Happy End of Summer to you ! We just finished 19 days of over 100 degree weather,and I am so happy to be able to eat my lunch outside for a nice change !!
   One of the trips I went on this summer was to the Monterey Peninsula with 12 fun women who met years ago at a singles group at a Baptist church.  This has become an annual trip,where we rent a beach house and we laugh and act like crazy girls living in the dorms together ! The cost per person has averaged out to around the expense of an inexpensive hotel.
   A few of us especially love going to a restaurant in Carmel Valley called The Corkscrew.We travel inland about 11 miles from Highway 1,(which eventually will lead one along the breathtaking California coast) ,past meadows,oak trees,the Earthbound Farm,(which grows the baby lettuce greens that a lot of us buy in containers),ranches,winerys, and Bed and Breakfasts.The weather is usually warmer than that along the coast. .It's like a little taste of Provence,France with it's rustic look,a bread baker baking luscious loaves on a wood fired oven ,gravel on the ground outside,colorful Provencal tablecloths,grape vines hanging over some of the tables,a small koi  fish pond in the center,and a little gift shop that sells generous bouquets of freshly cut, fragrant lavender !
   We especially love to order their heavenly lavender ice cream for dessert !! Last year we had it snuggled next to a warm nectarine crisp (oh,my mouth is watering !) !! This time I had Marion berry pie to go along with the lavender luciousness ! If I can't be in Provence,going to the Corkscrew is a tradition I don't want to stop !!!