Spring in Sydney

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Spring In The City

It's easy to forget about how critical our water levels are when this whole month...winter actually...has been picture perfect.


On the 2nd Sunday of the month from March through October, San Francisco closes a street to traffic so pedestrians and bicyclists can enjoy a few miles without worry. There are random performances scattered through the blocks, but it's mostly a gathering of people enjoying the neighborhood.
Of course, this is San Francisco, so if you have a motorized unicorn to ride instead of a bicycle, the more you'll fit in.

And if you play bluegrass, you're welcome to join this group. Or just enjoy the music as you're strolling by.

If bluegrass isn't your thing, just a few blocks away, a group of young musicians were rockin' out.

A hundred years ago, the Pan Pacific World's Fair was in San Francisco, and all over the city, there are tributes to the event.

On another day, I enjoyed the blossoming trees at Union Square.

This heart of San Francisco is also proudly displayed at Union Square.

Bigger. higher. scary as hell. #cranephobia.

View from our front window. yikes.

Jimmy works in there.

And this is my view from the Habitat office courtyard.

Right at this moment, it's raining and windy, but the windows are open and the smell of the blooming trees and plants are wafting in. It's glorious. The rain is suppose to be minimal, but we'll take every drop.

Marching On

Saying goodbye to the 3rd month of 2014...how quickly it flew by! Here are a few snapshots of my March...
Gandhi Statue at the Ferry Building.

Taxi and bike turning onto Market Street.

My brother-in-law works here.

Sunset on March 15th. Too cold for me to dip my toes in. Jimmy's braver than me.

Same day as above, only about an hour before. The fog lifted just in time for sunset.

A different day, the setting sun glowing on Alcatraz.

That apartment building fire was the opposite side of the ballpark from us but we could see the black smoke from our living room window. We drove by the devastation one Saturday afternoon.

Today, the last day of the month. Cold, windy, stormy. Raining sideways, umbrellas barely made a difference.

Paula Cole was in Berkeley on the 27th and we saw her at an awesome venue called Freight and Salvage. We had front row seats. No photos allowed during the performance, but I got one of her afterwards signing cd's.

Practicing barre chords. They are hard but I love them for some reason. I think because they are challenging. Although every part of learning the guitar is challenging. And rewarding. And that half gold dinosaur makes me laugh. Who would buy that??

Yes guitar is taking up most of my creative energy right now. But I still managed to do a decent bit of paper crafting too.



Our drive to the hideaway was gorgeous last weekend. A beautiful sunny spring day where our normally golden brown hills were fresh green.



California poppies.

A new friend...shy at first...

but as curious about us as we were about her.

Then just a day and a half later, we had just a little bit of snow on the ground.


"The March wind roars
Like a lion in the sky,
And makes us shiver
As he passes by.
When winds are soft,
And the days are warm and clear,
Just like a gentle lamb,
Then spring is here."
- Author Unknown

Spring

So obviously I didn't keep up with posting more frequently in March. You may or may not know this (I'm pretty sure I've mentioned it before though) I tend to get very focused on something and everything else falls to the wayside. This time it's the guitar that's been occupying my every waking thought. Which is great, I love doing anything creative. But It's so hard. I think I'm putting a lot of pressure on myself though. I'm wondering why everything still sounds so cruddy, it's frustrating sometimes...but then I have to remember I've only taken 8 lessons. Oh, and watched hours and hours of youtube video lessons.

But I've definitely had time for other miscellaneous fun things. In fact today I went to my favorite art exhibit of the year...Bouquets to Art. I went with one of my crafting friends who hadn't gone before. I'm not sure what she expected, but I think she really enjoyed it. How could anyone not? It is super crowded though, which is always a challenge, but thankfully I carry quite a decent bit of patience in my back pocket. It's challenging waiting till no one is in your image.

