Feathers and Fur

.
As I mentioned yesterday, we took today off, although like usual, we got off to a late start.

We spent a bit of time driving around,then finally ended up at the wharf (again) so be prepared, there are LOTS of pictures in this post!

Now most of you know that I haven't been taking a lot of pictures lately, and truthfully, I've forgotten almost everything I had learned last year when I was shooting with the new camera at the Bosque.

When I have been shooting, I've been using the stock lens that came with my Canon 7D, but today I decided to pull out the long lens (a Canon EF 70-300mm IS USM lens), which is a bit trickier but is much better for long shooting, and especially for birds.

To my surprise, some of the pictures came out fine. Others weren't exactly what I was expecting, but I liked the results and decided to work with them. I guess I'll have to study up on f stops and depth of field again!

So here we go. . .
A view from the wharf
looking out to Lighthouse Point.
Once again, I was shooting
straight into the sun.
the lighting you see is courtesy
of my computer.


The Santa Cruz Wharf
is a favorite resting place for sea lions.
This shot is a bit noisy
but I was standing on the wharf
shooting down into the dark,
where the lions like to nap.


This shot had a bit
better lighting.


A close up.
I think they have the sweetest faces.


Some of them sleep in the sun,
others like the shade.


This is a kind of strange shot
but for some reason I like the look of it
so I'm including it here.


This sailboat was way out there.
That's Monterey on the far shore.


Here we go with the gulls.


I'm going to have to
practice different settings
if I want to get
really clear closeups.


It would be nice if I could remember
the bird settings
for the new camera . . .


There was a flock of pigeons.
(is a bunch of pigeons called a flock?
Nope, I just looked it up.
It's a kit or a loft.)


This guy thinks he's an eagle.


Or a turkey.


Back to the sea lions.
This one I caught mid-yawn.


While this isn't a really clear shot,
i like the movement in the water.


This guy was posing
with the Boardwalk in the background.

I don't remember
there ever being this many
brown seagulls before.
Now they seem to be about even
with the whites.
They do have great markings though.
Notice this guys fancy footwork.



The Giant Dipper,
thrill of my youth.


One good thing about the long lens,
I can get really sharp closeups
(when I can hold the camera steady).
I love the yellow around their eyes.


The line up.


Close up of a brown.


I believe this is a young one,
plump and fuzzy.


Showing off,


The browns have
really stunning markings.


Remember, you can click any inage
and see it much larger.


There was a haze in the air
that made for some unusual light.


I couldn't decide which version
I liked better,
so I've included both.


One final shot,
this one was dancing for snacks.


We had such a good time,
we may take another day off tomorrow.

Some Photos and Some Frustration . . .

.

I'll start with a few more pictures
of some of my "treasures"

*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-

This is a piece
I bought some thirty years ago.

It's an original pen and ink with watercolor accents. It's on some kind of light drawing paper, and I've never been able to learn anything about it. It was matted when I bought it and I've never had it apart, so I'm unsure if there's a signature. The piece is quite large.

I love this style of art, very much like the work of Charles Dana Gibson of Gibson Girl fame.

*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-

Next I'll share a strange piece
I bought from a lovely woman who collected
primitive and tribal art.

It's a hand carved wooden headpiece that she told me was from Africa, although I have no proof of that. I just bought it because I liked the chicken on his head!

*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-

Most of my regular readers know that we collected Disney for a really long time (like 30-40 years). I have a massive Disney collection, much of which I will be selling through a friend of mine.

I have always been particularly fond of very early Disneyland pieces, like from 1955 (the opening year) to the mid 60s. Here's just a minuscule part of that early Disneyland collection.

The dwarfs in the back are all pencil holders, sold individually. As far as I know these were the only four they made. Dopey is the most common. The little jugs are my favorite kind of piece, just blank souvenir ware that was marked for sale at different locations. These pieces tend to be quite rare. There's also the badge from a Disneyland Railroad Conductor's hat. And if you look really close, in the back, the blue and pink piece is a set of plastic silverware celebrating Baby Weems. In addition to Disneyland, I also liked collecting pieces from obscure Disney shorts (and Baby Weems is pretty darned obscure!).

