Scavenger Hunting in the Harbor

On Monday, Gypsy and I went out for a walk in Pillar Point Harbor to find a few more items for the 2012 Summertime Photo Scavenger Hunt.  I knew we would be able to find a pier, and I took this photograph of Romeo's Pier:

I was also hoping to be able to find a labyrinth.  I say hoping because there is often a labyrinth on a hill overlooking the harbor.  But sometimes it gets dismantled.  As I walked around the corner, I saw this:

And when I walked up the hill, I was able to get a photograph of the entire labyrinth:

It's not a big labyrinth, but it's my labyrinth. And that's two more items off the list for me.  Only five left to go: library; roadside stand; tree swing; historical marker; and portrait with a national symbol. What's left on your list?

*******************************************

P.S. I wanted to give a shout-out to Kim who played along even without a blog. Her terrific photos can be found at this link. I especially love her pier, her library and her bonus photo. Check it out!

Wordless Wednesday (4)

Graffiti, Barcelona, Spain, Summer,  2012
For other beautiful photographs, check out Wordless Wednesday at Create with Joy.

Scavenger Hunt Tally

It's time for me to take stock of my progress in completing the 2012 Summertime Photography Scavenger Hunt and post the last of my finds from my vacation.  I took this photograph of a horse in Dublin, Ireland.  The carriage was carrying tourists back from the Guiness Brewery. 
And, in Park Guell in Barcelona, Spain, I found this musician singing and playing guitar:

With that, it looks like I'm 2/3rds of the way done. 14 down; 7 to go. And I'm pretty sure I know where to find the missing ones. 
Here's my list:
1. A pier
2. A clothesline
3. A border
4. A roadside stand selling something
5. A train
6. A historical landmark
7. A person playing a musical instrument
8. A person dressed as an angel or a statue of an angel

9. A fountain

10. A horse

11. A shadow

12. A maze, labyrinth, or trail.

13. A library

14. A person playing with a ball.

15. Someone dancing.

16. A bride.

17. A church, chapel, cathedral, mosque or temple.

18. A movie poster

19. An outdoor stairway

20. A swing hanging from a tree (or a hammock)
21.  A picture of you standing with something that symbolizes your nation.

How are you doing?

Hello Monday {4}

Hello Monday . . . a meme sponsored by Lisa Leonard.
Hello Cross Country Crutches.  Friday night, Clara took a tumble and broke her leg. And now, instead of starting cross country practice, she'll be exchanging this splint for a cast.  No running for 4-6 weeks. Let that be a lesson to everyone - don't text while walking down stairs!
Hello Husband. Home from his hospital stay.  Paul sailed through his second round of chemotherapy and is sooo happy to be home. He's completed two of eight rounds of chemotherapy.  The next one is scheduled to begin in a few weeks. I'll keep you all appraised of his progress. And please know how much I truly appreciate your prayers and good thoughts.
Hello Back to School Preparations. Clara has freshman orientation on Thursday, and Henry has to buckle down and finish his summer homework.
Hello Work. Time for me to start going into the office again.
Hello Regular TV. Now that the Olympics is over, it's back to watching baseball and regular TV. 
Hello Art. Looking forward to a good week of sketching, art journaling and photography.

My Sketchbook: How Does Your Garden Grow?

We are very lazy gardeners. We plant a few things, water them occasionally and then harvest whatever survives our indifference. This year, it was worse than usual because we planted things and then left on vacation.  Today I gathered a nice bowl of tomatoes (red Early Girl and San Francisco Fog, as well as orange baby tomatoes) and cleared out the dried up sugar snap pea vines, as well as the yellow zucchini plants which have stopped producing. Our herbs are doing okay, and we have one pumpkin that's reached about six inches in diameter.  The biggest surprise this year is a bumper crop of red onions!

We've never planted onions before, and I gathered a few today to practice my sketching.  These two sketches were done with black ink and water color pencils.
We also have a variety of fruit trees.  The plum tree was a good producer this year, and the apples are coming along (we have two apple trees). I haven't noticed any pears on either of the pear trees, but they bore a lot of fruit last year, and they tend to only bear heavily every other year.  Our Meyer Lemon tree has been a great producer for almost fifteen years.
We have a few consistent perennials (lavender, hydrangeas, rhododendrons, surprise lilys and jasmine) and a variety of annuals which go in and out. 
That's the report from our garden. What's up with yours?

PPF: Nature Three Ways

In the Alisa Burke class, Ode to Nature, the first assignment has been to reflect on nature.  I made this art journal page to record some of my thoughts and then added some collage elements. The butterfly and bee photographs are ones which I took. For the background, I wrote about some of my favorite memories of being in nature:
*bicycling through the Yosemite floor one Thanksgiving morning;
*watching whales in Glacier Bay, Alaska;
*cutting Christmas trees at Rancho Siempre Verde;
*seeing bioluminescence on a secluded beach in Mexico.
While journaling, I realized that I am inspired by the color and space and light in Nature. 
I also reflected on my natural environment, which I divide into four different areas:

I start with my yard, which has fruit trees, flowers and a garden to inspire me.

{Photos taken in instagram}
Further out are the open spaces - wild fields and farm lands - which surround my hometown. And then there's the beach. Of course.  Always the beach. For me, nature begins and ends with the sand and the ocean and the shells and the sky. I could never live far from the beach.  If I venture further out, I can visit deep forests where I find peace and serenity.  
Alisa encouraged us to go out and play in nature.  So, today, I went for a run in the Purisima Creek Redwoods, instead of in my neighborhood. It was beautiful!

I came home and and painted this simple watercolor of the creek.  Alisa just posted this fantastic Q&A/tutorial on sketching which totally inspired me.
It was nice to reflect on nature in an art journal page; photography; and a watercolor sketch. I think I'm going to like this class. 
************************************************************
I'm posting this to Paint Party Friday.  For more painterly goodness, check out this link.

10 on the 10th: Gaudi Overload

On the tenth of each month, Shimelle hosts a link-up where bloggers post "ten things." This month, I'm featuring "Gaudi Overload" - ten (plus a few more) photographs of Gaudi architecture from Barcelona, Spain.  The one above is the iconic mosaic dragon from Gaudi's Park Guell.  And here's some more mosaic - a broad shot and close-up of the seating area:

And from another part of the park, some organic pillars and aqueduct ornamentation: 

A final peek in the park - one of the buildings and some architectural details:

Outside of Park Guell, there's lots of other Gaudi to be found.  In one district, he designed these fabulous light posts:

And one of his most famous buildings (La Padrera):

Although my favorite building was Casa Batllo and its fantastic masks:

So, that's my Gaudi overload. . . definitely more than ten. And posted a day early, too!