Wanderlust & Pixie Dust

Love You Dad

Love you with all my heart daddy.  You can rest now.  
Jesus Mungia
May 26, 1939-June 20, 2009

The Abuse of Stone Lions and Other Fanciful Creatures

Gads I 'm hot and bitchy tonight.  Quick time out to post.  Pops is doing dreadful after his last hospital visit.  I'm thinking that I can handle whatever may come next but then again I thought the same thing when I knew I was going to lose my Abby.   Nearly lost my ever lovin mind letting her go.

Every window is open tonight and I am still hot and sticky.  Summertime is hell in Riverside, CA.  It use to be that one could escape the heat by driving out to the coast for cooler weather. Who knows anymore!  Have the time last summer it was just as hot out there.

Alright, enough complaining.

I'm not sure who started this, me or my husband.   Sometime ago we started screeching on the brakes whenever we came across an unusually creative use of stone lions in a front yard.  One day we realized that people were really going all out with these things.

Instead of two lions majestically guarding an expensive home like so: 

A rooftop is much more of a surprise.

This lion had a companion on the other side of the house.  He was painted black.

My husband was so entranced by these rooftop lions that he didn't see the life size lion beside the front door.

We had to flip a u-turn and take a second look see. 

After viewing this marvel, hubby remembered something and tells me that he has a surprise on the way to Joanns.  After driving wayyyyyy out of the way I began to grow a little bit miffed.  What the heck?  Where were we going for Pete's sake? He laughed and refused to give me a hint.  Out of the blue he suddenly hollered for me to get my camera ready. 

It's a good thing that he was doing the driving because I probably would have crashed.  This was the last thing I expected to see! Painted lions, spotted leopards and fanciful headless creatures. Boy, this was worth the price of admission if I do say so myself. We gave one another a high five. 

Now if you have stone lions on your premises I hope you don't take offense.   Once you are on the lookout for the unusual use of lions, you can't stop.  Try it for awhile.  You'll see.

More Random Thingys

I like photographing my stuff.  Is that weird?  I have a difficult time getting on the computer when the hubby is home.  Is that weird?  I can hear him thinking "Again?"  Is that weird? 

Dad just had hospital visit number 5. I was hoping to do this and do that and finish working on something else but It looks as if I may be heading to my parents for a few days instead. Anyhows...

Took some more random photos of my fave things yesterday.  As previously, some of these items may have been posted before but I like photographing them.  Ignore me when I repeat myself.  Dear hubby says that it's my age. 

This beaded green thing below was a recent find on Ebay.  It had been described as beaded trim for a vintage dress.  That description didn't fit quite right.  The photo wasn't the best and wasn't much help.  I had a hunch, took a chance and placed a bid.  My instincts were correct.  It was instead a Victorian era miser's purse.   It has developed a teeny bit of rust over time but I surely don't mind.

This little guy just had to come home with me.  Get a look at that mug.  How could I walk away from that expression?  For 50 cents this  bitty kitty makes me grin on a daily basis.   I like to look at him while listening to music from the 20's-30's.  He's a great contribution to the ambiance.

Yeah  I know.  A grown women like myself REALLY needed Hello Kitty in a kimono. I did.  Really.  I was a flight attendant at the time I found her and I was a junior flight attendant at that.   One that was constantly being flown back and forth to Japan at the last minute.  She brings back many memories and the scent of green tea.

Found this Milan filled frame at an estate sale many moons ago.  $2.  It's a constant reminder that I have yet to visit Milan.  As if I need a reminder.

Cute pair of boots.

This little doggy followed me home recently.  Again I went all weak in the knees over his goofy expression and that red bow on his neck that looks like a Superman cape.

I'm always on the prowl for vintage doggy stuff.  This next photo makes me sad.
 
Sad because I cracked one of his petite companions in two the other day.  Look to the left of him.  One doggy butt and one detached head.

Perfume bottles, a vintage Eiffel Tower key chain and a Victorian wooden box with a hand painted Rialto Bridge.  My beloved Abby left teethmarks on the box.

A pretty, orange turn of the century ribbon.  Finely embellished and embroidered. 

I've had this tiny cardboard cigarette box for eons.  I love it because of the Egyptian motif.  It's another reminder.  A reminder that I have yet to travel to Egypt.  Egypt has always been the number one country on my list of countries to see before I die.  Wow.  That trip seems so out of reach at the moment.  Sigh.

Made me look.

It also made me stop. And buy.

Recently, my husband and I drove home from visiting family in two separate cars.  I wound up way ahead of him as usual.  About a block from my house I spotted the following:

I just about wrecked.  Laughing aloud I pulled over to the curb and whipped out my camera.   After mentioning to the young yard sale lady how much I loved her sign, she replied that no one else had seemed to have noticed it.  No one?  Screech! I could not pull over fast enough.

3 cd's of world music later, I raced home and called my husband as I sat on my front porch. He answered the phone laughing.  Yep.  He had just driven past Liberace in all his life size glory.   He knew exactly what I was calling about.  

I kind of hoped that he had stopped and inquired as to whether or not the owner would part with Liberace.  Maybe Liberace would be peeking over his shoulder as he came up the driveway?  No.  T'was not to be.  Where would we have put him anyways.  My husband and I are goofy like this.  He sticks things in my yard without telling me just because he can.  Like the gargoyle, the tiki man that looks like Obama, and the three faced head thingy that he brought home from the $1 store. If he HAD driven up with Liberace at his side, I wouldn't have been surprised.  I would have been laughing yes, surprised, no.

True love I guess.

The Silver Metal Lover

A rose by any other name
Would get the blame
For being what it is-
The color of a kiss
The shadow of a flame
A rose may earn another name.
So call it love;
So call it love I will
And love is like the sea
Which changes constantly,
And yet
Is still the same.

Tanith Lee