Downtown Mural

I'm not even sure where we were when we saw this on the side of a building (just somewhere in Southern California stopping for a bite to eat in a down-town area on the way back from somewhere else).  Loved this artwork and had to take a picture.   It's not a grainy pic...it was painted on a textured stone back-drop, with 3D butterflies scattered about, as well as painted ones. 

Do more virtual sight-seeing at....

Sharon's Souvenir Photo Blog Hop

My World Tuesday

4th of July Sky

I don't often take pictures of fireworks...photos don't often really capture their beauty.  But the smoke around the fireworks this 4th was mesmerizing, and I had to try.  I caught these...

And the rocket's red glare

the bombs bursting in air...


Sky Watch Friday

I'm Back in California!

So, I'm back in California now....and not just for a Vacation!  This summer we packed up and moved to San Diego, my hubby's hometown, thanks to a new job. 

I can not tell you how good it feels to be back.   When my husband, who came earlier than us, picked us up at the airport and we got in the car and drove through the city with all the palm trees, stucco buildings, murals, HILLS, marinas, etc....I just wanted to scream for joy.  I was HOME!

Don't get me wrong...I had grown to love where I lived, and I still dearly miss so many of the people there.  So many people who had become like family.  But the place itself, the geography, weather, etc.....it's never felt like home the way California does.

I'm even sleeping better.    The whole time I've been in Texas I've struggled with insomnia (and in summer, when I can go to bed when I want, a creeping sleep schedule).   I haven't had that trouble since I came back.

So, anyways, I'll be writing more soon about how I'm seeing California now after being away so long, and fun outings we've been doing, etc....but I just wanted to let you all know I'm back.

Sky Watch Friday

Very different sets of clouds behind the same house  (all taken during June)...

Sky Watch Friday

A Heart in the Clouds

Sometimes the heart rises above...

Sky Watch Friday 

Wordless Tuesday

Living Life: Throwback Thursday

Latest Visitors

Guess who showed up on my front porch a few days back....

They were being so still I almost missed them.  In fact, my son and I walked right past them, played a game of tag, and didn't see them until we were headed back into the house.

They look like dove fledglings ..they didn't fly away even when my son got really near (no, I didn't let him touch them).  After we went inside they hid in a patch of unmowed grass right next to the porch.  It looked like they might have been there earlier too...it looked well "nestled" into.  My son was supposed to mow there yesterday, but he had bailed because he saw a wasp.  So glad he didn't!  We're going to have to be very careful when we mow now to check for wildlife first.

So, for all you lazy mowers out there like me, just know that one of the benefits of letting your lawn go is...

UNTAMED LAWN = WILDLIFE



Shared On Our World Tuesday

Camera Critters 

Throwback Thursday

Definition of the Word "Depressing"

My cousin's flip flops (he let me steal this picture).  He's in Virginia, not Texas, but this is pretty much my town today too.  Well, we we got a snow day out of it...so who cares if the snow's all melted now.  ;-)

Freezing Rain...

...can be beautiful.

These were all crops from one large picture of frosted dead weeds.

"Frosted dead weeds" doesn't sound very pretty, but I could explore this one

photo for hours.  It makes me want to be an ant-sized and invincible

so I could climb around in that icy wonderland and explore.

Shared at Royallegacy, Worldless Wednesday,
 Macro Monday and I Heart Macro.

Garden Bloom Day: A Natural Beauty

They're back!  Those beautiful wild pink evening primroses have come up again!   

They even manage to make my messy yard look beautiful.

I can take no credit for planting or cultivating these lovelies.
They were a gift from nature and come up faithfully every year.
I just be careful to mow around them.

See more lovelies at
Garden Bloom Day and Wildflower Wednesday

Sky Watch Friday

The sky behind my neighbor's tree.  Just rediscovered these pictures and had to share them.  

Sky Watch Friday

Texas Clouds

I love the clouds in Texas...anywhere in the Midwest actually.  I don't remember ever seeing these puffy Simpson's style clouds out in California.

