Showing posts with label Valentine's Day. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Valentine's Day. Show all posts

Tuesday, February 14, 2023

Tessa's First Photo Shoot

Admittedly, this went a LOT better than I anticipated!  Happy Valentine's Day from Lady Tessa...

She's not impressed


She looks kinda chubby in this one

Such a happy girl ;o)
These two are my favorites.


Tessa hopes you had a pawsitively Happy Valentine's Day!

Thanks for stopping by...
;o)


Happy Valentine's Day

Cooler today so we took Tessa for a longer walk along the Linear Path and around the block.  We stopped at Landmark to drop off some mail that we thought belonged to the owner but Trisha said she had no idea who it was.  Drove uptown to the In A Pickle food truck, which Bill is dying to try.  Unfortunately, the operator posted on FB that he wouldn't be there today due to a sick child.  So, we got Arby's and sat in the truck to eat.  Ugh.  Normally we might search out a nice neighborhood park but there was a lot of smoke in the area due to some controlled burns. 

Once home, I made the bed and Bill put the trash out.  I sat outside with my coffee and book, then played with Tessa while the coast was clear next door.  

The three of us left around 3:15 and headed to Venice for our annual Valentine's Day sunset.  Not quite the same having Tessa with us but we made it work.  We walked down the opposite side of the street, Bill found a bench to wait on and I crossed over to Ciao Gelato for our traditional sweet treat.  Bill got chocolate and I got half chocolate and half sea salt caramel.  I usually take a picture but I forgot.  We hung out at the bench while we ate.  Bill tied Tessa's leash to the bench and she was actually pretty good.  She gets pretty excited when other dogs come by but she is somewhat easily redirected.  She thinks she would like gelato, too.

I, too, would enjoy some gelato...
We didn't do any window shopping and I didn't get to wander through the quilt shop.  We did walk to the bathrooms, then back to the truck along a less busy side street which had some grass and we were hoping Tessa would pee.  She did not. haha We were nearly run over, while in the crosswalk, by a driver that was blinded by the sun.  

We arrived at the jetty around 5:00 and found a nice spot in the front row.  We sat on a bench on the jetty side and watched the boats going in and out.  We spotted dolphins and a manatee, which was cool.  Tessa enjoyed sitting on the bench with us.  Around 5:45 we walked down the road, on the side with grass, giving Tessa time to sniff and explore and pee.  Again...she did not.  Back to the truck, Bill stayed with her for awhile and I found a nice rock on which to perch.  No way was I sitting in the truck on the warmest Valentine's night in a few years.  69* ;o)

Bill gave Tessa the treat bone we brought, then joined me around 6:10 for the 6:20 sunset.  There wasn't a cloud in the sky, which means an unexciting sunset but there was a lot of smoke, so the sunset was kind of orange.  Not the best but not the worst either.  We have got to remember to stay at least thirty minutes after sunset for the best "after show" color!
6:18 pm

6:20 pm

6:27 pm
We headed home at 6:40 and arrived by 7:30.  I took a shower, then made popcorn for dinner. 

Hope your Valentine's Day was filled with love!

Thanks for stopping by...
;o) 


Sunday, February 14, 2021

Happy Valentines Day

Our tradition continues as we travel north to Venice to enjoy the sunset at the jetty.  We started this tradition when Greg came to visit in 2015, which you can read about here.

We started the day with a walk from the hospital to Gilchrist Park, along the Harborwalk and back, 3.2 miles.  It was humid!  We enjoyed a coffee at Bayshore Park, along the Peace River.  Not only was it humid, it was windy, so we sat in the truck.

We ate lunch at home, then at 3:30 we headed to Venice.  It was raining when we arrived but it didn't last too long.  We got our traditional gelatos at Ciao Gelato and ate them under the cover of a nearby Italian restaurant.  Bill had strawberry, Italian chocolate chip and butter crunch.  My choice was chocolate and sea salted caramel.  It's always soooo good!

We drove to the Venice jetty and found a parking space in the front row.  The rocks were wet from the earlier rain as well as the waves washing over them, so we sat in the truck and did some reading while we waited for the sunset at 6:21.  

