The Fountain ~ by James Russell Lowell

 

The Fountain
~
Into the sunshine,
Full of the light,
Leaping and flashing
From morn till night!

Into the moonlight,
Whiter than snow,
Waving so flower-like
When the winds blow

Into the starlight
Rushing in spray,
Happy at midnight
Happy by day!

Ever in motion,
Blithesome and cheery
Still climbing heavenward,
Never aweary;

Glad of all weathers,
Still seeming best,
Upward and downward
Motion thy rest;

Full of a nature
Nothing can tame,
Changed every moment,
Ever the same;

Ceaseless aspiring,
Ceaseless content,
Darkness or sunshine
Thy element;

Glorious fountain!
Let my heart be
Fresh, changeful, constant,
Upward like thee!

 

Photos from the University of Washington, Seattle, Washington and from the Historical Olivas Adobe in Ventura, California.

Hope your hearts are content and looking up today! Happy Friday to all!

Photobucket is holding all my photos from 2007-2015 hostage on their site and have replaced my photos with black and grey boxes of ugliness. I’m slowly deleting those boxes from my blog and trying to update so many posts, very frustrating.

Photo Hunters ~ Pointed

 

The godwits are a group of large, long-billed, long-legged and strongly migratory wading birds of the genus Limosa. They form large flocks on coasts and estuaries in winter. I took this photo of the Godwit in March at Emma Wood State Beach in Ventura, California. I think it’s bill qualifies for “Pointed”.

For more Photo Hunters head over to tnchick’s!

Photobucket is holding all my photos I stored with them from 2007-2015 hostage. They have blacked out all those photos on my blog posts. OH BOTHER! I’m slowly cleaning up my posts.

ABC Wednesday ~ V is for…

V is for Ventura, California

 

On Father’s Day (June 15th) Dear and I took an early morning walk in Ventura, California. We walked along San Buenaventura State Beach to the Ventura Pier and back again. We are having the typical June morning marine layer along the coast in Southern California so the pictures are a bit gloomy.

 

We saw some fun creatures on our walk. A ground squirrel, A Pyrenees Mountain Dog, A Seal, and A Godwit.

 

We also saw some interesting vegetation.

 

This big bush with these interesting flowers caught our eye. The petals look crepe like. I just did a google search and found out this is a Crinkled White Peony…

For more ABC Wednesday posts click over to Mrs. Nesbitt’s.

Photobucket is holding all my photos I stored with them from 2007-2015 hostage. They have blacked out all those photos on my blog posts. OH BOTHER! I’m slowly cleaning up my posts.

Project Blue ~ Take 6

 

We saw this Crab at Emma Wood State Beach in Ventura, California. We walk this stretch of beach early on Saturday mornings.

For more Project Blue head over to Anna Carson Photography.

Photobucket is holding all my photos I stored with them from 2007-2015 hostage. They have blacked out all those photos on my blog posts. OH BOTHER! I’m slowly cleaning up my posts.

Project Blue ~ Take 3

 

This was taken at the Historical San Buenaventura Mission in Ventura, California.

For more Project Blue or to post your own Project Blue head over to Anna Carson Photography.

Photobucket is holding all my photos from 2007-2015 hostage and they have blacked them all out. I’m slowly working at restoring my posts without their help. Such a tiresome bother!

Photo Hunters ~ Me or Part of Me

 

Here I am on the beach.

 

And here I am with Dear who is a big part of me, too! So after being around to a couple photo hunter sites I decided to add this last photo of the real me in a shorter leg version than my shadow…

Have fun Photo Hunters. I’ll be traveling today so I hope to get around to more sites tomorrow.

Click on over to tnchick’s to see more.

Photobucket is holding all my photos from 2007-2015 hostage and they have blacked them all out. I’m slowly working at restoring my posts without their help. Such a tiresome bother!

ABC Wednesday ~ S is for…

S is for Santa Barbara, California.

Some people call Santa Barbara “The American Riviera”. This beautiful city on the Pacific Ocean has so much style and charm.  Along State St. you have many eating and shopping options. You get a very international feel when you catch several different languages being spoken. Santa Barbara is about 300 miles South of San Francisco and 90 miles North of Los Angeles. Just 40 miles North from my home.

