From The Drab And Dirty World...

"Spring shows what God can do with a drab and dirty world."

~Virgil Kraft

It's been a busy month. Hopefully May will be a little less hectic, but in the meantime I am having to revisit the archives to show off pics from springtime past! But that's okay, I am finding photos that got very little attention the first time around. That's the nice thing about tip-toeing through the archives, to get a chance to reconsider your first impressions of your photos, and that always leads to learning something new about yourself and your photography process.

And Now For A Little Photoshop Fun...



I seem to be attached to the Zoom Blur filter! Well, at least when it comes to the flowers.

Shrug.

:)

Mood: Happy

~Me :)

Note: The next Round Robin Challenge, to be held on May 3rd, is May Flowers. Grab your cameras and join us, I know Karen would love to have your participation!

Characters In An Ethereal Sky... A Seahorse

"Not only are they magnificent creatures, but seahorses represent a conversion of the world's most pressing conservation issues. The recovery of seahorses will indicate that our seas are becoming healthier."

~Amanda Vincent

What Do You See?

We all do it... right? Look up in the sky and see a shape and think of something specific. We all start that as children, and some of us get over it, but some of us, like me, continue to see the wispy, ethereal, seahorse in the sky. Well, sometimes I see other things. One day I saw the letter lowercase (i) as if it had been typed on an old fashioned typewriter. On another occasion I saw the number (3). Or maybe it was a (M) or perhaps it could have been a (W) depending on your perspective... to me it as a (3) definitely a (3). And last autumn I saw a whole sky of jellyfish, well, cloud shaped jellyfish anyway.

What does it mean?

I don't know exactly.

Any thoughts?

For now I will just keep collecting the ethereal sky characters and maybe one day when I put them all together they will tell the full story. Or give me the full message. Or somehow come together in such a way as to make it all... it all being life... make sense.

Do you know what I mean?

A Jellyfish Sky... 


The #3...
 

The Lowercase (i) As Typed On An Old Fashioned Typewriter...


"When seahorses find a mate, they wrap their tails around each other so the tide doesn't drift them apart. They have that one mate for the rest of their lives. When the mate dies, they do too."

~Unknown

Symbolic Meaning Of Seahorses

Mood: Quiet

~Me :)

Art About Town: Dublin, California "Rise" By Artist Yoshio Taylor

"Rise" By Artist, Yoshio Taylor
Dublin, California (The Shops At Waterford)
April 22nd 2014

"I found I could say things with color and shapes that I couldn't say any other way... things I had no words for."

~Georgia O'Keeffe

I spotted this sculpture the other day while out doing errands. I really like it, it reminds me of an obelisk I saw on a cliff in Santa Cruz, some years back. The obelisk in Santa Cruz, it seems, serves as a marker for the nude beach below the cliffs. The obelisk above serves as a little bit of beauty to brightens one's day while out doing errands or lunching at one of the many restaurants located nearby. Both certainly have their place. 

Thoughts?

:)

Mood: Happy

~Me :)

Note: I featured another of Yoshio Taylor's sculptures in a different "Art About Town" post a couple weeks ago. Click HERE to be directed back to that post.

Finally! My Blair Is Coming Home!

Car Hospital Waiting Room
April 14th 2014

"Patience is something you admire in the driver behind you and scorn in the one ahead."

~Mac McCleary

Blair... (Her Baby Photo) ;)
 

Finally... Blair comes home a little later today! It is ridiculous how long it has taken to fix the dashboard, and I am very unhappy about how the whole situation was handled. But, the situation is almost behind us, so it's time to let go of all the negativity. I probably won't go back to the Chevy service department in Fremont ever again, and I am sure they won't miss me. In the week my car has been there I have spent a little time looking at Yelp and found that not many people have been happy with that particular service department, and pretty much for the same reasons I am not. So, what have I learned from the situation? A lot! 

Next time, consult Yelp and see which dealership has the best service department rating! Trust me when I say, there was a lot more to this story, but I will save those details for Yelp, and another day here on the blog. For now, I am just ready to drive off into the sunset, with it all... hopefully... behind me! Behind us! Now I have to move on to finding out how to get the refund for the work we had to pay for on our 2007 Saturns, for which we shouldn't have had to pay! So far, it's been like getting teeth pulled without benefit of anesthesia! We'll see how the refund goes, I want to hope for the best, but I am not really expecting it!

"I feel like I am diagonally parked in a parallel universe."

~Unknown

Mood: Happy

~Me :)

Out There Having Fun In The Warm California Sun...

"I had a dream about you. I was running barefoot on the beach, and you were chasing me because you were a cop and I was naked. I couldn't believe you tried to arrest me. What, is it a crime to run with no shoes?"

~Jarod Kintz, I Had A Dream About You 2

 

It's that time again. The time when Alan and I sit down with the calendar and try to figure out what weekend's we need for what. You see, Alan gets a weekend off, but his weekend is Tuesday and Wednesday, which means we usually miss a lot of activities like Farmer's Markets, Festivals, Outdoor Movies and Concerts. But with a little planning, plotting, and time requested off far enough ahead of the activity, we find a little time each summer for slacking off!



This year it looks like we have found the perfect week to fit in a movie on the beach and a concert in Santa Cruz. It's been years since we did that, in fact the last concert on the beach we made it to was Greg Kihn. Oh my goodness we loved his music when we were kids... still do! I love following him on Twitter! So perhaps we will be able to catch his concert in Santa Cruz this year, but then again, the week Macy Gray will be there is awesome also. On Wednesday the beach will have Raiders Of The Lost Ark as the free movie, and her concert on Friday! How much fun is that?

Of course, there is nothing like going to opening night for the free movies! The movie that always kicks things off is Lost Boys, which was filmed in Santa Cruz! The train trestle scene was filmed just up the beach, from the boardwalk. I still visit that part of Santa Cruz at least once a year, just because it has an amazing view of the boardwalk from a slightly uphill vantage point. It's gorgeous! I need to do some new night photos of beach, it's been far too long since I did that! 

There is so much to do during the summer in the Bay Area, it is hard to choose what direction to go in! San Francisco has free outdoor movies for families. So does Marin County. There is Shakespeare in the Park and like I mentioned previously all kinds of festivals. It's all just a matter of planning, like everything else. So, this week it's all about the calendar, and visiting many different websites, and then choosing. Oh my, the choosing of what to do! LOL. God help me... I love it!

But what I love most, is spending time with Alan. I love him!

Mood: Happy :)

~Me :)

Click the following link for the complete schedule of Free Movies On The Beach

Happy Easter 2014

"Let the resurrection joy lift us from loneliness, and weakness and despair to strength and beauty and happiness."

~Floyd W. Tomkins

From Our House To To Yours... HAPPY EASTER!

A Week Of Yellow Day Seven: Last Year's Easter Basket...


Mood: Happy!

~Me :)