Welcome, Spring!

Bright yellow jasmine makes even a grey day sunny.
~ Click to enlarge image. ~
(You are welcome to use this image as a *personal* screensaver.)

Today was cold and grey and rainy and windswept.  Yet….

Happy Saint Patrick's Day! Lá Fhéile Pádraig Sona Daoibh!

I know everyone in the US is big on wearing green for Saint Patrick's Day, but green is just not in our palette of wardrobe colours. We're in good company: artist Piet Mondrian wasn't keen for green either. Naturally occurring green in nature is wonderful, but green beer? Emphatically, no.
These Purple Shamrocks grow along our brick walkway, and, at certain times of day, especially when the setting sun illumines them, they transform into a jewel-toned red.  Red, purple -- those are our colours!

Happy Saint Patrick's Day to all our friends, followers, and family!  In this part of the globe, we wish you a soon-arriving Springtime after this hard winter we've all endured.

Photo copyrighted 2012 by Gitanajava Productions LLC

See you on the patio!

Our Valentine's Day Solution...

Finding the right place and the right way to celebrate Valentine's Day is always a challenge.  Sometimes, it's even a headache or a dreadful duty.

We wanted something elegant but fun, exotic, romantic yet not over-the-top mushy.  Found it!  Yeh, we kinda waited until late in the week to nail our plans down, but the weather yo-yo has kept us guessing.  Still, we found our solution!

Check out the dining room:

Best of all, this is a restaurant that takes coffee seriously:

We already know we love the warm atmosphere and food.  The toughest choice of the evening will be which dessert to indulge -- right now, I'm leaning toward the decadently chocolate "Queen's Dome Cake".  Stay tuned, we'll let you know….

Meanwhile, to all our friends and beloved ones, we leave you this