Come Take a Walk With Me

 I found a new place to walk when I'm at our apartment. It's called The Strand and runs for several miles along the beach in the Los Angeles area.

There is a lot to look at, including many sand volleyball games.

 The surfers were even enjoying the morning that day.

This vintage motel sign was entertaining.

Not only were the sea gulls walking around, but there were people walking, running, cycling, roller blading.  I also saw a recumbent bike and a crazy three wheeled scooter. I definitely think I'll be walking on The Strand again. 

Lovely Day

One of the days my friend was here we started with a hike.  Thank goodness it was cloudy.

The clouds kept it cool.

After getting stuck for 90 minutes in a traffic jam, we had a quick lunch where this "Woody" was in the parking lot. They were prepared to go surfing! We spent the rest of the day shopping. I specifically wanted to visit Paper Source. I think we spent two hours there. I was so distracted by everything that I only took two pictures. The one below is my favorite. The papers are so beautiful. I was also in the check out line with Allen Arkin. I'm actually shocked that his name appeared in my brain. 

This one reminded me of my Son-in-Law. Bet you can't guess why.

Next door was Anthropologie.  Their gorgeous window displays drew us inside.

This "chandelier" is made out of mop heads and beads. 

Sorry about the reflection.

I loved this tablescape. It was very creative, as usual.

 We finished the day with a yummy dinner at PF Chang's. It was a lovely day. 

A Little This and A Little That

I have some randomness for you today. Last week I was at the apartment and visited Twist Yarns of Intrigue in Manhattan Beach at the recommendation of my friend, Cheryl. She visited Twist on a yarn hop to L.A. Cheryl blogs at Acorn to Oak and she loves to knit, crochet and hike. Sometimes she knits while she hikes. She's made a several beautiful shawls. I, however, am still working on "THE NEVER ENDING SHAWL" project that I started years ago. Even in this original post in 2009, I was thinking about quitting the project. It seems I'm not cut out for lace. I get tired of it and put it down. Then, months later, will pick it up again. Therefore, it's taking me forever.  

Well, I try to stay away from yarn stores since I have so much yarn and am not accomplishing much these days. But, on Cheryl's recommendation (yes, I'm blaming her) I visited Twist. I think it was the most beautiful yarn store I have seen. I have been to LYS's all over the country. Every single skein of yarn was gorgeous!  Yes, I did buy something, two skeins of Malabrigo Silky Merino.  The pattern is Cat Bordhi's Moebius shawl.  I like to try new things with each project and have never made a Moebius shawl or scarf. I even purposefully put down the blue yarns that I am always drawn to and bought a lavender color.  I only took one photo while there, basically because I was too busy petting the yarn.  

I will definitely be going back.  Maybe weekly, in spite of my STASH.

Then on our date night, my HH found this fun book for me. It's really great and goes through the history, society, style, interiors and clothing of Downton Abbey.  Check it out, if you're a fan of DA, you'll love it!

Last Wednesday I went on another hike and took pictures again.  I hope they don't bore you too much.  It was such a beautiful morning.  We saw a rainbow come right into the field next to us, but it wasn't in color.  I've never seen anything like it.  Here's a peek.

 Incredible, isn't it? Here's another picture of the fog. If you look closely, you can see all the spider webs in the grass that have still have dew on them.

We finished off Saturday at a free concert in the park with some Classic Rock music.  

We had a lovely time with friends on a gorgeous evening.  

Thanks for stopping by for a visit.  I hope you had a lovely weekend too!

Just Do It!

I finally got off my backside and went for a hike not far from my house.  There is a preserve with tons of trails.  My experienced hiker buddy led the way. 

It was a beautiful morning.

We hiked for an hour.

We're going again on Thursday.  Aren't you proud of me?

Come Take A Walk With Me

When I'm in the "city" at our apartment, I have to walk in the neighborhoods. Up and down, up and down, up and down the blocks I go. It's a pretty crowded area with small homes and postage stamp yards.  The homes are older and on the whole, not that well taken care of. So, in order to not get totally bored, I searched today for something beautiful as I walked.  Would you care to join me?

One lady in particular has a beautiful garden.  She was gardening today and embarrassed because she was talking to her plants when I walked by.  I told her that it must be working.  Maybe I should try that.

 If you look hard enough, you can see beauty almost anywhere.

Wouldn't it be nice to walk out your door and pick a fresh lemon?

I think that even the gnarly roots were pretty cool.  

The cemetery was still decorated for Memorial Day.

This is the little, old neighborhood I walk in. There is a lot of concrete and asphalt. 

So, it's important to find some patches of beauty in the midst of our man-made mess.

Today, that's the direction I chose. 

Come Take A Walk With Me

I take my iPhone with me on my walks.  Basically I keep it on me for security, but it comes in handy for photos.  Although, it wouldn't defend me against coyotes or snakes. I should've started a little earlier since we had a foggy morning and it was really cool.  As soon as I got a few yards down the street, or was it up the street, the clouds moved on out.  

 There were a lot of animals out today.

He came over to say "Hi".  I think he was wanting a treat. 

 This guy was sporting sunglasses.

 These animals are all from different ranches.

I have fond memories of climbing Mimosa trees.

 These geese were squawking pretty loud as I approached. I'm glad they were behind the fence.

 You can't see him, but there's a cute horse in that left window.  He was eating breakfast.

The burros were busy eating too.  Hope you enjoyed the walk.  The hills are killers, but as you can tell, I stopped occasionally for Kodak moments.

Come Take A Walk With Me

Yesterday, I woke up nice and early to a beautiful sunrise. Now, I'm not usually an early riser.  Seven is early enough for me. Problem is, we didn't have window coverings till today. One night the moon even woke me up, shining in my eyes. Pictures of the new woven roman shades will come later. 

Later I decided to take a walk.

As you can see, a walk in my new neighborhood is quite the workout.

This is the neighbor's yard. Well, nobody owns it yet.  So, I walked right up and took pictures. 

I peeked in too.

Down the street are beautiful homes and ranches.

This is one of the hills on the way home.  I'm not exaggerating.  It's steep.

I also took wildflower photos, but my iPhone didn't perform that well. Maybe next time I can walk far enough to take pictures of the horses, cows or sheep.