Blue Monday ~

Welcome to Blue Monday!  Smiling Sally is our hostess and you can click on her name and join in or see some more blue from around the world.

 

My blue today is a combination of sights and purchases over the last 3 weekends. This past Saturday after our walk at the beach where we found all these cool shells, Dear and I headed to Somis, Moorpark and Simi to see what we could see. We are on the hunt for a piece of furniture to fill a space between our living room and dining area at the condo. We want the piece to work both for books and some of my pretties. I’m always a little disappointed when a shop is called a Thrift store but really thinks it’s an Antique store and prices everything accordingly. Do you know what I mean? Can you feel a bargain hunters pain here?  I ended up buying this blue oversized creamer at HomeGoods in Simi.

 

The Shell Beach Sign, Avila Peir sign and the wall mural are all from our trip to the Central California Coast from January 19th. The Amtrak Surfliner is from last weekend in our hometown…

That’s my blue and now I’m off to see your blue! Happy Monday and February to all of you!

Photobucket is holding all my photos I stored with them from 2007-2015 hostage unless I pay them a lot of money. I’m slowly cleaning up many posts from this time period and deleting their ugly grey and black boxes with a ransom request. Such a time consuming bother.

Metamorphosis Monday ~ Linens

It’s time for another Metamorphosis Monday and I have a mini met to show you today. Susan at Between Naps on the Porch is our hostess for this event so head over to her blog to join in or to see some before and afters…

 

This method of storing my tablecloths was not the most ideal. I’ve been wanting to have a space in my spare room closets to hang them instead.

Hanging them like this makes it a lot easier to access them and see what I have. This project is still in process and I iron a few tablecloths at a time and hang them trying to coordinate colors or seasons…

Again I forgot to take a before shot of this closet space. My candle holders and candles are more organized here.

 

I was able to box up stuff from this closet space that we never touch to make room for my Christmas dishware and all my chargers. That freed up space in my kitchen cabinets for the everyday stuff.

Now that we have Metamorphosis Monday I think I’ll remember to take before shots for all my projects. Thanks for being patient with me. :0)

Now to see some really amazing morphs head over to Susan’s!

Photobucket is holding all my photos I stored with them from 2007-2015 hostage unless I pay them a lot of money. I’m slowly cleaning up many posts from this time period and deleting their ugly grey and black boxes with a ransom request. Such a time consuming bother.

Thy Word is Like a Garden, Lord ~ Hymn

 

Thy Word is Like a Garden, Lord

Thy Word is like a garden, Lord, with flowers bright and fair;
And every one who seeks may pluck a lovely cluster there.
Thy Word is like a deep, deep mine; and jewels rich and rare
Are hidden in its mighty depths for every searcher there.

Thy Word is like a starry host: a thousand rays of light
Are seen to guide the traveler and make his pathway bright.
Thy Word is like an armory, where soldiers may repair;
And find, for life’s long battle day, all needful weapons there.

O may I love Thy precious Word, may I explore the mine,
May I its fragrant flowers glean, may light upon me shine!
O may I find my armor there! Thy Word my trusty sword,
I’ll learn to fight with every foe the battle of the Lord.

Words: Ed­win Hod­der, The New Sun­day School Hymn Book, 1863.

Low Tide at Emma Wood ~ Birds and Shells

 

Dear and I started our walk at Emma Wood this morning well before 7:00 am. I love the colors that the early morning light reflect on the sand and water.

 

There were many sea birds enjoying breakfast from diving in the water and digging in the sand.

 

I was pleasantly surprised to capture this pelican and the head of this seal who bobbed up just at the moment I took the shot. Not a clear close-up but it’s always a treat to see seals or dolphins come up out of the water…

 

The Godwits were abundant as were Sanderlings.

 

 

The tide was out far enough so that we could explore around the rocks and see Anemones and gather lots of great shells.

 

 

 

 

These are the shells we picked up this morning. Some of the clam shells are pismo clams. Dear found a razor clam shell and a barnacle, too.

 

I really like the different shapes and colors on all of these shells we picked up…

Photobucket is holding all my photos I stored with them from 2007-2015 hostage unless I pay them a lot of money. I’m slowly cleaning up many posts from this time period and deleting their ugly grey and black boxes with a ransom request. Such a time consuming bother.

My Last Pink Saturday…

I am so sad to say that this will have to be my last Pink Saturday. Saturday is a very hard day for me to find time to blog. Dear and I leave the house before dawn to have our weekly walk at the beach and we never know what adventure we’ll decide on after our walk. I always feel so guilty about not getting around to all the lovely pink that day and it just makes better sense for me to forfeit this pleasure. I want to thank Beverly, who I think is a fantastic hostess, for putting this together and for being so gracious. I’ll miss my Pink friends but I’ll probably see some of you at other memes Monday thru Friday. Blessings on all of you.

So here is my Pink for my farewell to Pink Saturday Post!

I’m so excited! I think I can now be inducted into the bloggy hall of fame because I have a glass dome that I put stuff under!! I’m going to go ahead and call it a Cloche. We  just purchased it at an antique shop in Arroyo Grande on January 18th. I’ve been on the hunt for a cloche and I still might end up buying a taller, narrower one…once I hear from the “Official Bloggy We’ll Induct You Into Our Hall of Fame Committee”. The glass cake plate it’s sitting on was from Target originally but I bought it at Goodwill.

 

Now look at all this sweet pinkness that my bloggy friend Cori G! gifted to me when we met face to face this last Tuesday. I was blown away by all these goodies. She made all those cards, bookmarks and tags herself. She’s a great designer! The four pretty Homer Laughlin plates are from a set of 8 she has. How generous of her to split the set for me. She participates in Pink Saturday from her Gingerbread Crumbs & Co.Blog.

