The fancy part of town!
Money and cacti and elephants - oh my!
Even the art and fire hydrants have bling!
Tree loving me, reminded of an old favorite in Santa Barbara...but I refrained from climbing this one!
Sculptures sprinkled throughout the park. Some made more sense than others, at least to me.
A beautiful, greenish pond, complete with lily pads and seagulls and a nice edge for sitting.
Here are the sculptures seen above, from top to bottom:
Takeaway, 2018
Endless V, 2012
Erratic, 2007
Peace and Love, 2019
The Drummer, 1989-1990
We checked out the "merch", which was in front of a very cool 'post office' building...while one young one checks out another. Meanwhile, we seem to be the only ones amazed by the driverless cars! I did not feel safe crossing the road, as one sat waiting to turn right. How does it know not to hit me?!! Yikes. Not my world. I can't explain how odd it looked to see - not a soul - in the front seats of those cars. I was much more comfortable among the elephants.
August brought in an elephant...how could it not?! Along side of the elephant, August brought in a lion's head - as in the many similar door knockers we see in the British 'murder shows' we watch. As a child, I had my mom's old nightstand that had a lion's head drawer pull. 🦁 These days, I've been known to say that I want a lion's head door knocker! haha A needless bit of silly fun. Plus, August is for Leo the Lion - my mama's birth month.
While cleaning out photos, I found these old art shots, printed in wallet size. The beaded driftwood was made for a friend. The drum belonged to a teacher I once worked with. She had a beautiful tradition with the preschool children during a particular time of year, where the sun could be seen getting lower and lower and lower towards the sea (the school was near the bluffs above the ocean). As the sun began to sink, she would get out her drum and they would "Drum the Sun Down" together. She drummed and they all chanted. This was the rock they sat upon during this ritual. I have always felt that these are some of the unique gifts teachers can give the children in their care...things that sing of magic and ring deep and true, for they come from the heart of a teacher.
Lastly, the circle of wishing rocks pics were taken on laminated 12X12 craft paper. The paper was used in my Pre-K classes at the table where 'manipulative or dramatic play toys' were set up. The paper's background served as an inspiration for play by providing a complimentary setting for whatever additional materials were at hand. It was great fun coming up with these curriculum prompts. Anyway, I'd decided to take some of these 'circle' pics with my Wishing Rocks collection. I printed out lots in those days and used them for many purposes. Creative fun for me!
You can see more old posts with the circle of rocks HERE and HERE.
Anyway, I made my teacher friend a lil bookmark with the drum on one side and the circle of rocks on the other, with some 'magic' yarn to top it off. I have not written on it, but my thoughts were something about "traditions" on the drum side and "May the Circle Be Unbroken" on the rocks side. For now I am leaving the words off, so perhaps she can add ones that have meaning to her.
How do you take in future technology?
May you step out of your comfort zone, but embrace deeply your return 'home'
May you spend time in the moments
May you create gifts in all kinds of ways
Photos by NAE @pomegranatetrail ©2025
