Happy Halloween!

I wish everyone a Happy Halloween!

Mori Point, Pacifica, California

I don't know why but, for some reason I love the beach on a grey overcast day. Something about the beach on those days I find very calming and mysterious. I love the beach on sunny days too but, on grey days there are usually less people and the opportunity to let the sounds and colors of the beach sooth a frazzled mind is much stronger. Lately, at the beach near my house, I've been taking my little dog to run on the beach and hike up the cliffs with me (when it's not too windy, Carlos hates the wind). I may be moving next year to Nevada so, no beaches! I was born and raised in the San Francisco Bay Area and have lived here all of my life with the exception of about 6 months in Virginia and 2 1/2 year in Germany (ex-hubby was in the army). Both are beautiful places but, not home and, no beaches like California. When I think of moving to a land locked state I wonder, "What am I gonna do without the beach?" The beach is and always has been the place I go to center myself and let the Pacific ocean tides take away what worries I have. I wanted to share some photos of Mori Point in Pacifica California. I don't know if you can get the sense that I do on a grey day at the beach but, I hope you enjoy the photos all the same.

No it's not blurry, just foggy. Pacifica is famous for it's fog. Every year there is a fog fest.

Carlos, my hiking buddy.

California wildflower.

A foggy beach. Looks kind of eerie but, I like it.

I even like how the flowers look when they are dying.

Bottlegger steps to the top of the cliff.

View from the top of the steps.

Once at the top, this is the view to the south. There is a hiking trail that leads all the way down and around the cliffs. At one time there used to be a little inn/store where they did all the bootlegging.

Carlos, ready to run. He loves to run on the beach. He may be little but, he can run all the way up the bootlegger steps without stopping.

Little birds running from the tide.

I don't know why but I love the look of all the pebbles on the beach. So many different shades of grey.

I hope you enjoyed the photos. Happy Friday everyone!

White Wednesday - Mr. Skeleton

I'm really loving White Wednesday. I find it very relaxing to seek out objects of beauty in white every Tuesday evening. Very calming indeed. So, just in time for Halloween, here is my own little object of "beauty".  Mr. Skeleton is available at my Etsy store if you are interested. I'm also linking this to Faded Charms White Wednesday. Enjoy.

Links
Faded Charms
Ivory Pumpkin

The Winner of the Tea Party Under the Halloween Moon Giveaway is......

Lyndy Ward of Today's Gold! Congratulations Lyndy! Please email  me your address so I can send you your goodies.
I'm at joane_duran@comcast.net

Tea Party Under A Halloween Moon....A Giveaway!

Time for Tea!!!

I've been looking forward to this party! I had a whole photo shoot planned out with me in my very best witch hat and the tea party set up outside and a little story to go along with everything....well life gets in the way and some things just don't happen the way they are supposed to. But,I still have a really good giveaway for those that want to participate! I'm giving away the following items.....



Grey handknit fingerless gloves, a bookmark, a pretty purple butterfly ring , a 1x2 inch flower fairy pendant, a 1x1 inch purple flower pendant.



 Here are some close ups....

The gloves were handknit by me. They are in a beautiful silvery grey color.....

I made this bookmark with some cute vintage Halloween images.....



The flower fairy pendant comes on an adjustable, chocolate brown ribbon and cord necklace. It measures 1x2 inches....



This buttfly ring measures about 1 inch in diameter and is set in a silvertone base with an adjustable band......

This pendant with tiny purple flowers with a script background comes in a copper base that measures 1x1 inches.

There will be a few extra surprise treats in the giveaway as well! If you'd like to enter the giveaway sign up to follow my blog and leave a comment. If you aleady follow, just leave a comment. Please note that all of my items come from a smoke free home but, I do have a naughty chihuahua! I'll be drawing the name of the lucky winner on Tuesday. I hope you enjoy the rest of the party. Good Luck and Happy Halloween!

Fairy Friday - In A Fairy House....

Fairy House by Torisaur

In a fairy house you'll find
Magic of a special kind,
Magic that warms the heart and calms the mind

In a fairy house you'll find
A hearth cozy and warm
To shelter from a winter storm

In a fairy house you'll find
Delicious treats of every kind
Honey, bread and elderberry tea

Won't you stay and have a cup with me?

Poem by me

White Wednesday - Queen Anne's Lace

Queen Anne's Lace - Mori Point, Pacifica, CA

About once a week I go hiking on the cliffs near the beach. During the late summer months the cliffs and fields abound with beautiful California wild flowers and, my favorite is Queen Anne's Lace. I love the contrast of such a delicate flower growing on the rugged cliffs in the wind near the crashing waves. I kept telling myself to bring my camera to take a picture of the flowers before they all disappeared.Two weeks ago I finally brought my camera and was getting rather disappointed as most of the flowers had finished blooming. To my surprise peeking out from under the shrubs I found this last little bit blooming on the cliff.  I hope you enjoy your White Wednesday

Huzzah!!

