The sea, the sea

For whatever we lose (like a you or a me),
It's always our self we find in the sea.
~e.e. cummings

I will be visiting the Pacific Ocean again soon!  I love the ocean and the smell of the salt air.  

For the first time in almost 20 years, my parents, my sister and our spouses and my children will be together all in one place at the same time.  I think it's a miracle!

Salt Marsh and Sailboats

Here we explored a state park south of Ventura that Joni wanted to check out.  It had very nice camping spots.  It was a much different environment than what I'm used to seeing.

There were beautiful tall grasses waving in the wind,

succulents covering the dune,

and pretty yellow flowers blooming.

And then Joni offered to take a picture of me at the beach!  Proof I was really here.  We sat on the beach and watched the sailboats for awhile.

Ahhhhhh.............so relaxing!

This is a combo post.  It's Scenic Sunday, Today's Flowers AND my 300th post!  Wow.  Not to mention the end of my California trip.  Two weeks of posts from a five day trip that will hopefully carry me through the winter weather that is now setting in at home.

More birds

OK, is this not one of the funniest beaks you've ever seen?

How do these birds fly so close to the water without just falling in?

Hiding in the sand after chasing waves and bugs

More cute animals are hiding at Camera Critters!

Beach Umbrella

Ocean skies are quite often hazy from all the moisture in the air.  Here is a "typical" beach scene, but then I got to playing around with the camera.

My sister was so excited to get this umbrella for only $10!

While sitting under it I became captivated with the structure, colors and light shining through.

It's fun to experiment with composition too.

All in a "day's work" at the beach!

View skies from all over the world at Sky Watch Friday.

Fun in the Sun

Most kids of all ages love the beach.  I still do.

There's more fun over at Watery Wednesday.

Ventura

For My World Tuesday, I checked Wikipedia.  Ventura, located north of LA and south of Santa Barbara, has some of the best surfing in southern California.  I posted some pictures from Surfer's Point in a previous post.  During my visit, and after two days soaking up the ocean vibes, we took a short walk from my sister's condo on Santa Clara to downtown Ventura.

Here is a lovely fountain in front of a mural related to the Mission San Buenaventura.  Like many places in California, it was established as a Catholic Mission.

Isn't this a wonderful tiled planter?

I was concentrating on getting a picture of the mission and didn't notice this SoCal dude driving by in his convertible until later.  This is definitely not in Utah!

Downtown Ventura has museums, galleries, dining and shopping.  On this particular Saturday, there was an art walk so the stores were having sales and there was a lot of sidewalk art to enjoy.


My favorite store was We Olive.  The sales guys were so helpful.  There was a bar lined with olive oil flavors and dunkies to try them out.  I came home with a little taste and a promise to order more online.  


It was another great day in California!  

Harbor Views

Boating is another popular activity in southern California.  There are all kinds, shapes, sizes and colors.

I love the bright colors and the reflections on the water.

Scenic Sunday has other beautiful views from around the world.

Sun on the water

Another beautiful southern California scene.

I'm excited to have found a new meme, Weekend Reflections.  Check it out!

With apologies to serious birders

Scenic view of birds on the beach

Different birds on the beach in front of waves

Birds flying over the beach

Birds walking in the water

Bird flying over head

Friendly bird

Silly bird

Close up of silly bird

Camera Critters is full of fascinating and quite possibly better identified animals.

Pacific Ocean Sunset

I looked out the window of Joni's condo when I noticed the sky had started to change colors.  I had to have at least good Pacific sunset series for Sky Watch!  I took a brisk walk over to check it out.

A lot of birds like this lagoon.

I felt like I had hit the jackpot with the colorful setting sun, sky and watery reflections.

Someone else had a camera to record the moment.

Eventually the sun disappeared and the sky darkened.

I headed back to my sister's condo as the fog settled in and car lights shone in the distance.

I took one last look through the brush and admired nature's beauty, once again.

Oddly enough, behind me was the county fairgrounds and car races were being held!  So, in spite of the fact that it was beautiful, it was also kind of noisy.  You'd never guess from the tranquil scenes above.

Admire more skies from around the world at SkyWatch Friday.

Boogie on down

Joni, my sister, likes to boogie board and she was happy to have someone hang at the beach with her.  I was content to watch.

She was very happy I got the first pictures ever of her doing this too.

There are more water-laden pictures posted at Watery Wednesday if you'd like to take a peek.