This is a photo challenge to take a picture a week, for 52 weeks. We have multiple contributors posting from around the world on the same theme by Sunday night. The weekly themes are listed at the bottom of the page. Enjoy!

Saturday, August 31, 2013

Gate

Marching out of the gate to the field for their first football game of the season.  The next time they do this they will be in uniform.  Maybe I can fit another band picture into the theme that week.  My apologies for multiple band pictures, it's all I'm doing these days...  By the way, my boy is the trombone player 4th from the left.


Gates

Dupont Avenue, Toronto


Gates

The Gates of Hell - that's what I thought of when I saw these large flames!

Friday, August 30, 2013

Gates

On a moving escalator, looking for my gate to LAX, seems like a blur but all the L 's are going to London!!:)))

Gate

My picture did not turn out as well as I had imagined it in my head but after putting my husband through a lot I had to publish it. We drove to Lake Ontario last night and waited at the top of the Burlington canal and Lift bridge to get a picture of the gates coming down and the bridge going up. None of the pictures look as good as it does when you are standing there. Maybe we were just too close. Regardless, it will be a good memory thanks to the blog.

Gate

Yep, these people are my friends! I've been asking them to do this photo all week, finally this morning they did it, instead of the cute photo I had in my head I got this... Which is much better! It shows their personality much more appropriate:) the guy at the top is my best friend, who I just have to say thanks to for being the star of my photo! Thanks Bodhi!!

Thursday, August 29, 2013

Gates

My girls waiting patiently for me to open the gate to our neighbour's pool "just take the photo already".  Yes, we have the most insanely kind and generous neighbours.

Wednesday, August 28, 2013

Gate

Why bother with a gate? Just squeeze through the boards!

Gate

This is the gate to my grandson's swimming lessons.  I love it!

Gate

Left beautiful Wyoming and no Gates in Yellowstone but what did I see on our way to landing in San Francisco beneath the ONLY cloud was the Golden Gate!!!

Monday, August 26, 2013

Gate/Gates

Out very early this morning biking before work. I pass this gate everyday at an old victorian home with the brass plaque reading: Toad Hall.

Sunday, August 25, 2013

Rustic

I struggled with this one a bit but everything about the bar I went to last night, including bartender Dan's mustache and their homemade apple cinnamon whiskey, was rustic (as far as I could tell)!

p.s I was able to get a photo once I told him about the blog...

Rustic

Went to Balboa Park and walked around the San Diego Museum of Art.  This rustic buddha caught my eye. I thought I took a picture of its description, but once I got home I realized I didn't.  So, if you want to know more about it, either I can go back or you can come here and visit.







Rustic

Rustic...

Sorry it's a bit late, but i suppose better late than never! I took this photo on a mountain bike ride in the hills with some friends. We found a cave on the top of one of the hills we rode up and this is what we discovered....
It's a kangaroo skeleton. Sorry if your a bit squeamish guys, but I couldn't resist it considering the topic! Have a great week! 

Rustic


...and this little piggy got stuck in the city


Rustic

Not the prettiest by far - but pretty with old charm I thought.......

Rustic

Walking down the main street in Jackson Hole saw this wonderful stage coach with Elk Horns as a background!  Great state Wyoming.

Rustic

This is as rustic as I could find on my vacation in Las Vegas this week. Taken on Fremont Street using my iPhone.

Rustic

Loving this week's pictures.  I kept taking pictures of rusty things... and finally found this lovely rustic vegetable stand on the North Fork.  Down the road from Melissa's house.

Rustic

Nearly everything here is rustic, but I eventually chose to photograph my SUWESUWE

We met a guy riding this homemade bicycle a couple of weeks ago and I fell in love with it and bought it from him!!   It is beautifully crafted considering that he would not have had many tools. He had ridden it 40 kilometres the day we met him.....he was delighted to sell it, but no one in the village could understand why we bought it!!



Saturday, August 24, 2013

Rustic

Spending a wonderful weekend away with my husband in the mountains of Virginia. For the first time, I found countless things that could fit this week's theme but especially loved this old waterwheel attached to the B&B where we are staying.