*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-

Next is an off kilter shot (more of my bad photography) of Adriana Caselotti, the voice of Snow White. She was a dear lady who used to love to come to Disney conventions back in the old days. As you can see, they based some of the character on her lovely face.

*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-

And now that I've shared a few photos, allow me a small rant-

I'm very frustrated!

We are slowly making progress on weeding through the million and one things in the house. In the process, we're finding lots of things we just don't need, but can't find anyone who is willing to take them. We keep hearing hoe bad everything is, yet we can find no one who will take a king size dual control Craft-Matic type bed. Wouldn't you think a women's shelter or a homeless shelter would have some use for this? Even if they didn't want the mattress the bed itself is in excellent working condition!

Everyone says we should try Craig's List or Freecycle, but the truth is is it's such a mess here, we really don't want people coming to the house, so it looks like it will go to the dump. What a waste of a good bed, not to mention the landfill and the materials that someone could use.

I also have a lot of shampoos, creams, etc, many of them unused, but unless they are completely unopened, no one will take them. Wouldn't you think someone could use these?

And don't get me started on the food, which we have already had to throw away.

All right, rant over!

*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-

The good news is we are making some progress, slow but steady. I spent all day today going through three huge boxes of vintage jewelry that I will be taking to a local dealer. Lots of memories there, and some of it I will just have to keep. I dearly love the look of the old stuff, there is an intricacy that just isn't in a lot of jewelry these days. I guess most things today are mass produced, whereas I love the old tiny hand made pieces. Good thing most of it is quite small.

We've decided to take tomorrow as a day off. We figure we'll get in the car with the cameras, wander around and see what has changed in the years we've been gone. Maybe that will help remind us what we loved about this area for so many years.

Of course when we loved it here, there weren't anywhere near as many people as there are now. The sheer numbers combined with the traffic is a real turn off for us.

That said, the traffic is so bad, it keeps us working on the house more, so maybe that's a good thing.

Tomorrow night I'll share some photos of the area.

Life is Good!

.

Hey look what I found
in amongst
our gazillion pieces of paper!

His name is Castor Pernell.
Apparently
he worked at a radio station
somewhere in the midwest
who knows when.

He is one happy chappy,
don't you think so?
This is going up in Cholula Red!

And Life is indeed, very good.

Today

.
Boy, talking about memories, today I am positively flooded.

I found a binder from my Junior year in high school. I certainly must have been boy crazy back then, because I found three different boys names written all throughout the binder. The worst part is I can't remember a thing about any of them! There's a Home-Ec project about my plans for the future. I wrote about marrying one of these guys (I named him, but it means nothing to me, does this mean I'm getting old?).

Apparently the plan was for us to get married, drive a VW bus and live in Big Sur, where we ran an art gallery while he painted and I made jewelry.

At least the jewelry part is sort of true. What a hoot.

I also found a box of old keepsakes, including my braids. My Mother never cut my hair until I was five or six years old. When I finally went for my first beauty salon visit, she had them cut my braids and save them for me. I've kept them all these years, I don't know why . . .

The following has hung in my bathroom for years. It's a simple greeting card I matted and took to my friends Wayne and Russi for signatures.

This I will be keeping.

I've collected jelly glasses for years. I love their diminutive size and the colorful graphics. I'll be saving some of these and just posting pictures of others. Mostly these stand just about four inches tall and contained jam or jelly. The glass was a free bonus.

I wish they still did this
instead of just using glass jars.

Here's a piece I'm undecided about (but again, I love this face). He's actually an inkwell. I found him when I was 17 at a flea market and he's been with me all these years.

He'll probably go in the keeper box.

This is just a small bit of the shelves above my computer desk. It's completely filled with smalls (as you can see). Most of these will go, but I'll be keeping Little Hiawatha and the bunny.


Wow, I seem to be taking pictures of the things I want to keep rather than the stuff I'll be letting go of. I guess this proves I really am ready to let go of most of it.

This last photo was a complete surprise. Neither of us remember when it was taken, but it was a long time ago.

Who is that guy with the Afro??
Were we ever this young?

