Pipes

 I took a drive today and came across a mailbox made out of pipes.
 Not much chance of this mailbox being vandalized.

Pipes

A pipe cleaner creation by one of the students that I teach.

Pipes

This is known as a VEG (vertical earth garden). Solace, one of my favorite restaurants in Encinitas uses this roof and patio garden to grow all the herbs used in creating their delicious dishes!

Pipes

Monday afternoon strolling in Venice, Italy

Pipes

The first thing I thought of with the word pipes is the ocean of course.  I didn't get a surfer in this one but the pipe looks pretty!

Pipes

Just in case you couldn't tell what it is...

Pipes

Turned the house upside down to arrange this with my new birthday lens!!  The two magazines are to show where these pipes were used.  Stamford Bridge definitely but not sure which racecourse for the horsey pipe!!

Pipes

What a difference a year makes!!!
This is on my way home from work in the middle of a field. I think these pipes are part of the massive irrigation system used to keep the field of *something* (crops or sod) from drying out during the summer.
I did a little experiment for this photo. I took one picture at about 3pm, when the sun was shining on parts of the metal. Then, today, I took the picture on my way to work at about 8:30am. So much better. I love the morning light. Same shot, completely different feel to the picture.

Pipes

The chaos that lives beneath my kitchen sink

Pipes

I looked up at the zoo and saw this tarantula looking down at me! I wish my son would make one for my garden.

Pipes

Just like Verushka, music was the first thing that popped into my head when I read "Pipes."
This pipe tune is courtesy of my son and his trumpet.

Pipes

This is the organ at the Parish Church of St Swithun in East Grinstead, West Sussex, near to where I live.  The church was built in the late 18th Century and the organ was added in the late 19th.  It is built in the gallery, intended for singers and instrumentalists, but played from a console in the body of the church.

Unusual

unusual

This week my family and I enjoyed a Caribbean vacation aboard the Disney Fantasy cruise ship.  At one of our ports of call (Costa Maya, Mexico) we were lucky enough to be entertained by a mariachi band right on the beach.  I found it quite unusual to see these entertainers in full velour elaborate costumes when it was 80+°F, but the loafers and tights in the sand were most unusual to me!

Unusual

I could not resist posting one more picture for unusual. While driving in Florida we saw this sign in front of a store. It turns out you can buy a gun, sign up for a firearm class or purchase undergarments. That has to be the most unusual thing ever!!!

Unusual

Another unusual sighting from our vacation. An unusual form of transportation- water trikes!

Unusual

I was visiting my nephew and he took me and his mom (my sister) to this jelly bean man...yummy!  A sign that Spring is on it's way.  Although James does not like jelly beans, he chose this photo for this week's theme of "Unusual".  I love jelly beans, but only red and orange. 

Unusual

My family is on vacation in Florida and we saw this at a market. It is a bottle of ginseng which has the root right in the bottle It is made to look like a human. Hopefully, you can see that.

Unusual

I think I may have to post more than one photo this week also.  My kids were out of school for the week and we took a road trip from San Diego to the Hearst Castle in San Simeon, up the coast to Monterey, and then to the Mojave Desert in California.  We saw many unusual things along the way.  The Hearst Castle is an amazing place.  It is now a state park but in its day it was visited by anyone and everyone famous.  This picture is of the steps climbing out of the indoor pool.  The hand rails are marble, and the tile is accented with gold leaf.  Not your usual pool...

From there we went north to Monterey and had a great time exploring the magnificent Monterey Bay Aquarium.  Not sure what this critter is but it is certainly unusual. 

This next picture is of a formation called the Trona Pinnacles located in the Mojave Desert.  This formation, made when this area was under water during the last ice age, is just west of Death Valley.  It is so unusual that a few movies, such as Star Trek V and Planet of the Apes, have been filmed here, mostly to depict a foreign world. 

Unusual

Out riding today in a place I have never been before. It was pouring rain and I was soaked to the skin. I found this band shell in the middle of nowhere. Its right on the Great South Bay and if it was a clearer day I think you could see Fire Island. It was kind of eerie. To the right there were vents on the wall and the wind was banging them. There was no one for miles. Along the side is running water and between the banging and the rush of water, it was kind of creepy. It seemed so deserted and desolate. I hope in the summer they have local bands and people lay out their blankets on hot summer nights, listening to the music.

Unusual

I spoke [posted] too soon. This man was doing flips on his bike in Hipsterville, Chicago.

unusual

A slow rainy Saturday. "Could I ask you a weird question?" I said to the girl behind the counter at Costco.  I told her about our project and that I thought her hands were quite unusual.. she replied "that's not the weirdest question I've heard" 

Can you believe I actually got the picture?? Neither could my husband!

The picture could have been set up better but you can imagine it was done very quickly :) 

Unusual

This large rock is in front of our local golf course. I do not understand the significance of what looks like a stool chained to the top. Very unusual!

