Sunday at the beach

 

It is dependably foggy at the beaches here in the summer. I had a brief moment of thinking I might not lug my camera down to the beach, since It was pretty heavily misty.. and I'm so glad I did ! The lighting was so amazing , diffused and soft with the fog, so gorgeous. I usually spend time taking landscape pictures, but the little details and the people around caught my attention more than usual ...
It was warm too for here, even though it looks freezing , there were lots of people swimming.
The sand was warm on our bare feet, who needs a pumice stone when you can walk for 2 hours on gritty sand ... nothing like it :)
Lots of people out with their horses too , it was really wonderful seeing them coming down the beach in the thick fog, so magical . At our house which is about 20 miles inland from the coast , it was in the 80's and dry heat ... so we were glad for the refreshing beach day and misty air.

food and flowers

 

 
This is a little market on 18th street in the Mission district San Fransisco , everything was so fresh and vibrant. The selection of cheeses was pretty amazing too. Everyone who works there seems to really love their jobs and I can see why.We would have got a snack but we just had the best scones either one of us has ever had in our lives at this little tea house
which was really a sweet little space, they were playing Krishna Das and it was really beautiful all cozy and Buddha like inside. We Just got our scones to go though...we were sort of non stop walking at the moment .

Roses

 

With all the roses in bloom right now I was drawn to these beauties , all spotted and faded.
Our neighbors roses are all along the fence on our dirt driveway , these just glowed in the sunset light when we were on our evening walk.
I'm definitely going to get some more pics of these, I love them !

We just got back from 2 days in San Fransisco... so I will have lots of new pics soon.
We crammed in so much in 2 days, the botanical gardens , the Haight, Japantown, the Misson district,Castro, and we stayed in Little Italy. One of the things my husband and I have in common is a love of food and trying new things, so we ended up eating our way across San Fran...
I'm glad I don't live there though it would be a very expensive habit .

petals...

 

Just wondering where this week went .............
hope everyone has a great weekend !

May Juggling

 

I've been a little busy lately , this weekend was so full, of wonderful things, and one of them was when we were at the May Madness Juggling festival In Santa Rosa

me juggling in the back there...

and being asked to help do a little performance at the juggling show. Me in the orange hard hat, and Russ the festival coordinator in blue.
We were explaining to our faithful volunteer, how juggling can be dangerous and one could get injured , , and then we proceeded to put on hard hats and juggle around her. got a good laugh from the crowd ..

That evening our Samba group played at a fun gathering.

Yesterday we tried to take a walk on the beach and the wind was SO strong it was crazy, but we found some amazing tide pools that I can't wait to go back to when it's not so windy .

Poppies and Dogwood Flowers

 

More spring beauties I found at some local gardens the other day ...

I Hope everyone is having a good start to the week :)

Seed Pod Collections

 

Poppy pods from my garden last year

 

Acorn top with leaves

big textured acorns

 

 calyx from a Persimmon.

 

eucalyptus pods 

I have so many seed pods that I have collected along hikes and travels, this is just a few.
Since it was raining most of the day yesterday, I got into some spring cleaning, which then led me to photographing some of these seeds that are everywhere in the house . The overcast light through the window was perfect so I went with it. Seedpods and rocks seem to be the things I like to collect, I have a lot around on shelves , and also alot in boxes in the closet .... if I had them all out our house would look like a natural history museum or something .
I love them all dearly :) What kind of things do you collect ?

Any artists out there ??
The 'Wemoon' calendars is now accepting artwork for the 2012 publication.
you can download or print the application here .

Polaroid Week

In honor of Polaroid week I would like to share about this wonderful Polaroid camera that I won in a giveaway on Rachel B's Blog !!! . It arrived in the mail last week with all these lovely cards from Rachel of her beautiful photography and a Polaroid picture too :) .Thank you Rachel !!
I hope to be taking some new shots this week to add to the Polaroid week pool .

sunny days

 

It's time to break out the tank tops and summer skirts.This weekend was so hot and sunny and today it's supposed to get up to 80 degrees ! I'm not quite acclimated to the dry California heat yet, but loving all the light. I've become very fond of my big sun hats recently :)

Monday

 

The start of another week... Hope everyone had a great weekend !

My husband James and I spent the weekend hauling compost and wheelbarrowing and shoveling it onto our garden. We made two trips, filling our little tiny old 1980 nissan from the Community compost that is all used clipping and yard waste from the county all made into gorgeous black rich goodness.
The fun part was last night, being able to put the tomatoes ... ( Cherokee purple , yellow brandy-wine , Burbank slicing , Oregon Spring ) , Armenian cucumber , onions and chives starts into the beds. I just planted out peas and beans the other day too :)

Sunday afternoon we managed to break away for an hour to go juggling with the regular meet up group in Santa Rosa .

Also there is only 4 more days left to my 'Buy One Get One Free' sale in my photography shop.
The sale has been going really well, Thank you!!
So today I will be packaging up lots of orders :)

my new mini photo 'thank you' notes

Sleeping In The Forest

 

Sleeping In The Forest

I thought the earth remembered me,

she took me back so tenderly,

arranging her dark skirts, her pockets

full of lichens and seeds.

I slept as never before, a stone on the river bed,

nothing between me and the white fire of the stars

but my thoughts, and they floated light as moths

among the branches of the perfect trees.

All night I heard the small kingdoms

breathing around me, the insects,

and the birds who do their work in the darkness.

All night I rose and fell, as if in water,

grappling with a luminous doom. By morning

I had vanished at least a dozen times

into something better.

from Sleeping In The Forest by Mary Oliver

© Mary Oliver

One of my favorite poems by Mary Oliver , I find alot of comfort in her writing. If you are a lover of nature , plants and animals and just observing our magical world you will too :)

This poem reminds me of the summer nights I used to sleep outside just for fun , no tent , just under the stars... it's a lot different than camping in a tent with the shell around you.

That was when I lived on a little Island in the Pacific N.W. for 15 years. The Island is Lopez Island and it is a very sweet place , at it's longest it is only 14 miles long , population about 1,500 . I miss all my friends and community there, and the freedom to sleep under the stars.
We are living in California now and I am not really ready for sleeping outside here quite yet.. since there are skunks , rattlesnakes and poison oak here ... none of those are on Lopez ...
it's enough to put me off sleeping out here for now...

Today is a good day , and any day really to lay belly flat on the Earth and give her a great big hug. She is the mother of us all :)

Ten things we can do to help save this lovely planet .. and ourselves :)

Beauty of Spring....

Wild current blossoms :)

apple orchard - photo of the day

 

a moment between the rains ...... before the blossoms got washed away...



Hope everyone has a wonderful weekend ......
I see beaches and bakeries in the near future..what are your weekend plans ?

A walk along the green and flowery cliffs

 

Our recent trip to the ocean , a walk along the green and flowery cliffs about 20 miles from where we live. The day was bright and the light was diffused , my favorite kind . No wind either which is rare here for the coast :)

Faded Queen Anns Lace

 

 

two new square prints . I'm still taking pictures of dried dead flowers along the trail even though the trees are flowering and coming alive with colors again. I love the shapes of the flowers when they are left with just structure and patterns . There's something to love in all seasons.