This is one of those places that never seem to change — a little oasis of peace right in the center of the city of Menlo Park, a bedroom community for Silicon Valley tycoons. Every year, the shops have seasonal “themed” parties — Fall, Christmas.
The day she took these pictures was her birthday. She was with her son and daughter-in-law and Lucia.
Thank you to Life of B for reviving the Squares Challenge!
Oh, what fun. It is summer, self’s favorite time of year. It is hot as all get out, self is wearing a muumuu, she even wore it to go to a dentists appointment, and her dentist complimented her and asked where she got it.
This is wildfire season in California, and as a matter of fact there was a fire quite near her, just off Edgewood Road. But that was handled in three days. There’s another, bigger fire in Yosemite which is hopefully on its way to containment. There is a drought, so everyone’s been asked to limit watering to two days a week. Other than that, it’s been a good summer. Self has raised three new rose bushes and a bougainvillea in her backyard. And she’s been reading, a lot. In the past month: four Dr. Ruth Galloway mysteries, two Gone novels, Book One of Adrian Tchaikovsky’s The Final Architecture trilogy, and Where the Crawdads Sing (she’s still not sure if she’ll see the movie).
The guest host for this week’s Lens-Artists Photo Challenge is solaner, and the prompt is SUMMER VIBES:
Here are three little glimpses of self’s Summer of 2022:
Yesterday, son and Jennie and Lucia went for an outing to Allied Arts Guild in Menlo Park. Such beautiful gardens! Lucia particularly liked the water fountain. Self thinks this picture is perfect for Jez Braithwaite’s Water, Water Everywhere Challenge.
Listening to Bill Withers’ Ain’t No Sunshine.
It is son’s FIRST FATHER’S DAY, WOO HOO! Where does the time go.
Jumbotron on Jefferson Avenue says: SEVERE DROUGHT. LIMIT WATERING TO TWO DAYS A WEEK.
This is why self does all her watering by hand. And only at 10 p.m.
This morning, she was at the 9:35 a.m. screening of Top Gun: Maverick at the local Century 20. There were lots of people. She got peeved when someone came in late and sat right next to her. She prefers to keep at least one empty seat between her and the next person. So she moved. We are still in a pandemic!
After the movie (Really great. What a good actor Miles Teller is. And Jennifer Connolly is fantastic and beautiful. How many people know that she was an undergrad at Stanford? She was a transfer from Yale), self drove to Menlo Park Library and checked out yet another Dr. Ruth Galloway mystery.
Went home, resumed reading The Chalk Pit, which might be her favorite of the entire series (14 books and counting). p. 267, Nelson interviews a local theater director in his flat. The same director who is staging an Alice in Wonderland play featuring an adult Alice tripped out on acid (The staging of this play is one of the biggest running gags in this book)
It is pushing midnight. A local woman’s gone missing. The woman just happens to be the partner of one of self’s favorite minor characters, DI David Clough.
“All the cast get on well. Cassie seems close to Adrian Linley, who plays the Caterpillar, her father in the play. Flora Frampton, who plays the Queen of Hearts, she mothers everybody, and Darrell Shaw . . . ” he pauses.
“Yes? What about Darrell Shaw?”
“He’s a young actor. Very talented. Plays the Gryphon, the Mad Hatter and the Cheshire Cat. I just have a feeling that he has rather a crush on Cassie.”
“Does she have a crush back?”
“No.” Leo sounds quite shocked. “She seems blissfully happy with that oafish policeman partner.” He stops. “Oh, I’m sorry . . . “
Nelson hangs on to his stiff upper lip. LOL LOL LOL
Waiting in some excitement for the Juneteenth concert at the Hollywood Bowl to begin. CNN is carrying it live.
Stay tuned, dear blog readers. Stay tuned.
Moss-covered tree trunk, southern Ireland (near Cork)
Side-yard gate, Menlo Park, California
Carmel backyard on a fog-shrouded morning in July
Still playing catch-up! Marsha Ingrao explains the Photographing Public Art Challenge on her blog, Always Writes.
For this post, self has decided to focus on Garden Art. Well, not sure they rise to the level of Art. But they are man-made and have a certain aesthetic of beauty.
The hanging heart and the Buddha planter are both in self’s front yard.
The hanging wind chimes are from a garden in Carmel.
The fence with bottles is from a friend’s backyard in Menlo Park.
Hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas! Here’s hoping everyone has a wonderful, safe New Year’s!
Every day this April, a BRIGHT SQUARE.
Learn more about the challenge here.
Self took the pictures below in Afterwards, a vintage clothing and furniture store in Menlo Park. She was on her way to the Rodin Sculpture Garden at Stanford, but her attention was caught by the big globe hanging in the window. So she decided to investigate.
The store is huge! And full of one-of-a-kind pieces. So much more fun than shopping in a department store.
Self and the woman there had a nice conversation about Louise Penny.
Squares in Picture # 1: the McDonald’s awning? The shape of the building?
Squares in Picture # 2: The chair back is sort of — squar-ish?
Stay safe, dear blog readers. Stay safe.
Photo challenges are life!
Nancy Merrill hosts A Photo a Week Challenge. This week’s theme is:
This picture is of the nearest independent bookstore to self’s house: Kepler’s Books in Menlo Park. Still going strong. Self gave her first local reading here:
Stay safe, dear blog readers. Stay safe.
Thanks again to Cee Neuner for the always-interesting photo challenges.
Self went through her archives. These are pictures that weren’t intentionally black and white, they just became that way because of the conditions of the light. They all date from 2019, the last year that self was traveling.
Top:
Cork, Ireland: hallway to apartment above Café Paradiso
Bottom Row, L to R:
Kepler’s Books, Menlo Park, California; driving from Santa Fe to Albuquerque, New Mexico, three days after Christmas 2019, with son and his in-laws
The squares in the New Mexico pictures are at the very bottom: the road signs. Or the highway leading to a vanishing point: a triangle?
Stay safe, dear blog readers. Stay safe.
Discovered another Photo Challenge! This one’s from Buddha Walks Into a Wine Bar, and it’s called Challenge Your Camera.
This week’s Challenge Your Camera (# 11) is STILL LIFE.
Here are a few pointers for the Challenge:
So, here are self’s still lifes, all of which she pulled from her archives. They’re mostly food-related.
Still Life # 1: Self loves farmers markets. The ones in her area are held on Sundays. She bought these mushrooms at the Menlo Park Farmers Market. This picture’s from a few weeks ago. The farmers markets stayed open throughout the pandemic, and self went regularly (of course masked). Her last COVID test was ten days ago, and that was negative.
Still Life # 2: Shoreditch, East London, November 2019. She doesn’t think she’ll be able to get back to London until late 2022, at the very soonest. In the meantime, she has a huge trove of photographs from her last visit. Someone with a sense of humor left this on a window ledge.
Still Life # 3: Her last visit home was September 2019. She spent her time in Dear Departed Dad’s hometown of Bacolod, and spent a few nights in a city close by: Silay. And ate herself into a food coma. All the variety of food made from rice! These are just two examples, and they’re from the public market.
Stay safe, dear blog readers. Stay safe.
Kanlaon 