But even cooler is how these clouds move...

See more beautiful skies at

Sky Watch Friday 


 

Storms and Rainbows

Above are some pictures of a rainbow after mild storm that hit last week.

Meanwhile, a long ways from Texas, the east coast was starting recovery efforts from Hurricane Sandy.  I'm not in a good position to donate directly right now, but right now Zazzle has set up a program for artists sell things through Zazzle and donate 100% of the profits (Zazzle's and the artist's) to charities helping Hurricane Sandy victims, and so I've donated some items from my Scribbleprints shop.  I thought about donating some things from the Texifornia Souvenir shop, but honestly, I hardly ever sell things there...so there didn't seem much point to setting that up.  BUT, if you see something you like there, let me know, and I'll mark it to donate to Hurricane Sandy victims.

Another thing I thought of is that if there is any of my sky watch pictures  (or any other pictures from this blog) that you would like as a poster, postcard, key-chain, puzzle, or whatever...let me know, and so long as there's no people in it, and it's mine (not one I used from Flickr), and it's big enough, I'll put it on whatever you want and mark it for Hurricane donations.  Just leave me a comment or e-mail me at ecarian at yahoo dot com.


And for all you out there who were tossed by the winds, or who tossed by storms of another kind,  this song's for you...
 

Hello hurricane, you're not enough

Hello hurricane, you can't silence my love

I've got doors and windows boarded up

All your dead end fury is not enough

You can't silence my love, my love

Full Lyrics by Switchfoot can be found here. 

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Sky Watch Friday 

Throwback Thursday


 

Sky Watch Friday

This is Texas:  Beautiful skies over oak trees.  

Hello everyone.  I love seeing all the sky pictures from around the world on Sky Watch Friday, and I wanted to invite you all to another event where you can share your little piece of the world and go exploring.  "This is Wherever Wednesday" was one of my favorite interenet memes, and when it ended, I asked The Budget Blond if she would mind if I continued it here on Texifornia.  So, stop by Nov. 7th to link up all the crazy wonderful things you notice about your town this week. 

Sky Watch Friday - Flora and Fauna, From a Bugs-eye View

1st Trio:

Wild Primrose

2nd Trio:

Bolting Oak Leaf Lettuce

Plantain

Goldenrod

3st Trio:

Wildflower - Unknown

Flowering Chives - Just budding

Flowering Chives - In Bloom


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Sky Watch Friday
Blooming Friday
Pink Saturday 

Sky Watch - Grackles

On the street corner

Grackles perch on the phone lines

Hoards waiting to fly

Sky Watch Friday

So, this is a birdbath?

Where are all the birds?

Shared on...
Throwback Thursday

Photo Farewell to 2011

I stumbled on a meme started by Farewell Stranger where you post a picture for each month of the year...a Photo Farewell to 2011.  I loved the idea and decided to go back and pick out some photos from the past 12 months and share them here.

January

 
January brought a trip out to California.  It was originally supposed to be a trip out just to visit my dad, but shortly before the trip he had a bad fall and it became apparent that he could no longer stay in the two story home in the mountains he'd lived in for the last 20+ years.   It was a gut-wrenching trip which forced me to come to grips with how far his Parkinson's had progressed



February

We don't get much snow here in Texas...but it seems like February is the most likely time to get it!  3 of the best snows I remember happened in February, and 2011 saw one of these.   We woke up that February 4th to a blanket of white and an announcement of no school.  The thick white fog that filled the sky that morning gave way to a clear, vibrant, blue dusted with whisps of puffy white clouds.   The snow was thick, and soon snowmen started popping up in people's yards (including our own).   It only lasted a day, but what a day!

March

In March I broke my wrist roller skating with my kids, and I got walking pneumonia...both of which I had for far too long before seeing a doctor about.  The wrist had hurt like crazy at first, but by the time I had it checked it had practically healed...it was the pneumonia that knocked me out like a two-by-four over the head.  I was coughing up blood, and couldn't walk across the room without getting winded.  When the doctor said he needed to x-ray my chest I asked if he could x-ray my wrist too, and came home with anti-biotics, a cast, and instructions to lay on the couch and not do anything for the next two weeks.

