Wordle For Fun

Today I discovered wordle, a place to make your own word cloud out of any words, or even your blog. You can customize it with different colors, shapes, fonts, and direction of the words. It makes a little bit of poetry arranged in a digitally-artistic manner.

If you've got a little bit of time to kill on your computer, give it a try, it's fun!

Restaurant Review - The Cheesecake Factory

There's a new Cheesecake Factory over by Disneyland, very near my mom's. We went to it earlier this summer, and I was craving to go back, so we did last week. The first time I went I ordered this Luau salad, but without the chicken. It seems you can order any entre without the meat if you're a vegetarian, and that's good. When I first got this Luau salad, it seemed to be over flowing the plate. I ate and ate, and never seemed to make a dent. I was able to take a whole other serving home. So it made the salad worth the $12.95, since I got 2 meals out of it. Well, last week I had the same salad. But this time it seemed so much smaller, and there was none left over to take home. What's up with that? It still was a really pretty plate of food with some sort of wantan cracker things, macadamia nuts and an assortment of vegetables, covered in their balsamic dressing. I did enjoy my iced green tea, slightly sweetened with their minty concoction. I didn't think the salad was worth the $12.95 this time, and if someone is leaving the meat off, it needs to be compensated with more of the other stuff. The meat is a big part of the money paid. I guess it depends on who's cooking the day you go!! Oh and I also think they need some kind of kid's menu. The quesedilla appetizer was good for Wesley though. Next time I think I'll order the Southwestern salad, or maybe pasta with veggies, but I'm over the Luau salad, as gorgeous as it is!

Many Varieties of Cute

We went down to Orange County again for a visit. A couple of days filled with fun and cuteness!

Here you see my mom's new puppy, Marvin! So little and ever so cute!


She also has a very cute bunny... can't get much cuter than a bunny!


Well, I think turtles and tortoises are very cute, indeed! This one's been in the neighborhood for who knows how long. My mom acquired him over 20 years ago.


Look how cute he is when he bites a carrot!


We spent a couple of days at the beach, this time Sunset Beach. We saw this flock of sandpipers. I think they're one of the cuties of the beach. The waves were bigger this time on account of a hurricane to the south. We still spent lots of time in the water though.


And finally, we spent some time with the winners of all cutedom. My twin nephews, they're 2 1/2 now. They're little monster animals, but very cute non-the-less!

NibbleFest - Angels and Demons

The NibbleFest theme for July is "Angels and Demons." Here is mine. I think I was a little inspired by the baby goats in my neighborhood. Although this Guardian Angel is caring for a lamb. Close enough.

Finally I'm joining in on NibbleFest again. And listing an auction on ebay. It took me a while to navigate, but I finally got the listings done. Why does ebay always seem to get worse, instead of improve?

Oh well, search NFAC for the other angels and demons on ebay.

-SOLD-

TOC - Royalty

Tonight's theme for TOC was "royalty", in honor of the return of Helene "Queen of the Tribe."

I did a quick painting of Queen Helene for the night.

Day at the Beach

Earlier in the week we went down to the OC to hit the beach. We went to Corona Del Mar, one of the nicest beaches around. Growing up in Orange County, I went to all the beaches, but rarely to this one. So this was quite a treat.


Wesley caught some of the perfectly small waves. Having wiped out myself in many large waves, I think it's much funner when the waves are nice and small. Wouldn't you love to stay in that house boat for a few days?


Yeah, Corona Del Mar is pretty nice... if you like that mulit-million dollar mansion over looking the Pacific sort of lifestyle!

Win This Quilt!

Yes that's right. You can win this simply gorgeous, and scrumptious looking quilt, over at Old Red Barn Co.! Are you as excited as I am over this quilt? Go to the blog and enter yourself, and let's hope luck is with you or I, because there's a whole s*#t-load of people entering to win it. Well you just never know!

Just be sure to enter before midnight, Tuesday, July 22, 2008.

NibbleFest - In The Mist - June

This is an ACEO I did for the June NibbleFest "In The Mist." Sadly that was when I discovered my scanner had died. So I couldn't list it. I just can't sell and send of an original without first making a scan of it. So this had to wait. Oh well, here it is anyway.

Here's Nevada Falls in the most spectacular place on Earth... Yosemite. It's part of the famous "Mist Trail," above and beyond the Vernal Falls and the many, many steps that lie beside it. These 2 waterfalls produce an incredible amount of mist. And here you see the faces that appear in that mist.

This is watercolor and pen and ink, ACEO (2.5x3.5 inches). I think I'll put it up on Ebay, maybe tomorrow.

I'm happy to say that I did get a new scanner today. It was time consuming to install it, but now I'm happy.

Rain makes for a lovely day

Thursday night at about midnight we had a little unexpected downpour of rain. I had to run out into the gushing water and booming thunder to save a few things. I'd been clean sweeping my shed and had a few boxes left over to go through. It was worth the chaotic night to have a day of delightful smells of damp Earth. A wet summer thundershower was very needed here. It made for an enjoyable walk with Ziggy without being too hot.


Along the way, we saw these little cuties, only a week old. Are they the cutest, or what?! I'm in complete love, and to watch them play is such a joy! Someone hold me back from getting my very own baby goat!


Another joy this week was my first harvest of apricots. I've had this little tree for only 3 years, and it got it's first crop of apricots this year. I was surprised how many it grew for it's first year. This is only the first picking. Apricots truly mean summer to me, since my Grandma had an apricot tree when I was growing up. I did my share of eating apricots as a kid. How wonderful to now have my own! Now if I could only be as industrious as Grandma and make some jam.


Yes, the rain made everyone feel a little better around here. Doesn't the garden help my house to look cute?


Even the fish in the pond were a bit more happy from the rain!

Lychnis blooming on the Fourth of July

A sure sign of the Fourth of July, for me, is the blooming of the
Lychnis coronaria, also know as rose campion, mullein pink, or dusty miller. Lychnis is a Greek word for lamp, interesting that the leaves were once used as wicks for lamps.


These are very easy to grow, and they reseed themselves very well, yet their roots are not deep or invasive. This makes it easy to control them even if they've reseeded to their hearts' content. The color is so intense, and even while not blooming, the leaves are a wonderful shade of light bluish green. Some may confuse them with lamb's ear, but they're not quite as soft as the lamb's ear.

They seem to move around my yard, each year thriving in a different spot, all on their own.


A good companion plant that grows in the same way is Feverfew, as seen here. They make a very cheery combination.

Yes, the Fourth of July is always the peak in my garden, well at least the major peak. It's a beautiful time that needs to be enjoyed while it's here.

My Fourth was usual... parade in town, a little music at a local hangout, quiet day at home, trying to stay cool.

How was your Fourth spent? What's peaking in your garden? Do tell, I'd love to hear!