violetismycolor

Photo Friday: exercise: 3 Little Divers

Here I am, visiting my son in La Jolla, and I came across these 3 Little Divers, waiting for their instructor. 

 

day four...La Jolla...

Torrey Pines State Park hike:

 

 

day three...La Jolla...

We met up with Adam at the Salk Institute, where he has his lab and then drove down to the San Diego Zoo.  We walked a lot!  Priya and Adam both had more energy than I did, though John was the one who got tired last.

We headed out to the Coronado Hotel for a drink (peach margarita for me) and enjoyed the beach, the breeze, and the fact that we were no longer walking! 

day two...La Jolla...

I spent the morning wandering La Jolla, photographing this beautiful little village.

Adam and I met for lunch; we had sushi with names like Dragon Roll and Wet and Wild Roll.  Yummy.

Off we drove down the highway to Balboa Park in San Diego, which is full of museums and gardens and such.  We saw the MOPA (Museum of Photographic Arts), where our favorite exhibit was called Humanitas, Images of India by Fredric Roberts.  Incredibly lovely.

Then we wandered among the gardens and the other art museums and took some photos:

first day, La Jolla...

Adam picked me up at the airport and I checked into my hotel in La Jolla, The Empress.  It is right in the downtown village.  He had to pick up gas and there I saw...tada...Televisions on top of the gas pumps!?!  Had news and ADS, of course...advertising while you are pumping your gas!  How California of them!

I brought Adam a couple of presents:  a panoramic picture of the Columbia Gorge and Crown Point, and the Politics 2008 Moonstruck chocolates...a fourpack of two Elephants (R) and two Donkeys (D). 

We had lunch at a nice lunch near my hotel.  We sat outside and enjoyed the sunshine and the fish tacos.  Then I went with Adam to check out his apartment, which is nice.  His roomie's cat, Lola, was busy harassing Priya's fish.  We looked at photos, travel guidebooks, and visited.  Then Priya came by and we went out to dinner in San Diego.  We had interesting Yakitori's, including chicken hearts, quail eggs, and squid tentacles.  It was all really very good.  We wandered around the neighborhood and then had frozen yogurt. 

A very nice first day.  We are going to the Photographic Museum tomorrow.

photo friday...old fashioned...

An old fashioned car in an old fashioned parade.

on my way to sunny southern Cal...

I'm going to visit Adam for a few days.  I will blog and take pics from there.  Ross and Cookie are in charge of the house...oh, my...

i luv skype...

  Just by accident, I was sitting at my computer at about 5 pm last night, when I noticed that Bonnie had signed on to AIM.  She sent me a message regarding a shirt she had forgotten to pack, we had a bit of a conversation and then it suddenly occurred to me. 

I could be talking to her, and seeing her, instead.  We have SKYPE. 

What's not to love?  FREE phone calls WITH video, to and from anywhere in the world.

So, we got on skype...she looked so cute, and happy, and Bonnie-like.  We 'chatted' while she ate some pineapple and yogurt for breakfast (it was 9 am on Saturday morning for her), while I cooked up some tacos for dinner. 

Then, when John got home from work, with his mom in tow, we grabbed Ross and then all sat around the table, with my laptop at the end of the table...and had dinner with Bonnie. 

It was awesome.

So much better than an email, where the message is short.  So much better than IM'ing, even though that is live.  It was almost like she was there, with us, regaling us with stories.  Fun.

I LUV SKYPE!

me???

I have started a new project of scanning in all my album photos.  The one I did today is my childhood albums.  Can't believe how dorky I could look...

new baby...

My sister Karen's new baby, named Heather, is lovely.  As are all of her other children.  They all look like little angels.  And my mom, their Oma, is so proud.  Take a look:

Photo Friday...self portrait...

***you know the drill:  click on the picture to see a full-sized version***

I love how this turned out because you can see my house, a tree, and the cloudy sky reflected along with ME.

trying to watch the olympics...

 

I have been trying to watch the Olympics, a frustrating experience. Though I have an expanded digital cable package, I have been frustrated at the timing and the content of what is on all these channels.  When I try to watch the evening fare, it seems to be oriented towards the East Coast...the delays are for prime time there but that means it is bad timing for me.  At 9 pm, my choice of Olympic sports seems to be Beach Volleyball...every night.

Now, I have nothing against beach volleyball, but I want to be watching the swimming or the gymnastics or (especially tennis, but that's another story).  And I am OLD and I go to bed at 10pm.  Yes, I am THAT old.

As for the TENNIS:

• They don't seem to show it at all on TV, besides maybe highlights
• As far as the Internet content, there is no commentary and the coverage is spotty. In the case of one doubles match I was watching yesterday, it ended halfway into the tiebreaking sets. Why would you do that?
• I finally (by sheer accident) found out that there is something called 'Olympics On The Go', which I can watch through my Media Center PC. You download a program and then you can subscribe to whichever sports you want and it records it. Then you watch at your leisure, i.e. NOT in the middle of the night.

So, I am now sitting here, watching yesterday's Nadal vs. Djokovic semifinal. Which is AWESOME, btw.

