SOME DAYS...

picture taken this morning!

So, my family left for home yesterday afternoon!

Everyone arrived safely by truck & train!

Getting settled... unpacking... looking through

the mail & newspapers...

making lists of items needed from the market...

THEN... the rattling, rolling, shaking, and creaking began!

This morning's LA Times headlines read,

"5.1 earthquake: More than 100 aftershocks, scattered damage"

Most of my family lives a few miles from the

epicenter of the earthquake (Brea & La Habra).

Having been born & raised in California,

earthquakes are NOTHING NEW to us... 

but, they are unnerving &

the aftershocks leave you sitting on the edge of your seat,

wondering when the next one will R.O.C.K. your W.O.R.L.D.

My family is fine!

breakables have been moved to a safer location!

they have water, electricity & gas!

Life moves on!

JPE is mulching the garden...

& a crockpot of potato soup is cooking!

I need to finish this book by Monday! 

my work team is discussing

"the smartest kids in the world... and how they got that way" by amanda ripley.

A simple, thought-provoking read!

our educational system needs to be transformed...

we have become a country used to MAKING EXCUSES!

we have problems because of...

the Common Core.

schools teach to the test.

kids have too much homework.

summer is too long.

summer is too short.

teachers have too many inservice days.

parents don't care. students don't care.

teachers don't care.

we have too many poor students.

we don't offer the arts. 

they need more science. or history. or electives.

schools need more money.

their union makes it hard to get rid of bad teachers.

it's because of the second language students.

GOSH! I've heard all these comments...

and more.

I invite you to check out this book!

Love to hear your thoughts.

let's move away from EXCUSES!

(S)PUTTERING... PAINTING...

(S)PUTTERING... PAINTING....

looking for some photo ops that can be created with WATERLOGUE

Mom, Jodi & family have been here since last weekend...

Jodi's family has been "GLAMPING"

{camping?  in their trailer... with hook-ups}

Sunday evening - getting set-up!

Yesterday, we took a walk into Pismo Beach

& got caught in a downpour!

on the walk home!

Mom, Katie, Felix, Matthew, Archie & Derek

I took these photos on the pier, BEFORE the downpour...

this photo even shows evidence

of the spitting sky!

finishing lunch at Garland's

The downpour began about 5 minutes after this picture.

We walked the kids back to the trailer...

{JPE drove my mom home}

It was quite the adventure!

Something I think the kids will remember as FUN??

hope so!!!

WHAT'S RED, JUICY & SWEET?

it's STRAWBERRY time...

first basket of strawberries from Okui's

oh my goodness!

sweetness, juicy & addicting!

this is a watercolor of the same strawberries

NO, I haven't taken watercolor classes YET!

{on my bucket list for retirement}

My blog friend, Deanna @ Snippets from Springdale

had posted several watercolors of her photos
using a new i-Pad / i-Phone app called Waterlogue.

Oh my gosh! it's so much fun. 
you can watch a picture change from the photo to a watercolor.
Amazing!

worth the $2.99 price tag!!

{I wasn't compensated for this review of the strawberries nor the app}

SONG-OGRAPHY 3.16.14

pulled from my archives

GOSH... how L-U-C-K-Y is that? I have the perfect picture for this week's

SONG-OGRAPHY!

the song was sung by Kermit in one of the Muppet movies

{here are the lyrics}

Greetings, Kermit the Frog here
And today I'd like to tell you a little bit about the color green
Do you know what's green
Well I am for one thing
You see frogs are green, and I'm a frog
And that means that I'm green, you see

It's not that easy being green
Having to spend each day the color of the leaves
When I think it could be nicer being red, or yellow, or gold
Or something much more colorful like that

It's not easy being green
It seems you blend in with so many other ordinary things
And people tend to pass you over
'Cause you're not standing out
Like flashy sparkles in the water
Or stars in the sky

But green's the color of spring
And green can be cool and friendly-like
And green can be big like a mountain
Or important like a river
Or tall like a tree

When green is all there is to be
It could make you wonder why
But why wonder why wonder
I am green, and it'll do fine
It's beautiful, and I think it's what I want to be   

So, when you think of the color GREEN,
what do you picture??
KERMIT? TREES?

posting with Kathy @ You'll Shoot Your Eye Out

THE LAST 10 DAYS!

captured this morning ~ 3.15.14

simple breakfast ~ yoghurt + purple grapes

{sour + bursts of sweetness that pop when you bite into them}

enjoying a peek over the fence

{everything is covered with "fluffy" cotton-y dander floating off the trees}

getting close to finishing the monthly Book Club selection

{Cuesta College Book of the Year - tickets to hear the author speak have been distributed

& only one member of my Book Club got tickets}

they lived a l-o-n-g life!

{poor, neglected flowers - I promise to put you out of your misery}

best GET GOING with my day!

{I have a date with a spray can & glue gun} 

what sort of P-U-T-T-E-R-I-N-G are you doing today?

oh! the reference to the last 10 days!

well, what can I tell you?

it's been H E {double L} for JPE!

{but, the end is in sight ~ his last day of work is before Spring Break}

GOOD.RANDOM.FUN {WEEK 10}

Had a meeting at Cal-Poly, SLO today!

