Going Nowhere

The light is green; his bags are packed; the signs tell which way to almost anywhere. But I'm pretty sure he's going nowhere.

Tracks

Railroad track

A pile of pallets

Fruit Vendor

nap time

While I work, pets nap.

Without a Digital Camera

My digital camera will not turn on. It has been getting temperamental lately, but this is the first time it has simply refused to turn on. Ah, technology. 

I do miss using my basic Pentax K1000, 100% manual, film camera. I miss twisting the dials, checking the light meter, winding film. I miss slowing down and taking the time to set up a good composition. I miss view finders.

With my "Just Four Photos" pictures locked away inside a tiny purple drive within the little digital Sony, I'm instead looking through my "real" photo stuff. Negatives, proof sheets, 8x10 printed photos . . . came across this bit of a proof sheet from some work I did a while back in the black and white photo lab at Otis.

Without a digital camera, I'll need to find a new way to post what I notice each day. At least, until my camera decides to turn back on, or I bite the bullet and buy a new one.

Filming

Saw a little filming on the streets in Burbank, CA

Little League Parade

A parade of little league ball players & their families

walked up Broadway today.

The elevated subway was being worked on in our neighborhood

and the workers stopped working

to cheer the young players on,

honking the train's horns and waving their helmets

as the little sluggers marched by.

Drawing for Drawing's Sake

Today was my last day teaching my portfolio development classes at Otis (until the summer session starts in June). As I was dancing around the class, getting everyone settled into their drawing projects, I wondered allowed why I was so happy. And I answered aloud.

Because I'm drawing. I've been drawing more these last few months than I have in years. I've been making art all along, I just haven't had the luxury of drawing for drawing's sake. And I forgot how happy it makes me.

Drawing for drawing's sake. Hurrah!

Gift

Necklace brought back by my son from Okinawa, Japan; he says it says "Mom"; was touched by the thoughtfulness.

A day to celebrate 4.13.12

Fortune

"You will be rewarded for your patience and understanding" - this was a keeper!

Aliens in the Neighborhood

Trees like this have always sort of freaked me out. What are they doing there like that?! I have decided they are aliens. Aliens who came to Earth to observe, trying to fit in. But they didn't get the blending in part quite right.

Military housing

My son's home away from home at Camp Horno-Camp Pendleton.

Shadows

There's always something to notice, even when standing around waiting for a bacon cheese burger and a coke.

Preparing lau lāʻī for the wedding lei

Preparing lau lāʻī for the wedding lei

(Have I ever mentioned that I'm not very skilled at lei making?)

A labor of love.

Sweet welcome

Sparkly cake to welcome home my Marine.

Skeleton Heads Everywhere

I've been spending a lot of time lately studying, examining, drawing, staring at skeletons. I can't stop seeing them, noticing the curve of people's clavicle, or estimating the location of a stranger's greater trochanter. After spending several hours with our friend there in the picture, I came home late last night, and to help wind down, I flipped on the TV. But I couldn't see Sean Hayes yuckin' it up on Letterman, all I saw was a laughing skull.

Evita

Tonight we went to see the B'way revival of EVITA.

sunburst

Part of a public art piece that I found interesting; reminds me of a sunburst.

Break time

My eldest giving her feet a rest.

Red Doors

There's just something about red doors . . .

The mosaic eye is watching you...

Today I made a wonderful discovery:

at the Chambers Street subway station,

the walls are decorated with mosaic eyes.

Creepy. Awesome.

Giving the Internet its Due

My mom

Today I spent Easter with my aunt. My aunt, two cousins and their families. These are people I didn't know existed until just a few months ago. I was hesitant to attend their Easter dinner, didn't expect to really connect with these people, but wanted a chance to meet them all, at least once.

Oh boy. I had fun. As people were laughing, and talking over each other, and pulling out games to play, I found myself saying (more than once) "I think we really are related."

All of this came about through the magic of the internet and Ancestry.com. Mostly, I think the internet is a huge waste, and social media a freakish thing best steered clear of.  But this is one instance when I wish the internet had been available a long time ago.

I think my mom would have really liked her sister. The one she never knew she had.

light fixture

Over the years, we've enjoyed many family meals at Story Teller's Cafe, however, today was the first time I ever looked up and noticed this beautifully crafted light fixture.

Easter flowers

I'm completely blown away by the beauty of the flowers this spring.

It seems like there are new wonders to behold every day.

Easter pumpkin

Somehow this pumpkin was over looked when carving Jack-O-Lanterns and escaped the Thanksgiving pie and has remained forgotten sitting outside until today when I took notice; now I don't have the heart to dispose of it...

No words

The beauty of this flower has left me speechless.

Don't Start on the Jelly Beans

A rather . . um . . . ugly Easter bunny at the local burger joint. I'm pretty ugly myself after eating all the Rolo candies that were supposed to go in my sons' Easter baskets. Please, don't let me get started on the jelly beans.

Things we see

Today I decided to take a photo

of a woman taking a photo

of a dog dressed in sports gear

with a sock monkey.

Yup.

(And yes, this is the SECOND photo I've taken of a dog in sunglasses)

Muffler Man

This guy stands proudly in front of a muffler shop greeting customers; I think he has a brother who works for a donut shop.

Rescued Books

I could sit and thumb through old books all day long. This is a page from one of the dozens of books that I rescued from a trash bin outside a school library. So sad I couldn't rescue them all.