There was a big cloud bank, so once the sun dipped below that, it was the end of any good sunset but it was a very nice evening.

5:14 pm

5:45 pm
5:48 pm
5:58 pm
Once at home, we had the dinner of champions...popcorn!

Thanks for stopping by...

;o)



Friday, February 14, 2020

Our Valentine's Day Tradition

Ever since the year Greg visited and we spent Valentines Day in Venice, Bill and I have traveled north to carry on this tradition.  Bill had a chiropractor appointment early, then we took Titan for a walk.  We spent some time at home reading and skipped lunch so we could eat in Venice.

We left home around 2:00 and arrived in Venice right around 3:00.  We parked along the street a block from "downtown" and walked back to The Soda Fountain and Vinnie's Pizzeria, where they serve great New York Style pizza.  We ordered the Venice Avenue pizza (pepperoni, sausage, mushrooms and onions) and beverages.  The pizza is super good!
When we finished, Bill walked back to the truck with the leftover pizza and I wandered through the quilt shop.  I always wonder through the Quilt Basket because it's a nice little shop with lots of quality fabric, books and notions.  Sadly, I hardly ever buy anything, which makes me feel a little guilty.  

When we got to Venice it was about 83* and very humid but when I came out of the quilt shop and met Bill, the temp had dropped to about 73* and it was chilly.  haha, hard to believe I would actually say that!

He tried to lead me into the gelato shop but I thought we should walk a little before having more to eat.  We wandered down the street, looking in the windows, like we do every year, until we came to one of the shops we always enter, just to browse.  I did find a key chain I wanted to attach to the house keys, making it easier to find them when I toss them into the glove box.  We hardly ever walk down the other side of the street.  Plus, Ciao Gelato is on our side of the street o)

Surprisingly, it wasn't super busy.  Bill had half chocolate chip and half chocolate, I had half strawberry and half chocolate.  It is so darn good!  
After I ordered mine, Bill noticed they have some made with alcohol!  One is a chocolate made with Bailey's and neither of us can remember the other one but I'm definitely going to try them next time.  We might even make a special trip just for gelato.

We sat on one of the benches that line the street, ate our sweets and people watched.  

From there we walked back to the truck and drove to Venice Beach, where we parked and used the restroom.  We didn't stay there tho, our tradition is to watch the sunset from the jetty, so we headed that way, hoping to get a parking spot.  It was only 5:00 with sunset not until 6:20; we found one right in the front row.

The sunset turned out to be nothing special thanks to a big cloud bank low in the sky.  It didn't really matter because it was warm enough and nice to sit on the rocks, with the waves crashing in front of us, in the middle of February!  We stayed for 15 minutes after the appointed sunset time, in the event there was an after show.
5:18 pm
The perfectly placed cloud bank ;o(  5:41 pm
5:46 pm
5:57 pm 
6:08 pm
Looking toward Venice Beach 6:19 pm 
The less than spectacular "after show" 6:25 pm
We did enjoy watching the pelicans glide by and dive into the water.  I think this photo might have turned out fairly well if there had been more sunlight.
We left about 6:35 and were home by 7:30.

Thanks for stopping by...
;o)

Thursday, February 14, 2019

Happy Valentine's Day

A few years ago, Greg was visiting over Valentine's Day.  We found ourselves in Venice and ended up watching the sunset from the jetty at Venice Beach.  Every year since then, it has been our tradition to visit Venice on Valentine's Day.  We have pizza at Vinnie's Pizzeria, a gelato from Ciao Gelato and we watch the sunset from the jetty and take really bad selfies.
Venetian (the ultimate chocolate) and Strawberry

 The sunset was great this year and the temp was acceptable...65* and winds at 14.
5:26
6:10
6:13
6:16
6:16
6:18
6:21
6:24
6:26
6:29
6:29
6:34
6:26 pano
I really like the reflection in the one above ;o)
6:33 pano
You can see from the pano photos that the sky wasn't really as red as the other photos show it to be.  Don't ask me why, I'm not a professional.

Happy Valentine's Day!

Thanks for stopping by...
;o)