4.22 Blooming

took these with my big camera. there is a big quality difference between cell phone pics and a dslr. and while it was fun and creative post-processing these in photoshop, it's much quicker and easier to let the camera do all the work sometimes. ultimately i need both in my photo documenting journey. :)

backyard snapshots

Back in the Bay Area.
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Happy Easter

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It's good to be home

Traveling is awesome. You get to see and experience so many different things. And it really makes you appreciate home. Especially when spring is here but it isn't yet where you just left.






Photos taken at Stanford Shopping Center.
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Join me on a long drive

It's been quite a while since I've written a decent post, so prepare yourself for a long one.

We went to the hideaway this weekend. We haven't been in almost 2 months so it was nice to get up there again. We actually wouldn't have gone except for the need for heavier jackets for our trip to Chicago.

We left Saturday at 7:15am, a beautiful spring morning. Within 25 minutes, this was our view.We're not in the country yet, believe it or not. Big cities on either side of this grade. Fremont (population 210,000+) to the south and Pleasanton (population 72,000) to the north.

The cows don't care that they're within 3 miles of a Starbucks on either side of them.

Heading out of the more urban areas, we drive through the Altamont Pass Wind Farm.
According to wiki: "Altamont Pass is still the largest concentration of wind turbines in the world, producing about 125 MW on average."
The turbines add more texture to the already beautiful green hillside and sky. However, if our rain has ended for the season, these green hills will be brown in 3 weeks.

So now we're about an hour and a half away from home, driving through the almond orchards. The trees are blooming.
Didja know that California grows almost all of the nation's almonds?

There's even a Hershey factory nearby so they can cover those almonds with chocolate as quickly as possible. This barn isn't Hershey's. Just an fyi is all.

The trees are just about bloomed out, and the blossoms litter the ground like snow.

Just a few minutes up the road from the almond orchards is the town of Oakdale.
Is Oakdale notable for anything? I don't think so. Oaks? Well, there are a lot of oak trees on the drive to the hideaway. Only about 15,500 people live there.

Along with these interesting creatures!

And lots more agriculture.

And a few more almond trees.

Then we drive to the foothills.
Lots of lava rock from a lava flow 9 million years ago.

A little detour trough Red Hills. When the wildflowers bloom, they carpet almost every foot of this area. But we're still a bit early. The flowers aren't blooming yet.

A few more cows grazing along the hillside. They'd have to travel a lot further to get to a Starbucks. Again, not that they care.

20 minutes from Oakdale, we're driving through Jamestown with a mere population of just over 3,000.
But it was a bustling town during the Gold Rush and is known as the Gateway to the Mother Lode. It's now a picturesque little town with lots of antique shops.

25 more minutes up the road, we're finally at the hideaway!
Wow. The neighbor told us that it hasn't snowed in 3 weeks. And it's been warm (40s and 50s during the day) for the past 2 weeks. But there's still this much snow left on the ground. It was the most snowfall we've had since we bought the place 9 years ago, and we missed almost all of it.

Well, the night before, our neighbor said a visitor came traipsing through our yards. His, ours and the neighbor on the other side of us.They look like human footprints, right?
They're not. Take a closer look.
See those pads on that print on the far left?

Yep. A bear came to visit.

Walked right towards our hideaway.

It's a mighty nice hideaway. We like it at least.

So we spent 2 days there, Saturday and Sunday.
Then drove home Monday morning.

Care to join me for a few more pics on our way back?
If you've lasted this long, ya might as well stay for the trip back to the Bay Area.
Here's the road going back to Oakdale.

Lots of cows grazing on this Monday morning.

When we get to Manteca, we're almost on the freeway. Just another 1.5 hours till we're home.
Their sign could use a little fresh paint.

Another half hour on the road, we're back to the Altamont Pass, my landmark that we're back in the bay area.
I can't help but take lots of pics of these windmills. I'm not sure why the obsession.

And if I can get the windmills and cows? With the green hills and blue sky? I'm a happy girl.
I'm easy to please.
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