Creative Photography - July 3

Roger's Creative Photography is a fun thing to do. There is no particular theme, so you have the freedom to - well - to be creative.

One of my favorite places to wander with my camera is Leaming's Run Gardens. It's a beautiful wooded area, with lovely gardens in clearings in the woods along the way. While there some time ago, I found this picture waiting to be taken .


I find spider webs fascinating. I especially love to watch them being constructed, but this one was already finished - and so beautiful, sparkling with dew.

If you go to Roger's site you will find a list of participants who have some really wonderful entries waiting for you to see.

Pacific Grove

Pacific Grove, California is a lovely small town on Monterey Bay. It has a very beautiful rocky shore line. To your left, on my sideboard, is a photograph of waves crashing on a rock. I took that in Pacific Grove.

Each April or May, the entire shore line becomes a purple carpet of flowers. I believe they are called ice flowers. Don't know the proper name. They are not native to California soil, but this import has become part of the scene, all along the coast. Pacific Grove is famous for the purple carpet along Monterey Bay. It stretches for four miles. It seems to have become a family tradition to have a picture of Isaac among them each year. These, of course, are my daughter's pictures.


Pacific Grove is also famous for Steinbeck's Cannery Row, now a tourist attraction, known throughout the world.


At one end of the Row sits the Monterey Bay Aquarium, a fabulous place, and an absolute must see for tourists, and a leisure time spot visited frequently by locals. If you visit, plan to return to the aquarium a few days in a row. You will never be able to view all of its truly fascinating exhibits in one day.


As you may have guessed, I really love the aquarium.

These pictures are from their computer site, not from my own album.



At the other end of town, up the hill, is the butterfly sanctuary and educational center. Like Cape May, Pacific Grove is a monarch butterfly destination during their annual migration to Mexico. In Pacific Grove, the monarch is indeed king. They hold an annual monarch parade, in which small children march, wearing huge butterfly wings and headdresses . There is also a large iron butterfly statue on the shore of the bay. You'll recognize the sign from my post a couple of days ago.



My youngest daughter's wedding took place in Pacific Grove, at the Old Whaling Station gardens. It is a charming little building, set in really beautiful gardens. The weather cooperated perfectly. Their wedding took place out of doors. When they went inside following the ceremony, their friends whisked away the chairs and set up tables on the patio. There was plenty of room for dancing, which went on into the night, under a full moon. Perfect.




So, you see, I have sentimental attachment to the town, as well as admiring its many charms.


Unfortunately, this is not the ideal time to visit there. The air quality is very bad and I'm told that ash from the many forest fires is falling on homes and gardens everywhere. The beautiful Big Sur country nearby is burning. We can only pray for rain and lots of it. Ironic, when not all that far away, people are praying the rain will stop and they can start trying to recover from the flood waters.
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OK - My daughter, Kathryn has read this post,and informs me that both the Old Whaling Station and the Aquarium are really not in Pacific Grove, but in Monterey. They are close to the border of the two, so I was under the impression that they were in Pacific Grove.

Voices In the Attic

I think I may be "going 'round the bend" as they say.

Actually, I'm sure there is a logical explanation, but if there is I haven't discovered it yet.

This is the mystery:

When I sit at my computer desk, I hear voices. Can't make out the words, but there are definitely voices - like a radio perhaps? The computer desk backs on the wall between my living room and bed room. And when I am in bed at night - yep - I hear voices.

My first thought was that some time ago, someone must have been working in the attic and left a radio turned on up there. (I have never been in the attic in this house, since it is only accessible by ladder.) Understand, I was in bed at the time and half asleep. But even half asleep, I quickly rejected that idea, since I don't believe there's an electrical outlet up there, and a battery would have gone dead long since. Besides, the only one who has been up there in the past eight years has been my son, who installed a ceiling fan for me ages ago. and I haven't heard these voices until fairly recently.

I suppose it really is a radio, and that there's some kind of quirk that brings the sound into my home somehow. I'd love to know how it's happening.

I remember when we lived in North Cape May on a very busy street, back in 1978, we used to get police calls coming through our TV every so often. That was pretty weird. Haven't run into this sort of phenomenon since then.

These voices really annoy me - mostly because I can't tell what they are saying. I'd really like to be able to identify them.

Hmmmm - I do have satellite dishes on the roof......

And there are lots of others around.....

I wonder if there have been any UFO sightings lately.

Things

As you might have noticed, I love to take pictures. If it isn't people I know and love, and if it isn't flora or fauna, I even take pictures of things. I'll take a picture of pretty much anything. For example: This image was on the top of a flyer distributed a few years ago advertising the Monterey Rubber Chicken Poetry Slam and Open Mic, which my daughter co-hosted at the time. The chicken was drawn by her friend, Bridgette, a great cartoonist. (Yes, the winner received a rubber chicken.)





Some things I photograph are more aesthetically pleasing - at least to me. This is the underside of the gazebo roof at Leaming's Run Gardens.





And then, there are signs. I seem to take pictures of a lot of signs.