Unusual

As Leucadia, the funky surf community I live in, is constantly transforming, this vintage sign reminds me of its past. Though I only discovered Leucadia four years ago, this has always been a unique part of the country.

Unusual

Every day on my walk to the subway, I pass this unusual looking house. Not only does it catch my attention for its unusual color, but it also stands out because there are very few free-standing houses in my neighborhood of primarily apartment buildings, brownstones, and townhouses. I know that there must be some sort of story behind this house, and I am always curious what it might be.

Unusual

Flora, portrait by Arcimboldo, who starting to use only flowers , fruits and vegetables as a medium to paint his royal paintings. Circa 1591.

Unusual

I often make up stories in my head to explain this unusual looking thing, which I pass by every morning on my way to work.

Unusual

Usually red but also a wonderful reminder of the Olympics last August!

Unusual

A most unusual day job. Entertainer/ dolphin trainer at Sea World. These people are amazing and MUCH braver than me.

Unusual

A coworker in Chicago is reading this book about Guernsey - a neighboring island to Jersey, where my mother was raised and I too have lived - off the coast of France. Their combined population is around 120,000 and Jersey in particular is a little piece of heaven!

Rather unusual how small the world is sometimes.

Unusual

Well, I'm breaking the rules this week and posting two.  (What can I say, I'm a rebel!)

One photo is my serious "unusual" themed photo.

This was captured inside the USS Midway Aircraft Carrier with my fisheye lens.  I think it looks unusual and rather like it came from Star Wars...

The second photo I'm sneaking in was captured when I asked my husband, "Next week's Project 52 theme is 'Unusual' got any ideas?"

He immediately replies, "Unusual?  A man cleaning the house."  Hee hee -- so I'm adding that as well.  No offense meant to all the men out there - and truth be told, my husband DOES help clean around the house....but we still thought it might bring a smile!

Unusual

This truck was in the parking lot the other day. I couldn't get the whole truck in using my cellphone without losing some of the *gorgeous* detail of the leopards. Along with them, the truck is covered from front to back and beyond with....stickers. What was he thinking?

Unusual

I saw this solid brass camel table in an antique store in San Diego. Not every home has one of these! And it can be yours for only $7,500!

Unusual

.............................bridge hand??!!

Unusual

This is a double dapple dachshund (say that 10 times fast...), which is a rather unusual breed.  His name is Otter.  He is absolutely gorgeous and he spent the weekend away with us in the Berkshire mountains.  He's very smart:  he absolutely refused to go outside in the 9F frigid cold, even in his fancy leather jacket. I don't blame him.

Unusual

I will start the week with this photo of moon jellies taken while at the aquarium with my little grandson.  He loves looking at the tanks filled with all kinds of unusual creatures. These are one of his favorites.

Romance/Love

colours of love...

Romance/Love

This might be more aptly described as Bromance/Love. Stick with me here...

Michigan vs Michigan State NCAA Basketball. Two friends on opposite sides came together to watch their beloved teams battle it out, in a Michigan State bar no less.

Sticking by your friends despite being arch enemies on the court - and outnumbered in the bar by 200:1 - now THAT'S love. Throw in bravery while you're at it too.

State won. Go Green!

Romance/Love

Spending a wonderful long weekend in the mountains with some of my closest friends. Here is a photo of my big love carrying my little love around the backyard of the house where we are staying.

Romance/Love

Romantic moments between a couple usually occur when they are looking into each other's eyes. However, this was one of the most romantic moments I have ever witnessed. This captures the First Look - the groom waiting to see the bride (one of my best friends) for the very first time on their wedding day. The anticipation, excitement and love in the air as she snuck up from behind was overwhelming.

Romance/Love

Valentine's Day celebrations in the French Alps

Romance and Love

How could I resist this wonderful show of romance and love!

Romance and Love

39 Valentines

Love and Romance

A gondola ride in romantic Venice for this couple, surely in Love!!

Romance/Love

I wanted to go out and find something to post that depicted love, but I got too busy.  Here is one from when we lived in Hawaii.  These two got married in one of the most beautiful places I've seen, and it was a beautiful ceremony on top of that.  So romantic!

romance/love

 

The most romantic thing I found all week 

my inlaws, 58 years together and still holding hands.

I didn't actually take this picture, the photographer at my daughters wedding took it

but I DID take a picture of the picture which is actually a fridge magnet, does that count?

Romance/Love

The morning after, and like every day the sun still rises and how you view the world is likely shaped by the feelings of the heart.  

This is another work project well timed to the themes of this blog.  It's the newest fragrance launch from Coach, simply called, Coach Love.  Milton Glaser designed the logo by transforming the  Coach C logo into a heart.   You may be familiar with another work of his, the iconic I (heart) NY graphic design.