Category Archives: photo

Six things I learned from going to the beach on Christmas


gameboy at sunset
Originally uploaded by pilgrimgirl.

1) Going to the beach on Christmas is not a novel idea. Big Corona Beach was more crowded than in the height of the summer. With LOTS of tourists. Bleh.
2) Heading down PCH a ways to Crystal Cove State Park is a much better choice. Plus they don’t have a ranger charging $10/car on Christmas Day. Cool.
3) The downside of CCSP: the 1/2 mile hike, mostly downhill, through nature to get to the beach. I was on crutches because my new prosthesis isn’t yet completed. Yah. So 1/2 mile (each way) on the armpits is pretty raw (though it’s a fine way of working off the Christmas calories)…
4) The water is just was just as cold/warm on Christmas as it was in mid-summer. Lovely. Just lovely.
5) Hiking back to the car just as the sun was dropping out of sight on the horizon. The native desert-y plants all around us exuding the most lovely scent–like cinnamon and vanilla and lemon. Wow. Unlike anything I’ve smelled before.
6) We’ve got to do this again next year. And the next. And the next.

Click on the photo above to see more pics from our beach day.

photo tribute: a well-traveled limb

Bidding farewell to most of my leg today as I upgrade the socket, cosmesis, stockings, and so forth. A pilgrimgirl first: a photo essay tribute to a well-traveled limb.

As I put this together I asked myself why I wanted to take pictures of my leg, why this was important to me. And I realized how much I wish I had similar photos of my real leg before it was amputated. To help me remember.

Astro Veggie Christmas Tree


Astro Veggie Christmas Tree

This was the beautiful appetizer assembled by our family for our Institute potluck dinner. It was quite a hit!

Thanks to Charles Phoenix for the inspiration for our holiday-themed creativi-tree.

[Ingredients (added 12/7): green olives w/pimento, broccoli, small sunburst squash, 3 types of cherry tomatoes, cornichon pickles, baby carrots, edamame pods. Quite an improvement over Charles’ weenie tree, IMO.]

because looking at pictures of other people’s cats is never very interesting



Ellycat, toting one of my daughter’s beanies on her back.

Ellycat, who enjoys eating pinenuts, spinach, and tuna. Who licks my arms after my morning swim. Who cries when I carry her to the laundry room. Who patrols the perimeter of the garden–showing the gophers and bunnies who’s boss.

Ellycat, who knows a fine purse when she sees one (particularly if it belongs to Dora or Amy or Tucker Grandma).

Ellycat, who likes to warm her backside on my (open or closed) laptop. Who sends IMs to John. Who knows all about the ‘top napkin’ principle.

Ellycat. Ensuring that I’m never lonely.

my joy


IMG_0279.jpg
Originally uploaded by mind on fire.

Doesn’t tobyjoy look mean and vicious in the picture? Can you believe that she weighs less than 5 lbs and can curl up into a small ball on my hip as I type at my computer? And that she is all softness, a little girl who is hungry for the love of a mother. 🙂

[Note: See her tag, hanging down there? For a sense of scale, it is about the size of a nickel. Photo by CatGirl]

good luck


IMG_4315
Originally uploaded by pilgrimgirl.

A year ago this was me–standing in a doorway in the Forbidden City in Beijing. It’s still hard for me to believe that I actually stood there!

See those brass knobs on the big red doors behind me? Rubbing them is good luck. I rubbed them every time we walked through such a doorway in the palace. With it’s thousand or so rooms I racked up a lot of luck during my trip. 🙂