GOOD. RANDOM. FUN {WEEK 23}

 DON'T FORGET to check in with Tamar...

"garden art"

looking forward to bike riding after I heal from surgery!

SCAVENGER HUNT SUNDAY 6.22.14

Lydia spent her first week of summer with us.

It takes a day or two for her to leave the "fast-paced" daily routine of being home.

We got the "only available" campsite in North Beach-Pismo Beach campground... 

it's our "go-to-campground" 8 minutes from our house...

it's a treasured place for many reasons!

LYDIA has the freedom to ride her bike around the campground... unaccompanied!

Another benefit of camping... fresh air, walks on the beach & mindless relaxation!

... also, you can get a "dose of nature"

... Lola & Allie have wide open spaces...

... and you have more opportunities to nap!

posting with Ashley at Rambling & Photos!

 

 

next week's words:

PINK, WHEELS, FRIEND(S), EMOTION & SWEET

SITE 33 - CAMPING @ PLASKETT CREEK

Plaskett Creek Campground, south of Big Sur

gorgeous views of the ocean... a 90 minute drive from our house...

Lydia chose to sleep in her own tent this year... ummm...

no shoes in the tent...

 ...almost done!

surprise... due to lack of running water (low water table),

we weren't able to build a fire!

so'mores over a propane stove?

they were actually G.O.O.D!

...it's heavenly having clean hair!

and riding bikes!!!

...building memories!

PHOTO-HEART CONNECTION: JULY 2013

7.2.13 @ Big Bear Cabin

How does this happen? months speed by & I miss participating in the photo "MEME's" that were the "food which nourished" the early days of this blog...

My last post for Kat's Photo-Heart Connection was six months ago! time does not stand still, waiting for the camera lens to focus on the details of daily living! Today, lacking the focus to do much more than a few loads of laundry, I edited some pictures... and these two photos tugged at my HEART.

If you follow my blog,

you may recognize this photo.

LYDIA {our granddaughter} turned double digits {10 years old} on July 2nd. For her birthday, she wanted nothing more than "TO DO NOTHING". While eating her birthday pancakes, she told JPE that she wanted to stay home {meaning, stick around the cabin} and that's what we did.

Lydia & I built this COZY tent from outdoor cushions, throws from indoors, towels, a sheet & the frame of the porch swing. With enough breeze to cause "white caps on the lake" she "hunkered down inside" playing games on her phone, texting her girlfriends pictures of her creation, and chatted through her tent walls to anyone who walked by. 

JPE was cleaning a fish {on the edge of the deck}, her mom worked online {inside}, and I had spread out magazines on the porch chaise, while sipping my second {possibly my third} cup of coffee. Utterly blissful!

Lydia will spend the final days of her summer with us, next week! Several days will be spent tent camping at Plaskett Creek campground, south of Big Sur... maybe riding our bikes on the Bob Jones Trail... definitely eating popcorn & catching a movie... & ALWAYS enjoying JPE's cooking. 

WE'RE LOOKING FORWARD TO

SIMPLY DOING NOTHING!!!

{and BUILDING MEMORIES}

P52 {WEEK 10}

pic from 3.10.13

"OUT-TAKE" 

from Saturday's photo shoot.

The rest of the photos were blurry - so they got dumped!

Big Bear 2.9.13

"HOW DID I FORGET THIS PICTURE?"
 Looking in the window of a beer bar!
(local hangout at Big Bear Lake)
see the reflection of the building across the street?? snow-capped roofs!

Since when is FAT TIRE BEER associated with MOUNT RUSHMORE??

I know - these photos are random! 

posting to Tamar's @

RANDOM-OSITY!!

See ya tomorrow... for more "out-takes"??

PHOTO-HEART CONNECTION-AUGUST 2012

LYDIA - PISMO BEACH, CA 

PURE JOY!!!
Lydia's excitement is bubbling over...
she had just turned around to tell us "our" water was colder
than the water in Santa Monica.

Our CAMPING TRIP in Pismo Beach was
PURE JOY!!!

PICKING WILD BOYSENBERRIES was
PURE JOY!!! 

RIDING her BIKE on the Bob Jones Trail was
PURE JOY!!!

Nine-year old humor is
PURE JOY!!!

TEASING GRANDPA @ DINNER

It wasn't difficult to look through my August photos for a time
that spoke to my HEART.