Who won?

NADAL

photo friday, rough...

For a long time, I haven't participated in my beloved Photo Friday or Illustration Friday.  I am going to try to be more regular in doing it, as I am trying to sharpen both my photographic and my illustrative skills.  

This week's prompt is 'rough'.  I went out in my garden and photographed these gorgeous gaillardias.  Their cone-shaped centers look very rough, but are actually soft, nectar-laden landing pads for bees and butterflies.  And, they are so vibrantly colored!

Remember, you can click on the image to see it in full size.

dead cows in Oregon forests?

Happy birthday, Bonnie  (yesterday).

Bonnie is doing really well in Japan...she seems so very happy there.  We spoke to her via Skype this morning for about an hour and she was tired (it was between 11 pm and midnight her time, and between 7 am and 8 am our time) but full of good stories with not a single BAD story. 

Here's HER blog post about her birthday, seems she met a Japanese gentleman with some ODD ideas about Oregon:

Our conversation was a mix of broken English and broken Japanese (he knew more English than I knew Japanese, though). For the most part we were able to communicate pretty well, except when we started to talk about Oregon. Now, one of the nice things is that in Japan everyone I've talked to knows Oregon--a pleasant change from Europe. But, apparently one of this guy's friends had been to Oregon back in high school, and either something got lost in translation or his friend made up a lot of BS.

First of all, the guy was under the impression that buffalo lived in the Oregon forest. NO, no buffalo live in Oregon. No buffalo live in forests. Then he thought that, oh, wild cows live in Oregon forests. NO, no wild cows. We have NO wild cows. Cows do NOT live in forests. And then, he apparently also thought that in the summer the forests must smell because of all the dead animals. What?!? I asked if it was maybe dead fish (the salmon spawn and then die on the river banks, and yes that DOES smell). But nope, not fish. Then we were both a bit confused and I said maybe his friend had lied.

To which, one of her friends replied: 

Okay, Bonnie, obviously you are not much of a biologist. Not only are there many wild cows wandering through Oregon's forests, but the forests of Oregon are frequently referred to as "Dead Cow Canopies." Cows climb to the tops of trees to die. Hence the stench every summer.

 

my front door...

How beautiful the hydrangeas are here!  It's a joy to walk up to the front door.

How's my driving?

Semi's scare me.  Always have.  They're big and scary-looking.  They could crush my small car, easily.  And their drivers do stupid stuff...why?

I was on my way to my parents' home yesterday; cruising down I-5...doing about 67 (65 mph speed limit for cars, 55 mph limit for big trucks)...in the fast lane.  In the two slower lanes are semi's.  Suddenly, one of the semi's cuts right in front of the car that is 3 cars ahead of me.  The truck is going around 62 mph, so speeding but not going the auto speed limit that the rest of the cars are.  Now the freeway is blocked, three semi's across. 

And what does this brilliant big-truck driver do next?  He stays in the lane, going the same speed as the other two big trucks, in the other two lanes...for the next 5 minutes.  Doesn't try to pass the other vehicles, doesn't try to pull back into the lane.  There's a big line of cars behind him...he's just being a jerk.

When he finally pulls over and I get up near him, I see that his truck has one of those stickers that says, "How's my driving?  Call to report any driving issues."

So, I do. 

Are you really so stupid that in the day of the cellphone you don't think anyone is going to report you for trying to screw with them?

Yeah...

say it ain't so...

Oh, John Edwards...how could you?  What if you had been our nominee?  How could you have so risked the election that affects every American?  How could you do this to your lovely wife and your vulnerable children?  How sad!

weekend disco party...

doppelgangers...

Hayden Panettiere and Dominika Cibulkova...definitely doppelgangers.

Hayden, 18, is the 'cheerleader', the sweetheart of the Heroes TV Series---Dominika, 19, is a Slovakian tennis player, who just today became the number 20 female tennis player in the world. 

I have been watching a fair amount of tennis lately, and I was watching the 2008 Rodgers Cup final and couldn't help seeing that this young tennis player was such a ringer for Panettiere. 

Cibulkova is young but she is one to watch.  She couldn't keep up with Dinara Safina, but Safina has been unstoppable lately. 

BTW, did I tell you that Bonnie and I ran into Hayden P. and Milo (THE Hero) here in Portland last month?  We saw them at the Pioneer Place movie theatre.  But I didn't say anything then, since I didn't think they wanted folks to know they were in town...trying to get away from the paparazzi and all...And they were both very nice.

and the family, it just keeps getting bigger...

Another day, another family member...at least, that's how it feels!

My sister, Karen, had her baby this morning...she's 42 and it's her 7th! Unfortunately, her husband is out of town on business and she had to drive herself to the hospital at 3 in the morning...

My sister, Ann, was supposed to leave to go with her husband to a high school reunion, but she is now staying home and is taking Karen's 6 other kids for a week. That's so generous of her!

This is grandchild #41.

Also, my nephew, Seth, and his wife Jeng Yeung, have just announced that they are expecting. This is great-grandchild #6.

Wow...