At the Getty

 "Don't touch the art work!"

I took this picture many months ago. But it was with my old Pentax K1000 35mm film camera (still my favorite way to take pictures) and I just now had a chance to get into the photo lab to develop and print.  Love the process. Love the result.

Morning Moon

Somehow just doesn't seem right to be leaving for work while the moon is still out; beautiful morning greeting though.

My favorite new book

Don't let appearances fool you.

This ain't no ordinary notebook. No, sir.

Lynda Barry showed me how to make it MAGICAL.

Now it sings songs of days gone by.

Can't argue with that.

Hopeful symbol

Pushing through the earth, these first flowers of spring reminded me of a time when I surprisingly received an anonymous gift of daffodils as a symbol of hope. Nearly 2 years later, I remain hopeful.                                               

Coyotes in Los Angeles

On a nearby hillside I've found this coyote. I think he is lovely. I see him in my mind's eye all shiny and golden, with bright white teeth fixed in a smile. I lean in closer and closer and my heart begins to pound. That's when I remember, and I take a step back. With my heart still pounding hard, standing on a poorly maintained road on a lonely hillside, I remember that to everyone else - this is roadkill. And I sadly leave it be. But I'll check on it again, next time I walk that way, and it never looks like roadkill to me.

Lisa's pāʻū

On Monday nights, I sing and strum for a hula class in NYC.

No, really. I do.

Yes. We have hula in NYC.

And the women wear traditional hula pāʻū. Hula skirts.

I love the pattern on my friend's pāʻū.

She was wearing it tonight.

No, really. She was.

Uninspired

A typical 10 hour work day view

Amber

Masterpiece or Monstrosity?

I pass by this car several times a day. It's a masterpiece/It's a monstrosity. It's raw power/It's a total waste of raw materials. I'm drawn to it/I'm repelled by it. I stand and stare. I circle around. I peer inside. I take one last long look at that incredible grill. Then I continue on my smiling-muttering-head-shaking way, hoping that it will still be there tomorrow when I can stand in awe all over again.

Anticipation

Early spring blossoms on the trees located in the Ralph's grocery store parking lot; made grocery shopping a nice experience.

I Don't Believe in Rain

In Los Angeles, with long hot summers and autumn with the constant threat of wild fires then winters like this one with week and after week of clear blue skies, it becomes difficult to believe that there will ever be anything but sun.
The forecast is for rain on Tuesday. But today, I choose not to believe it.

Our shiny elevator control panel

I love the old elevator in our building.

The control panel is the original--in all of its vintage goodness.

I always thought it was black.

Ms. Dorothy, our neighbor, remembers it as shiny.

She convinced the new superintendent to polish it.

Wow! Night and day.

Signs in the Neighborhood (part 2)

The other day I posted about a sign in my neighborhood that I love; a sign that has been there forever.

But there is another sign in my neighborhood. It has not been there forever. It has appeared only in the last year. I do not love it.

People who grew up in this neighborhood remember childhoods of having picnics on the grass in the empty lots, or building forts on the hillside all summer long. I am so sorry that the new people in my neighborhood do not understand the joy that lingering on a grassy hillside can bring. And I am sorry that their children will never have those wonderful empty-lot memories that my children have.

Cat envy

My cat doesn't suffer from insomnia.

I'm jealous.

Happy Endings

Most days, when I leave the windowless office that I have been in for 10 hours, it is already dark and chilly so ending my day while it is still daylight is a welcomed and tranquil change.

Floccinaucinihilipilification: To Describe Something As Worthless

Lean on me

The media portrays New Yorkers as life-hardened souls.

That's not been my experience.

Why So Many Purses?

I could never quite explain why I had so many purses. I'm not a purse kind of gal. I'd rather stuff my wallet in my pocket and go. But the other day, I switched to a purse I hadn't used in over a year. At the store today, waiting for my order, I absent-mindedly checked the inside pocket. I found something that made me pause. And I became a firm believer in the importance of having many purses.

Pathway to the weekend

My steps one way down this corridor are slow and deliberate knowing what is expected at the end but my steps in retreat are light and quick anticipating all the possibilities.

Guitarra