BLAH... TO HUMIDITY....

I'm visiting SLE & MB in WASHINGTON DC.

Coming from a coastal town, temperatures over

80 degrees + humidity

are physically draining for me.

So, today, I stayed IN!!!

BUT, here are some "museum" worthy items I captured....

PRETTY ORCHIDS!

A HAND-CARVED SET OF DOMINOS...

 A BASKET OF SHELLS FROM FAR-OFF LANDS...

A MUSICAL INSTRUMENT...

A PERUVIAN BLANKET...

A UNIQUE EGG WITH BEAUTIFUL ARABIC LETTERING...

~~~ AND ~~~

SOME ORIGINAL ART - by MAHA

Now - if only I could catch a picture of the
LIGHTNING BUGS...
 {visible on our evening walks} 


Thanks SLE & MB for letting me share
some of your treasures!

WORDLESS WEDNESDAY 6.13.12

BIG SUR RIVER INN ~ 6.8.12
http://bigsurriverinn.com/

Participating in Wordless Wednesday HERE! 

As you remember from my LAST POST,

we took a drive up the coastline of California.

Big Sur River Inn has these

marvelously relaxing Adirondack chairs

 dotting the river's edge. Perched on a chair,

swishing my feet in the cool water,

this was my view of the river. 

Did you SEE this?

sorry about the blurry pic ~ the rocks were slimey!

This river site is so love-ly 

that perhaps this rock was part of

a nice man asking his love-ly lady

for her hand in marriage?

What do you think?

{FYI - the rock is located in the bottom part of the picture,

in the center, between the two patches of leaves!

Other than cropping this picture, it is SOOC... 

the leaves created a vibrant green reflection on the water}

SCAVENGER HUNT SUNDAY 6.10.12

MASKING MY SURPRISE!!!

JPE & I hosted cousins from Cinn, OH over the weekend! Following their whirlwind trip to So California... which included time at Disneyland, golf at a private club, a day in Laguna Beach, fabulous seats at the California Angels baseball game, nights in the hot-tub, and train ride to our house.... we headed for a "nature fix" in Big Sur.

Here are my SCAVENGER HUNT SUNDAY words: TRAVEL, SILLY, BLACK & WHITE, SPOTS, & PAPER.

TRAVEL

As I mentioned, we drove up the coast & spent one night in Big Sur. Love-ly weather!!! JPE & I enjoyed sharing the beautiful coastline with our Ohio family! The PIEDRAS BLANCAS LIGHTHOUSE is near the parking lot for viewing the elephant seals. TRAVEL... expands the mind, soul & spirit.

A SILLY old truck is used as a concession stand... you can buy coffee, ice cream, snacks & pastries. We stayed at the BIG SUR RIVER INN... seated on Adirondack chairs in the river & swishing our bare feet in the icy water = a perfect way to enjoy our afternoon tea!

The sun dips over the coastal mountain range early in the evening... so, I took advantage of the afternoon light to take photos of the Big Sur foliage. this photo looked best in BLACK & WHITE.

This cute children's chair was in the Nepenthe gift shop. Check out all the SPOTS... dots... and flowery circles. I would have loved sharing a full view of the chair, but the gift shop was so crowded... so here's a shot of the seat & chair back.

A fabulous find! this PAPER mask was at the Nepenthe gift shop. One of four designs available for purchase....

And... this portion of their California trip included visiting the elephant seals, relaxing by the Big Sur River, having a picnic lunch in the PFEIFFER BIG SUR CAMPGROUND, walking to the edge of the bluff at ANDREW MOLERA STATE PARK (& taking the long?!?? trail back to our car), stopping to see the view from NEPENTHE & the ocean bluff where we got married, and visiting the yurts at TREEBONES (near Gorda)... We squeezed a lot of sightseeing into 32 hour period! here's another SILLY picture from our weekend TRAVELS.

this picture is dedicated to Gary & Josh... the elephant seals "cracked them up" with their loud noises, sparring antics & slovenly movements across the sand. You can see the ELEPHANT SEALS HERE on live-cam! 

