Mid-Century Mauve

I had no real idea what mauve was before I stopped my bike to take a picture of these side-by-side, mid-century homes. The owner of the pink entryway came over and chatted with me about the difficulty of finding "just the ride shade of pink." I replied in a husky voice that I sympathized with her plight. I learned a great deal more about her house - ceiling height, future plans, etc. 

She told me that her next-door neighbor (and fellow color experimentor) had painted the grey-green house about 3-4 times before settling on its current color. I especially like the bold beams - which are NOT that color inside the house, even though it has an open-beam ceiling. My house is from a similar era but it's currently whitish and grayish. Maybe I should consider mauve, she said. 

I finally managed to get away from this cheery, chatty neighbor and her two dogs. After pounding my way across a few miles of busy commercial zone traffic, I reached a quiet park on the harborside. Here's my scenic shot for the day:

And while I am sitting here by the water, I have time for today's obligatory "I am on the bike" photo - it's the Schwinn again.

 I chose this Land Rover Discovery G4 Special Edition for the car of the day, due to its outrageous "livery" as the Brits would say. This orange-black, highly-equipped model was a great idea (commemorating an off-road event through East Timor), but the ones I've seen in SoCal always look a bit bedraggled after a few years in our blazing sun. This one was in great condition.

Finally, as I was riding uphill, into the wind and home, I saw this ever-so-inviting front tree swing offering a seat and some shade. I didn't sit on it, but I was tempted. In the past month I've seen at least a dozen tree swings on my bike rides. Maybe some hot day I'll put them all in a special blog posting.