These kind of finds make this a lot of fun. We've decided it will just take as long as it takes and we might as well settle into it and enjoy the ride.

Followers, etc.

.
I just wanted to thank all of you who have chosen to follow the blog, I find it very encouraging. As I've written before, I'm sometimes unsure of my readership and knowing there are people following keeps me posting on a regular basis.

Also, those of you who use my Amazon link (to the left). It seems that some of you have bookmarked it and are using it for your Amazon purchases. This usually brings us 4% and costs you nothing.

I do appreciate all of you!
Now, back to our
regularly scheduled programming

A Day Off

.
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.

Memories

.
Wow, I have just been flooded with memories lately.

First off, there are the goats, Henry and Lulu.

While we've remembered them fondly (knowing they were in the loving and capable hands of our friend Sandee) I really had forgotten how very entertaining they are. Not that they seem to remember us too well, but they will come and greet us and seem really happy when we feed them.

That's Henry on the left and Miss Lu on the right.

But really it's the house that brings up so many memories, mostly good. I will have to say that I am once again amazed at the sheer volume of stuff we have acquired (and much of it brought to our union by me, so Terry is much less culpable than me).

Now everyone says they have a lot of stuff, but most people feel much better about themselves and their belongings once they see this place!

Background: I have always had the gift of finding great things at reasonable (if not ridiculously low) prices. Even when I was a young teenager, bargains just seemed to come to me. Or maybe it's that I am blessed with a good eye. Combine that with a real talent for the impulse buy and the result is that when you reach your 60s, you have a ton of stuff! If not for the intrinsic value, we would just walk away from it all, but the reality is that's just not an option.

So the plan is we will box up what I would like to keep for a later date (this really won't be a lot, but there is some artwork and some smalls I will be keeping), then, when that is done, we will have an estate dealer come in and handle the rest.

But before we can really get down to any of that, there's a ton of cleaning to do, both in the house and in the yard. Not something either one of us wants to do, but it must be done.

Then, before the estate folks come in, I really do want to go through most of it. There are family items and such that have been packed away and they seem to have gotten mixed up with all the other "stuff". So I think I'll have to go through it all.

And that's where the memories come in. When and where I got it, the people I met through it, the history of the pieces, it just sends me off in a thousand different directions.

I wish I could explain the pleasure I get from small things, but it really is indescribable. I have a fascination with tiny old pieces of ceramic and pottery.

I look at them and I see that once, a distant time ago, someone, a real live person had this in their hand and painted that tiny face, infused it with their own personality. Does that make sense? It certainly does to me.

I bought this guy in Disneyland
at the One of a Kind Shop
some 45 ears ago.

At that time, the One of a Kind Shop in New Orleans Square was a true treasure store, with individual pieces that the buyers has searched near and far for to stock the store. This was the first netsuke I had ever seen, and it started a whole collection. What I really like is when you tip him forward, his eye pops out of his head, cool, huh?

That's kind of the story of my life, I find one unique piece and it leads in a whole new direction.

There's also art, books, vintage paper, old kitchen pieces, linens, hats, purses, jewelry, the list goes on and on.

It truly does seem like a huge deal.

That said, I see very little of it that I need to keep, but I will take some time looking at each piece and remembering.

And maybe posting more pictures, just for memories sake.

Well, Here We Are . . .

.
Let me preface this entry by saying that I try hard to be pretty positive most of the time, but geez, I guess I know now why we stayed away so long.

Terry and I both feel like we're currently in some kind of eerie limbo . . .

We're back in a house that we lived in for thirty years, but it feels in no way like home.

The faucets turn the wrong way.

The kitchen is HUGE and I can't find a thing.

Did I ever love cooking here?

Where is the cutting board?

Why is the garbage so far from the sink?

Is there any salt at all in this kitchen?

Where are the paper towels?

Does this old computer really not have a wireless card?

And where is Terry? We seem to be miles apart, each doing something different, and, after all this time, I have to say, it's pretty strange.

Somehow, I can't escape the feeling that this is going to take a lot longer than we thought.

Wish us luck, we have LOTS to do.

Anyone want to buy a house?