Playing With My Camera

 I started writing this post with the title, "At a Snail's Pace", but once I began editing my photos,

my thoughts went in a completely different direction.

While I was writing the post, this gorgeous bouquet of flowers was delivered.

I walked around the house

looking for the right spot to capture the beautiful colors in the arrangement.

This little swing in the garden was my favorite, but the the greenery actually took away from the flowers.

So I headed out to the beach

and continued to play with my camera.

My Canon and Picmonkey seem to be my tools of creativity these days.

I'm having fun taking pics

at different angles

and then zooming in on one object when I edit.

I have no idea what I'm doing

either in the taking of photos or the editing,

but I'm having fun.

After years of drought

and a good rainy winter,

the garden is coming alive

and providing lots of inspiration.

If anyone is looking for me,

I'm in the garden,

playing with my camera.

Less Stuff . . . More Adventures

My daughter was celebrated at a baby shower last Saturday and has another coming up in 2 weeks 

In the midst of talking about what she should give the hostesses as thank you gifts, I came across this photo on Instagram posted by a local friend about Rose Story Farm.

 After reading Lori's response back to me on IG, I checked out the website and immediately emailed KC to tell her that a tour of Rose Story Farm would be the perfect thank you for my friend Wendy who hosted the first baby shower.

Of course that meant that I would be enjoying the tour also.

Yesterday Wendy and I headed up the coast to Carpinteria with the ocean obscured by the marine layer,

but in the hills just 24 miles north, the sun was shining and the sky was blue.

The bench sat against an extensive hedge of Sally Holmes roses.

The tour group was extra large that day, but we lucked out and had the owner of the farm, Danielle Hahn, as our guide.

The farm began in 1998 yet I had no knowledge of its existence until a few weeks ago.

 The beautiful farmland was enhanced by a riot of color.

everywhere we looked.

Cute little cottages from another era

dotted the landscape.

Look at the gorgeous bouquet of roses on that table.

This little rose covered cottage is a private residence on the property 

I love the attention to detail on the farm - even the cushions on the wicker chairs are covered in a rose pattern.

We were encouraged to stop and smell the roses - Danielle snipped off flowers for us to really breathe in the scent and I was touched by how much she loves her flowers. 

I am now following Rose Story Farm on Instagram - each post shows gives you a sense of how much Danielle savors her life on the farm.

Arches and arbors can be spotted all over the grounds.

Walking beneath this arbor, the path became a soft aisle of pink petals.

This curly willow arch was created for a wedding and no one remembered to remove it - by they time they got around to taking it down, it had filled in so beautifully that they decided to keep it.

This arch is very special - it was the site of the memorial for Julia Child and that bench sat in her garden.

Julia Child was a close friend of the family and this beautiful rose bears the name "Julia Child".

A difference fragrance greeted us with each new rose we encountered.

After nearly 25 years of not having a sense of smell, it has miraculously returned and I was in heaven enjoying so many different aromas.

The bees love Rose Story Farm too.

We ended the day on the lawn, eating a tasty lunch and chatting with people from near and far.

Two ladies were from Connecticut, another was from Miami and we all shared a love of gardens.

When KC gave Wendy the card with the invitation to Rose Story Farm, I loved her response, "This is so much better than another bowl."

And I must agree with Wendy,

I need less stuff and more adventures in my life.

..  ..  ..  ..  ..  ..  ..  ..

I am sharing with Jann of Have a Daily Cup for SYC

Friends We've Never Met

A couple of weeks ago, when I was up to my ears in spring cleaning, we received this beautiful painting in the mail.

This photo of a house in the Ventura Keys, posted a few years ago on Instagram, serendipitously led to an Instagram friendship with the artist, Diane Larson.

 Diane of @dlarsonpaints and Diane Larson Fine Art commented that she thought our boys went to high school together.

Despite our sons (hers is the graduate and mine is the redhead) being friends for over 25 years, we as parents never met. 

7 weeks ago Diane posted this pic of her studio on Instagram and asked me if I recognized the framed piece on the wall - a page torn from Coastal Living Magazine of her happy place -Ventura.

Diane did not know it was one of Steve's paintings until her son Eric asked her if she knew that the painting was done by Josh's dad.

When I learned that the picture was just a magazine page, I asked Steve if he had any more posters and as luck would have it, he had one poster left and it now hangs on Diane's wall on the east coast.

This is an old (somewhat blurry) collage of paintings Steve has done of Two Tree Hill - a Ventura landmark.

So this painting is even more special because Diane called it, Two Tree's, Bahamas style -  she and her husband have been sailing the seas and she's been painting on the boat.

With my company gone and spring cleaning over, I finally had time to create a mantel display worthy of the palm trees.

I love this mantel because it tells our story. 

The shells have been gathered over years and years - this sand dollar (3" across) is one of several we brought back from Costa Rica.

And now, this painting by a friend we have never met, adds to our story.