Santa Barbara!!!

          I am home!  Actually, I have been home for well over a week now, but every time I sit down with the intention of posting I get so bogged down with sorting through pictures I fail to get anything up.  Not today!  I have narrowed it down to forty-three pictures – I know, I know, forty-three is hardly narrowing – but we packed a lot into those few days.  Enjoy!  :D

The Beach!

Molly, the cute little dog belonging to the family Stephanie and I stayed with.

While waiting for Taylor to finish his final class, Eric, Stephanie, and I explored an old cemetery.

This one appeared to be made of sandstone.  It is amazing how long it has lasted.

There were some impressive mausoleums, too.

Coffee!!!

My Shakerato.  Small cup, big punch.  (And really yummy!)

The Courthouse.

There was a lot of this going on.  ;)

The architecture was so beautiful.

The clockwork.  We were there to hear it strike!  At 1 o'clock.  :(

The Santa Barbara Mission!  (My favorite part of the trip!)

I caught a glimpse of two monks across the courtyard.  One lingered long enough for this special picture.

The woman who inspired Scott O'Dell's prize winning novel, Island of the Blue Dolphins.

The Cathedral's entrance.

Simply breathtaking.

At the Marina Museum.  A working replica model of the very first seaplane.

The Nordkap.  Built by Dwight Brooks in 1981, this 8.5 Ft 285 Ib working model can catch live fish!  If it senses the fish is too large, the line and net automatically detach to prevent the fish from capsizing the boat.

Amazing building art!

Some of them were even interactive!  :D

I love walking along the wharf.

 

Graduation day!

The Siblings,

The Friends,

and --most importantly-- the Girlfriend. <3

Baby Birds, Big Eggs, & Blood Moons

          Did anyone watch the moon last night?  It was so cool!  We kept checking on the moon throughout the night until it was almost fully covered, then we sat around on the deck and watched the final transformation.  The last little sliver of the glowing moon slipped behind the earth’s shadow and transformed into a ruddy-red orb suspended in the sky.  The eeriest thing was the lack of light.  Even when the moon is at its smallest there is always that comforting glimmer of light in the sky, but not last night.  I didn’t take any pictures; taking moon shots are always difficult and I opted to just enjoy the experience. 

          I did get a picture of the new baby robins though!  I never got a chance to see how many eggs were inside the nest, but it looks like there are at least three baby robins -- it is hard to tell when they are just a jumble of little pink things.  Daddy robin is quite spastic when we walk in the front garden, making tons of noise and trying to lure us away from the nest.  Mama robin, on the other hand, is as cool as a cucumber.

         News among the domestic birds: huge eggs!!!  One of the Anconas has always laid large eggs, but today we found one almost as big as a goose’s egg!  We candled it and could see it has two yokes in inside.  My first thought was “that had to hurt!”  It just goes to show, the size of the bird does not determine the size of their eggs. 

          I won’t be blogging over the next couple of days, since I am going down to Santa Barbara with friends!  I did compete forty days of blogging, but I just learned that Lent this year spans forty-six days.  I don’t ever want to become legalistic about blogging, but I have really enjoyed the challenge of posting every single day.  So, TTFN for now!  Happy Easter everyone!!!     

Baby Robins

Ancona Eggs

Lottie

Dottie

        

            

Good Bye, Weekend :(

X-tremely Nice Saturday

          What a fun day!  It was a great Saturday (minus the wasp Lydia stepped on in the garage, which stung her toe).  We played games, ate good food, talked, consumed yummy chocolate, drank many cups of tea, and watched the final film in the X-men trilogy.  Speaking of X, I have recently begun watching The X-Files series online via Amazon Prime.  Our inconsistent internet connection makes watching things online difficult.  So when I received a one-day-only offer from Amazon to buy the complete series on DVD (movies included) for $88.99, I jumped on it!  I look forward to watching this new addition to our Sci-Fi collection free of the Wi-Fi!   

       

Food, Frog, & Floats