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Pacific Grove in the afternoon. |
I've been meaning to post ever since we got back from Spain, but life and work intruded -- in a happy way. I'm working on a new story, to be included in an anthology coming out next year.
Though I've kept my nose to the grindstone, it's made my blogging lackadaisical. Then Thanksgiving came -- a wonderful communal gathering with my beloved god family -- and after that we went to Pacific Grove for the weekend. Pacific Grove, Monterrey, and Carmel have long had a shared place in our hearts. We come back when we can, like homing pigeons, to walk the beaches and visit the art galleries in Carmel.
We spent both mornings in Pacific Grove, driving, then walking along the sea wall, enjoying the slate-blue of the distant waters, the foamy white ruffles of incoming waves, the soft hush-sh-sh of waves rippling and splashing on rocks, the muffled roar of larger waves, and the kwee-dkwee-kwee of the seagulls that soared and swooped from rocks to shore and back again.
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A distant boat on the endless waters. |
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A lone seagull, taking it all in. |
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Rocks that jut up like sculptures. |
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And a rock littered with roosting gulls. |
That was the ocean view.
On land, the ice plant that makes a fuchsia-colored carpet across the sand in spring was bereft of flowers, but it glistened in green and red tones like stained glass.
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A path of beauty. |
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Fall colors like stained glass |
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Someone staring out to sea. |
For years I've wanted to visit the Monarch Grove Sanctuary in Pacific Grove, an "overwintering" spot for monarch butterflies, November through February each year, free for viewing. This time we did. Look closely. Nature has truly devised a great safety system for these delicate creatures;
At first we thought they were only dried
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Hundreds of butterflies with folded wings, looking like so many dried leaves in their wonderful camouflage. |
leaves hanging from trees--and not
pretty leaves, at that. And then a little
kid pointed them out to us! "They're
in camouflage," he said. (Smart kid!)
We looked again, and were amazed.
Hundreds upon hundreds of folded
wings. Camouflage indeed!
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One butterfly opened its wings |
Both afternoons, we drove into Carmel to enjoy the many art galleries. We have certain galleries we particularly like: One is
Classic Art Gallery. One is the Carmel Art Association, a collaborative gallery that features work by local artists and puts out a lovely small catalogue each year that is like a book of art gems. You can visit them
HERE. We also like
Jones & Terwilliger Galleries. But actually there are so many good galleries, an amble through them is like an amble through several fine art museums.
Because Rajan is into black and white photography, we stopped by two photography galleries we've always enjoyed.
One is the
Weston Gallery. They are featuring a color show in one section at present, but they specialize in the art of some of my husband's favorite black and white photographers: Ansel Adams (his hero), Edward and Brett Weston, Yousuf Karsh, Michael Kenna, Imogen Cunningham . . . . You can click on the name of the gallery above, and, once there, click on the artists and see wonderful samples of their work. The other is
Photography West Gallery, featuring some of the same artists, all working in black and white film (my husband's first love) rather than digital.
Both afternoons we stopped by a charming restaurant/bar called
Grasings on 6th and Mission, and had a glass of crisp Chardonnay. The place had a soft, warm atmosphere and a friendly staff, and it made for a nice pause in the day.
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Hubby's ear in lower left corner. :-) |
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A nice pause in the day. |
My birthday was Monday, but since we would be driving back to Sacramento that day, we celebrated Sunday evening at a little French restaurant in Pacific Grove. (Or maybe it's Monterrey: those areas run into each other, and I'm never quite sure. )
It's called
Fifi's Bistro Cafe , reasonably price,
a charming restaurant with a cosy atmosphere. Fifi was there that evening, as it was the restaurant's 30th anniversary. She's French, of course, and she looked casually
chic, as the French somehow always manage to do -- black dress, red scarf, hair tumbled back in a clip. We are not dessert eaters, but when she found out we were celebrating my birthday, she insisted on bring an order of
flan for us to share, and she brought a beautiful red rose to the table, scattering the petals over the white tablecloth. How French!