Many things related to Cape May of course.

The Parkway sign, the Concrete Ship, the sign welcoming visitors to the park.






Not all signs are quite so welcoming. And I'm definitely not the only one who photographs signs. My daughter took this one in Hungary, protesting McDonald's proposing to put the Golden Arches in their quaint little town.

I don't blame them. Have you ever tasted the out-of-this-world version of a hamburger you can buy in a kiosk in Eastern Europe? Who would want Mickey D's after eating one of those? And who would want the arches spoiling the beauty of one of their quaint little towns?



Here's another sign I love. It's in front of my favorite garden stand.



And then, there's another kind of sign entirely.



Another daughter's doing.



I have to include one more, because it's one of my favorites. It's in Pacific Grove, CA.



I take pictures of BIG things, to send to my three year old grandson. I like to send him an email once in a while.







And sometimes, I take pictures of very small things. This may be considered flora I guess, but it's my blog and I'll include it if I want to!


There's one more picture I love because it's of a basket of shells I keep near the front door. They remind me of a very pleasant day spent on the beach. Every one of these shells was collected on that same day. We had had a storm the day before, and hundreds of shells were washed up. I love sea shells.




And I think I'd better close now. I could play with my pictures all day. I never seem to get tired of them. But if my readers came here anticipating an interesting story, I'm afraid they must be disappointed. It's just a long, quiet afternoon, and I'm playing a little.


Tomorrow is also a day. Maybe I'll do better then.

Thank You Gina

Gina, aka the Pagan Sphinx, has seen fit to present me with the Arte y Pico Award.
This award is given for creativity, design, interesting material, and contribution to the blogging community.



I feel so honored that Gina has presented me with this award because she is someone I truly admire and respect. In the six short months that I have been blogging I have come to think of her as a friend, and have watched in awe as she takes a stand and speaks out on whatever she believes needs to be addressed in our world - always well informed on her subject - voicing her argument with calm logic.


The rules for this award are as follows:

l.) Choose five blogs that you consider deserve this award for creativity, design, interesting material, and for contributing to the blogging community, no matter what language.

2.) Each award must have the name of the author and a link to his or her blog to be visited by everyone.

3.) Each award winner must show the award and put the name and link to the blog of the one who has given the award.

4.) The award winner and the one giving the award must show a link to "Arte y Pico" blog, so that everyone knows its origin. That link is here: Arte y Pico


The bloggers to whom I would like to extend this award are:

Lisa at Ramblings of a Villas Girl, for her down to earth observations of every day life, and her great photography. She has owned a camera for a very short time, but is already producing some really wonderful pictures. She's a natural. Besides, I love the girl.

Nina at Nature Remains, who gently and beautifully teaches us about the natural world and all its creatures. She accompanies her posts with some of the most marvelous photographs I have ever seen. I must go to her blog every day.

Ann, for two blogs: Nature Tales and Camera Trails and Varying Seasons, which is strictly a photo blog. Known as Me Ann My Camera, she too offers us an amazing closer look at the creatures with whom we share this planet, as well as earth, sky and water, reminding us to pause and observe.

Kathie, who lives in Sycamore Canyon, whose vivid descriptions of her world let us picture the desert of Arizona and the birds as clearly as if we were there with her, and for her poetry, and for her very real concern for our environment.

And finally, Island Rambles. This blog, from Vancouver, Canada, just fascinates me. She offers photographs, videos and narration on everything from whales and soaring eagles, to local history, beach-going and fairs. It's a joy to explore.


May I echo what Gina has written about both Dianne at Forks Off the Moment, and Singing Bear at Tiz Yer Tiz. I love them both very much and read everything posted by each of them.





I hope that the recipients all understand how much I admire them. They should not feel obligated to appoint any or all five to receive further awards unless they wish to do so.

As Gina would tell you - Peace to all.

Sky Watch Friday

St. Peter's By the Sea Episcopal Church, in Cape May Point, NJ. is a tiny wooden church, built in 1876, often called "The Gingerbread Church". Originally it was located a bit farther to the west, but was moved back from the shore and the encroaching sea. Today it stands on the corner of Harvard Avenue and South Lake Drive, across the street from the dunes which protect it from the water.




Many years ago, my great-grandfather, the Reverend John Kemper Murphy, (b.1827 d.1900) preached in this church whenever he brought his family from Philadelphia to Cape May Point for summer vacation. That was my family's first connection with Cape May County.


While I have never attended this church, I have a sentimental attachment to it, and think it is a lovely little building. The gardens surrounding it are also very pretty, and attract many butterflies. In early October, during the migration of the monarch butterflies, it is a very popular spot for photographers.




This is the view of St. Peter's from the foot of the path that crosses the dunes, to the water. As you can see, it is very near. When the butterfly migration starts, flowers, trees, dune grass, everything may be covered with monarchs .
It is a breath-taking sight.



Please visit Wigger's World, the home of our host, Tom. You will find a list of all participants in Sky Watch Friday, and, thanks to Tom, you can view many wonderful pictures.