Sonoma

Yesterday morning we headed up to Healdsburg for breakfast and then to Sonoma before driving over to Napa for our Christmas family dinner.  I always love stopping in Sonoma, but we got there about noon and the parking was really crowded.  We drove around the town square a couple of times before a spot opened up.  Our daughter and son-in-law wanted to find a little cooking shop, but it has gone out of business, so they headed over to the Sonoma Cheese Factory.  Hubby and I walked around the park.  The plaza there in Sonoma is the largest in California, and is just over 8 acres. Sonoma was the seat of the Bear Flag Revolt in 1846 and served as the capital for a while.

Solvang, CA

Solvang is a small Danish-themed town in California, about 30 minutes outside of Santa Barbara.  We frequently stay in Buellton, which is next to Solvang, on our trips to northern California.  My sister-in-law lives in Napa and we are heading up there for an after-Christmas dinner tomorrow night.  We love to stay in Solvang and eat breakfast at the Little Mermaid restaurant.  We always have the abelskevier (round pancakes) and relax before hitting the road.  Don't they look yummy?  I forgot to take a photo before I devoured them, so I'm sorry for the messy plate!  Yum, yum!

Arizona afternoon~SkyWatch Friday~122311

As we were driving back to Scottsdale from Wickenburg the other afternoon, I stopped to take just a couple of photos of the saguaros in the late afternoon light.  Clouds were to the north of us, up toward Prescott.  But this area of the desert was clear and the light was golden.  SkyWatch Friday for December 22, 2011.  To visit SkyWatch Friday, please go to:   http://skyley.blogspot.com/

UPDATE on blog

Okay.  After emails from a couple of readers, I went ahead and updated my storage to 20 GB on Google.  It was only $5.00 a year, which isn't that much and now I'll have lots of room for photos and my header.  Thank you for your comments and suggestions!  Problem solved!  Now, I need to find my header photo!
~~Cheryl Ann~~

I lost my header and Google storage question~I'm HEADERLESS

Yes, I've lost my header photo.  I tried deleting it and putting up a new one yesterday and Picasa tells me I'm at my 1 MB limit and I have to purchase more storage!  WHAT???  I don't want to start deleting posts and photos, and it's only $5.00 for more storage, but it's the principle of the thing....(I'm STUBBORN...)...any ideas or suggestions?  What program do you use to store your photos?  I use Picasa/Google.  I only have it because I need some sort of program to crop/resize/lighten photos and I don't have Photoshop....any suggestions?  If not, when we get home, I'll just order the $5.00 storage from Google.

Cave Creek regional park

By noon yesterday, the sun was peeking out from behind the clouds and I was ready to head out.  Hubby was lollygagging around ...sigh...but finally got it together.  I'd heard about the regional park at Cave Creek, so we headed over there.  For $6.00, you can enter the park and hike and take photos.  There is a visitor center there with two very friendly folks and I stopped and bought some postcards to take home.  We ate our lunch there (lunch from AJ's...I had a salad) and then headed up one of the trails.  I could see a mountain biker coming down the trail, so I warned hubby to watch for him as he was zooming down the trail.  Clouds started turning dark up there and we didn't wish to get too far up the trail, but isn't the afternoon light gorgeous?  As we drove away, it got darker and darker.

Windows galore and a door, too~Windows and Doors~122011

No, this isn't Arizona.  Rather, this building is up in Morongo Valley, CA.  I was going through my archives to find something to post for Whimsical Windows, Delirious Doors, a new weekly meme and I found this one.  WWDD for December 20, 2011.  To visit this meme, please go to:  http://iwishiwereaphotographer.blogspot.com/2011/12/whimsical-windows-delirious-doors-3.html