Alfa Photo Shoot

It dawned on me the other day that I never did a proper photo shoot of the car we leased my wife back in 2019...shortly afterwards we bought another car so the "new" attention was showered on it and somehow the Alfa was never properly recognized.  So the time is now!

It is a 2019 Alfa Romeo Stelvio Sport AWD (Q4).  She wanted something that would fit five people comfortably and this was on our short list.  Once she drove it, it went to #1.

It has a turbocharged 4 cylinder and has plenty of power.  I've never been wishing for a few more ponies, it has willingly done whatever I've asked it to do. 

Luggage space is good, though it might be a bit tight if we took five people on a long trip with five suitcases.

Being Italian, the designers paid plenty of attention to getting the exterior and interior shapes just right.

It is a design that will age very very well in my opinion.

In fact, we like this car so much we've decided to buy it at the end of the lease.

She can lease another car at that point, but we're keeping this one!

Love the wheels too.

 Exhaust tips are a pain to keep clean and take additional care every time the car is washed, but they do look nice.

Ruby's Green Thumb Trip

I went spring plant shopping at Green Thumb Nursery a little while back and took Ruby.  She liked the plants but was really excited when she spotted the open field next door. 

So I took her over and she jumped right in.

Early morning dew, backlit by the sun.  She was in heaven!

I wish I knew what smelled so good.

More exploring.

I finally reeled her back in when I realized it is also rattlesnake season.  We've had a dog bitten by one before...certainly don't want a repeat of that!

Come on pup, let's head out.
 

Happy Mother's Day

To my lovely wife from my sons and I.  Happy Mother's Day!
 

Plant Shopping with Ruby and Troy

 

Waiting for a Table

 

San Marcos at night

 

Ruby at the Park

 

I took Ruby for a walk in the park after a recent rain.  It was beautiful.  The air was fresh and the rain had freed the leaves from the trees, carpeting the park in a most picturesque way.

We usually walk at a pretty good clip during our walks, but I asked Ruby to sit for a few photos first.  Her confusion shows in her expression as she is wondering why I had her sit when there was a perfectly good walking path right in front of us.

So she sat like a good girl but every little motion caught her attention.

Is that a dog over there?

We then went on our normal walk and when we were finished I asked her to pose again.  She was more accepting of it this time because I wasn't keeping her from her walk - now posing was saving her from going back home.

She sat there very politely.

Perhaps she thought I was stretching this out a bit long.

We moved one more time and just as I had her sit again, a light rain started to fall.  Her expression says it all - why on earth are we sitting here in the rain?

But she remained a good girl.

And now she's just annoyed with me.  She's not much for getting wet, so I told her she had been very good, gave her a treat and we returned to the car.  

It was a very unusual and pleasant afternoon!

And now my dog thinks I'm crazy.