This last one is for Beverly. I wish I could deliver a bouquet of these sweet pink flowers to your door for being such a kind hostess.

To see more Pink visit Beverly at How Sweet the Sound.

Photobucket is holding all my photos I stored with them from 2007-2015 hostage unless I pay them a lot of money. I’m slowly cleaning up many posts from this time period and deleting their ugly grey and black boxes with a ransom request. Such a time consuming bother.

Friday’s Fave Five ~

Time flies when you’re old having fun. Here it is Friday already and it’s time to list our favorites from this past week. Visit Susanne from Living to Tell the Story to join in on the fun.

 

1. We had two good walks on the weekend. Our first walk was to the Farmer’s Market on Saturday morning while it was drizzling. Then on Sunday we walked to our usual Mexican Restaurant for lunch. We were feeling oh so European.

2. On Saturday my brother Tim and his wife Letty came over for most of the day and we had a special birthday dinner for Tim. We served barbecued Rib Eye Steak, roasted fingerling potatoes, mushrooms sauteed with onions with a cream and white wine reduction, and a salad with persian dressing. For dessert we had a limoncello cream cake. From some of those descriptions can you tell I watch Top Chef? Anything is fancy if you put the right description with it :0)

3. We’ve experienced some “weather” here in Southern California and it was nice to have rain and big fluffy clouds around. Now we are in another Santana Wind pattern which warms things up considerably. Willow and I had quite a windy walk on Thursday.

4. Every couple of months my mom and dad have the “girls” over for dinner. This past Tuesday my sisters, my SIL’s, and my nieces along with grand nephew Jackson met at mom and pop’s for dinner. It’s always so much fun to get together. We laugh a lot.

5. One more of my favorites was to meet up with my bloggy friend Cori face to face for the first time this past Tuesday.

To read more Fave Fives visit Susanne at Living to Tell the Story.

Photobucket is holding all my photos I stored with them from 2007-2015 hostage unless I pay them a lot of money. I’m slowly cleaning up many posts from this time period and deleting their ugly grey and black boxes with a ransom request. Such a time consuming bother.

Looking at the Sky on Friday

 

We had some beautiful skies this past week in Southern California. This is a view from a field behind our housing development. The mountains you see are the northwestern end of the Santa Monica Mountains.

For more sky photos visit Crazy Working Mom.

Photobucket is holding all my photos I stored with them from 2007-2015 hostage unless I pay them a lot of money. I’m slowly cleaning up many posts from this time period and deleting their ugly grey and black boxes with a ransom request. Such a time consuming bother.

A Wonderful Bloggy Face to Face!

On Tuesday I drove to Orange County for a family dinner at my parents’ apartment with my sisters, SIL’s, and nieces. Cori G. form Gingerbread Crumbs & Co. and I have been regulars on each others blogs and she happens to live in Orange County so we arranged a face to face meeting close to my parent’s apartment. We had a very short time to meet and “talk” but what a joy it was to spend this short time asking questions and sharing a little bit more of our lives in person. I was surprised how fast our time went.

 

Cori also was so sweet to bring me a gift. I’ve always loved her graphics. She’s one talented lady. I was thrilled to get some beautiful creations of hers. She also gifted me with 4 beautiful Homer Laughlin plates. Oh she knows my weakness for pretty plates!

Cori G. is a Victorian Lady at heart and she proved to me that she wears petticoats and Victorian striped stockings. How cool is that. You can see her post about these stockings at her Happy Birthday Eric Post. Cori and I look forward to getting together again…

John 13:34 ~ “A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you so you must love one another. By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.”

Photobucket is holding all my photos I stored with them from 2007-2015 hostage unless I pay them a lot of money. I’m slowly cleaning up many posts from this time period and deleting their ugly grey and black boxes with a ransom request. Such a time consuming bother.

Outdoor Wednesday ~ “To Market, to Market”

I’m a little late in joining in for Outdoor Wednesday this week hosted by Susan at A Southern Day Dreamer but better late than never.

To market, to market to buy a fat pig;
Home again, home again, jiggety-jig.
To market, to market, to buy a fat hog;
Home again, home again, jiggety-jog.

Dear and I decided to walk to the Farmer’s Market that our hometown has every Saturday in Old Town Camarillo from 8:00 to Noon. As we set out we passed these tumbleweeds that are taking over the sidewalk. What a fun sight to see tumbleweeds tumbling through town when they dry up and the wind blows. Brings back some childhood memories for me.

It was a drizzly morning. The drizzle does not deter Dear and I from walking because of our years in the Seattle area. We do everything in the rain up there and most of the time without an umbrella!

A rare thing to see raindrops on the vegetation in Southern California.

Our walk to the Market is convoluted because we are separated from the main part of town by the railroad tracks that run up the coast of California. We have to jog and go over an overpass built for people to get to the train station. Here’s Dear sporting his new Tilley hat!

 

See the church across the freeway? That’s where we are headed.

We make it to Ventura Blvd. which is the main street through Old Town Camarillo.

Great timing as we approach the market.

We’re hoping to find some red and white flowers for the dinner we’re having for my brother’s birthday later on this day.

 

Success! On the way back I had to snap these shots of St. Mary Magdalen Church. A landmark in Camarillo which was built by the Camarillo Family.

 

 

The sun is getting brighter as we approach home. The Santa Monica Mountains are camaflouged today by these great clouds.

 

Just enough sun for Dear to spot this great spider web on the tumbleweed we pass on the way home!

For more Outdoor shots visit Susan at A Southern Day Dreamer!

Photobucket is holding all my photos I stored with them from 2007-2015 hostage unless I pay them a lot of money. I’m slowly cleaning up many posts from this time period and deleting their ugly grey and black boxes with a ransom request. Such a time consuming bother.