May 24, 2020 at 3:17 pm (Flowers, fpj-photo-challenge, Holidays, Links, Lists, postaday, Sundays)
Tags: California, flower photography, Garden
As many countries are opening up a bit from lock-down, and I was inspired by the soft glory of spring nature in my part of the world, I thought we would indulge in some Delicate Colours! They are everywhere in nature, but also to be found anywhere you look, in for example fashion, art and architecture. — Leya
Self is always happy to participate in a Photo Challenge. Anything to distract from Shelter-in-Place, entering the third month here in the San Francisco Bay Area.
First: HAPPY MEMORIAL DAY!
To everyone who has a loved one in this fight, or has lost a loved one, blessings.
Hydrangeas on Front Porch: May 2020
Iceberg Roses in Front Yard, May 2020
Looking at the Garden from the Kitchen Window, 24 May 2020. The curtains were from World Market, which has since closed.
Look at these beautiful galleries:
Stay safe, dear blog readers. Stay safe.
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May 19, 2020 at 7:22 pm (Food and Drink, Holidays, Links, Places)
Tags: breakfast, California, Cee Neuner, Christmas, Filipino food, memories, nostalgia, The Philippines
Let’s nose around in our archives or sniff out new photos that are related to the sense of Smelling. Be creative and have fun.
— Cee Neuner
Self found this Foto Challenge more than usually, er, challenging. She’s trying to keep her mind off food — for the first six weeks of the shelter-in-place, that was all she thought about, with disastrous consequences. And her roses don’t give off scent — mebbe it’s the type of soil? Even her Sheila’s Perfume rose has no perfume!
Anyhoo, after some determined hunting, she managed to come up with three photos:
- Fried chorizo for breakfast in the island of Negros, central Philippines:
- A fresh-cut Christmas tree makes all the difference. Self got hers from Wegman’s, a local nursery:
- Just before shelter-in-place, self had her front door and front porch painted. The smell of fresh paint is the memory of singular happiness:
Stay safe, dear blog readers.
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May 5, 2020 at 9:12 pm (Books, Recommended)
Tags: California, humor, memories, nature writing, reading lists, San Diego
Mama’s Last Hug: Animal Emotions and What They Tell Us About Ourselves, p. 80:
- This was how I first learned this species’ typical sounds and other forms of communication, and also how to act like an ape, which is really not that hard given that humans are essentially apes.
Just for fun, a picture of self at the San Diego Zoo, probably circa 1980?
The bag she’s toting is a Louis Vuitton knockoff from the Philippines.
She had a number of those, if she recalls correctly.
Stay tuned.
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April 3, 2020 at 1:55 pm (Flowers, postaday)
Tags: California, Cee Neuner, Fridays, Garden, Redwood City, seasons, spring
Self’s topic is WHITE.
There are many white flowers in her Redwood City garden, blooming now. Such as:
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April 1, 2020 at 1:52 am (Flowers, fpj-photo-challenge, Links)
Tags: California, clematis, Garden, Redwood City, seasons, spring
- As we continue to connect around the globe, and Spring has started in the Northern hemisphere, I thought it might be time for a fresh outlook. That’s why I thought it might be good to set this week’s them to that of Hope! With the new season and lengthening daylight, each of us can feel a bit more hopeful about what lies ahead. Your challenge is to capture Hope in a manner that speaks to you in your posts and to spread as much hope as possible across this globe of ours! — Tuesday Photo Challenge, 31 March 2020
This, too, shall pass.
Self knows.
Just look at all the plants in her garden, starting to come back, starting to put out blooms. The maples, the roses, and the clematis looked like sticks all winter.
Japanese Maples are leafing out.
Clematis montana rubens is starting to bloom.
This cistus (rock rose) was the first of her plants to bloom.
Stay tuned, stay safe, and stay hopeful!
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March 12, 2020 at 9:52 pm (Links, Recommended)
Tags: advice, California, medicine, Redwood City, wisdom
Here’s the link The Telegraph sent out: Anna Magee’s Guide to Boosting Your Immune System.
Ignore POTUS speeches also. You’ll just end up more confused.
Look at flowers. Think Peace. Feel Love.
Backyard, Redwood City, 7 a.m.
Stay tuned.