Break through

The sidewalk didn't have a chance against this determined tree.

Car Fire

When I was walking toward the school to teach yesterday morning,

I followed a fleet of fire trucks that were screaming down the street

And in a grocery store parking lot

(almost directly across the street from the school)

giant plumes of smoke filled the sky

A car had caught on fire.

It was so smoky that I just pointed my camera and snapped,

unsure of what (or anything!) would be in the frame.

This shot came out.

Just as they fire had been put out.

An exciting start to the day.

Barrio Chicken

Came across this chicken or rather rooster walking casually down a local neighborhood street. He didn't seem to mind having his photo taken.

This Song Has No Title

This picture is from a visit to the L.A. County Fair - two years ago. It cracks me up every time I see it, but it has absolutely nothing to do with what I stopped and noticed today; what I've been noticing for the last few days.

My problem with capturing a new photo for today's blog is that, while I have been stopping and noticing, what I've been noticing hasn't been visual. I am usually a very visual person. I only learn when I can see something. When I meet new people I look closely at their face and see the letters of their name in my mind. So I've been a little surprised by myself the last few days. What have I been noticing?

-Do the birds always sing like that? Or is just because it's spring?
-Why is my breathing so shallow? See how much better it feels when I fill my lungs full of air?
-Hey, I can feel my upper back muscles when I stand up straight and push my shoulders back.

These are just a tiny few of the things I've been stopping and noticing lately. I'm afraid, as I'm writing this, that it sounds rather mundane. But honestly, these last few days, my senses seem to be on overdrive and when I'm taking the time to notice everything that I hear, touch, smell, taste, it can be a bit overwhelming.

And just when I start feel like I can't possibly stand the sensation of noticing one more thing, when I feel like I'm on double overload, that's when I notice one more thing. I notice how happy I am.

And the picture of the horse's butt? Well, that makes me happy too.

Straw Hat

Fish Tacos

Waiting for Fish Tacos in Lincoln Heights

Obligation/privledge

Reporting to serve....not as dreadful as many claim.

Progress?

A while ago, I posted a photo of a childhood picnic spot of mine; well, in the name of "progress" my little white wooden "picnic" rail has been removed and replaced with this heavy steel industrial guard rail. It saddened my heart a little yet I was reminded that I had taken the photo of my old rail and will have that to always remember it by and if not for this blog project, I might not have ever taken a photo of it and might have taken for granted that it would always be there and then have it gone and it be too late to do anything about it but now because I took notice, it sort of always will be there;at least in spirit and in my heart.

Chandeliers at the Train Station

I took D. to Union Station today, in downtown Los Angeles, to catch the red line subway to a friend's house. I walked inside with him so I could show him where to get his ticket, where to catch the train.

I've been in Union Station a million times, but I always forget . . . everything there is amazing, from the door handles, to the floor tiles, to the clocks on the walls. We came in the front entrance, and it struck me again. I stopped and made him sit in one of those huge wood and leather seats in the waiting area. He wasn't sure what I was getting at, but he obliged. He's used to his mom's strange and unusual requests. Then we leaned back and I told him to look up. 

"You will never, ever, see something like this built in Los Angeles again," I told him. I think he believed me.

 

A "snowdrift" of flower petals

I was shocked to see snow on the ground here in NYC today.

I was happy to see I was wrong:

It wasn't snow--

It was a "snowdrift" of flower petals--blossoms from a nearby tree

Blowing around just like snow on the sidewalks.

Beautiful.

Irony

This morning, this photo was taken because these palms stood out against the clear sky and then this evening I realized it was Palm Sunday so I thought that it was rather ironic.

Northeast L.A. and the Hollywood Sign

Can you see it? There, at the top of that furthest hill, near the center of the photo, way out on the horizon. Just a bit above the telephone pole. Maybe you can zoom in. Now, look really, really closely and you'll see it.

It's the Hollywood sign.

All my life I've lived just a few miles from Hollywood, and in my whole life I've been to Hollywood maybe three times. Hollywood has had such a huge impact on not just my native Los Angeles, but the whole world. As for me, I mostly just forget it exists - it remains a tiny speck in the distance.

But if I'm really honest, I have to admit that even that tiny speck of white letters on hill can still give me a little thrill when I catch a glimpse of it.

Red Peppers on sale at the local grocery store today.

Johnie and Bob

This is Johnie; for over 40 years he stood prominently atop "Johnie's Broiler" a restaurant located in Downey, California. Johnie's had been featured in several movies and TV shows because of it's authentic 50's style; sadly, in 2007, Johnie's Broiler was illegally demolished, however, Johnie himself refused to go and has remained and although he now stands at the back of the parking lot of the newly built Bob's Big Boy, he has no hard feelings; that's just the kind of cool cat Johnie is.

Bones Everywhere I Go

I'm not sure why, but it seems like everywhere I go I find small bones with teeth. I don't even have to be wandering in the vacant hills. Sometimes, I'm just walking down my street, I look down, and I find them in the corner of someone's front yard, near the driveway. A little freaky, to say the least. But I'm not complaining.

Refrigerator Collage

Massive wall of canned goods

this always causes me to stop and stare

(an outdoor wall at a latino grocery store in washington heights, nyc)

Poppies

Theses poppies are adding to the spring joy in my yard.