Yummy in My Tummy

Vegetarian chili = yum!

Botanic Road Trippin'

 On January 2, my sweetest B. surprised me with a road trip to the Rancho Santa Ana Botanic Garden, full of California native plants. On the way, we passed the sign above.

 Not much in bloom this time of year, but there are many cool trees there. This is a mesquite tree

 View of Mt. Baldy.

 Ghostly tree (almost white)--I don't know what it is.

 Boojum! This was about 60 feet tall.

A fun day was had by all...we had the place to ourselves, too, which was extra nice.

The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly

The Good: A gorgeous fiery sunset.

The Bad: I've had to turn on the stupid word verification thingy that we all hate--too many spam comments (and WTH is up with them? What good does it do the spammer?). It used to be that Blogger would move them right into the spam folder, but recently they seem to be published, so back to weird letter combinations and blurry house numbers it is. Boo!

The Ugly: another rose bush demolished by gophers. It was the bush that produced these beauties.

You can actually see giant gophery teeth marks on the erstwhile root ball in the second photo. ARGH!!!!!!! I will NOT let them defeat me!

Revealed

A hideous sheet of 1970s blue siding was removed during demolition of this building (vacant office space, a real eyesore) in order to build a--wait for it--Walgreen's. Because there just aren't enough big box drugstores around. We really do need one every two blocks or so {sarcasm sarcasm sarcasm}.

Demolition was halted for a couple of weeks to consider its historic worth--and of course, it was deemed "not historic," as more often than not seems to be the case in this city. Sigh. So bye-bye cool architecture, hello big square ugly box. Sighhhhh.

Tallulah-Palooza Friday

 Um.

 Excuse me?

 Really?

 Ahem.

 Yes, I'm talking to you.

Carry on.

If You Build It...

 Two...

 Three...

Four!!!!!!

We have recently completely redone our back garden with the specific intent--in addition to creating a tranquil, harmonious place--to attract birds, bees, and butterflies. The plants are all still tiny, so no butterflies or bees yet but: BIRDS! In my very own fountain. YAY! Aren't these little house finches so sweet?

Dotty

 

Ah, snowdrops...so sweet and delicate. A spot of green on each scallop--perfection!

Dos Sunsets

 

The bottom one was amazing, though not really captured adequately here...a band of the brightest pink-orange all along the horizon. Spectacular!

BTW, I hope everyone saw Jupiter nuzzling up the the moon the past few nights...super cool!

La Flâneur

 "La la la la la," said Mademoiselle Genevieve Poulet. "It's a fine day for a perambulation around the neighborhood. I do need some supplies for my koi pond."

Tallulah-Palooza Friday

 

It almost looks as if she's wearing wax lips in bottom photo...note to self: must go get wax lips and put them on the dog. Kidding!

Golden

Quaking gold.

Berry Nice

A lovely shade of red, yes? They look a bit like teeny plums to me...

Sweat + Tears x Years = Christmas Stockings

I started this project--knitting new Christmas stockings--in October. Of 2010.

I finished the one on the right last year and the one on the left this year, just before Christmas. They are realllllyyyy long. And they were done on double-pointed needles, my first--and last--experience with such. I worked on the leg section, and then when I got to the foot/heel, I had to stop until I could go to the Grove (the yarn and much more--it's a marvelous place) shop and get help from Susan, the oh-so-patient and funny and nice and talented knitting maven there.

But I must say that I do like how they turned out, small glitches and mistakes and what-in-the-world-did-I-do-here areas and all...

Amazing Grace

Winged stained glass...

Tallulah-Palooza Friday

 

 

 Dog or cat? You be the judge...

I say "goofball."

She got this ball of yarn out of my knitting basket while I was gone...it was trailed through two rooms. When I picked it up to re-roll it, she grabbed it and started playing with it. Goofball, indeed!

She actually almost never messes with stuff while we're out, so it's funny that she decided today was the day to play with a ball of yarn--her inner cat wanted out!

Cloud Wow

If you look closely, you can see a seagull at the top of the cloud...He/she is several miles from the shore here, blown in by a storm; I always hope they can find their way back!

Red, Red

 

Ah, Mother Nature...so amazing when you look closely.

Happy Birthday, Mr. Presley

 

Here he is in Love Me Tender, his first film (1956). Love it! I especially like the ghostly Elvis floating there at the end (spoiler alert: his character dies).

Skwerl! Skwerl!! SKWERL!!!!!!!

 

Tallulah-Palooza Friday

Kiss kiss kiss, Duchess Shiny McLip von Fuzzykins Darlington-Smythe.

BEE-lieve It or Not!

Hey, look! It's the first of eleventy-two milllion, thirty-seven thousand and one BEE photos you'll see here on Foziewisp this year. Start counting now!

A Heart-y New Year Begins...

 

I "heart"-ily approve!