Rustic

A weathered and unassuming bench I pass on the way to work caught my eye this week. Huron Street and Sussex Avenue, Toronto.

Rustic

High tide in the Thimble Islands on the Long Island Sound. 

Rustic

A friend of ours created this from an old fence.  Her family organized a night of caroling last Christmas in memory of James' twin, Luke. xoxo  We keep it on our kitchen counter all year long, since we love it so much.

Rustic

Using the star filter again on my camera for the light that was on in the barn.

Friday, August 23, 2013

Rustic

Our first visit to Wyoming and spoilt for choice so having lotsa fun taking photos


Rustic

Found this on my neighbors lawn today. 

Rustic

As we start on our way home to the South of England I could not resist taking this last photo.  It shows the Yorkshire Moors covered, at this time of the year, with purple heather.  In the foreground there is a shepherd's shelter which has a store above it for hay.  Dividing the fields are the dry stone walls dating back to the 18th century.

Rustic

I just came back from visiting my family's cabin in the Maine woods.  My 84-year-old mother said, "Put me in the picture - I'm rustic too!"

Wednesday, August 21, 2013

Rustic

Found this wooden bridge on a hike through old Poway, which is a town just east of my house in San Diego.



Rustic

Knowing that is as close as rustic as it will be for me this week, decided to post early 
This a Tuscan mixed grilled sea bass, salmon, prawns  , calamare, . A true feast for all diners. 

Near the beach close to Pisa , traditional rustic cooking.

Rustic

Spotted this on our beach path and just loved the rustic textures....


Rustic

Back home for milking!

Tuesday, August 20, 2013

Rustic

We are spending a week in the Yorkshire Dales.  Today we went to a livestock auction.

Monday, August 19, 2013

Sunday, August 18, 2013

Ten Minutes from Where You Are

...is a great bar called The Dock, on the beach. Tonight they served up 3 of my favorites: beer, football and live music

10 Minutes From Where You Are

A neighborhood stroll past the garden side entrance of a neighborhood favorite...




Ten Minutes From Where You Are

This is a bit of a stretch since it took me longer than 10 minutes to get here, but once I parked my car it took me about 10 minutes to walk to the hospital room where one of my very best friends just gave birth to her first baby. Here is little Charlie, a beautiful baby boy who just entered the world at 1:29 this morning.

10 minutes from where you are

We went upstate NY to visit James' aunt and uncle.  They live close to the National Baseball Hall of Fame so off we went yesterday.  (James' first time there)  We took a 10 minute walk while in Cooperstown and found this beautiful park on Lake Ostego.  The statue in the background is called "Indian Hunter" and is of a hunter with his dog. 

10 minutes from where I am

I drove EXACTLY 10 minutes from my home to where I was so looking forward to taking this picture.  What a laugh - the entire field of sunflowers was completed - all looking down and dried out.  I dragged my daughter through looking for this lonely last sunflower I found.  It shows it doesn't matter how many minutes you are away - it still is all about timing!

10 minutes from home

My photo is extremely blurry this week, but it's of my little brothers footy game (not soccer... Aussie rules.) google Australian football league. I sat an watched him on Friday night, very hungry from my 40 hour famine! 
Have a fantastic week! 
Em


10 Minutes from Where You Are.....

All around us we have these lovely Colobus Monkeys but they are usually so far up the trees and behind foliage we can't take good photos. I was getting desperate yesterday evening when we went for a drive and found this group just down the road. They were about 100 feet high in the tree and very shy. Colobus are vegetarian, their young are born totally white and get darker after about 3 months. These monkeys only have four fingers...no thumb.  I would love to have been able to send you a picture of them flying from one tree to another....it is truly spectacular.

Saturday, August 17, 2013

10 minutes from where you are

I have finally discovered a restaurant on the water 10 minutes from where we now live in New Haven! While it may not be Pacific Coast Grill in Cardiff (don't think we will be going back for the food!), it has its own wonderful views and solid beer/wine selection.  Hello waterfront happy hour! 

10 minutes from where you are



































This is the view we had when we were were growing up. My parents still live in the same house which is just minutes from me. The body of water is Lake Ontario.