Oscar

Song - The Painter by Neil Young

Friday a friend and I went to an exhibit at the Legion of Honor in San Francisco.  The exhibit was "Monet - The Early Years" and encompassed his paintings from 1858 - 1872.

He put in the work to find his style.  

Would you ever think that these two paintings were painted by Claude Monet?

 

 The card for the above painting read "the still life was the rainy day activity for plein air painters"

This painting is a detail from the two huge canvases that depicts an outdoor luncheon.  The dappled light just brings you eye around and around the paintings.

His snow scene's were brilliant.  My very favorite painting of his (the one directly about) brought tears to my eyes - The Magpie.  Even though it looks like a pretty basic snow scene, there is so much soft color in this painting.

And his depiction of water during these early years shows where he was style was heading.

 A

 B

 C

D

Can you match the water details in the paintings above with the paintings below?

B

D

C

A

And check out a close up of the "people" in the above painting.

Two are headless and one mans pants are not attached to his upper half!

And does this even matter when you look at the entire painting?  Not to me as I enjoyed the energy of the painting, the movement in the water, the colors, the brushstrokes and the feeling that it evokes.

 "The Beach at Trouville"

His people in these scenes are just "suggestions"!

Another favorite of mine was borrowed from the National Gallery of Art in Washington DC for this show and is titled "Argenteuil". 

I loved the show and I loved seeing so many paintings of Claude Monet that I have never seen before!

Now you are probably wondering .....

"Why did she name this post - Oscar?"

I never knew.....now we both do!

And I still say that Brandon Crawford looks a lot like Oscar!!!

"Everyday I discover more and more beautiful things.  

It's enough to drive one mad.

I have such a desire to do everything,

my head is bursting with it."

--Claude Monet

TBT with Great Grandma Mary

Song - Choppin Wood by Van Morrison

Maria Bernadina Clauser Gembrini

There she is in 1961.....my Great Grandmother at 76 years of age and she is showing my brother David (standing) and my cousin Billy how to split firewood.  I love how she has a wedge and a maul as well as an apron on because she was probably cooking up some trout for dinner and saw the boys out of the window.  She was a tough ol' gal and lived to be 98.

Note from Grandma Sophie (Mary's daughter & my grandmother) on the back of the photo.

 My parents, grandparents, aunts and uncles were all still building the cabin in Tahoe at the time.  We used a big pot belly stove for heat as well as cooking so we needed plenty of firewood. We also had a washer with a ringer on top and the clothes would dry on a line between the trees.

Oh the fun we had up there in Tahoe!

"Behind every great man is a woman 

rolling her eyes." - Jim Carrey

Love Is In The Air

Song - Steppin' Out With My Baby by Tony Bennett

Several days ago Mr. B told me that he saw two Mourning Doves on our fence checking out our ladder for a nest - once again.  Since I put up this nesting box last fall under our eves, I was hoping that they would use it instead. 

So Mr. B moved the ladder so it wouldn't be so tempting. Now the squirrels are using it to climb up and down and chase each other around.  Oh boy....a toy!

Mr. B wanted me to start a nest for the birds so that they would get the idea of what to do with the nesting box - ha!  I think Mother Nature provides them with their own nesting ideas!!!

And the very next day - sure enough they had begun their work - at least I thought it was just the beginning.  Apparently they think it's finished!

This morning when I checked on them, mama was on the nest and daddy was watching from the fence. But I didn't have my camera with me.

Then later in the afternoon, I checked on them and daddy was still on the fence but mama was up on the roof of our house just above the nest.  I hope they enjoy their new home. I'll keep you posted.


Some interesting facts about Mourning Doves:

--the oldest known Mourning Dove was 30 years 4 months old

--they tend to mate for life and both parents incubate and take care of the young

--they have 3-5 clutches each season

--they have 2 white eggs that are born 1 day apart

--the eggs hatch in 14-16 days

--the fledglings leave the nest in 11-12 days and on day 12 they are cut off from food to encourage them to leave - talk about tough love!!!!!

"Happiness is not a station you arrive at, but a manner of traveling."

 ~ Margaret Lee Runbeck

The Amazing Anna

Song - Hummingbird's Mesmerizing "color change" Illusion

Recently I purchased a new lens for my camera - one that "zooms" a bit.

I also decided that if I want better bird photo's then I need to start using my tripod more often.

I was pleased with the first few photo's which were taken through my office window - which has a lot of mineral deposits on it from our sprinkler system.  So I decided to head outside.

 There were two Mourning Doves and one was just starting to close his eyes.  Kinda weird huh?

I had no idea that their eyelids didn't close straight down but kind of towards their back.

But then......this happened......

I felt like I was watching the first episode of The Incredible Hulk......

This is a male Anna's Hummingbird that changed right before my eyes.

And it wasn't just the direction that the sunlight hit him - at least I don't think it was - or was it? 

