SueBee Arts

On the second floor of The Last Bookstore in downtown Los Angeles, is a labyrinth of rooms lined with bookshelves, which if followed along for a ways, will lead to the Fold Gallery and Curio Shop! It’s a fascinating place. The Fold Curio Shop, with a floor covered in copper pennies, to which you may contribute via a […]

In the desert near Riverside, about an hour’s drive from our home in Orange, sits a very pretty lake with campground. It’s a State Recreation Area, and is well maintained and managed. Back in September, a group of us camped overnight, after a day of wine tasting in Temecula, followed by a day of boating on […]

What an amazing discovery Kat and I made while wandering around downtown Los Angeles last weekend. We stumbled upon The Last Bookstore, located at 453 S. Spring Street, downtown Los Angeles! Sadly, how true that name is becoming in our cold, sterile world of electronic books and online ordering. Where will the bookstores and libraries go if people […]

I found this scene rather magical, the way light was reflecting off the mirrored buildings surrounding Angels Flight in downtown Los Angeles. Sadly, the little funicular is closed at the moment, but will hopefully be back up and running soon. ~SueBee (photo by SueBee)

Kat and I enjoy variety, both in our blog posts and our activities… from visiting inner city streets, to sunny beaches, and on to beautiful gardens. Such ordered chaos best describes everything that’s available in Southern California! Today’s gallery of color was taken at the Huntington Library and Gardens in San Marino, a favorite place. ~SueBee (photos by SueBee)

Kat and I were lucky to grab some time to explore together this past Saturday. Our schedules don’t match up that often anymore, so this was particularly special time. We headed to downtown Los Angeles, planning on first having breakfast at Grand Central Market and then visiting a museum or two. We ended up finding so much to see […]

We’re entering into the Weekly Photo Challenge: Angular with this pic of books used for décor, displayed in a very angular manner. Pic was taken yesterday at The Last Bookstore in downtown Los Angeles yesterday. ~Kat (pic by Kat)

Today’s a big day for Los Angeles college football fans… it’s the annual cross town rivalry game between (USC) University of Southern California Trojans and the (UCLA) University of California at Los Angeles Bruins. I’d never paid much attention to college football until my son attended USC for his undergraduate studies (2002-06). He was lucky to be enrolled […]

This gallery of pictures was taken, quite literally, on the other side of the tracks. I visited the Art Walk at the Brewery, next to the train tracks, in downtown Los Angeles a month or so ago. Each visit there, I enjoy wandering the somewhat decrepit, rat’s-maze-like hallways as much as viewing works of the various artists who […]

Serenity and bonsai are two of many features in the Japanese garden at Southern California’s Huntington Library and Gardens in San Marino. I’m always intrigued by the bonsai, reflective of the utmost in patience and determination. It’s an art form that demonstrates such a contrast to today’s “two second society” as to be nearly incomprehensible. ~SueBee (photos by SueBee)

To celebrate our 2 year anniversary, my boyfriend Cam and I visited the San Diego Safari Park! The highlight of the day was seeing the baby cheetahs! They’re the cutest animals ever! We also saw a baby gorilla, baby giraffes, and a baby elephant…was our lucky day! ~Kat (pics by Kat)

I tried a different setting on my Nikon d5100 recently, which took all the photos in Black and White. I generally prefer color, but find the change to be fun and challenging. In this case, as I took the pictures I was interested in lines and contrast as I framed each. The pictures in this gallery were taken […]

While it may now be a novelty, the red street cars were once the transportation many people depended on to get to their jobs, including my 97 year old mom. She still likes to reminisce about her first job downtown Los Angeles, how she rode the street car to get there, and particuarly about the gentleman who left a gardenia […]

Photo taken two days ago, of the prolific group of roses directly outside my apartment front door. They bloom, and bloom, and bloom… mostly this bold pink, but I’ve seen an orange peeking out along one side, and a white in the middle of the group. It doesn’t take much for me to stop and smell the roses!! ~SueBee (photo by SueBee)

Sitting in an office doing dull, unrewarding work for all the daylight hours is just too much sometimes, so I provide myself a change of scenery once I’m off. Yesterday I drove from my workplace in Irvine down the 55 Freeway to Pacific Coast Highway, and then up the coast to Bolsa Chica Wetlands in Huntington Beach. I […]

Fishing in the late afternoon, with an eye on the little boat floating off shore at Crystal Cove in Orange County. ~SueBee (photo by SueBee)

Extension of a dead limb… fear? quasi wood, delicate, wings clear. Flirting with a subtle chameleon effect, a simplistic charlatan’s project. Light touch on a brittle refuge, dare we say wily subterfuge? Respite from another’s feast, momentary serenity at the least, fearing winged creatures on high possessing of a sharp, focused eye. ~SueBee (photo by Kat) Our second entry into the Weekly Photo […]

There appears to be a hole in the sky… shall I draw up my sailboat, climb deftly up the mast, take a peek, see what’s on the other side? ~SueBee (photo by SueBee) Our entry into the Weekly Photo Challenge: Minimalist was taken off the coast at Crystal Cove State Park in Orange County.

This is my final post taking advantage of our day of rain last Saturday. Continuing from yesterday, this gallery shares my experience on the pier at Seal Beach. It was a brilliant, chilly day. The air was so clean, freshly washed! Since we’ve returned to the upper 80s and low 90s here in Southern California again, I’ll keep […]

After my visit to the El Dorado Nature Center in Long Beach, after the rain (I’m milking this bit of rain for all it’s worth!), I drove down to Seal Beach, just about 10 minutes away. It was brisk, crisp, wonderful. These photos were taken from the pier, which appears to be in the midst of […]