Month: July 2009

  • A Magical Day in The City

    Met up with Vanessa to visit SFMOMA and the Farmer's Market...food for the soul and the tummy, as it were. Turns out the first Tuesday of every month is FREE at this museum so we opted to give it a go on one of those days. Was quite surprised to see the long lines of people waiting to get in since it was way past the 10am opening hour. But there are 2 exhibits in particular which are likely to be drawing the crowds: "Richard Avedon: Photographs 1946-2004" and "Georgia O'Keefe and Ansel Adams: Natural Affinities." The Avedon exhibit goes to Nov 29th but O'Keefe's & Adams' works will only be there until Sept 7th. Get thee hence to SFMOMA and check them out!
     
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    With our objective now firmly focused on ingestion, we wended our way down to the foot of Market Street where the Ferry Plaza Farmer's Market was in (semi) full swing. During the summer months, the Farmer's Market adds Thurs to their lineup; that means you can get the freshest and the best on Tues, Thurs and Sat. Hafta tell you that going on a weekday—even though its not as populated with vendors—is also not insanely overrun with marketgoers as on the weekend. It was veddy veddy civilized, in fact!
     
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    Being the foodies that we are, it was difficult to decide on the ONE lunch item we wanted to enjoy. So being smart girls, we split 2 sandwiches which were beyond dee-vine... Vanessa ordered a beef brisket that had obviously been relaxing for many an hour; it literally melted (in a good way) in the mouth. I ordered an egg salad sandwich so far beyond the ordinary: it rested on a piece of bread almost lighter than air, then was topped with a slice of cheese and sauteed arugula leaves. Perfection.
     
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    Oops! Forgot to mention the goodly variety of organic produce—amazing displays of perfect fruits and vegs fresh (so to speak) off the farm...
     
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    Its highly recommended that you leave the market just before closing (2pm) as bargains are to be had almost everywhere you look. Vanessa totally scored with bouquets of flowers—buy 2 and get the 3rd free!
     
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    Here's the Picasa album if you'd like to check out more of the Farmer's Market.
     

  • A Sammy Samperson Retrospective

    Not to worry—Samwise is hale and hearty. This is just a compendium o' pics from different stages of his brief (he's perhaps 1.5 years old now) but already action-packed life. Included are links to the Picasa albums so you can get more Sammy, more of the time.
     
    And no, can't even begin to fathom why Ms Lellis thinks Sammy's the resident favorite.
     
     
    Sammy's Baby Pics  The Samster magically appeared in our warehouse, a tiny feral kitten snagging fud like a pro but hissing and spitting if accidentally confronted.
     
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    Sammy, (not even) a Month Later  Actually, not even 30 days had elapsed and already Sam was growing more approachable...albeit still at arm's length.
     
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    Da Kidz in the Morning For once, Sammy doesn't comprise the bulk of the pics (although you'd never realize this from the following pic). This is certainly anomalous. Must ponder.
     
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    Sammy in the Winter Our Guy was monitoring the haps in the backyard—nothing's too insignificant or trivial to escape his notice.
     
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    Sammy Samperson & Friends Just so you know Sammy doesn't get exclusive rock star treatment, here are (some) snaps of (some) of the others.
     
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    The Kidz  In an attempt at journalistic fairness, this album showcases some of the other kittehs but, gosh darn it, there are certainly a lot o' super-cute Sammy shots.
     
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    Das Kidz Wow, even managed to get pics of Marvin and Tobi. Who'd a thunk? Overshadowed, of course, by Samwise's photogenic-ist tendencies. Were that a word?
     
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    Sammoo A study in sepia-toned shots.
     
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    Sammy (& Friends) at Twilight Not content with merely showing Samwise in broad daylight, here are some pics taken as evening falls.
     
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    And although kittehs come in all sorts of shapes and sizes plus sport wide-ranging personalities, I can't help but wonder if the Samster hails from a particular brand o' cat. Here's one of my favorite ICanHasCheezburgers which perfectly captures his Innocence Personified in both looks and action:
     
    Perty orange furs
     
    Cripes! Two Xanga entries in less than half a year...the sky is falling! The sky is falling!
     

