Sailing for the little ones

This is the fountain of the Luxembourg Gardens in Paris, France. Every day, small sailboats are put in the water for children to play with. There is usually a good breeze to keep the sails full.



Children have sticks that are provided to capture ships that come close to their spot. They use the sticks also to push the ships out to sea again. They then travel wherever the wind caries them. There are enough children around the fountain that someone will continue the process again.

Fountain entrance

The water fountain at the front of the Embassy Suites in Downey sets the scene for a romantic entrance. It has a European feel to it and the soft sound of the water spilling over the fountain sets the scene.

“Human nature is like water. It takes the shape of its container.”
 ~ Wallace Stevens

International Food Festival

Downey hosted an International Food Festival in downtown Downey today. The event was a great success.

I loved this fountain area, above. It was like stepping into a little European city. It made me wish we could leave the fountain and add in a traffic circle. It was charming.

There were food trucks and booths offering a wide variety of choices for dinner. I chose Thai food and was not disappointed with my spicy chicken fried rice.

More to come tomorrow!

Front yard beauty

I love it when I find my fellow Downeyites using simple and ordinary objects to decorate their yards. This one caught my eye today with the colorful fountain.

But then when I stopped, I noticed the wheelbarrow filled with blooming plants guarded by the metal sun. Did you notice the owl peeking out? The whole yard is just a pleasure to walk by.

Sculptures

This front lawn has caught my eye several times because of the sculptured fountain of what I think are three cranes. The closer I looked, though, the more I noticed other sculptured items on the lawn. Not only the deer but even the trees are sculptured.

Connect the dots

The new Downey Gateway, with its multiple eating facilities, has been designed to be a pleasant and refreshing entrance to the developing downtown Downey. As part of this refreshing and pleasant atmosphere, there are several fountains in the walkways.

I was fascinated by the water arch that this fountain created so I took two different views of it. This view shows the fountain as you and I see it in real time. The perfect parabolic curvature of water coming off the slide seems so smooth, almost soft.

The view below is a quicker view and shows the flow of water as a jumbled mess of unconnected droplets that don't form any kind of normal structure or shape. It's amazing what our mind does with a series of unconnected dots. It turns them into something beautiful, pleasing and peaceful. Look around you today and see if you can see the beauty of the pattern.

Maybe someday

It seems weird to be taking pictures of other cities but when I went to Glendale this last week, I couldn't help but wish we had somewhere like this to hang out in our own town. Shops surround the park with gorgeous apartments on top of them. The lights and water and jazz music was incredibly peaceful and beautiful. An ice cream shop on the corner provided the perfect ending to the night. The whole place looked thought out and well developed. Well done Glendale.

Three coins in a ....

Yard art has a charm of its own. I like to see the how people adorn their yards and create a sense of beauty in their personal space.

"Few peole know so clearly what they want. Most people can't even think what to hope for when they throw a penny in a fountain." - Barbara Kingsolver

The little mermaid

I read somewhere that a mermaid's tail splits in two when she becomes 30 and can then walk on land. This one was showing her age while pointing toward the heavens with her shell.

For more posts about the Rives Mansion, click here.

Gold-plated fountain?

The fountain at Downey Landing is a pretty typical fountain — until you happen to pass it at sunset.