Finally........R A I N !

At about 11:30pm the skies over Corona del Mar finally opened and the rain POURED down upon us! You could actually hear people in our 'hood yell "wooo-hoo!" :) You would think it never rained in southern California the way we have been anticipating this all day!


In the late afternoon the ocean was choppy with a strong onshore flow...and clouds on the horizon obscuring Santa Catalina drew everyone down to the beach just to see this rare September "storm" approaching...

We get excited here about this stuff ;-)

Ay Yi Yi Yi Yi Yi Yiiiiiiiiiiiiiii !

The title of this 200th blog post is what my Grandma from Pau, France would have said if she had found what I found in my mailbox today. But, since Grandma is no longer here physically I said it just like her...

Ay Yi Yi Yi Yi Yi Yiiiiiiiii !
Can you hear it?

Let me introduce you to Mary Ann -if you haven't met her yet... The Goddess of MailArt and Stenciling...
Dispatch From L.A.
(I used your very words Mary Ann...because if it ain't broke don't fix it, right?!)

"When I'm not adding to my stash of contraband marbles, rubberbands, airplanes, and slingshots (all in a day's work as a 2nd grade teacher), I'm busy making a mess in my visual journal and stirring up trouble in the neighborhood. My cat posse assists as needed by gnawing the ends of my paint brushes and chewing off the ends of my shoestrings while I toil away at my art table.
I live in Los Angeles but keep a getaway car handy for those times when I need to hightail it out of town in a hurry."
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When I opened the envelope look who was giving me THAT look ;-)
Mary Ann herself in one of her self portrait stencils!!!

On the flip-side...Arghhhhhh! I LOVE the combo of this shade of blue with black...it makes little ping-ping-pings in my head like a pinball machine! Look at that stencil, hand cut by MA herself...excuse me darlin' hand me a mint julep so I don't faint right here on my front porch!!!

There is no way I can really explain how COOL it is to get MailArt from Mary Ann....once you have cruised around her blog for a few days, weeks...months - you will begin to understand. I visit Dispatch From L.A. daily- it's like sitting on the porch with an old and cherished friend...THANK YOU MARY ANN!!!
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I thought I saw a hummingbird, I did, I did, I did!

I have been obsessed with photographing hummingbirds lately. While sitting out on our deck the other evening I spotted this one in a neighbors tree...it was dusk and difficult to get a real clear photo...but I love the effect I captured in this one!

Be sure to click on the image to enlarge!

New in the Shop!

Run over to ALTERED INSOMNIA and see what's NEW!

In the Wallpaper Department: FLOWER POWER!

In the RETRO RUBBER ROOM: Tomatoes!

Holding On To Summer

The Summer Season will officially end here in Corona del Mar on Tuesday, September 4th when all the schools go back in session. But we will hold on to summer as long as possible. Not difficult in Southern California.

Each day after work I make the three minute drive from Balboa Island back home and then head straight for the beach...
Here are some of the photographs I captured this past week...

Above: Big Corona del Mar State Beach where already the parking lot is looking empty...or as us 'locals' say...."we get our beach back!" :) Not that we don't love and welcome our visitors ;-)

Above: Crazy weather this week with thunderstorms forming all around us and extreme heat on the coast...

I have been trying to capture a photo of the hummingbirds sitting still, and finally did so this week!

A yacht hit the east jetty and sunk at Big Corona del Mar State Beach...it sat out there for nearly two and a half weeks before finally being raised and towed...truly an odd sight drawing a lot of local attention...
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My daughter Jill sends a big THANK YOU to all of my blog readers for their well wishes :)