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February 21, 2020 at 4:36 am (Artists and Writers, Books, Conversations, destinations, Weather, Women Writers)
Tags: California, English writers, Garden, novel, reading lists, seasons, spring
c. 1948: Rose and Cassandra are daughters of an impoverished father (he’s a writer, what do you expect) and he has moved them and their stepmother, Topaz, to a dilapidated castle in the country.
The author, Dodie Smith, is English but wrote this novel in Malibu (She’s long gone, in case you were wondering)
Self started this book six days ago and is only up to pp. 43 – 44. There’s hardly any drama yet.
“There’s quite a bit of spring in the air to-night,” I told her. “You go out and smell it.”
Rose never gets emotional about the seasons so she took no notice, but Topaz went to the door at once and flung it open. Then she threw her head back, opened her arms wide and took a giant breath.
“It’s only a whiff of spring, not whole lungs full,” I said, but she was too rapt to listen. I quite expected her to plunge into the night, but after some more deep breathing she went upstairs to try on her tea-gown.
“It beats me,” said Rose. “After all this time, I still don’t know if she goes on that way because she really feels like it, if she’s acting to impress us, or just acting to impress herself.”
“All three,” I said. “And as it helps her to enjoy life, I don’t blame her.”
The novel’s been inspiring her to spend more time in her backyard. The gorgeous weather helps. The scrawny lemon tree has five fat lemons.
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February 12, 2020 at 11:39 pm (Food and Drink, fpj-photo-challenge, Links, Lists, Places, postaday, Recommended, Traveling)
Tags: California, elections, farmers markets, fast food, London, Manila, politics, restaurants
There’s always plenty of action around us, so your challenge is to share some of your best captures of that action with all your blogging friends.
— Tuesday Photo Challenge
Ever since self’s Nikon Coolpix stopped working, she hasn’t taken as many pictures. Taking pictures with her Android is such a bear! Nevertheless, she did manage to take some action pictures:
- Top Picture: San Mateo Farmers Market, the Yang Gang, January 2020
- Middle Picture: On the street in front of Ottolenghi in Spitalfields, East London, Nov 2019
- Bottom Picture: Jollibee Hamburger, a little past midnight, Manila, September 2019
Stay tuned, dear blog readers. Stay tuned.
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February 6, 2020 at 4:59 am (Artists and Writers, destinations, Flowers, fpj-photo-challenge, Links, Places, postaday, Recommended, Surprises, Weather)
Tags: art, California, exhibits, Garden, museums, Redwood City
Self loves the idea of REST.
REST is crucial to her creativity.
Recently, she had an opportunity to see an amazing exhibit at the Bakersfield Museum of Art:
Night. Rest. Nocturnes. What a beautiful theme.
Not to mention: The paintings she saw were otherworldy, powerful in their depictions of this special and mysterious time of day.
For instance, Jessica Dunne’s, which showed a San Francisco street in fog:
Just after she drove down to Bakersfield, the Bay Area had a brief string of sunny days. Gorgeous! Self went to the backyard, for the first time in weeks, and saw an eight-foot-high bush completely covered in bright, yellow flowers. So many flowers, she could barely see the green.
What is the reason for such a ridiculous display, flowers? She never fertilizes and barely waters. This is a common euryops, which is the landscape plant of choice for new subdivisions. But she’s never seen them throw out flowers in a display so in-your-face! That’s the ony way she can think to describe it. It is so overpoweringly extra. She took this picture early in the morning:
Euryops, February 2020
Stay tuned, dear blog readers. Stay tuned.
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January 20, 2020 at 8:10 pm (Books, destinations, fpj-photo-challenge, Holidays, Links, Places, postaday, Recommended, Traveling, Weather)
Tags: Albuquerque, California, memories, Menlo Park, Mondays, New Mexico, photography, websites
Leading lines carry our eyes through a photograph. They help to tell a story, to place emphasis, and to draw a connection between objects. — Tina R. Schell on the blog Travels and Trifles: Expressing Thought Through Photography
Self loved the quote from Pete Bridgewood:
- Unlike the painter who starts with a blank canvas and builds up his image by the addition of paint, as photographers we work in the other direction.
The photos below are from December 2019, during which, as usual, self did a lot of traveling.
Old Albuquerque, December 2019
On the I-25 from Santa Fe to Albuquerque, 27 December 2019
Kepler’s Books, Downtown Menlo Park, December 2019
Thanks for the interesting prompt, Lens-Artists!
Stay tuned.
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