Great Park, Part 3

In the busyness of the last few days, this promised post got lost in the shuffle... Oh, boy, it's probably going to be that way for the next month or so!

Here are the gardens and scarecrows of the Great Park:

The butterfly garden

Lovely Lavender

I thought I took a lot more pix of the gardens...

There was some sort of eco-friendly scarecrow contest that yielded some mighty fine specimens!

Candy Wrapper Scarecrow

An ode to Gilligan's Island, where everything was made from coconuts!

Ninja Pumpkin!

This one is actually kinda creepy. Puts me in mind of Stephen King's Dark Tower series.

Hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving! Now it's time to start listening to Christmas music, wrapping presents and anticipating Scottish Meatloaf for Christmas dinner (take a peeled hard boiled egg, wrap it in meatloaf mixture, cook and serve with a little marinara sauce on top). The Husband says it's like opening another Christmas present!

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Great Park Part 2 Carousel

As promised, here are some shots of the carousel at the Great Park:

Horse and deer

White Tiger

Panda

Cat with Fish

Looong Eared Rabbit

Awesome Sea Horse

The Husband admiring the Carousel. Unfortunately, it wasn't running the day we were there. I'll be the first in line when we do catch it running. Hmmm, let's see... Sea Horse? Panda?? I may get pretty dizzy before I'm finished!

And here's a preview of Part 3, The Great Park Gardens and Scarecrow Contest.

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Great Park Orange County, Part 1

The Great Park is an ongoing project in Orange County that hopes to be Southern California's version of Golden Gate Park, rising up on the grounds of the defunct El Toro Air Base. They recently announced a new weekly Sunday Farmer’s Market that opened on Halloween Day, so while we were on vacation last week, we went to check it out.

Part 1

The Farmer’s Market and Part of The Great Park

Gourmet food trucks lined up for lunch

Design-wise, this is my favorite: Dogzilla, not your typical wiener. That says it all!

Booths and crowds--fruits, veggies, homemade goodies and artisans galore!

A genuine French macaron - Nom!! Fueling my desire to go to Paris!

The Great Park Balloon-tethered to the earth, but rises 400 feet for great views. The morning we went a few years ago, it was foggy, which actually created a really cool effect-made us feel alone in a white, chilly world. They also have night flights at certain times.

One of the finished areas: "rocks" for climbing and sliding for the kids. The building of The Great Park is a gradual process. There are buildings housing historical exhibits of El Toro, plus a carousel and gardens I'm saving for future blog entries.

This tree was moved from it's original place to make room for another project. I love that it was moved instead of just discarded. That gives me hope that The Great Park has responsible people at it's helm.

Stay tuned for Part 2--The Carousel!

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Tom's Farms Signs

As promised, here is a variety of signs from Tom's Farms in Corona, CA.

Walking around here yesterday, I realized all these signs are pretty unique and in some cases, kinda comical. And including them on my blog gives a glimpse into what you'll find at Tom's Farms, for those who haven't been there.

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Christmas Trees at Tom's Farm

Having a lovely vacation week and decided to take a jaunt to Tom's Farms in Corona, CA.

We usually go on the weekend, when the place is hoppin' with families, artisans and entertainment, so going during the week was peaceful but unusually quiet. But nice just the same. We had our fave menu item, Irish Nacho's~french fries covered in cheese, bacon bits and green onion~surrounded by what seemed to be a convention of CHIPS motorcycle officers! We felt very safe...

Today's post centers around the Christmas trees recently set up in Tom's Home store. They were all gorgeous and some are upside down. Throughout the years I've lived in California, I've known a few people who set up their trees upside down. Googling today, I found that a monk a long time ago in Europe started the tradition, using the Holy Trinity as inspiration... I also found out that it's becoming a trend in retailing because more bulbs and trim can be shown at eye level plus there's more retail space underneath with this configuration. Trust Big Business to turn Christmas upside down!

Here are some of my favorites:

I had to have my picture taken with the purple pink one!

This one caught my eye as we walked past the store because it's all autumn colors.

Christmas Candy Canes

Fabulous feathery pink!

Knock Your Eye Out Red! Even the merchandising surrounding it looks wicked cool.

The Husband gets into the act. Too bad I couldn't get him to stand on his head...

And the Ultimate Tree for those of us who love bling!! This is absolutely gorgeous!

Here's a close up. *Le sigh*

Next post: Signs at Tom's Farms. They're kinda fun!

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Bones Has the Best Jewelry on TV

That's what I always say to The Husband when we watch one of our fave shows, Bones. The lead character, Temperance Brennan, frequently wears beautiful jewelry. Usually, it's ethnic flavored, since she's an anthropologist who has traveled the world and sampled a gazillion different cultures. Yes, Bones herself would tell you that gazillion is a highly technical term...

These were the best photo's I could Google of the fair Temperance:

Do you have any favorite TV or Movie characters that are Jewelry Fashionista's?

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Booty Call!!

Jewelry booty, that is! Yes, we did a bit of saling today. And just when I thought my morning was going to be a total loss, jewelry bargain-wise, we zipped off the main street for one last Huge Garage Sale sign. And I hit the jackpot! The woman running the sale even brought out a great big box of jewelry she hadn’t put out yet. Needless to say, I was in hog heaven!

Here’s what I got:

Chains, chains and more chains. And chains with sparklies.

Faux pearls, bows, butterflies, beautiful beads. The copper looking circles is a stretch bracelet of bars of those circular designs and I'll probably use the bars for something new. The Husband wanted that elephant, probably because it has a chip and he felt sorry for it...

I scored some really sweet little chains of crystals. Some of them are even signed, so I need to do a little research before I start upcycling. They may be more valuable as vintage finds.

I had to sit with this bunch of chain and untangle it but it was worth it! That pile of green, however, fell apart and scattered beads and gold spacers all over the place! It's okay, though, since I would have taken it apart anyway. Half my job is done:-)

I actually found a couple of things I'll keep for myself. The bracelet at the top is bead weaving, which I don't do. It's sparkly purple crystal and I just couldn't pass it up. The bracelet in the center is big plastic "gems" in all different colors. Ahem... Couldn't pass that up either... And I collect small old bottles but they have to have some sort of particular value to me. I have some with city names and one with my maiden name I got from someone in England on Ebay.

This one says "Sanford's Inks Half Pint And Library Paste". Since it referenced libraries, I (altogether now) couldn't pass it up...

Raina is amazed at my treasures!!

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