A very dear friend took me to the nicest place for lunch:
Thyme in the Ranch, located in Rancho Santa Fe, is part cafe and bakery
and part gift shop.
You can sit inside
or outside
and the food is wonderful.
Flowers are everywhere. . . .
The zinnias are especially beautiful.
It’s only Thursday, but I’ll wish you a great weekend anyway. 🙂
{carole}
And afterwards. . . .
Hope you all had a good week and wonderful Thanksgiving, if you celebrate. We certainly did, but I’m beginning to feel the crunch of the holidays. So much to do and not enough time. I’m planning to cut back to posting twice a week–on Tuesdays and Thursdays–until after the New Year. See you Thursday!
{carole}
While driving through an old neighborhood in San Diego, I spotted this beautiful convertible. It was at a private residence, so I took this shot from afar:
I then moved over to the sidewalk and captured the front view. The car is a Mercury Eight, which I’ve never heard of. Can you believe the finish on it? I took this on Veterans Day, hence the bunting and flag.
For this instagram, I used the Photo Toaster app, which is a lot of fun to use. I’ll be doing a post on that app in the future.
Next Thursday is Thanksgiving, so I’m taking the week off. I’ll be back on the 26th.
Great weekend, everyone!
{carole}
We had rainstorms last Friday, but I managed to get a few shots in between them.
Looking north:
And looking south:
While I was framing a shot, these birds flew overhead.
I’m not a bird person, so have no idea what they are. Anyone out there know?
Hope your week’s going well so far. . . .
{carole}
We went to an art fair recently, but didn’t find a lot of paintings. What we did see:
But what really caught my eye was this slightly unusual, sweet scene behind some of the vendor booths:
I’m just realizing that this house looks a bit like the one in my last post.
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Sorry to have disappeared on you Friday, but I couldn’t get past my login with WordPress. Finally got to my posts in the afternoon, but felt it was too late in the day to put one up. I’ll catch up on commenting today.
{carole}
Y’know how you can drive by something time after and time and never really see it? That happened to me with this abandoned house. I was driving near Torrey Pines Beach and had to do a U-turn when I noticed the place. It’s next to a car repair shop in a very expensive neighborhood of Del Mar.
See the strip of blue in the background? That’s the Pacific Ocean. The North Torrey Pines Bridge, built in 1933, is on the left. Torrey Pines Beach is a great spot to hang out and watch sunsets. The tall tree that looks like it’s wearing a ratty fur coat? A palm whose fronds haven’t been cut in years.
You can see part of Torrey Pines State Reserve in the background. One of my favorite places to hike, and a fantastic place to take photos. I’ll wait until the weather cools down for that.
I do like the blue shutters and agave. Peeling paint is a favorite subject, as you may know.
Whoever lived here likes stuffed animals. See Garfield?
And the goose?
I don’t know the status on this property, but this sign looks really, really old.
Any takers?
***************
Thanks again for your patience while I experiment with templates. I like that my photos are full-screen, but not completely sold on the layout. The photos seem a bit crowded, even though I’ve spaced them the usual way. And yikes, could the name of the blog be any smaller? Can’t change that at this time.
Feel free to give me input–I won’t be offended, I promise.
{carole}
Don’t worry, you’re at the right place. I’m experimenting with different templates, so this may not be the final choice. Your patience is appreciated.
I took this shot of autumn leaves just over a year ago in the state of Maryland.
Hope you had a nice weekend. It’s been very hard to watch the coverage of Superstorm Sandy. I’m very thankful that my friends and family back East are safe and dry and with electricity. My heart goes out to the people who lost their homes.
Election Day is tomorrow and I’ll be voting. Fingers crossed that the election won’t be decided in the courts.
{carole}
While in Little Italy we didn’t have time to visit this art gallery, but I like the advert hanging on the wall:
I shot these succulents while waiting for the light to turn at a crosswalk. The leaves almost look like they have edge stitching.
A colorful vignette on a table outside one of the many boutiques.
Pink mandevilla with some colorful framework.
Filippi’s Pizza Grotto is an authentic Italian market, restaurant and pizza joint. I love their lasagna. The place is an institution.
After all, they’ve been. . .
This hand-painted sign really reminds me of Europe.
As you’re walking down India Street, remember to look left so you’ll see the ships in San Diego Bay:
More mandevilla against an aquamarine wall. Or is it teal?
When we left Little Italy, the light had gotten even more mellow, so I took one last shot of the Citroën in front of a Necco-wafer-colored high-rise. . . .
Great weekend, everyone!
{carole}
How about a stroll through Little Italy? It’s one of my favorite San Diego neighborhoods with sidewalk cafes, tasteful high-rises and slightly funky boutiques. . . .
We parked near a little house with this banana tree growing in the yard:
I was so focused on the strange-looking “flower,” I missed the bananas! D’oh.
One of the boutiques had the best accessory sitting outside.
I love these old Citroën 2CVs. Yes, they’re probably like driving around in a tin can, but their lines are so nice, so French. Brings back wonderful memories of trips to Paris. I really like that the shades of yellow and black are echoed in the shop’s exterior.
Never mind that all the tires are flat. Maybe to thwart thieves? Never really noticed how tiny the wheels were before.
According to Wikipedia, many Italians moved to San Diego from San Francisco after the 1906 San Francisco earthquake in search of tuna and other deep-sea sport and commercial fish. After I-5 was built, 35% of Little Italy was destroyed, the tuna-fishing industry declined and the neighborhood was pretty much forgotten for thirty years. The Little Italy Association was created in 1996 and gentrification began.
Although many of the restaurants are Italian, there’s an English pub that’s supposed to have great fish ‘n’ chips. . . .
Happy Halloween, everyone. 🙂
Little Italy has an annual art walk with sidewalk chalk painters, but the artists work on materials that can be removed. Some are now displayed on the sides of buildings.
I’m now wondering how they keep the artwork from fading and deteriorating.
Part II on Friday. Hope your week’s going well so far. . . .
{carole}
From one year ago, a shot of oak leaves with a bit of mold:
From one day ago, some delicious-looking squash blossoms:
They’re supposed to be wonderful dipped in breadcrumbs and then fried, but I’ve never had them. One day.
Oh, and the drycleaners sign I posted last time? Here’s the flip side with no processing:
Hope you had a nice weekend. We had spectacular weather! Dry, sunny, low 80s and so clear you could see all the surrounding mountains. I hope my family and friends on the East Coast are safe from the approaching hurricane or tropical storm.
{carole}
Pearls & Prose 