L.A. Has a River

L.A. has a river.

For the first time in my life, I went down to the river; walked along its edge. Ok, so it's a concrete edge, but the river was lovely even so. Down at the river, there was no graffiti, surprisingly little trash, and water fowl of all kinds.

The rush hour traffic on Interstate 5 went by (left in photo), and the egret hunted an early dinner.

tree

Part of a tree that was taken out of our yard and forgotten about until we cleaned up back there recently.

Times Square makes me dizzy.

For 10.5 years, I worked in the heart of Times Square.

And for 2 years, I lived there--just west of all the madness.

The energy there is frantic.

And it's even worse at night.

And even MORE frightening when you have vertigo.

This picture captured what it feels like.

Always Blowing

Have I posted this before? I don't think so, although I feel like I have.

See that big fan in the carport, next to the front door of this neighbor's house? It's always there. It's always blowing, full blast. Notice how it's right up against the wall? It's always in that spot. When I walk by at all hours of the day or night, the front door is sometimes open, or it might be shut tight; the people are sometimes home, or they might be off at work. And still the fan is always there, always blowing.

Blowing the evil spirits away?

neighborly fruit

Pomegranates growing in abundance over the wall of my neighbor's house; I have to share with the birds but I'm ok with that.

GRACE

Went to see an outstanding play on Broadway tonight:

GRACE by Craig Wright

(at Cort Theatre)

Only 4 actors: Paul Rudd, Michael Shannon, Kate Arrington and Ed Asner.

Fantastic writing.  Fantastic acting.  Fantastic production.

A rare treat in NYC.

Patterns

Old patterns and new paint on the front of our house.

Another Paper in the Wall

 
Today, two layers of paneling came off the bedroom wall. 

And tucked inside we found another sweet surprise.
A note left by a previous owner says:

"Remodeled by J.C. Clayton
Oct 4th 1966
House built 1935 by others"

 We're thinking that we'll put the note back in the wall when the new drywall goes up. Maybe we'll add something of our own from 2012. Any suggestions of what we should add?

Job's Tears

A bracelet made from Job's Tears

(from Kahakuloa, Maui)

and white elastic cording.

cat can art

My grandson's art installation "cat food on the window sill".....

Tourists in raincoats

Numbers Without a House

This is an empty hillside. There is no house here. But someone went to the trouble to put up some edging, plant some flowers, and set up an illuminated address.

rear view

The view from the side mirror as the tow truck pulls our car home....

In Need of Repair

Next week, they'll start pulling apart our bedroom. I lay on the bed taking pictures of the walls and the ceiling, feeling sad to be losing more of the quirks of our house. But then I looked through the pictures and noticed how worn and dirty and completely in need of repair everything is. Not sad anymore.

cat casualty

This guy sacrificed his life to be a gift Boots the cat presented at our door step.

Huge Bird of Paradise

I've decided to concentrate more of my entries close to home. I walk our hill several times a day. Every time I walk it feels like a new neighborhood - every time I see something that makes me stop and notice. But usually I have forgotten my camera. No more.

drive without distractions

Thankful this is all that happened when a woman checking her GPS on her cell phone rear ended my husband in his parked postal vehicle.

Out of place

Yesterday I was with a friend
She: a white woman who'd grown up among the Maori of New Zealand

Me: a white man who teaches an ancient Hawaiian tradition

And we came across a wild turkey, digging for grubs and worms

in Battery Park--the very bottom tip of a very urban

New York City

All of us "out of place" in our community

and yet all of us managing to survive

(and perhaps even thrive)

Freeway walker

While I was on the 101 fwy, I saw this woman walking along side; didn't see a broken down car or anything.

The How of It

Art college for the fine artist is all about the why of it - theory and critique. It's all about figuring out why you are making art.

In art college, very little is directed to the how of it. No one taught me how to prepare a canvas or organize a palette of colors. No one showed me how Rembrandt or Rubens painted.

Now, it's time to learn the how.

I'm taking a painting class that is the exact opposite of the painting classes I had in college. This one is all technique and no content. No one here cares why I'm painting; they only care how.  A hard mental switch, and a slow process of painting. But I'm happy.

