Delightful Dahlias

For a little less than a year, Hubby & I  fulfilled one of our dreams and lived at the beach. Our time was split between living one week in the city cottage, and the following week at the beach condo. The community at the coast is pretty, historic, walkable, surfy and touristy. While playing beach combing-resident I wasn't employed so I was able to be a tourist-in-my-own-town during the day.

The village of Capitola is in the background of the picture above. It sits on the cliffs where the grove of eucalyptus are clumped at the tip of peninsula. California ocean breezes. Warm golden sun and sunsets. Fog oft times too. Tide pool searching, miles of sand strolling.

Along one of my walking routes there was a home with attached gardens that bloomed profusely in the summer with dahlias. The sun-worn matriarch gardeness was named Milly. She would invite you to come have a look inside if she were out tending. I would walk up to the gate and enter... well, enter cautiously as she had some dogs. What a beautiful sight the rows of dahlias made.




Milly in all of her glory...

I've made an annual pilgrimage to the dahlias.

Dependant on how many buds she had blooming you could get Milly to cut you 6, 8, 10 stems then she'd charge you a small amount and even put the show-stoppers in a glass vessel filled with water! I love the journey over the hill to visit this grand gal and her garden of delight!

One of the FINDS of a lifetime!!

All Things Seashore

This very pretty ocean scene was shown yesterday. Got me thinking about how often I decorate with ocean and beach items. Often I've considered keeping the beachy-look in the house for every season. A couple of my friends say that there are no longer shells to be found at the beach because I have them all!..... silly girls!

Other aquatic theme pieces are ~



a friend found this beauty

 So far just art pieces.... and another below

These fish are among my favorites. I found them at a neighbor lady's yard sale years ago. They were painted by someone she knew. An Italian. From 1940-something. The grey tones are still on trend to this day.

A very happy commonality that Hubby and I share is our love for oysters. We eat them - raw, BBQ'ed, breaded, smothered in washes.... We collect them too. Shells are saved. Items of oyster paraphanelia are part of our decor.

a gift to Hubby

I found this oyster shell box^ at a lovely French shop in San Francisco. I filled it with oyster shaped chocolates - that did NOT taste like oysters - to give to oyster shucker extraordinaire Hubby! This is how it looks in gift box mode ~

We consume enough oysters that by saving the shells, we can cover some garden walkways....

Hate to admit it but, I can't remember the story behind this find ~

It's a PEARL though... history or not!


Just yesterday I read this fantastic post about oyster cans.... GREAT pictures! Such an interesting thought for
a collectible item. You will enjoy this beautiful blog and the oyster post too!
http://ppebble.blogspot.com/2011/06/shopping-collectibles-vintage-oyster.html


Starfish, sea fans, conch shells, coral and much more fill our living space with their natural beauty. I've not included them in this post or you'd be reading for ages. I'll be sure to give you a glimpse soon.

Off the Beaten Path

We found a funky spot in a place less traveled, beside a 2 lane beachy highway. It is well known to bicyclists and motorcyclists. Such a blast from the past.

San Gregorio General Store

Love that signage! SMOKES  geeeesh! who calls 'em that anymore? Funny! Inside is filled with Levi Strauss jeans, any type of hat you could imagine and a bar to mosey on up to....



love the dog!

 Walls plastered with vintage signs.

And looky here what I found...... possibly the funniest and hardest to explain FIND ever.... maybe not...

BRA ON A CACTUS...