Florence Avenue, Sebastopol, CA

11/30/14 Patrick Amiot's Sculpture Art


When a friend of mine asked if I wanted to go on an art tour while walking around her neighborhood in Sebastopol, I wasn't sure what to expect. Art tour in a neighborhood? I'd absolutely like to see it!!
















We arrived at Florence Avenue after a short walk - I was amazed at the cool sculptures we walked past. Front yards were all so much more fun with these art pieces - very unique, and different from any other neighborhood I've walked through.

The creative pieces recycle old material and are all sculpted by one artist and painted by another. Dogs, trucks, mermaids, and my favorite: an A's baseball player - plus many, many more through Florence Ave and around town. You'll be able to quickly figure out the artist's house - it's the one with a TON of sculptures out front!

Glass Beach, Fort Bragg

6/10/13


SEA GLASS SHARDS

You can walk for hours on some beaches and not find a piece of washed up sea glass. So it's pretty shocking to stop here and see it all over the place. Very small shards of softened sea glass from Fort Bragg's former sea dump site.




It reminded me of a remarkable beach in Connecticut that was made of softened shells, rather than sand (or sea glass, in this case).

We had planned a trip north and this stop was on our way. Glad we stopped, but it was too cold to swim so it's not like it was a day at the beach, just wanted to check it out.








Filling up large bags of sea glass

Posted signs say not to take glass, but we talked with a local resident who also accepted the idea that each person taking a couple pieces is not nearly as overwhelming to the site as the people filling up bags. Granted, we were there on a holiday weekend, but we saw several people stealing more than their fair share.




Likely to profit from it; sea glass jewelry can be expensive - if you find big enough pieces (and certain colors).



We walked around and sat for a while. The coastline is pretty here but we definitely found nicer beaches to walk along. Really glad we made the stop.

Thanksgiving 2014 Turkey Trot 5K, Walnut Creek

11/27/14

 
 
 
Team Hot Trotties!!! I can't say that I'm happy about adding 3 minutes to this year's time since last year's race, but I can say that no matter how long it takes to get from start to finish, I felt really good about doing this run on Thanksgiving morning.







2013 was my first year doing the Turkey Trot. My husband and I hadn't picked up our packets in advance so we had to show up and find parking and get in line before the early morning race.  I planned 2014 a little bit better! My husband didn't run with me this year, but he did pick up my packet at FormaGym the day before the race.  Forma Gym had bibs available for pick-up all day the two days before the race until 7pm, which was really convenient.  I received a t-shirt with my registration (and I upgraded to the nicer quality shirt for about $10 - good deal!) However, I made matching shirts last year, which I sported again this year instead of the provided shirt.

A few friends picked me up half an hour before the race this morning. We had a guaranteed parking spot - I would recommend getting downtown really early if you aren't so lucky. Parking can be difficult.  Thousands of people took off running and walking to the sounds of MC Hammer at the start of the race. Hammer himself did the countdown - pretty legit! (But not TOO legit).  :D










A lot of people run, but many more jog, and tons of people walk the 5k. Dogs and strollers are allowed and this is definitely a family-friendly event.  About 2/3 of the way into the race there was an aid station with water and Gatorade - I was really surprised this was so close to the end of the run. At the half way mark I would have really appreciated it more, but regardless, it was really appreciated.  The course is well-marked and there were lots of volunteers and policeman keeping people on track.  Thank you to all the people who volunteered and made this event possible!









37 minutes after 8 a.m. I crossed the finish line with my friends only a couple minutes ahead of me.  We ended at Civic Park and there was water being passed out, as well as a few EZ-up tents promoting local businesses. I grabbed a couple of citrus Cuties and took a red-faced picture with Miss Contra Costa County - then I went home and didn't feel even slightly guilty about over-eating at Thanksgiving dinner.  More gravy!