More Doggies

Amigo


Mick


Brody


Rudy


Dukie and Reesie with silly faces

Playing around with my camera....

Mist on the camera made it look like snow!


Sunset at Dog Beach in Del Mar, with Reese


Kellogg Beach


Partial doggie faces


Do you remember chewing on Sour Grass as a kid?

I used to love it.
I guess adults now put it in salads.
My mom couldn't believe I would buy a weed at the Farmer's Market, but it filled me with good memories.
And it's pretty.

Timeless

It's so exciting, in moments when I'm cruising through blog sites or websites, or Flickr, and I come across an idea that just makes me stop and say, "wow".

Like this photograph by Andrea, aka abracapocus pocuscadabra on Flickr (used with permission)
Andrea made a dress from an old historical pattern, then the photo was deconstructed in Photoshop CS3 to make it look weathered.

And this photo, taken in an orchard.
The dress is another vintage pattern.

I love this idea of making an image timeless.
The year is in question--it could be decades past.
I love the simplicity of it, the gentleness, the sweet innocence.

Pig Noses

Photo Friday is about an hour and a half early this week.

This is a pic from my friend debs' wedding.

A group of elegantly dressed bridesmaids, donning pig noses.
(no, we did not walk down the aisle like that)
You'll have to click on the photo to enlarge it--flickr doesn't size horizontals well.

I am on the very left, then Tomi Jo, Janice (in gold because she sang at the wedding), and the maid of honor was Tracie.
Our hair is back in ponytails fastened with velvet bows.
We wore velvet gloves, satin skirts, and carried red tulips with shimmering leaves brushed with gold leaf.

The bride and groom were married in front of a Christmas tree at the historic US Grant Hotel in downtown San Diego.
Favors on the tables were little presents--black and white boxes of chocolate truffles.

Debs is traveling in Europe right now with her son, so I couldn't ask her to remind me of the year she married, but I'll take a guess and say it was December 1987.

The bride and groom honeymooned in Europe (debs loves Europe), and waltzed in Vienna on New Years Eve.
Ah....so romantic.

Wow, more than 20 years ago.
Time just zooms by...

Photo Friday

(click on image to enlarge)
EEK...
did I really wear that????
Spandex daisy leggings with MATCHING EARRINGS!!
oversized shirt
Fanny pack
braces on my teeth
weird curls in my bangs
Good Lord...
With debs, Tomi Jo, and Tracie at the Del Mar Fair, 1991

Never tear up your photos--you never know how much laughter they'll bring later.
Or how often you'll say "wow...I looked pretty good there!" (uh...not this time, lol)

Photo Friday

A nameless person shot this photo, probably on a 110 camera, with my friend Sue and me off in one corner.

We were 18 and on our first big adventure...a long drive to Long Beach and a boat ride to Catalina Island.

I've known Sue since the fourth grade.
Her mom was like a second mom for me.
Our friendship has survived despite attending different high schools, then her move out of California when we were juniors.

That was over three decades ago.
I really need to take a trip to Catalina again.
And this time I won't wear a silly hat.

Photo Friday

Me, in Amish country, 1984.

I helped a friend drive across country to attend Boston College.
Pennsylvania was so green.
I was fascinated by the Amish, who offered fresh eggs and produce for sale at their barns, and the quilts everywhere.
I remember the children played with toy plows.
Someday I'll return, browse the many antique shops, and maybe take in a quilt show.

Photo Friday

(click on image to enlarge)
Oh my, that's me, turning around.
Working at a grocery store waaaaay back in the day.

Note the good ol' bi-level haircut.
That's what it was called then, and it was a stylin' way to go, let me tell you.
Today it would be a mullet, and not so stylin. Ha!

I've recently reconnected with a former co-worker, and it's fun walking down memory lane.
Even more fun getting reacquainted.

Memories...

This morning I picked up the phone, as I have done countless times since forever, and I dialed 853-1212.
Instead of "at the tone, Pacific Standard time will be..."
I got a message saying that as of September 19, the time service will no longer be in effect.
Whaaaaaa?
It's like a piece of my childhood vanished or something.
I mean, some things you just expect will always be there.

Yes, I have a clock, but I like to verify it every once and awhile.

But speaking of jolts of childhood angst,
the weekend before last was my high school reunion.
It was held at the Hard Rock Cafe in La Jolla.

I didn't attend.

As much as I loved high school, reunions are all about show-and-tell, and
"look how far I've come"...
and, honestly, I don't have anything to say.

I don't mean to be dour here but, no home, no husband, no kids, no great job doesn't bode well.
Don't get me wrong, I believe in myself as a person...
I just don't look good on paper, as it were.

What has been interesting though, is that a few people have contacted me,
saying they missed me.
And photos of the event have been online to browse through.

This is all churning up all sorts of strange emotions in me.

I dug a bit into storage and pulled out a few pics of memory lane.
I still have boxes of old diaries to sort through.
I can't even fathom the drama recorded in there, but I'm looking forward to finding out what I had to say.

Me, the last day of 9th grade after a whipped cream attack.
Note the fuzzy 110 camera.
Uh, yeah, I just dated myself with that comment.


Sophomore year, a sort-of modeling pose shot by some guy at my church.

