A new grocery store had its grand opening today, so I popped over to see what they were offering. The produce section caught my eye immediately:
Someone went to a lot of trouble carving these melons. A nice touch, that.
Artichokes, mushrooms and orchids. Why not?
Asparagus never looked so good.
Great weekend, everyone!
{carole}
Tetacawhi Mountain is the symbol of San Carlos in Sonora, Mexico. It reaches 650 feet (200 m.) from sea level. The movie Catch-22 was filmed near this beach.
Such a lovely place.
Hope your week’s going well so far.
{carole}
So, we got a cat! After several weeks of research, I found a beautiful Siberian named Danslav–Danny for short–from a breeder. It’s quite an adjustment from a dog, but we are being entertained on a daily basis. Siberians are supposed to be the most like dogs, so this was a nice compromise.
Danny is a brown tabby with white.
His tail is like a raccoon’s–very bushy and striped.
Danny is a year and a half old, but acts like a kitten. He flies through the air from place to place and climbs everywhere. Just when I think the house is cat-proofed, he gets into something else. I cannot believe how fast he moves, especially after having a dog that was nearly 18 years old.
As you can see, Danny’s eyes are greenish-gold and he has a pink nose. The pads on his paws are bright pink! They almost look like cotton candy.
All photos were taken with my iPhone. I didn’t want to freak Danny out with the big camera when he was still adjusting to his new surroundings. I think he looks a little dubious in the photo above.
We bought a cat tree and Danny seems to love it. You can kind of see how big his paws are in this photo. When he flexes his paws they are huge. I guess that’s for traction in the Siberian snow. Siberians have a waterproof coat for the cold too. Luckily he doesn’t shed everywhere.
All for now. I promise to not bore you to death with cat photos. 🙂
Hope your week’s going well so far. We had kind of a medical emergency this week, so I’m behind on commenting. Everything’s fine now, so I hope to catch up soon.
{carole}
From a recent trip to the San Diego Botanical Gardens:
Seeing bananas growing in the winter never gets old for me. Can you tell I grew up in the Midwest?
I’ve seen red and lavender trumpet vines, but not this particular hue. Have to say I love it. Be warned that they can grow up to 30 feet long. You’ll need a very lengthy fence, but isn’t the color amazing?
Hope your week’s going well so far.
{carole}
When we first boarded the ship for the Baltic cruise, I went around and photographed some of the spaces before they got crowded. I thought this bar was nice, but nothing special.
Then I got a little closer.
Clever, no?
Not sure how long a metal seat would be comfortable, but I love the burnished coppery finish and the whimsical design.
Great weekend, everyone!
{carole}
For me, one of the best parts of the Baltic cruise was getting to see the Stockholm archipelago again when we left the city.
I just think it would be so much fun to live on an island near a city as cool as Stockholm.
This particular evening made for a memory that’s one of my favorites. My friend and I decided to skip dinner in the dining room and order room service instead. That way we could sit on our balcony and eat while watching the archipelago float by. Everything was fine until we brought out the salmon. Suddenly, a flock of seagulls came from out of nowhere! We had to go inside to finish that part of dinner, but came out again for dessert.
I can’t recommend this area highly enough. You can see more of the archipelago here and here.
Hope your week’s going well so far.
{carole}
I was going to do a post on La Giralda and the Sevilla Cathedral, but I have a lot of photos of the latter, so will do that another time.
Anyhoo, as I said in my last post, you can climb to the top of La Giralda. The first thing I saw was the tops of the Cathedral buildings:
This is the Patio de los Naranjos or Orange Tree Courtyard. The fountain at the bottom of the photo is from the Visigoth period.
Seville oranges are extremely tart and used to make marmalade. It was weird to see oranges that no one eats.
It’s been a few years now, but I believe those spires are part of the Plaza de España.
The Plaza de Toros de la Real Maestranza de Caballería de Sevilla. Otherwise known as a bullring. Something I will never do is go to a bullfight.
I remember wanting to jump into that pool!
Zooming in, you can see The Plaza de Virgen de los Reyes.
You can go for a ride on the Plaza. We decided to do more sightseeing instead.
Great weekend, everyone!
{carole}
The San Francisco Ferry Building is a terminal for ferries going across the San Francisco Bay. That’s where we caught the ferry to Alcatraz. There are also offices and a food hall.
A. Page Brown designed the building in 1892 and it was completed in 1898. The clock tower is 245 feet tall. I didn’t know this at the time, but Brown modeled it after 12th-century La Giralda in Seville, Spain. Here’s my photo of the Seville landmark that I took on our honeymoon. I thought for sure I’d posted this already, but no.
La Giralda was originally built as a minaret during the Moorish period, and then the Spaniards put on a Spanish Renaissance-style top. The tower is 341 feet (104 m.) high and you can walk up a ramp inside that’s wide enough for someone on horseback! The views up top are lovely. I think I just figured out my next blog post. 🙂
Hope your week’s going well so far.
{carole}
My husband gave me the prettiest arrangement of alstroemeria. I don’t remember ever seeing any this lovely before….
I can’t decide which color I like more.
Great weekend, everyone!
{carole}
This somewhat grainy photo brings back so many good memories. We were camping on the Turquoise Coast of Turkey, right next to the beach. Mornings were spent lying on white sand or swimming in the clearest, bluest water I’ve ever seen. (The word “turquoise” actually comes from the French for “Turkish.”) In the afternoon we walked on the beach or read in the shade, then had tea with British or Australian friends. Dinner was salad with perfect red tomatoes, crisp cucumbers and feta cheese. Strong coffee or tea for dessert. We had not a care in the world.
One evening we looked up to see some campers had pitched a tent on the rocks overlooking the Mediterranean and I snapped this shot of the falling sun. Pure bliss. I told myself to never forget this moment and I never have.
Hope your week’s going well so far.
{carole}
Pearls & Prose 