  • Only a teensy bit o' catching up to do...

    Usual sordid story.
    No excuses.
    Mea culpa, mea culpa.
     
    Here are some highlights for the year, Cliff Notes style. Am including Picasa album links in case you're interested in seeing additional pics.
     
    Butchart Gardens, Vancouver Island
    Had a simply mah-velous trip to Port Angeles in January, dahling. The change in weather can be quite startling—we're talking from one day to the next.
     
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    One of the goals for this trip was to visit the Butchart Gardens decked out in all of its holiday finery (Dec 1 - Jan 6) so off we went to Vancouver Island via car ferry. The grounds are unbelievably magical—softly swathed in snow, bejeweled with festive garlands and whimsical decorations, featuring the wonderful Twelve Days of Christmas vignettes (we tried to remember the stanzas of the song, oftentimes in vain). Here's a sampling: the Partridge in a Pear Tree, Two Turtledoves and the Three French Hens (ooh la la!).
     
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    The pictures can't do the gardens justice, however, as they should be experienced at night when the miles of twinkling strands light up the trees, pathways and snowbanks...there's hot chocolate and steamed egg nog (genius!) in the café to warm up your innards...and musicians and singers perform the traditional carols whilst freezing their pies off in the frosty air. Butchart Gardens, located in Brentwood Bay, is open until 11pm (yay!) during this holiday "season"; make plans to check it out and be sure to snarf some great seafood as you stroll around quaint and beautiful Victoria.
     
     
    Hearst Castle and the Central Coast
    Had the best vacation ever in April! A group of us girls headed down the coast for an evening tour of Hearst Castle. Cambria is 90 miles south from Monterey so that meant, gosh darn it, an overnight stay and mini-adventures along the way.
     
    Stopped all too briefly at Julia Pfeiffer Burns State Park. Its the site of the now-defunct Waterfall House built during the same era as Hearst Castle, featuring exotic landscaping (you can see the palm trees in the distance) and an unparalleled view of the Big Sur coastline.
     
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    Zooming down Hwy 1, Ms Lellis spotted some odd objects piled up along the coastline so we stopped for a looksee. Turns out Piedras Blancas is THE largest elephant seal rookery on the West Coast! We were looking primarily @ mamas as the "weaners" (NO, not "wieners" as my peabrain understood the vocalization) had hightailed it a month or so before.
     
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    Piedras Blancas Picasa album
     
    The pièce de résistance of the trip was the aforementioned evening tour of Hearst Castle, offered at specific times of the year and only on the weekends including Friday. This is another NOT to be missed experience! Number One: imagine wandering through the grounds bathed in golden twilight. Number Two: there are limited tours per evening so the castle is not overrun with visitors like during the day. And Number Three: docents dress in period piece clothing and set themselves up in vignettes—sipping cocktails around the Victrola, playing billiards in the smoking room or walking alongside the Neptune Pool. The tour offers an incomparable way to experience a bygone era...
     
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    La Casa Grande; a guest bedroom; the kitchen (open 24/7 for the ravenous guest); and evening over San Simeon (the pics get increasingly dark as daylight faded).
     
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    Hearst Castle Picasa album
     
     
    Seahorses in Monterey
    If you have not already done so, get thee down to the Monterey Bay Aquarium and view the marvelous Secret Lives of Seahorses exhibit! Ms Lellis and I went in May and managed to avoid most of the madding schoolkids (important safety tip, Egon: not going during the summertime is highly recommended). The exhibit is compact but comprehensive with many representatives of this very unusual animal and its relatives. The stars of the show, IMHO, are the zippy little weedy sea dragons and their charismatic camouflaged cousins, the leafy sea dragons. Suckers are hard to photograph as they are constantly moving even while appearing deceptively docile, plus the crowds jostling in front of the tank make taking snaps are real challenge (read: fuzzy pics).
     
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LaurenKaz

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