An artist friend of mine at the time later copied this in charcoal.
I took it to another friend to get framed and never got it back.
I still know the framer, so I'll have to retrieve it.
Kind-of a fun thing to have.

Swim Team Float cruising down Casa de Oro in Spring Valley.
I can't remember what grade this was (junior?).
It is amazing how many details I have forgotten.

(click on pic and 'all sizes' for zoom)

I'm seated in the center with my mouth open.
I was no doubt yelling some cheer.
By senior year I was up for 'most school spirit', but lost out to a cheerleader.
I never did make the cheer squad, sigh.

Modern Dance summer show "the Train".

(again, click on pic then on 'all sizes' above pic on Flickr page to zoom)

This is just a print off the negative, but I'm on the far right in the dark leotard.
That leotard rocked--it was navy blue and a wrap style.
Modern dance at my school was a huge big deal.
I was the first person at the school to dance with a guy at the annual show.
We got a standing ovation.
He and I used to win all sorts of awards at under-21 clubs at the time
(Journey, for those of you who were there back in the day).

Good times. Literally.

Photo Friday

Another anonymous man, painting in his backyard.
These images fascinate me--moments captured of people making art.

The man I purchased this image from said it was from the 1930's.

Photo Friday

Though it's dark, I just love this image.
Dog looking out a window, Germany, 1956.
ebay purchase.

Photo Friday

Having a street artist sketch my portrait, in Cannes, France many years ago.

Careful observance

I'm near-sighted, so often times I don't look around enough...I can't see everything.
But when I do notice small details: a play of light and shadow, an interesting reflection, a juxtaposition of color...
I become overwhelmed, fascinated, obsessive.

I want to notice the fine points in the life, like what Andrea talks about.

I was in the PL bagel shop in Point Loma last year, sitting at a cafe table enjoying a cheesy melt on an everything bagel (a little slice of Heaven right there), when I looked up and noticed the sunlight coming through the painted sign on the window was casting the letters onto the plain white counter.

(you can click on the image to enlarge. The icon 'all sizes' over Flickr images enables you to resize them)

Something about this just sends me.
Not too shabby considering it was taken with my cheap camera phone.

Or recently when my mom and I attended a quilt show at the Convention Center in Ontario, we were sitting down for lunch and I started noticing all sorts of wonderful geometric shapes in the shadows.
And the view from the lobby to the trees blowing in the wind outside just captivated me.
I took out my phone again and snapped 17 images, of which this is one

I took my storage chip from my phone to Costco to be developed, and the employee said, "uh, it says you have 92 pictures on here--could that be right?!"
Me: "um, I guess so".
Employee: "you must be snapping all the time".
Me: "Doesn't everyone?"

How is it that I don't have a digital camera yet?

When I went to see Charles Phoenix at the Escondido Performing Arts Center, my eyes were drawn upward to the hanging light fixtures...

a work of art.
(again, sorry for the quality, just my camera phone, but still worthy of sharing)

Several years ago, I knew a woman who had a couple of small children. She would take them out into the backyard and they would explore and discover together.
The caterpillar on the underside of a leaf, worms within the earth, the stamens in a lily and how the powder stains...
She taught them to embrace the details.
Her enthusiasm has always stuck with me--its gentle teaching, its respect.
Its observance of the intricacies that make life so inviting.

I'm not a rose person (unless they're single petal varieties).
I tend to gravitate to more unusual flowers, like Queen Anne's Lace, or wildflowers.
I was at an Asian market recently, and was stopped in my tracks by the beauty of a peach tree in blossom.
Or the brilliant color of the Pride of Madera

Photo Friday

My beloved Elliott (who I have my arm around), Blaise, the smiling Beahr (all my friend Debbie's dogs), and Tala (she was the Husky to my left who I was watching. Unfortunately she had her head turned away from the camera).

At Dog Beach in Ocean Beach a couple of years ago.

Even though the image is busy, I really like it--it has a happiness to it.

Pictures of Mexico

I haven't been on a vacation in about three years.
Too long.
It's raining here today, and I am antsy to plan a trip to Mexico.

I love the bold colors.
This is a restaurant in Cabo San Lucas.


A friend's house in Todos Santos provides a lovely play of light and shadow,
while a mop on the table makes up a still life.

Photo Friday

No booth photo to post today, but I do have this fun image from the 60's, of a little German boy with his cone on the first day of school.
There is just something about this photo that I love.

(click on image to enlarge)

This tradition in Germany is called "Schultüte".
I only found out about this recently, when Jen forwarded me a photo off Flickr.

Now I am obsessed.

I think it's a fun tradition. Festive. And the images are addicting.

According to Wikipedia, these cones are given to children on their first day of school. They are filled with candies, pencils and other school supplies, toys, etc.
"It is given to children to make this anxiously awaited first day of school a little bit sweeter."

I love this photo of an entire class.

Or this pic I pulled off ebay (in completed auctions, or I would have bid on it).


I guess I really shouldn't be sharing this, or you all will grab up the photos I want!
I used to be able to buy bias tape patterns for a song, but after posting about them...I am always outbid on ebay now.
I'm not saying my influence is that vast. I mean, all it takes is one person.
Grrr....