In the midst of this, our hearts went out to the people of Japan who suffered such devestation in the Tsunami.



April

 

I had planned to build a raised bed and start a vegetable garden in April, but was still recovering from the pneumonia and didn't have the energy.  The spot where I had planned my garden became a sand-box for my youngest, who helped me keep the weeds out of it by digging it up with his toy shovels and bulldozer.  I took it easy and enjoyed the warmer whether and wildlife (birds and bunnies and such). 

May

May is always a month for celebrations... Mother's Day, My Birthday, Our Anniversary.  This may brought a new celebration...my sister-in-law's wedding!

June

 

June brought our second year at church doing Holy Land VBS.  It's been a wonderful experience, transforming our church into a Bible land and then getting to watch the kids experience it.  This year we "went back" to Nazareth.  I got to be a 1st century farmer who grew up in the same town as Jesus.  We had fun  decorating peat pots and planting a few seeds which grew in 1st century Nazareth, and sharing our character's stories with the kids. 

July

Texas summer is always hot...but the heat this year was RELENTLESS.  After days of staying inside to beat the heat, I started taking the kids to the park at 8:00 at night just so they could run off some steam.  Even at night it was hot...though somewhat endurable.   In the midsts of a 108 degree day my littlest found this winter hat and scarf and donned it to go outside.  I titled the picure "Missing Winter."

August

 

The heat continued in August, but we escaped it for a couple weeks when we took a family trip back to California to see my Dad.  It was the first time my Dad got to see my youngest face to face, and because of how far his Parkinson's has progressed, sadly this was probably be the last time my kids will get to see their Grandpa.  It was bittersweet.  

The mice had invaded my Dad's mountain home, and it was not fit to stay in with the kids...so we took our very first camping trip right in the back yard.  My boys have been asking me to go camping for a long time (it's either too hot, to cold, or too buggy out here in Texas for me to venture staying outdoors), so they were thrilled.  My husband and I learned that the older you get, the harder the ground gets.  But we all enjoyed waking up to the sun-rise through the pines, and taking my boys on walks through the same woods I used to walk through was like a salve for sadness.

We took daily trips "down the hill" (never occurred to me how strange it was calling a 5,000 foot mountain a hill was til I came out here) to see my dad, spent a day at Disneyland with the kids, and spent the last two days in San Diego where my husband grew up.  The kids loved the ocean...and I thought it was ironic that it was foggy and chilly at the beach, IN AUGUST!.    Took so many gorgeous pictures while we were there...browse my California tagged posts if you want to see more.

September

The heat continued right into September...and I was relieved to have my two older boys in school where they could work out their energy in the school gym.  But, I was very happy they were home the day our back yard burst into flames!  The fire actually started in our neighbour's yard, and my middle son was the first one to spot it creeping under our fence.  Luckily only the fence and some of our lawn got burned, and with our neighbour's help it was out before the fire department got here.



October

 

October finally brought some rain...and my youngest and I spent many days visiting a river near by and enjoying the cooler weather.  My poor garden seemed to sign with relief too!

November

In November our garden TOOK OFF!  The peppers that had been barely surviving all summer started bearing fruit.  We got radishes and green beans (all firsts for my garden), and in the spot the fire had burned in September, HUNDREDS of carrots and a few cilantro plants sprouted.  We had not planted those...they were a surprize left from a couple packets of seeds that blew across my yard year before last, emptying their contents.  I love when the wind plants me a garden!

December

 

This is what my December felt like...a blur.  It wasn't that we tried to pack a lot in.  I really tried to keep things simple.  But even so, it felt full: winter colds, decorating, lighting candles, bedtime Christmas carols (our family tradition), a school play, present buying, a little baking.  Full, but happy, still.