Lavender ~

~ A little bit of sweet smelling Lavender ~

Babysitting the grandkids ~

Last weekend, I had five of my grandkids at once! The house got a bit crazy but as you can see, they kicked their shoes off, and dug right into playing and hanging out at Oma's. Ethan loves his race cars! His daddy races at Autocross just about every other weekend.

For you, Oma ~

On our walk today, my grandson picked these cute little flowers, walked up to me and said, "here Oma, these are for you". . .he is so darn sweet!

My grandson has half days (dismissed at 12:15) all this week, due to teacher conferences. After I picked him up from school, we decided to take a walk around our neighborhood and up the street a bit in search of a photo to post here, on my photo a day blog.  We found lots of neat flowers and plants. . .many, I do not know the names of! So, we plan each day to head out and take lots of neat photos to share.

Great White Shark ~

My daughter and granddaughter spent the day at the Natural History Museum, in Balboa Park, San Diego. Above is a model of a Great White Shark. The Balboa Park Museums are a wonderful place to spend the day. Many of the museums are free or you can donate. The Air & Space Museum is exceptional. . .I am not sure if there is a charge for that exhibit but well worth it.

I am still having a problem with Picasa/Blogger, so I am uploading my photos via my blog while I am in the "new post" window and then grabbing photos from "My Pictures" clicking on the upload photo icon. . .it will be nice when Google resolves the problem. 

Archived photos 

Unknown flower ~

I love these purple little flowers that are growing thru from our neighbors side of the fence that separates our yards. I have no idea what the name of it is though. It has the appearance of Rosemary...but I know it is not Rosemary.  Below is a full view of the flowers and branches coming thru the fence. 

Knott's Berry Farm Waterfall ~

This is the waterfall at Knott's Berry Farm in Buena Park, CA. There is a little suspension bridge you can walk across that leads you to the inside of the caves (that you can see behind where the water is falling). The kids love to run across the bridge shaking it to and fro, scaring their Oma!

Mini Jeweled Cello ~

I feel in love with this little jeweled Cello at our friends home in Lake Havasu. Photo came out a bit dark, but I wanted to share it with you anyway.

Boot full of Ivy ~

This boot full of Ivy sits on a bookcase shelf at our friends home in Lake Havasu. I thought it was neat so I took a shot of it. 

Flowers, Cookies, and Tea ~

My day was centered around medical appointments and visiting my very sick mother-in-law in the hospital. Thankfully, she is recovering fairly well from a very bad bout of Pneumonia.   I  haven't made chocolate chip cookies in ages...we are having some heavy rains this evening, so I thought it would be a perfect time to bake. I ended up eating a bit more than I should have, but the kids really enjoyed them and not to mention how nice  the house smells. 

My table cloth is from Germany. Each time mom would make a trip back "home" she would make sure she brought back different styles of these pretty and unique tablecloths...I have two drawers full of these treasures in my antique dresser, I like to use them as much as I can. 

The vintage vase was a gift from a friend of mine...the flowers are a bit spent but decided to keep them for one more day.

Pretty yellow flowers ~

These pretty yellow flowers are growing in my grandson's school garden...shared in a previous post here. I honestly do not know the name of them! I have hunted all over the internet and cannot find a photo or name on this flower.  I did know at one time, but for the life of me, I cannot remember at this moment.  So, they remain nameless for the time being. They are so bright and pretty, I had to share them.  If anyone has an idea...I would love to know.

A special birthday present to Mom ~

~ Happy Birthday, Mom...we love and miss you very much ~

I want to thank Vickie over at Photos by BeNotForgot for NASA's "Fly your Face in Space" idea. What a wonderful gift to give and I thought it perfectly suited for mom on this day. She loved to fly and she was an adventurous women...so, I submitted her face in space...I know she would just love this.

The shuttle, "Endeavour" is scheduled to launch on April 19th, 2011 for the  STS-134  final mission into space. Endeavour, is scheduled to return and land on April 29th, 2011...once the shuttle lands, I will be able to pick-up mom's Flight Certificate!

Thank you again, Vickie,  for sharing and for also suggesting the idea to take a screen shot, I would not have known to do that.

I know this isn't your usual photo of the day but I did create desktop wallpaper and took a photo (not the above) so I am hoping it counts a little.

Jeweled pond frog ~

This neat little jeweled metal frog sits on the edge of a waterfall pond at our friend's home in Lake Havasu City, AZ. He's the keeper of the fish swimming below.

Pokey and the school garden ~

Here's Pokey as I promised in yesterdays post...he looks a bit sideways but that's how they "planted" him!
I think the Kindergarten class made him their school garden mascot.

School garden ~

Tulip

This little garden belongs to the Kindergarten class at my grandson's school. This year he is in first grade but he was in this Kindergarten classroom last year, creating a similar garden.  It's really a neat little garden that has quite a variety of flowers and herbs.  If you look close in the bottom and in the middle of the 2nd photo, you can see "Pokey" the horse that goes with Gumby, created by Art Clockey, in the early 1950's.  I will share a close up photo of Pokey, in tomorrows post...I remember them very well!  The children have done a wonderful job creating their garden.