Well.......Hello there you pretty little thing.....

What a charming beauty!

"If you change the way you look at things, 

the things you look at change." 

- Dr. Wayne Dyer

Wet and Wild

Song - Sunset Piper at the Inn at Spanish Bay


 Every night at sunset, there appears a bagpiper to say goodnight to the links at Spanish Bay.  He walks along the 18th hole with the ocean and sunset behind him.  It is a sight to behold.

So several months ago I decided to plan a trip to Carmel with Mr. B for his birthday and to surprise him I invited all of the kids to join us for dinner at Spanish Bay!

The weekend was great....except for the weather and road conditions.  In fact the hotel called me on Friday at noon saying they had no power nor did they have any idea as to when it would be restored so we could cancel. 

But Mr. B is an adventurous sort and decided if we could get food and wine, then we should go!!! Talley Ho....

 By the time we got to our hotel, the power had been restored, however the kids were staying at the Santa Cruz cabin and they didn't have power nor a break in the rain.  The San Lorenzo River was close to flood stage - but Mr. B knew none of this as it was all a big surprise! There were a lot of secret texts going on.

Have you heard that Carmel is a dog friendly town?  And it is, as is our hotel - there were dogs everywhere.  They were rather well behaved too! As we came down the stairs for dinner Friday, at the Cypress Inn, there was my cousin, her husband and their new little four month old Cocker Spaniel, Romeo. They have a home in Carmel Valley and their power had been out all day so they drove into Carmel for dinner and we just bumped into each other! Romeo had a proper neck tie on for dinner - of course.  I told you that they were well behaved!

Meanwhile we had intermittent breaks in the rain & wind in Carmel and spent Saturday shopping and poking in galleries.

We stopped in at the Tuck Box for Scones & Devon cream so we could practice for our upcoming trip to Britain.  Is it cream first then preserves or preserves first then cream?  So many tough decisions in life. It was so windy that the Tuck Box sign had been blown loose!

You can see that I decided to go with Olallieberry preserves first then the cream on my scone and all I can say is - mmmmmmmmmm......mmmmm....mmm...it was a mighty good choice!

Saturday nights dinner at Roy's was a grand surprise for Mr. B but it was freezing outside while waiting for the piper to arrive.  We were seated around a big fire pit with blankets passed around by the waiters but still it was cold and windy.  The picture above is the ocean whipping around that evening and the very top photo is of our piper.  I'm still not sure how his fingers played the bagpipe when it was so cold outside.

Great dinner together where we were warm.  The kids had stopped by Gayle's Bakery in Capitola and brought down a yummy cake - double chocolate with salted caramel.....yummmmmm!


Sunday we spent walking around Monterey with our son Jon and his friend Jackie.  We had a great lunch and they introduced us to an outdoor granite bench that is warmed from within - they had to tear me away!

Monday we headed home in the pouring rain.  It was a long drive with downed trees, mudslides, road closures, traffic accidents and flooding everywhere.  Mr. B thought he could outsmart them and took several back roads - most made us turn around to only to try to find another route but one worked out great.

We made it home safely and are looking out our back window with our own creek on the rise.

Hope you are warm and dry where every you may live.

" The Carmel is a lovey little river.  It isn't very long but in it's course it has everything a river should have.  It...tumbles down a while, runs through shallows, ...crackles among round boulders,  wanders lazily under sycamores, spills into pools where trout live.  In the winter it becomes a torrent, ... and in the summer it is a place for children to wade in and for fisherman to wander in." 

--John Steinbeck, Cannery Row

PS - at 4 am we had a blasting Emergency Alert on our cell phones - I thought the hotel was on fire but no it was to notify us that the Carmel River was flooding - I guess Mr. Steinbeck didn't have that joy!  We had about 6 alarms on our way home on Sunday notifying us of flooding in our area - thanks - I didn't notice!

Looking for a Home

Song - Oak Titmouse Spring Mating Call


Last year for my birthday I asked Mr. B for a birdhouse that we could place on a light post near our side lawn - which happened to be where our son & daughter-in-law got married.  He chose the one below.....

Now this is a cute little birdhouse in a rustic sort of way that felt a little too rustic for a wedding site.



And here is the one that I chose below.  I love it with it's gleaming white base and copper roof.  It also has holes on both sides and a partition in the middle so that two families can make homes there....kind of like a bird condo!

Well, I have never seen a bird near this house and just in the last few weeks a little Oak Titmouse has been trying to lure a mate into Mr. B's rustic house.

He/she sits on top of the birdhouse all morning and sings her/his little heart out. Then she comes back in the afternoon to do it again.  It's very dear.

And in the last few days she has decided to check out the inside to see if it's suitable for a home.

I am hoping it is!

I just love it when my husbands is right......mmmm...

"Never lose an opportunity of seeing anything beautiful,

 for beauty is God's handwriting." 

 ~Ralph Waldo Emerson