long been a fan of the IFF's crochet coral reef, so he loved the opportunity to see the real thing.

Wanderlust

Aqua Duckie and Red-Bottomed Duckie adore Cedric's tales of travel. They long to explore the open road. Where will their travels take them?

Schmap Napa

Slightly Daft Cedric is slightly famous! His photo from his trip to Copia in Napa has been selected for the 5th ed. of the Schmap Napa Valley entry on Copia.

He was very modest about it, speechless, in fact.

He went to...

Copia! He toured the gardens...



...and really liked making some friends.

Where's Cedric?

Do you recognize where Cedric is? Can you guess?

Water lilies

I got some film back from our trip to the UC Botanical Garden which included this unexpectedly lovely shot of the water lilies. Cedric was there, but water makes him very nervous, especially this water which is the home to snakes and turtles--they're not known to eat gnomes, but when you're a very small gnome, you don't take those sorts of chances.

The Polaris

Cedric and his pal Fergus also had a great time visiting the Polaris, and you can too! She's beautiful, built in 1906, a carvel-built pumpkinseed sloop. (OK, I have no idea what that means, but it sounds so cool that I'll be looking it up.)

The crew was so friendly, and answered all our many questions, and even took special care helping Cedric and Fergus enjoy their visit, too.Fergus' pal Debbie was there, as were other pals, and we had such a good time we hope we can visit
The Spaulding Boat Center where the Polaris is based. (They're a California non-profit, 501(c)(3), so give early and give often.)