Pictures tell the story!!

Kat Sloma @ Kat Eye Studio
hosts this monthly photo challenge - the guidelines
are listed HERE!

Oh... I'm supposed to comment on what I learned...
I've discovered, I CAN take pictures of kids, pets & other moving objects.

SCAVENGER HUNT SUNDAY 8.26.12

"Canopy Walk"
Amazon Rainforest, Peru

I missed SCAVENGER HUNT SUNDAY last week
(due to being out of town)
so, here are my photo choices for this week's words:

SCHOOL, RULE OF THIRDS, SIDE PROFILE,

SMALL & MOTION.

I'm breaking rule #3 & using previously taken photos (July trip to Peru).

(editing photos is time consuming)

SCHOOL
Indiana, Peru (Amazon River)

The Peruvian SCHOOL year was scheduled to end July 25th... Teachers from the public SCHOOL system had been "striking" for 30+ days, so our group dropped by this private SCHOOL... FYI ~ students attend SCHOOL 6 days a week ~ YES, even on Saturday!

RULE of THIRDS

At the higher elevations, we saw some incredible cloud formations... although I took this picture in color, I thought it had more visual impact in black & white. I only cropped a sliver off the left side because my photos tend to be shot using a RULE OF THIRDS. HERE'S AN EXPLANATION of what that means, with regards to photo composition.

SIDE PROFILE 

A SIDE PROFILE of JPE on the "Canopy Walk" in the Amazon Rainforest. Both of us agreed, that the canopy walk was a "highlight" of our Amazon stay... we trekked from sea level to 115 feet high, stopping at fourteen platforms to catch views at different levels of the forest. Here's a LINK to the Explorama Amazon Rainforest...

SMALL

Walking toward the covered market area in Cuzco, Peru, I saw this little boy licking the crumbs from his fingers... Everywhere we traveled, we saw women carrying SMALL children on their backs... even at his size, this little boy would have been wrapped in a blanket & tied to his mother's (or grandmother's) back. Generally, the women are carrying other bundles in their hands, so transporting children on their backs is necessary. Due to lack of child care, children accompany their mothers everywhere.

MOTION

This man was transporting his groceries home from the market place. Not a furious, fast peddling MOTION like you'd see in other countries... he moved down the  main street in the Urubamba Valley (the Incan mountain region).... at "Peruvian pace." I'll talk about "Peruvian time" in another post.

As our summer comes to an end, I anticipate more bloggers participating in SCAVENGER HUNT SUNDAY. Hope you'll join us. Check in with Ashley at Rambling & Photos for all the details.

BIKING WITH BOB!

bike path signal

Last week, JPE & Lydia put the bikes on the rack & met me in Avila Beach at the edge of the Bob Jones Trail (more about the Bob Jones Trail HERE)! 

set to ride

We started our bike ride at Hwy 101 & rode to Avila Beach, stopping for dinner on the way back.

white egret

The bike path meanders along beautiful condos & homes, an apple orchard... along San Luis Creek & the Steelhead Trout habitat... with the bike/walking path paralleling the Avila Bay Golf Course. 

Steelhead Trout habitat

Lydia exploring a tree root

Isn't it great being with kids? Lydia noticed this tree root wedged between two rocks --- we decided the root was growing upward, in an effort to reach the sun... interesting!

Water break!

FYI --- I don't usually dress like this for biking - no clothes to change into after work, so I wore work-casual for our bike ride...

Heading back!

JPE & Lydia riding a head of me! 

FAVE pic of LYDIA!

This is my favorite picture of Lydia... ah! the wonderfully relaxing days of summer. Can't believe she's going to be a 4th grader?!??

A BERRY-STAINED DAY!!!

Tuesday August 14 ~ Pismo Beach ~ North Beach Campground

We "found" a treasure... along the bike path!

a REMINDER ~ watch out for thorns!!

After washing the berries, we mixed everything together!

Then, using a rolling pin, we flattened a ball of dough...

and added some berries...

next, we folded the dough ~ forming a half-circle...

& pressed the dough with a fork to seal the juices in!

We sprinkled the tops with coarse sugar...

& baked them in the oven until the dough was crispy...

then, Grandpa added a scoop of
vanilla ice cream...
"YUMMY!"
exclaimed Lydia.
"I think it's the BEST dessert ever!"