Happy St. Patty's Day ~

This pretty little cup was given to me by a very close friend years ago...I thought it perfect for today's photo!
Happy St. Patrick's Day!

Garden art ~ wire dragonfly ~

The friends we stayed with last weekend in Lake Havasu City, AZ,  had a wonderful backyard...quiet reflective moments next to a relaxing waterfall, a bit of garden art and great plants...many photo opportunities and many of which I will be sharing here.

Freesia and Sweet Peas ~

Fresh picked Freesia & Sweet Peas...they smell wonderful.

Havasu sunset ~

Our family spent last weekend with dear friends in Lake Havasu City, Arizona. The sky was gorgeous. The friends we stayed with have a roof deck, where you can sit and watch the sun rise and set...which is where I snapped many photos from. I had to work around power lines and poles...not quite as noticeable in this shot. We were very close to the lake and the weather was perfect. 

Unknown beauty ~

Starting to open up...

In full bloom.

I honestly do not know what the name of these lovely purple flowers are. They  grow on a small tree...anyone have an idea? 

Iris in full bloom ~

These Iris's are a sure sign of Spring around here.

Pink Jasmine Plant ~

I love these small and delicate white flowers and don't mind them growing and climbing down my side of the fence. They smell wonderful too.

Another Mazatlan sunrise ~

Mazatlan, Mexico
Cruise, October 2010
When our ship arrived and pulled into Mazatlan, Mexico at sunrise...it was amazing and a site to behold.

Another archived photo to share. 

A single rosebud ~

This stand alone rosebud, the only one on the bush, belongs to my next door neighbor. My neighbors are providing wonderful photo opportunities...an outdoor classroom so-to-speak. 

Hibiscus and Mr. Bee ~

I believe this to be a Hibiscus flower, possibly in the Rose of Sharon family...I may be incorrect. This tree belongs to my neighbor and she no longer lives in the home, so she is not there to ask. I did do a search on-line and found similar but not this particular color combination. If you look real close, there is a busy bee in the middle of the flower...just as I would get my camera to focus properly, he would fly to another flower! So, this was the best I could do with Mr. Bee.
Sending sunshine and pretty flowers from Southern Cal.

Hyacinth Bean Vine ~

This flower looks alot like snapdragons...it's a climbing Purple Hyacinth Bean Vine. It's been raining off and on so far today. The purple flower actually belongs to my neighbor but has climbed and made it's way over to my side of the fence...and I don't mind one bit.  When I returned from an errand this morning, I couldn't resist taking several shots of this sweet smelling, pretty, purple flower, moist from a recent rainfall.

Cliff diver ~

Cliff diver ~ Mazatlan, Mexico

Oma's bottle of Kolnisch Wasser ~

This little bottle of German Kolnisch Wasser (cologne water) originally belonged to my Oma. She gave it to me many many years ago on one of her visits to us here in California from Germany. I cannot recall the exact year, but it's been at least over 30 years or more now.  When I open the bottle, it smells like my Oma and takes me back to some very special memories of her.  I love the shape of it and have a hard time using or draining the bottle...it smells as if you just purchased it... this little bottle will always stay with me.

Colorful and fragrant Freesia ~

These "smell so good" Freesia's belong to my neighbor...I started out on my daily walk and couldn't resist capturing these beauties. I usually take my little Canon Power Shot SX120 IS with me (easier to carry). The color and scent these flowers have, is wonderful! My neighbors have the prettiest flowers growing all over...so having my camera with me at all times is a must.

Johnny Jump-ups or Heartsease after the rain ~

My Johnny Jump-ups or Heartsease (as I learned they are also called and as I lovingly like to refer to them now), loved the rain we had recently.  There is an abundance of these lovely little flowers growing in my backyard! 

I took this photo last week, I had forgotten about it...this photo along with many other photos of these sweet little flowers...was mixed in with photos from a family birthday dinner we had. I wanted to post it before I got to far away from the day it was taken.

Fragrant Sweet Peas ~

These fragrant Sweet Peas are exploding all over and they smell wonderful. I love these wonderful little flowers. Having a fresh bouquet on my table almost each day makes my kitchen smell good and brightens my day.

Old Augsburg, Germany ~

The larger drawing/picture of Augsburg, Germany has been in our family for a long time. You can't tell in this photo, but there is a tear in the top middle portion and the corners are curling. I have been wanting to scan this piece for many years...it's quite large and does not fit on my Canon printer/scanner.

I received a Flip-Pal Mobile Scanner for Christmas and love it. I hadn't tried the "stitching"option yet. I became inspired when Vickie scanned a page from her James Madison Hall journal and stitched the page together. I scanned the drawing and then used the stitch option. Well, I have to say it worked great for me! The stitched copy is above the larger original (in photo above). I printed the stitched copy onto "book" paper (8.5 x 11) I have. The color didn't come out as bright as in the original...I will have to work on that part of it.  Now it will fit perfectly in my Haf surname binder.  Thank you for the inspiration Vickie...I hadn't taken my flip-pal out since New Years...the possibilities are endless.