Yesterday I spent the day at the Northern California Renaissance Faire. I love the Ren Faire! I'm such a geek when it comes to stuff that this. My son and I started to make it a tradition to go about 3 years ago when he found an old photo of his dad and I dressed up for my first ren faire. The photo was taken with a polaroid instamatic - that's how long ago my first faire was! Anyway, here are a few photos. I would have taken more but the camera battery was running low. Enjoy!


Village Shopping






Even horses bow to the Queen

 

Handsome knights upon noble steeds

Ye Olde Videographer?

More Knights and their squires

Long Live the Queen!





Villages Shopping for their wares.

 



more village shopping....

 Next faire up...The Dickens Christmas Faire!

Fairy Friday - A Picture and A Poem

Little fairy that I see,

will you come and play with me?

We'll frolic by the hollow tree,

then have a picnic with cakes and tea.

Poem by me

Picture: Afternoon Tea by Paulina Cassidy

Ozma of Odds Gratitude Giveaway

This giveaway is definitely worth entering. Beautiful stuff!

Here is the link: Gratitude Giveaway

Black Cat by Rainer Maria Rilke

Black Cat

A ghost, though invisible, still is like a place
your sight can knock on, echoing; but here
within this thick black pelt, your strongest gaze
will be absorbed and utterly disappear:

just as a raving madman, when nothing else
can ease him, charges into his dark night
howling, pounds on the padded wall, and feels
the rage being taken in and pacified.

She seems to hide all looks that have ever fallen
into her, so that, like an audience,
she can look them over, menacing and sullen,
and curl to sleep with them. But all at once

as if awakened, she turns her face to yours;
and with a shock, you see yourself, tiny,
inside the golden amber of her eyeballs
suspended, like a prehistoric fly.

Rainer Maria Rilke

White Wednesday

I wish I had more time to be more creative with White Wednesday this week especially as this is my first post for it. So, I've lightend things up on the blog face and I'll have to settle with sharing a photo of my favorite flower - the gardenia. I love their creamy whiteness and the fragrance, oh the fragrance! I can't tell you how many bottles of gardenia perfume and lotion that I have but, they never come quite close to the real thing. Enjoy your White Wednesday!

Watching the Skullflowers Grow by Paulina Cassidy

The little witch is just too cute! I want skullflowers in my garden. This print is available here. It's an 8.5x11 giclee print on enhanced paper. I recently purchased her calendar and tote bag and was very pleased with both items. Both are high quality items that are definitly worth the purchase price.

Halloween Movies - What are you watching?

I watched this last night:

I think the Halloweentown series is pretty cheesy but, I watch them anyway. Only the first 3 though. After they changed the main gal, Marnie, I wasn't too interested. Here's a list of my favorites, it's not Halloween without them!

• It's The Great Pumpkin Charlie Brown (my all time fav)
• Sleepy Hollow
• Something Wicked This Way Comes (haven't seen it for awhile. It hasn't been on TV. Gotta see if I can get it on DVD)
• The Lady in White
• All of the Harry Potter's (can't wait til next month! The new one comes out!)
• The Ghost Hunter's Live Halloween special has become somewhat of a tradition.
• The Nighmare Before Christmas

I think there are more but, I can't think of them right now. What are you watching or reading?

New Items up for Sale at Ivory Pumpkin

I have several new items up at my Etsy shop in the Trick or Treat section. For the month of October with every order there will a little extra "treat" sent along with the ordered item. Here are a few of the items up for sale. Thanks for visiting!

Ivory Pumpkin

Check out The Bqe!

The Bqe creates beautiful fine art prints of New York. Here are just a few of their gorgeous photos. They are for sale at their Etsy shop here http://www.etsy.com/shop/thebqe. And, they are having a BOGO sale!

Enjoy!

Here's their bio from their Etsy shop:

Vitaly Acosta & Lissette Padilla are the photographers behind The Bqe.

We are a lovely couple, who enjoy taking photographs in the 5 boroughs to show the real beauty of New York city and the rest of the state. We want you to feel, breathe, sense and know the history of New York through our lens. It really is a wonderful place! We live in New York City in vibrant borough of Queens.

Each listing has a description of the picture to give you a little background and insight of the item taken in the picture. We take pride in our pictures and we want you to know a little bit of what you are taking home.

So enjoy & thank you for looking at our shop!

Pssst..We are also proud member of Team Discovery and the POE Team (Photographers of Etsy).

Please respect the rights of The Bqe and do not reproduce photos without permission of the artists. Thank you!