All my pictures were taken while I was waiting for my meeting to start.

Several large spheres have been installed in front of the PAC (Performing Arts Center). 

 Both pictures turned out GOOD!

I couldn't decide if I liked them in Black & White or Color... What do you think?

 

A couple of RANDOM flowers - that just happened to be the same colors.

the spectators chairs - overlooking the tennis court! Playing tennis is FUN, isn't it?

posting with Tamar @ RANDOM-OSITY

What was GOOD about your day? anything RANDOM happen? Do anything FUN?

RED, WHITE & BLUE...

RED & WHITE

RED & BLUE

BLUE & WHITE

Attended a training at Rancho El Chorro Auditorium... the outdoor education campus owned by San Luis Obispo County Office of Education. It was such a treat to capture a few pictures at the end of the day, today {TGIF!}

Rolling green hills, the squirrels are running from hole to hole, the birds were floating on the gentle breeze and the sun was shining... with a tad of warmth bouncing off the damp dirt. AHHH! It was nice to get out of the office. 

pic 1) Rancho El Chorro is the site of the relocated school house {Banning School, a one-room school built in 1896}. The outdoor education program uses this building for the astronomy lessons.

pic 2) The local Rotary Clubs build and funded Oceanography classroom, which houses salt-water touch tanks with items found on the ocean floor.

pic 3) Pods on the trees near the Bird Aviary. What are those pods?

CLOSE-UP of the PODS

Don't forget to "move your clocks forward"

BLUE... SPRAY-PAINT-SATURDAY!

LOVE the detail on this clay pot, but it needs some color

to give it some pizzaz!

Looked through my stash of spray paint & remembered I had selected this color for another project --- a year ago! 

Don't ya LOVE the blue dirt!!?

and, how about the blue bricks lifting the pot off the ground?

Actually, I do think the addition of color has made

the scallops really "POP". What do you think?

AND, I also applied a "textured paint" to the square ceramic pot! It was the end of the can... actually, an experiment to see if the paint would keep the pot from crumbling into pieces. 

This pot is not in good condition... it's pretty awful, so the fact that it looks decent with just a quick spray is good enough for me to consider buying another can of paint to finish the project. 

We're planning to set both of these in the front planter & fill with some annuals or ??? something that can thrive on shade, with a touch of afternoon sun.

Oh, AND, in the background --- check out the chair frames I repainted. I found a piece of fabric to recover the seats, so out came the spray paint to give the frames a NEW LOOK.

This project is completed --- I've even used the chairs... will try to remember to take pictures of the completed chair reno!

UPCYCLE - RECYCLE

{to reuse in such a way as to create a product
of a higher quality or value than the original}

GOOD.RANDOM.FUN. {WEEK 9}

FAT TUESDAY @ work

Today at work, Traci got us in the "MARDI GRAS" spirit...

she brought a KING CAKE!

For those who don't know, a KING CAKE is a ring of cinnamon-streaked dough & with a hard sugar frosting tinted in the traditional colors of Mardi Gras. The "party-spot" was decorated with purple, green and gold beads.

I had a meeting off-site at 1:30, and the baby (baked inside the cake) still had not appeared... & the cake was almost all eaten.

The sign reads "ENJOY the KING CAKE!

if you get the PIECE WITH THE BABY,

you will enjoy a year of Good Luck

& you must buy the KING CAKE next year!!"

posting with Tamar at RANDOM-OSITY

GOOD 

{tasty, little treats are always GOOD}

RANDOM

{something unexpected is pretty RANDOM}

FUN

{having FUN at work makes the day pass quickly}

did you celebrate FAT TUESDAY?

SONG-OGRAPHY 3.2.14

paper sculpture ~ Sunnyvale, CA

 posting with Kathy @ You'll Shoot Your Eye Out

this week's song is "NOTHING MORE"

by Alternate Routes (an two-person indie band from Connecticut)

For some reason, I thought of women when I read the lyrics of this song. I pulled some samples of women from my photos archives to illustrate the theme of this week's SONG-OGRAPHY.

During my research of this week's song, I learned it was played at the opening ceremonies of the Olympics in Sochi...

painting on the side of a building ~ San Francisco, CA

statue of a military woman ~ Arlington Cemetery, Washington DC

wall art ~ Women in the Military Museum, Washington DC

This song, "Nothing More" was written  for NEWTOWN KINDNESS, the organization founded by a family who lost a child in the Sandy Hook Elementary shooting. You can learn more about how schools are using this song to “to promote kindness as a guiding principle of humanity” by clicking THIS LINK.

Before the Academy Awards begin, take a peek at some of the other bloggers posting their interpretation for SONG-OGRAPHY.

Will you watch the ACADEMY AWARDS tonight?

My prediction.... Best Picture Award will probably go to "12 Years a Slave" - the only movie in this category that we HAVE NOT seen. Having seen the movie trailers, I need to be in the certain frame of mind to watch the "deplorable" way we've treated people... in this case, slaves.

I predict "FROZEN" will win the Best Animated Feature Film & "LET IT GO" (from the movie, FROZEN) will win the Best Original Song. Will see this again when it comes out on video... YEP! it's great!