It's a Retro Spring...

I've been feeling a bit under the weather this past week and have not done any photography to speak of...sooooo...I was thinking of what I had in my archives that would make me smile and feel better...Here are some shots from a spring day a couple of years ago, at our fabulous Descanso Gardens...

Ahhhh...I'm feeling better already!!!

Hope y'all are well and enjoying the beginnings of Spring!!!

A Tale of the Easter Duckling...

Once upon a time, in the land of the Hubman and the Chieftess, lived a sweet little duckling who wanted to be an Easter Bunny.

According to legend, the land of the Hubman and the Chieftess became a wondrous palace full of spring color and flowers....

and bunnies...

there were little bunnies...

and big bunnies...

boy and girl bunnies...

and bunny families...

There was even a pretty green glass bunny filled with wondrous treasures of dark chocolate...

The little Easter Duckling wanted so badly to be part of the spring and Easter family festivities that she finally ventured out into the vast wilderness of the Hubman and the Chieftess' backyard...

She asked Cleo if she could be part of the Easter family, and Cleo thought about it...

Then she asked Sadie...but she was afraid because she'd heard of how Sadie can turn into Osama bin Kat...

Maybe Daisy would help her become part of the Easter family...

Ouch!!!

Take it easy Daisy!!!

"All I want is to be part of the Easter family!"...said the little Easter Duckling...

Whew!!! The Chieftess rescued the little Easter Duckling and gave her a much needed bath...

After her bath, the Chieftess took the Easter Duckling back out to the wondrous backyard of the Hubman and the Chieftess. The Chieftess carefully set the Easter Duckling next to St. Francis who watches over all the animals in the wondrous backyard. St. Francis told the little Easter Duckling not to worry...as she was already part of the Easter family in the land of the Hubman and the Chieftess...

And so the Easter Duckling lived happily ever after in the land of

the Hubman and the Chieftess.

The End...

A bone to pick...

Call me crazy...but do they really need all this plastic to get their products safely to market???

I have always hated those form fitting plastic packages...but lately it's really getting my goat...

About a year ago we remodeled our kitchen which completely stressed out our older sweet kitty Cleo...so our wonderful pet store owner, Tom, steered me to the Feliway "Comfort Zone" kitty pleasing pheromones to de-stress her...being the doting kitty parent I am...I bought the stuff...took it home...then spent about an hour trying to get the d*&#@ plastic off...when I finally got it off...it was nicely packaged in yet another cardboard box..Now, was that really necessary??? I don't think the pheromones could escape the little glass bottle that screws into the rather expensive little thingamajig that plugs into the wall socket...but who knows...

So yesterday, I went to Staples to get some real thumbtacks...ya know...the kind that comes with a flat top in several different prime colors? Sadie, aka Osama bin Kat, likes to pull out the push pins in my bulletin board so I wanted to find some old fashioned thumbtacks...the only thumbtacks they have any more are fancy ones with little flags or hand painted designs and costs about a hundred times more than the original boxes of hundreds of thumbtacks used to...but I digress...back to the plastic...yep, the thumbtacks were in the bubble shaped, fused plastic...took 30 minutes to get those dang things out!!! So then I got a new contraption

do-hickey that helps calibrate the colors of my monitor because my pics weren't coming out particularly colorful when printed, no matter what they looked like on screen...and that little do-hickey had 3 layers of plastic form packaging...yep...within another cardboard box....that did it...that put me over the top!!!

Whew!!! I feel better...rant over...back to building a kettle of steam trying to figure out the d*&*%$# color issues!!!

Backyard Adventures!!!

Well....no faraway adventures for us for awhile...guess we'll just have to check out that wild country...the backyard!!! Sadie had to check out this planter thingamajig...

Cleo thought Sadie was just plain, droll....

So then Sadie had to check out the view from the trees...

Hey!!! Cleo!!! Let's play attack cat!!! (Sadie's nickname is Osama Bin Cat) (But don't feel sorry for Cleo...she's an instigator too!!!)

Daisy just sits back and watches...

She's happiest when we're all outside together...

Even those two goofy cats...

Life is good...

How about a short visit to Santa Cruz???

On our way to the Hubman's conference in San Jose...we made a stop to visit friends who have moved to Santa Cruz...after all, it is the best surfing!!! So it was still a bit stormy when we got there, but the following day, it cleared up and we got to see a bit of what drew them to the beautiful coast of Santa Cruz...

There's nothing quite like the power of the ocean during and after a storm...

I believe this guy has a cousin living in South Pasadena...

(check out Laurie's blog of March 4...)

This guy must be a distant cousin...no family resemblance...

This guy can't quite understand why the cousins left Santa Cruz and moved to South Pasadena...

Got fish????

Unfortunately...later in the day while watching the news, I learned that pelicans in the area were having a hard time getting food...something to do with the storms...

Sooooo....the question of the day was..."What's the difference between a pier and a wharf????"

Ok...so this one has a story attached...tiki, placed on public property without a permit by local surfers (old guys...aka, the "usual suspects"...who you'd think would know better)...tiki stolen...community in an uproar...permit issued...new tiki proudly guarding the coast at Capitola (secure in the knowledge that he's protected by GPS) ...

(and...I believe...somehow...fair amounts of alcohol and cigars were involved...)

Clueless about the tiki...ain't love grand?!!!!

Our friend's tile on the Capitola Sea Wall of Tile, a community art project in 2008.

Santa Cruz is a delightful place...and a surfer's heaven on earth!!! If you happen to stop by...be sure and check out Zelda's in Capitola for an awesome breakfast...and Paradise Cafe, also in Capitola, for drinks and some fabulous Calamari...both spots on the ocean with an awesome view and great people!!! And don't forget to walk the length of the tiled sea wall to injoy the tiles and see the tiki!!!