Panoche Sunset

During the early evening of July 5, Jim had me come look at the sunset that was happening over Panoche.  

I took these photos a little over a 7 minute time span with as little as 12 seconds to 66 seconds between the shots.

They are in order as taken and untouched.

The beauty that occurs all around us at any time is just amazing as well as fleeting.

Jane and Dave Visit California

Jane and Dave came to visit us in California.  It was a wonderful time.  We went, we saw, we did...a lot.  After a night at Panoche, we went to Yosemite for two days; one spent with Carla.

Half Dome

Trails we walked

El Capitan

Stair walk near Coit Tower in San Francisco

Start of a Cable Car ride after lunch on the wharf

Golden Gate Bridge

Lombard Street looking towards Coit Tower

O'Neill plaque at the Dream Inn in Santa Cruz

Monterey Bay Aquarium Anemones, Fish, and Penguins

Carmel-by-the-Sea

Tennis Ladies Brunch at Tampa Wat Mongkolratanaram

We go to Florida in the fall and again in the spring to spend time with our snowbird and Florida friends.  Events get organized quickly.  One Friday afternoon while listening to the weekly musical jam session at the Butt Hutt, someone decided to organize a Sunday morning jaunt to the local Tampa Thai Buddhist Temple: Wat Mongkolratanaram for brunch.  It was ladies only.  Meet at the tennis courts at 10:30 for rides.

Seeing Wat Mongkolratanaram immediately took me back to Bangkok, Thailand. The first time I was there we spent a day riding the local ferry boats on the Chao Phraya River from Wat to Wat.  They were all so different and beautiful.  I especially remember the one with the long reclining Buddha and dropping coins into 99 bowls behind him.  This Thai Buddhist Temple is very much like those you would find in Bangkok.

This was Sunday December 2, 2012.  It was an incredibly beautiful day with temperatures in the high 70's.  It took us a while to wander under the pavilion to figure out what we wanted to eat.

We had great views of the Palm River as we ate our delicious Thai food at the picnic tables.

We were invited to see the inside of the temple.  There was a beautiful gong I wanted to strike three times.

It was a lovely brunch with great friends - thanks to Anice:

Project AWARE - Riverse

Project AWARE stands for A Watershed Awareness River Expedition.  It is volunteers cleaning up rivers, in this case, Iowa rivers.


Last summer I returned to Iowa for a high school reunion where I learned about Project Aware -Riverse.  I was privileged to experience part of the end results through classmate David Williamson.


My friend the poet, the sculptor, the musician was invited to participate by guiding people to create art through recycling, reusing, and reducing metal waste retrieved from Iowa rivers.  By linking to Riverse, you can see what has been accomplished so far.  Be sure to read some of the collaborative  poetry and song lyrics that have been produced over the last seven years as well.


Several of the sculptures were on display in a gallery in Ames, Iowa where I took several photos, which really do not do them justice.


A waterbug's presence denotes high quality water:

The three fingered glove shows the sign for water:

An Iowa river fish....

Two people can sit inside the drop:

Prototypes for sections of the gates at the Iowa State Fairgrounds in Des Moines, Iowa:

Under David's guidance I helped cast a canoe paddle grip that is now a part of the finished gates.

                                                                                David Williamson

Sculpture in the Summer Sunshine

I was inspired by Sandy at Witterings to post some sculpture I saw this past summer in various places outside in the sunshine.




The first group of sculptures are found at the John and Mary Pappajohn Sculpture Park in Des Moines, Iowa.




Spider by Louise Bourgeois.  It is a symbol of her beloved mother.

Juno by Debora Butterfield:

    Ancient Forest by Debora Butterfield:

    Five Plate Pentagon by Richard Serra.  It resembles 5 playing cards set up on their sides.

    In the Morning by Anthony Caro:

The next sculpture is found at the Des Moines Art Center in Des Moines, Iowa:


Three Cairns by Andy Goldsworthy:

The last group of sculptures are currently found at the Sierra Azul Nursery in Watsonville, California.  Unfortunately, I was remiss in recording the titles and artists of most of these sculptures.  They are all local Santa Cruz County artists sponsored by the Pajaro Valley Arts Council.

         
This is a 5 panel glass mosaic that can be viewed from either side depending upon where the sun is at a particular time.  It honors the strawberry fields and workers.  It was created by Kathleen Crocetti.