2013 in pictures

 An early January walk around downtown Los Angeles.

 

 

 

 

 A joyous May wedding = happy parents.

 

 

  Two fun trips with my book club - St. Simon's island and N. Georgia.

 

 An early fall walk around the small NH village where my Mom lives. 

 

 

  A surprise from library staff found on the door to the Friends of the Library workroom.

  

Two of my favorite things at home.

 



Memory of a very happy holiday and promise for the new year.

 



Field Trip - Mini staycation

 

Our local newspaper put our a list of 50 things to do this summer in town and I decided it was time to implement Saturday field trips aka mini staycations.  We tend to get caught up in doing chores or just relaxing in the house and I want to get out more.  Today we went to the Sweet Auburn Curb Market which is the oldest public market in Atlanta and near the Martin Luther King historic district. The market first opened in 1918. Later in 1924, the building was constructed and still stands in the original location.  It was recently renovated and has an interesting mix of small restaurants, meat markets (anyone in the market to order a whole pig?), produce markets, a gift shop, a book store, a coffee shop, and more. 

 

 
We had lunch at Arepa Mi, a Venezuelan sandwich restaurant.  The sandwiches are contained between two corn griddle cakes and, although we both had vegetarian ones, tend towards shredded beef or chicken.  My husand's was beans, plantains and cheese while mine was seasonal vegetables.

We sat at a picnic table and started talking with a young woman from San Diego who was in town for a convention.  We lived in San Diego at one time and other places in southern California for many years so we had a lot to chat about.  She wanted suggestions on where else to explore today and restaurants.  We gave her a ride to Centennial Olympic Park as the walk would have been boring and very hot and humid.

All in all a lovely experience and exploration of a new place.

What I like about our yard vs how much work it is

Update:  Thanks for all of the kind and complimentary comments.  Those along with compliments from book club members as they arrived at my house on Thursday evening have helped me appreciate the yard we do have even more despite the upkeep challenges.

I recently wrote a post about trying to think through how to reduce the "chore generator" use of our yard and now want to give you an idea of both why that is important and also what is beautiful about the yard.  Keep in mind that I didn't include the side yard, the courtyard off of the sun porch, and the area behind the carport.  We were 15 years younger when we bought this and being naive Southern Californians just relocated to Atlanta believed the description of this as a natural and low maintenance landscape.  It is beautiful though and we enjoy looking at it.

Here's some of the front yard looking toward the side street.  

That is a sugar maple trunk.

I didn't show the part of the ground cover that is dying - just the healthy part.  That is a crape myrtle trunk

Now for the back yard.  Here is our small back patio - pardon the pollen LOL.

 

The small perennial bed just starting to come up.

The two water oaks that are very close to the house.  That is the carport on the left.

 Another view back towards one side of the house.

Yet more azaleas, shrubs and trees.

Part of the wooded area on our property.

Yesterday's highlights

Finishing this with Hubby doing the hard work (digging up saplings in the woods).

 Led to this.

Which led to this.

My book club decided we should read something popular with younger generations and picked this book.  It was a quick and engaging read and I can see why the series is popular. 

Have you read it and the rest of the series?  Is there other young adult literature you have read recently?

A year with Lola

We've had our sweet girl a year.  When she arrived she had been living with a loving foster family who helped her make huge progress recovering from the mistreatment she experienced in her first home.  (The foster family now boards her for us when we are gone - she runs in quite happily!)  She wasn't the happiest of campers when she moved into our house.

But since then she has found a favorite place to hang out and take naps.

Acquired a chic poodle wardrobe.

Celebrated St. Patrick's Day stylishly.

Taken a lot of walks.

Made some new friends.

And played every day with the best dog toy EVER! Because it looks like a squirrel, it squeaks, it flys through the air with help from human, and she can run around with it in her mouth!  You probably can't see it in the photos but her collar and leash have squirrels on them.  Little did we know what a squirrel fiend she is.

Happy Anniversary Lola!

Saturday Pictures

Fall and shorts weather at the same time today.

Saturday Pictures - Art on the Beltline

It is a beautiful early fall day here in Atlanta so we packed up the dog and went to check out some of the art on the Beltline near Piedmont Park.  (The Atlanta Beltline is a former rail line that circled the city and now there are parts that have had the rails removed and are open for walking.  Eventually the plan is to have public transit as well as walking.  A work in progress.)

You can see how windy it was - those are Buddhist type flags with quotes from human rights leaders, but we couldn't read any of them as they were flying almost horizontally.

We admired these ceramic tiles depicting nearby scenes.

Also this vibrant painting under a bridge was fun to see.

Have you seen any outdoor art displays recently?

Saturday Pictures - Sculpture at the botanical garden

Saturday Pictures - Still blooming

What happens when you remember to give potted plants some fertilizer - LOL.

Saturday Pictures - A pop of color

On a dreary day this bench makes me smile

and on a sunny day I love the shadow pattern as well.

Saturday Pictures - My Walking Buddy

We adopted this sweet girl late last year and she has settled in well.  She's still learning her manners, but she has become a delightful walking buddy.  When there are no squirrels.  When there are no bicyclists.  When there are no runners.  When there are no dogs.  When she is in top form and walking right next to me in a perfect "heel" position she opens her mouth in a little doggy grin and looks at me as if she is very pleased with herself.  She brings lots of smiles to our faces too.