weekend wack or . . . pie lovers unite!

He will not see me stopping here. . .

Saturday last we 'received' over 6 inches of snow in one day which ushered in this whole winter in Minnesota thing in style. I took this photo Wednesday morning when the crunchy snow was sun-washed. Due to freezing day temps since Saturday, the lakes are starting to freeze too. Soon the less stalwart water fowl will leave us for several months.

There is a fragile beauty in the sky and on the morning snow now. More beautiful skies to be seen @ Skywatch Friday.

Whose woods these are I think I know.
His house is in the village though;
He will not see me stopping here
To watch his woods fill up with snow.
Robert Frost

In our California travels I stopped at a wayside farm stand in Carmel Valley which belonged to the organic gardening company Earthbound Farms. [the posters above are from their nifty site] These two gorgeous varieties of Passion Flower were growing around the place and since I had just come from November in Minnesota, they seemed to call even louder to me.

So, since I find myself inhabiting that strange place between home and where one has traveled, I offer these beauties for both memes, Today's Flowers and Ruby Tuesday.

down by the seashore. . .

On our trip along Highway 1 in California, we caught up with these Sandpipers who were feeding as the tide came in along the beach outside of Cambria. They were energetic, speedy and brave in spite of really.big.waves and for that I was in awe of them. Plus, they provided the comic relief because they knew how to dodge the waves. . .and I didn't. Get it?

Gotta love creatures so small yet so smart--see more at Camera Critters a meme for animal lovers everywhere.

'Roll on, thou deep and dark blue Ocean ...'

Our breathtaking view of the Pacific Ocean along California Highway 1 on the Monterey Peninsula. When the fog cleared and the sun came out that morning, one of Pebble Beach's greens became visible [lower left]. The tide was rolling in with its waves crashing. Perfection!

See more perfect skies from all over our planet at Skywatch Friday. [quotation from Lord Byron]

'I'd like to see Paris before I die. . .

. . .Philadelphia will do.
Mae West

Just flew in from Philadelphia and boy, are my arms tired! after spending a long Halloween weekend visiting Erica. We spent one day downtown and another out in the gorgeous Pennsylvania countryside at a pumpkin patch/dairy [read: pumpkin ice cream]. On Halloween night we took a trolley ride through old Philly looking for ghosts. The rest of the time was pretty much filled with eating pretzels or cheese steaks and watching scary movies. Below are some city views:

Above is a mural view of the hospital in Center City where she is doing her emergency medicine residency. The ER is around the corner.


More downtown views

Can you tell I had a great time? Its always hard to say goodbye to her. . .