Next week's SCAVENGER HUNT SUNDAY words are: MEET ME AT THE CORNER, MOTHER NATURE MEETS TECHNOLOGY, ONE STEP AT A TIME, WHAT'S WRONG WITH THIS PICTURE, & STANDING TALL.

TAKE A SEAT...

I COLLECT CHAIRS... 

But, this one isn't mine.

I bought this tiny ceramic chair for my mom...

a Mother's Day or birthday gift

(I don't remember because

they are within a week of each other).

One of a kind artwork! 

Adorable isn't it??

CLICK HERE to see a CHAIR from my collection.

See if you can find the CHAIR in this post??

(hint: it's in two photos! although one is blurry).

Do you BUY gifts

that you'd like to keep for yourself?

Mom's CHAIR is one of those GIFTS

I would have wanted to keep!

But... it's one of a kind!!!

SCHOOL DAZE...

“The harder I work, the luckier I get.”
~ anonymous quote

My desk at 3:42pm!!

I was late to my hair appointment... 

an HOUR late!!!

distracted by...

FIVE projects to be completed

this week...

see the 

GREEN ARROW?

I keep fresh LAVENDER in this container

"it soothes the mind"

ACE made the blue vase

in high school ceramics class...

15 years ago!!!

Oh my gosh... where has time gone?

What's your work space look like?

SCAVENGER HUNT SUNDAY 6.3.12

Gosh... it's JUNE... and SUNDAY.... having a four-day work-week is nice, but it doesn't make the work go away!!!

Saturday, JPE & I tidied the patio... he sprayed the roses & I shook the dead leaves out of the patio overhang! he was stinky from the nasty chemicals & I was filthy from the dead, dusty leaves falling on my head!

But, we cleaned up nicely, packed our tuna fish sandwiches & fruit salad, & headed to the beach for a dinner picnic!

SCAVENGER HUNT SUNDAY finds were taken yesterday (picnic dinner in Shell Beach) & today when we went to our quaint little village (Arroyo Grande) for afternoon tea @ Andreini's.

Check-in with Ashley @ RAMBLING & PHOTOS for other interpretations of:

SHINE, FAST, LEFT, PEACE & PLAIN.

There's a new store in town ~ Le Papillon. When I explained to the owner that I was on a photo scavenger hunt, she told me to take all the pictures I needed. One of her displays met my criteria for SHINE... the yellow color was a reflection from the adorable, summery dress, hanging just below the display. 

The waves were moving FAST... with the tide coming in soon after we arrived with our picnic dinner. Pretty amazing view, huh! We decided, "everything tastes better when eaten outside"... 

This sea gull was sitting to the LEFT of the moon! It took a couple of minutes before the sea gull cooperated by turning his head so his beak was visible... a much better shot & way better than just looking at his back-end!!

Believe it or not... this was the "hardest" word to find... we found this PEACE symbol made from recycled garbage displayed in one of the stores in AG (Arroyo Grande). Lucky find!

Just a PLAIN ole weed... growing on the edge of the crumbling cliff, overlooking the ocean. I like how the setting sun tints the edge of the green leaves with its golden touch.

That's all from our home on the Central Coast of California... the words for next week's SCAVENGER HUNT SUNDAY are:

TRAVEL, SILLY, BLACK & WHITE, SPOTS & PAPER.

FYI: JPE asked why my photos were sort of hazy... silly me, I didn't realize that selecting a polaroid frame would render them similar to that sort of picture. And, now I've noticed the last two pics have a white background & are different from the first three. Gosh, I can only blame the "differences in the backgrounds" on the "glare" of outdoor light (I was creating my blog post in the Adirondack on the patio - lovely weekend weather!!).

JUNE IS...

MOTHER'S DAY ROSE @ Mom's

OH.... YUM!!

FARMER'S MARKET... HERE WE COME!!!

What do you look forward to

in the month of

JUNE??