It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas! In Nevada City 2015

Need to get away from birds for a minute?  I think I do.  Although I'm dying to get out birding this weekend.  haha 

I figured that since Christmas is almost here, I would do a "throwback Thursday" post to that time last year I drove to Nevada City, California for a meet up that didn't happen.  

It was a cold and rainy weekend day and I was supposed to meet up with some fellow amateur photogs to take some shots in the beautiful Sierra Nevada foothill town.  It was the time of the annual Old-Timey Christmas Faire and photo ops should be good.  I got there about the right time, but didn't see any group of people that met the description.  So, me being me, I happily decided to just set out on my own.  Did I mention it was raining?

I parked my car about 3 blocks from historic downtown and quickly started taking photos of interesting tidbits. 

There are several amazingly picturesque churches in town.  One of which I had to walk right past. 

Being on a pretty steep hill, the angles (I mis-typed that as "angels" which seems pretty appropriate too) were so cool with the stone wall and white fence.  I FLOVE this next shot which I edited with black and white and low-contrast except for the gold crosses. 

I don't do much low-sat or low-contrast.  I need to experiment with this more!

Back to a higher contrast and sat in order to fully capture the very cool stone wall. 

Once I was finally in the downtown area I found a much needed ladies room (long drive!) and beside it was this beautiful tree decked out in festive pine cones. 

I began walking around and found this beautiful Methodist church. 

And this gorgeous boy who was loving all the attention!

Sometimes you can find beauty in the most mundane.  This building corner spoke to me with it's rich, red bricks, black roof, and greenish, ornate iron railing.  

And of course, this being a Christmas fair, there were carolers.  I took some video of these guys, but it was lost in my phone that blew up. 😒 They were really good!

I love animals.  I really do.  And I'm all about conservation and trying to make the Earth a better place.  That being said, I'm a little bit torn about a few things. Carriage horses are one of those things.  I hate seeing them and I love seeing them. 

Of course this is a historical mining town and so there was an ode to mining equipment. 

Several of them, in fact. 

Oh look!  I found another church!  This one was the First Baptist Church. 

There is also a replica Maidu Indian teepee to honor the local tribe. 

There was some irreverent (of course) but also pretty considerate advice written inside:

Needless to say, I hightailed it back out into the rain. lol

And found this eccentric garden on my way back to my car.  I love it!

One more shot of the beautiful church...this time from the bottom of the hill, in the misty rain. 

And then, I was off.  I decided to finish my trip in a decidedly un-Victorian fashion...by getting a Salted-Caramel Mocha from Starbucks!  Yum!  And I'm glad I stopped, because just as I was pulling out of the drive-through with my hand-warming mocha, the sun broke through the clouds and a resplendent rainbow arched over the sky!

What a fun day!  Maybe I'll do it again this year!  In the snow!

xoxo

Nikon D3000

Luck of the Irish ~~ St Patrick's Day in Sacramento 2015

The weekend prior to St. Patrick's Day was a confluence of events that made going to the free Sacramento St. Patrick's Day Parade a must:  

1)  I was completely broke.

2)  Adrienne was in town from L.A.

3) My sister came to town from San Francisco.

So, rather than sit in my tiny apartment and stare at each other (or force Rose to watch One Direction videos like normal), we looked for free and fun events to check out.  I like parades so I convinced my fam to head down to Old Sacramento with me. 

We got there pretty early and snagged a good spot near the end of the line by the reviewing booth.  While we were waiting, Rose and Adrienne walked around the shops while I saved the seats and assuaged my boredom by photographing the surrounding buildings.

Pretty soon, the booth was set up and interesting people were about, giving me new targets for my lens. 

Did I mention that it was bloody hot?  Thanks global warming :/  That didn't deter some ladies from breaking out the period dress.  

There were adorable dogs...

And awesome hats...

(I love the picture above.  I don't know why...It's just cool.  And I want that hat.  And he's happy.)

And you cannot have an Irish parade without bagpipes.  It is known.

Love this closeup of the wheels and buckets on the extremely "vintage" fire wagon.

Quite a contrast to our modern day beasts.  Thank you firemen!!  Especially these days.  Thank you.

The ladies on this float give new meaning to the term Sin City (the effect I used to edit the photo.)

And the cops are following close behind.  Arrests imminent? 

That mustache tho!

OMG, I don't know what kind of car this is (well, I do...it's an "Allard" but I've never heard of it).  It was amazing.  All chrome and cool lines.  The photos don't do it justice. 

From horsepower to horses...two of my favorite things at parades are cars and horses.  And they had some gorgeous horses and cars at this parade.

I just love how these two beauties look like a mirror image.  

We momentarily interrupt the beau!tiful horses for some more crazy humans in period dress

And, like the fire fighters, I have to give special respect to the Drowning Accident Rescue Team (DART).  Not only for bringing this adorable pit bull puppy in their truck, but also for the lives they rescue from our rivers every summer.

And now back to your regularly scheduled horses.

Oh, he's hot, poor baby.  It was very hot for March, lemme tell you. 

There were a couple of different Stunting teams that performed.  My friend Gracie does this, although this is not her team.  

It was pretty frightening on the cobblestones!

Well folks, that's pretty much the end!  Wooo Hooo!

And we're out.

xoxo