The underdrawing on my carefully prepared wooden panel

Lucky Penny

I pick up coins from the ground. Even pennies. I pick them up, put them in my pocket, and feel richer and wiser and luckier. 

 Every day, when I walk the dog, I see this penny. I want to pick it up and put it in my pocket. But this penny mocks me. When our street was resurfaced, someone placed a penny on the wet tar and pressed it just enough to embed it. It shines and winks at me everyday. "Pick me up. You know you want to."

a pair

This pair of avocados are just asking to be picked...soon.

Fearless Playing

Today, my violin finally moved from the piano bench where it had been sitting quietly since last Christmas. I dusted it off, tuned it (sort of) and played. I tried to fearless, but I am quite sure it must have sounded something horrid to anyone passing by the open windows. Now it sits on the dining room table. I hope I have a chance to be fearless again tomorrow.

instructions

Step by step instructions on how to wash your hands in a local restaurant restroom.

Daily News, 1947

We pulled the cheap 1970's paneling off the wall in the bedroom. Underneath we found more, but this time heavy wood panels. And glued onto that, we found pages from the Daily News, October 31, 1947.

License plate

I was on time, I guess this driver wasn't.

Christmas Violin

Last December I got out my violin (that I hadn't played in 35 years) and did my best to learn the most simple Christmas carols I could find. I promised myself that the following year I would spend some time with my violin and really learn to play something right. So I didn't put it away; I left it sitting on the piano bench (the piano also gets little to no use) thinking that if I saw it sitting there, I would remember my promise to play it. Now, it's almost October. The violin hasn't moved since last Christmas.

I promise that tomorrow I will pick it up and, at the very least, dust it off.

Meow!

Was quite surprised by Milo when I went to get a bath towel.

Endeavor

How could I not post the space shuttle today? Very cool to witness history in the making.

Space Shuttle over L.A.

The space shuttle was just shuttled over our heads. 

In a few weeks it will travel through the streets of L.A.to its final home at the Science Center 

near downtown. Would love to see that, but just don't know if I can handle those crowds.

Dumpster Books Redux

Books saved from the dumpster, scissors, glue, and old press-on letters make for a well spent evening.

Today's vertigo challenge

button

Four years later...still haven't changed my mind.

You should probably avoid this staircase if you have vertigo...

Flower Switch

There are a lot of one-of-a-kind things in our house, repurposed or handmade by a long-ago owner. I love all these quirky things, but over time, one by one, they are disappearing. All the electrical on this wall needs to be replaced, the entire wall ripped out. This light switch cover may be the next disappearing victim. But if I can just grab it before the workers start trashing everything (I've lost so much that way), this little piece will find a new spot somewhere.

trio

This little Gnome has now joined the other 2 fellows in my cubicle; too funny.

Similar texture

Shadows in the Living Room

I don't know where these shadows came from. I've never seen them in my living room before. I hope they come again tomorrow.

Dusk in Chelsea

flat tire

Was greeted by a flat tire at work today; fortunately I, for some odd reason, had an air compressor in my van and was able to fill the tire up and get to the tire shop before they closed; and..fortunately when I purchased my tire in January,I paid for a warranty which I was able to take advantage of; got a new tire free of charge; sort of; had to pay for labor but the savings of  new tire was huge!

A Day at the Dog Beach

Home from the beach and Donkey is D*O*N*E.

Best invention ever - the dog beach.

Wet Paint

We spent the day painting a fence that stretches

all the way around the perimeter of a cul-de-sac 

that borders our neighborhood park.

Preparation for an upcoming centennial celebration.

It was great to work with our hands

And live UNplugged for a day.

facet

Spied this hummingbird facet and found it charming.

Desktop

This is just one pile of many that cover the desktop. 

The topmost paper of this pile is dated from January this year (not too bad); 

the bottom-most paper is dated 2001.

apple tree

Apple tree in a friend's yard which the birds have already started enjoying.

Working Gloves

We will be working in the garden tomorrow.

When I saw how these were labeled, 

I knew they would be perfect

ivy trunk

Ivy just takes off and grows where ever it can

30th Anniversary

Well, we made it to 30 years. 

Sometimes I don't even know what to think about that.

Stopping to see the berries

Box fun

Kids and cats seem to see boxes in a more creative way then the rest of us.