SATURDAY SIPPINGS...

coffee on Higuera, SLO

Following the 1:30 showing of SAMSARA at The Palm, we browsed the shop windows along Higuera St.  

College students, families & people of all ages were enjoying the Fall weather - a perfect temperature, with a slight breeze...

We stopped for coffee (tea for JPE) at Kreuzberg's & enjoyed people watching... 

Kreuzberg's is located across from Tom's Toys...

In addition to great coffee & teas, they have a unique decor... retro-style lamps are mounted on the ceiling... casting subtle shadows of light on the tables below.

The walls are filled with art...

colorful pushpins

dot the bulletin board

holding slips of 

:: poetry ::

:: drawings ::

:: quotes ::

Visitors - local & those from afar (G'DAY - Aussie?)

share kind words & thoughts!

NO negativity! nor offensive graffiti!

If you're planning to visit SLO, treat yourself!!

the movie, SAMSARA,

was 100 minutes of stunning photography...

if you're curious like US,

you may want to visit the official website

for a list of some of the countries

& sites that were captured in

BriLLaNt CoLOr.

FOWL-ISH FRIDAY...

Avila Valley Barn ~ 10.10.12

Avila Valley Barn "purchase"

ANOTHER

FOWL-ISH

SORT OF WEEK!!!

Not a

camera-sort

of week, either!

I think I'm just going to have to accept the fact that I'm one of those weekend bloggers, until work settles down!

or I get more organized?

Well - looking forward to some time with JPE this weekend. 
Plan to catch a movie, SAMSARA, an indie movie that was five years in the making! photos were all taken in 70mm. 
Our little trip into SLO may also include some side trips? 
Gopher Glen Apple Farm --- JPE hasn't been in weeks! Joe Momma's for afternoon tea?

What weekend plans do you have?

UNTYING THE KNOTS...

pic taken @ Big Bear Lake 

UMMM... love this quote!

Not sure what this means to ME...

at this point in my LIFE?

I know I'm a "pretty" controlling personality!

perhaps I need to let someone else take charge?

SCIENCE EXPERIMENT....

"

taken 10.5.12

Don't you love the bit of sunlight on the branches of the tree (left-hand side of this photo)?

This tree is located in our "back-back yard" (or for those of you who've been to our condo - the property located beyond the white fence)! 

We are fortunate that our condo backs up to a "rather open" greenbelt of land owned by the City of Arroyo Grande. I've always called it the "back-back yard" because we think of it as an extension of our condo patio (although the property doesn't belong to our condo association).

JPE has a rose garden located in the "back-back yard" along with his compost pile & our raspberry bushes (that are totally out-of-control - spreading themselves past the imaginary line we've thought of as their growing area).

All the references to our "back-back yard" may seem meaningless, but the oak trees that grow there are beginning to really annoy me. See the fluttering moth near the upper-hand right corner of this pic? 

Now check out this picture...

Sorry for the blurry print (hey! capturing two moving objects is almost impossible). Our HUMMER-BULLY  is chasing a moth away from the trees... the hummingbirds are annoyed by our current SCIENCE EXPERIMENT also. 

The SCIENCE EXPERIMENT is creating havoc on our weekend ritual of afternoon "tea & scones" --- On Saturday, John bravely sat on the patio Saturday afternoon with a spray bottle of Windex --- and sprayed any visitor that fell on his lap, computer or on his head.

Here's a close-up of one of our annoying visitors! BTW, I had to contort my body to be able to take this photo! We have these visitors crawling up our stucco walls... looking for a safe place to retreat...

This visitor's getting settled next to someone who's been a resident on the stucco walls, for a few days!

Up close & personal! Their colors are actually quite attractive, huh? BUT, we're talking about visitors everywhere... on the walls, the fence, the patio, hanging from the plants... we can't escape these visitors... it's become quite annoying! 

I believe this visitor will be sprouting his wings & leaving his safe nesting spot soon! then he'll flit off into the pretty blue sky & he'll have to dodge the HUMMER-BULLY...

Well - word on the street is that our oak trees are diseased, which leads me to believe the visitors are playing a huge role in spreading this SCIENCE EXPERIMENT throughout our oak tree forest. Sad, huh? 

Don't know how long we have to put up with the SCIENCE EXPERIMENT, but I can't wait to have my morning coffee or afternoon tea withOUT having a WORMY creature drop down on my head... fall into my warm "cuppa" (tea or coffee)... it's pretty messy having to flick a WORM off your jeans or bare arm... urghh... not just messy, but N-A-S-T-Y!

Just saying - I'd really like my patio back - so, MR HUMMER-BULLY --- please get aggressive & take care of this SCIENCE EXPERIMENT. 

Clarifying fact... we have a hummingbird who's quite the bully... he believes both hummingbird feeders are HIS... and chases other hummers away. He's even chased some bees away from the feeders!

SCAVENGER HUNT SUNDAY 10.7.12

 SOOC
Whew!
O-C-T-O-B-E-R flew in like a bluejay - screeching!
my days were filled with random craziness!$#@?

The one thing that was predictable... SCAVENGER HUNT SUNDAY.

This week's words are: SHADOW, KEY, SMILE, UNEDITED & SPICE.

SHADOW

Couldn't decide between these two SHADOW pictures! The SHADOW (on the left) is actually from a wall decoration. The little cups resembled an egg cracked in two, with a brillant gold painted center. I took this photo at the San Diego Marriott (near Seaport Village) & it was pulled from my photo archive taken a week ago! The SHADOW (on the right) was taken Saturday morning... love the light filtering through the fence slats.

KEY

This is a stretch! but, I think pumpkins are KEY to decorating your house for the Fall. I've been buying apples almost every week at Avila Barn - great opportunities for picture taking & buying apples that are picked daily... on my list this week... pumpkins, of course!

SMILE

Pure happiness! Lola's huge SMILE cracks me up! she doesn't even notice the piece of grass hanging off her tongue.

UNEDITED (SOOC)

This bird was flirting with me! Moving around the back yard... flitting here & there! making eye contact with me! Was finally successful at capturing him? her? UNEDITED or SOOC (straight out of the camera).

SPICE

Not very original... but the SPICE we use most frequently is cinnamon. Yep! don't add salt unless it's written in a recipe... but we add cinnamon to fruit salads, baked goods, oatmeal, etc. We give homemade baked goods as holiday gifts, so we've begun stocking up on our supply of cinnamon.

I'm crossing my fingers that this week has more free time for blogging. Hope to see you back...

If not, stop by next week for SCAVENGER HUNT SUNDAY... the words are: WATER DROPS or WATER FLOWING, FAITHFULNESS, THEN & NOW, FINGERTIPS & ONE ITEM FROM SARAH'S BUCKET LIST (found HERE).

Sarah's October Bucket List has kid-friendly ideas

for your weekend adventures!

COME INTO THE GARDEN

taken at dusk ~ 10.5.12

"WON'T YOU COME INTO THE GARDEN?

I WOULD LIKE MY ROSES

TO SEE YOU."

:: Richard Brinsley Sheridan ::

Irish-born playwright, poet & long-term owner of the London Theater Royal