WEEKEND POSTCARDS

 

Yes, back to reality for a two-day work week, how bad can it be? The time away was rainy yes. But contrary to the rainy weekend, I know some might not like the beach in the rain, but not to worry...we pub hopped most days and had a picnic in the indoor patio at the AirBnB. Monday and Tuesday were glorious. The house was on the beach...at night I could smell the ocean and hear the surf from bed. That alone was worth the whole trip. 

The horseshoe crabs snap, seen after the storm and rains the night before, is for Tundra Bunny. I also heard in the early morning one day, a octopus was seen skimming across the sand heading back into the ocean. I wish I'd seen that. 

AT THE RITZ....

...MEANWHILE....

This hummingboid got good taste!

Sometimes a company and humans can surprise me and not very often. This story was too nice to not share. At the Ritz Carlton Rancho Mirage, an extraordinary moment unfolds when a tiny hummingboid picked an unexpected place to build its little nest-right on a door handle in the main entrance of doors. Rather than move it or knock it down, the Ritz chose a different path; they closed off the entire front set of entrance doors, across the front on the main side of the building and redirected guests into a secondary door on the side, putting the bird and it's two young, safety above the convenience of getting in the building. A great story and it spread fast, capturing attention as a rare example of a luxury brand choosing compassion and respect for nature even at the cost of disrupting daily operations and people bitching about walking the whole way around to use the secondary door. A billion-dollar a year hotel...doing right by a creature small enough to fit in the hand of a baby. I have read stories of other places knocking nest down once built, or even after eggs are in it...but this is nice to read... 

MAY DAY....

 ...surely you didn't think we forgot traditions here at the Casa du Borghese! 

As are traditions on May Day....

  HOORAY! HOORAY! 

It's the first of May,

Outdoor screwing begins today!!!!

EARTH DAY

Today is Earth Day, a day many people get involved in Earth activities or it gets swept under the carpet. I have always loved the day. It's a day to celebrate annually, though we should be caring for Mother Earth daily It's a day to highlight environmental protection and promote sustainability. The day can feature many things to get involved with, or we can just change our ways to protect and serve, like neighborhood tree plantings, creating a bird or bee habitat, liter pickups, or just unplugging things not in use frequently or turning off lights and things when not in a room, using grocery reuseable bags or a market basket INSTEAD of those dreaded damn plastic bags! I never go to the farmers market without my trusty basket to put everything in. Or it could be as simple as donating to so many various animal and environmental charities and agencies. I got a small group of us at work to go today to a park in Mechanicsburg to do a litter pick up, and once home, it's a day to make an extra contribution to several of the charities I belong to. Since I was in Philly for the weekend, another great way to have a fun day and do something to make a difference is look into your local parks!!!

I'm amazed at the parks in Philadelphia, which has almost over 63 park spaces in and around the city...Fairmount Park being one of the largest urban landscaped park systems in the US. So, this year I decided my new charity to give to this year is Friends of Rittenhouse Square, since I can't be there in person. I saw a booth this weekend and signed up. Rittenhouse Square, which is the fourth oldest park in the US, is like many other parks in the county. They need care and help, maintaining and improving to keep them around for our respite. Friends of Rittenhouse work tirelessly to help transform the Square into a place of peace and inspiration like litter removal, cleaning graffiti, planting flowers, weeding, and tending to gardens, clearing leaves, mowing lawns...or just donating or volunteering time, to a fund or group if they have one, and some parks even have benches you can buy and have placed in memory of someone. Our parks are more important than ever, what with urban crawl and development, or funds being cut off completely to maintain them. All these photos are fine example of parks in Philly I have taken over the years.

So many ways to give, or donate money or time too this Earth Day. Time to protect the environments and our animal and insect world before it's too late. Here are my primary groups I usually give too on Earth Day.

 

The Sheldrick Trust

The Nature Conservancy

National Audubon Society

World Wildlife Fund

And if interested in parks, check out your Parks and Recreations section of your local or city's website to see if they have a donations section or have a volunteer program.

And Happy Earth Day!

🌳🌼🌳🌼🌳🌼🌳

LIFE CONTINUES...

 

...with some weekend left! It's been a relaxing weekend what with some busy weeks with the new showroom. Spring was on the way but then got derailed back with some cooler weather again...not to mention our family friend Garnet had a surprise birthday lunch and desserts for the Mother, who celebrated around trip around the globe. And she hates surprises.  The day started with me taking her for breakfast. Needless to say, I'm guessing she slept good last night after her libations all day. The garden crocus exploded but will last for how long is anyone's guess with the cooler weather is again. It's always the first sign of spring in my book. I did however get outside today for a nice little cleanup of leaves and felled branches...and see a few signs of spring. And some of the usual suspects.

The birthday location of the Mothers childhood friend. 

They have known each other since 4 grade!

 

At the Casa....I loved the sun beam illuminating these vases and vessels yesterday in the afternoon.

Now, is it happy hour yet?

A DIFFERENT WORLD

Boy, the old saying what a difference a day makes comes to mind, 

Or in this case, a week.

Just last Monday, this was the scene out the boudoir window. 

Grey, white and cold.

A sunny, mild and low 60 degrees greeted us this weekend.

 Oh, happy hour... why not. Take it away Dinah.

WHISPERS OF WINTER

This weekend found us getting what was probably our real second snowfall of the season. This snow fall we lucked out from the blizzard that hit many of the major cities on the East Coast and along upward into the Northeast. Nothing like dear Rade, or Pearly Gates in Ptown got hit with. Even poor Agnes near Rehoboth Beach got slammed with 22"! I ended up with a smidge over 5" here. The first few pictures were actually taken at around 11:30pm, so I was shocked to see how light the pictures turned out from it being so bright out with the snow fall. There is no denying though, a fresh fallen snow before being disturbed looks so pretty. And the next morning, it was super bright out....and the snow was a real tree hugger snow. A beautiful sight. I also captured a few snaps on my way to my appointments, from Main Street.

This couch potato though had the right idea.....