I have a lot of questions in this post: Have you ever seen the monarch butterflies wintering over in some location? (I understand there are quite a few; not just Pacific Grove.) Do you have a special affinity for the ocean? Do you enjoy black and white photography? What is your favorite art form?
Christmas is just around the corner and what better gift is there than the gift of a wonderful story?
Salty Seas & His Heroic Friends by Lynda Wurster Deniger is an adventurous tale that will make the perfect addition to your home library.
Salty Seas is a little shrimp boat that sails around the "
bottom of Louisiana, where the Gulf of Mexico kisses Grand Isle..." Salty loves the life he shares with his friends, Sammy Seagull, Dottie Dolphin and Pattie Pelican. Salty especially cares for Captain Charley who mends his big, green nets before they head out once again to catch shrimp.
Every year the people of Grand Isle hold a huge festival called
The Blessing of the Fleet where the priest gives a special blessing over all the boats to ensure a safe and lucrative journey. This year Salty leads procession decorated with brightly coloured flags and balloons.
The next morning Salty is excited as he and all his friends head out to sea. However, it's not all smooth sailing and Salty must come to one of his friends rescue. Find out whose in trouble and how Salty can save the day in
Salty Sea & His Heroic Friends.This book isn't only a wonderful look at a shrimp boating way of life, but it also demonstrates the value of good friends. The soft, subtle illustrations by Paulette Ferguson only add to the depth and feel of this sea-tale come to life.
For more information, please visit Salty Seas website at;
http://www.saltyseasandfriends.com/
By: stephanie,
on 6/28/2010
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The sea birds have set up a satellite location in the country while the Gulf oil spill is being cleaned up. Have you ever seen seagulls, pelicans and chickens all under one roof? Me neither, but here’s how I imagine it would look:
The chicken coop has a few visitors.
The prompt for Illustration Friday this week was “satellite,” and the prompt for the CBIG Blog this month was “country.” I decided to combine the two in a painting for the ripple blog (to help animals affected by the oil spill). Click here for more info or to purchase this painting.
There’s still a whale print and two paintings, seagulls and pelicans, by me for sale from previous weeks.
By: Thao,
on 1/15/2010
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Growing up, my dad had a red station wagon, and every summer we kids (sibling and cousins) would pile into the back and off we would go to the beach. It was probably an hour outside the city, but it seemed to me like it was an endless drive before we saw water. Read more [...]
By: Maxwell Eaton III,
on 9/15/2008
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More seagulls? I don't get any requests for them, but here are some more just in case we've got a seagull obsessed citizen out there.
By: Maxwell Eaton III,
on 8/19/2008
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I've just finished a ton of sketches for a new book I'm working on, so I've finally got time to do a little sketching for fun. Back to the normal sketches tomorrow along with a peek at the new August Drawing Drawing (let's ignore the fact that it's the 19th). Sign up if you haven't already!
Your bud,
Maxwell
By: Maxwell Eaton III,
on 8/6/2008
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By: Maxwell Eaton III,
on 8/6/2008
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By: Maxwell Eaton III,
on 8/6/2008
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By: Maxwell Eaton III,
on 8/6/2008
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I'm busy busy busy right now getting some sketches done for a new project, so I haven't had a ton of time for the ol' sketch of the day. Therefore, welcome to Seagull Week!
Oh! The chicks sitting in the pelican’s mouth. That is adorable. Before I read the text of the entry the first thing I thought when I saw this was, “Omg! Pelicans!!!”
Thanks Courtney! BTW, your first thought, “Omg! Pelicans!!!” made me smile
very sweet illo! ?
Sweet…I like the mommy hen’s reaction upon discovering her chickens saved by pelican!
Thanks justdoodleit! I originally had in mind that they were playing, but I like your interpretation that the pelican saved the chicks.