Flowers, Pelicans, a Bee and Enrique!

Sometimes I think we have to make big old plans 

for a day to be special.

That said, in my heart,
I know that's not the case.

Today was a perfect example.

Our big plans were to go to the Post Office, 

then to Costco for a few essentials.

Our local Post Office does a lovely job on their flowers.

Poppies always make me smile.

Disneyland used to plant yellow and purple flowers

 at the entrance to Tomorrowland.  

It was a color scheme that I always loved 

and whenever I see it, 

it strikes a chord.

Wow, I FINALLY got a half way decent picture of a bee!

(Click to Enlarge).

 

On the way to Costco, 

I asked Terry if we could swing by West Cliff Drive, 

since there seemed to be flowers 

blooming everywhere.

He thought that was a great idea.

Once out by the ocean, 

we decided to stop by the gardens 

at the Shrine of Saint Joseph

We love these gardens, 

they're right on the ocean, 

and the array of flowers is just amazing.

We wandered around, 

smelling the sweet air and snapping pictures.

Terry took this with his phone.

Pansies make me happy,

I love their happy little faces.

Is this beautiful or what?

Another shot from Terry's phone.

Look at these colors!

More pansies, 

my colors again.

As we wandered, a gentleman came up 

and asked if we were enjoying the gardens.  

We told him we always do!  

He seemed quite pleased
and told us they were his work.

We were blown away!  

He started this endeavor only eight years ago 

and the whole thing has been done with cuttings.

As we chatted, 

our appreciation of the gardens 

grew by leaps and bounds.  

He asked if we'd like to see something special 

and of course, we said yes.  

He took us around to the front of one of the residences, 

made us climb some steps 

and not turn around till he told us to.

When we turned around, 

this was what we saw. 

(Click to Enlarge).

Can you imagine being here 

every single day?

Terry went across the street and took this shot

from the front of the residence 

(using his iPhone and AutoStitch).

And I took this picture of Enrique 

in front of some of his most beautiful flowers.

What a delight he was, 

we will certainly visit him again.

Being right on the ocean, 

I had to try for a few pelican shots.

These aren't pelicans, 

but I liked the silhouette,

Then I tried to shoot both flowers 

and the ocean behind them.

The ocean kind of got lost.

If I could live right here,

I might stay in California forever.

More not pelicans

Not a great shot, 

but he seemed to love 

soaring close to the waves.

I believe this is a baby brown.

Coming in for a landing.

And finally, a shot I'm happy with.

So this little sojourn turned into a wonderful day.  

We had glorious weather, 

saw beautiful flowers, 

made a new friend 

and got to photograph some of my favorite bird.

Like I say

a Day Off

.
We've been really busy with the house, moving right along. Yesterday, we had to run errands, including delivering a lot of things we're disposing of.

Since we were downtown in Santa Cruz and it was an absolutely beautiful day, we went out to lunch.The restaurant had a wonderful garden, showing the promise of spring and all its wonders to come.

I'm not sure what these are,
but aren't they beautiful?

I think he's beautiful too.

I also liked the artwork in the restaurant.

We discovered a new discount store where they sell closeouts from other venues. Apparently, they buy leftovers from Costco, as they had a box of 42 packs of coffee from Costco. These are the pouches where each one is good for a pot of coffee. The box holds a total of four and one half pounds of coffee, and they were selling the boxes at $6.50 each! We bought one, came home and checked it out and immediately decided that at that price we should pick up a few more.

Today was another beautiful day, and we decided we were due a full day off.

First we went down and bought more coffee, what a great deal.

We hadn't decided what to do for the rest of the day when the store owners said they had another branch up in Half Moon Bay. Since that's a perfect day trip for us, we decided to head up the coast and see what they had.

The store wasn't great,
but what a wonderful day we had!

The weather alternated
between blue skies and overcast clouds.

We decided to take a side trip
and give the tiny town of Pescadero a look-see.
We started at a restaurant
we've been meaning to try
where they serve cream of artichoke soup.
When we got there,
we saw they also have cream of green chile soup!
Terry had the green chile
and I had a combination of artichoke and green chile.
YUM!

Afterwards, we took a look around the town.
They have a wonderful old cemetery.

I've never seen a tiki in a cemetery before . . .

All up and down the coast,
the poppies and mustard were in bloom

These chickens seem to love the mustard leavings.

I can't seem to resist taking pictures of chickens.

Well, roosters, actually.

When we got back out to the coast,
the sky was dark,
but every once in a while
the sun would break through.

It was a great day.

Tomorrow, it's back to the grind.
Still,

the Court of the Mysteries

.
Since we've been back in Santa Cruz, we've been trying to remember where a certain place was located.

Named the Court of Mysteries, it's a perfect place to take pictures. At least it used to be.

Today, we accidentally happened on it, only to find it abandoned and in dire disrepair. Still, I got out and did my best to get a few shots. The sky was overcast, so some of these are pretty blown out, apologies.

In case you're interested
in the history of this fascinating place,
you can read about it here

or here.

The buildings are decorated with abalone shell.

Wow,
abalone shell is really hard to photograph!

I'd love to get inside these buildings.

And of you'd like to purchase this unique property,

it's for sale for a mere $2,750.000.
The listing is here.

I couldn't leave

without just one flower shot . . .

That's it for today.

It"s a Coot

.
Geez, I just don't have a lot to write these days.

That said, I thought I'd let everybody know that the bird with the funny feet is a Coot.

I found that out using one of my iPad apps, duh!

Painting on the iPad

.
I've always wanted to paint. Unfortunately, I seem to be missing the 'artistic" gene. At one point, I invested a considerable amount of dollars in water color supplies, only to discover I just didn't have what it took. My loss, the thrift stores gain.

I've also tried painting on my Mac, but couldn't seem to master what it took.

Next, I tried various painting apps on my iPad, using my photographs as a basis for the painting. Again, I just couldn't seem to get it.

Then today, I found an app called PhotoViva, and Wowee Zowee!

While it's not real painting, it comes darn close. And since I'm starting with my own pictures, I'm taking credit for them, maybe not as paintings but as some form of digital art.

I may even print some of them on different kinds of photo paper and see what results I can get.

All of these should be enlarged (by clicking) so you can see the details.

Here's the original photograph

My first attempt

Try Number 2

Moving Towards Watercolor

Watercolor

Wet Watercolor

Expect to see more of this in the future
because I love this app!

Best $2 I've ever spent.