A Day Off

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First off, I'd like to thank everybody for their kind comments regarding my stress with the house. I wish I could explain it better, I really am ready to divest myself of all this stuff, it's just the doing of it that gets to me.

Plus, we haven't worked in so long, we're both amazed at how easily we get tired, so it looks like it's going to be a long stretch. We will be actually living in the rig, as that seems so much more like home to us. That way, we can work in the house during the day then come "home" at night.

There are some advantages to being here. I really like having a washer and a dryer, plus, the large refrigerator makes grocery shopping easier.

And I love the shower . . .

But all in all, I'd rather be in New Mexico or on the road.

To reward ourselves for getting through our first week, we decided to take the day off, and take a look around Santa Cruz. I must say, not near as much has changed as we thought, and economically it doesn't look as depressed as many areas we've visited. Maybe that's a good sign.

We started off at the flea market, in search of a friend who will help us sell some of the pieces.

Wow, we haven't seen this in a while . . .

The abundance of ripe,
colorful fruits and vegetables
was a sight for sore eyes.

I love the citrus table.

After we found our friend,
we had a lovely breakfast,
and a long catch up talk.
Then we headed down towards Twin Lakes.

Lots of seagulls.
Not near as elegant
as the Sandhill Cranes,
but they'll do for photos.

This is not a great shot.
In my defense,
I didn't have my long lens with me,
and this guy was very far away.
And it's not exposed correctly
or in focus,
so why am I posting it?
If you enlarge it,
you'll see the detail on the wing.
I settle for what I can get.

Next we took a walk
on Pacific Garden Mall,
the outdoor center of
downtown Santa Cruz.

I saw this mannequin
in a window
and had to take a picture.

I cleaned it up a bit for this one.

Here's one more angle.
I may have to shoot this again.
I really like the face.

Next we took a look
inside the Del Mar Theatre.
It's one of those gorgeous
old movie palaces
restored to some of its' former glory.
Here's some details of the ceiling.

And here's one of the light fixtures
from the lobby.
They've done quite a nice job
with the restoration.

One final shot from the mall.
This is part of the exterior
of an old 1900s Bank of America building.
Now it's a natural food store.
Very Santa Cruz,
but I'm glad they left the exterior.

That's it for today,
tomorrow we're back to work.