State Street and the whole downtown area is very pedestrian friendly. There are many wonderful open air arcades for shopping and people watching.

 

Here are just a few of the Arcades.

 

Some of the Arcades have Sculptures to enjoy.

 

The Santa Barbara Art Museum is also located on State Street and of course you can view some great old relics and Statues or a Monet.

 

 

You’ll also find the Mission Santa Barbara up against the mountains. Some call this mission the “Queen” of the California historic Missions.

If you ever travel to California make sure and put Santa Barbara on your “must see” list but be aware that it can be very pricey to stay here.

S is also for

 

Seagulls at the Seashore

 

Sand at the Seashore

Shells from this same Seashore.

Now back to my hometown. Horses and ranches have great histiorical significance in Camarillo. Camarillo is named after Adolfo Camarillo. He was a rancher and is known for his famous White Horse which now is called the Camarillo White Horse. You’ll see these famous horses ridden in the Rose Parade. These are some of the Silver saddles from the Camarillo Ranch House Estate…

S is for a Silver Saddles

 

And S is for Spinning Wheel.

The Silver Saddles and the Spinning wheel are in the Historic Camarillo Ranch House.

For more ABC Wednesday posts please visit Mrs. Nesbitt’s.

Photobucket is holding all my photos from 2007-2015 hostage and they have blacked them all out. I’m slowly working at restoring my posts without their help. Such a tiresome bother!

ABC Wednesday ~ R is for…

R is for Rocks

We’ve had three interesting and different walks on the same stretch of beach in the last 2 weeks. We had low enough tide on these days that we were able to walk among the rocks.

 

We start early (6:00 AM) so everything is pretty gray when we begin our walk.

 

 

The pools around the rocks are fun to explore.

 

A look back away from the water line.

 

Looking back a week before at a different spot. This week all the green was gone.

Here’s my friend Rocky. Can you see his eyes and nose?

 

Hubby walking among the rocks.

 

The sun is beginning to rise above the hills and shine on the water.

 

You can see the color change in my shots as the sun rises higher.

 

Now I’m off to see what others chose to share for R.

For more posts on the letter R take a trip to Mrs. Nesbitt’s.

Photobucket is holding all my photos from 2007-2015 hostage and they have blacked them all out. I’m slowly working at restoring my posts without their help. Such a tiresome bother!

A Solo Walk and My Average Steps

Last Wednesday inspired by Sara’s Walks around Long Beach and other towns, I decided to have a little walk around downtown Ventura and see what I could see.

 

I love how inviting this Rose Arbor and Gated entry are to this cute little house.

 

It’s a good idea to look up in downtown Ventura. Along Main Street there are a lot of older buildings that have some unique architecture and designs.

 

I was drawn to this arched doorway and the unique designs.

The upper window caught my eye. I wonder what the room is like up there. It seems like it could be a great bedroom for Anne of Green Gables.

 

This Historic Landmark Home has been turned into a restaurant.

It’s too bad the elaborate Schiappapietra Mansion is no longer standing.

 

The Restaurant is called Landmark No. 78. The bougainvillea arbor entry is in all its glory!

 

This next place I walked had an area that was called China Alley. My interest was piqued so I did a little research.

 

China Alley Memorial

The Chinese settlers arrived in Ventura in the 1860’s. They were highly skilled farmers and designed the irrigation system for the area. Approximately 200 of these Chinese immigrants lived in China Alley, located in front of the Ventura Mission. The Ventura fire department provided insufficient protection for their wooden shacks from fire, so they formed their own fire brigade.  They were also known to lend their services for other fires in the community.

With this solo walk and my daily walks with Willow this week my average steps were 11,118! On the Wednesday that I did this Ventura walk I also walked with Willow so that was a 13,707 step day and the rest of the days we walked I had over 10,000 steps.

My goal is to try to get over 10,000 a day. Some weeks just don’t work out that great but I still plan to walk everyday. It’s good for us women to keep moving…

Photobucket is holding all my photos from 2007-2015 hostage and they have blacked them all out. I’m slowly working at restoring my posts without their help. Such a tiresome bother!