Hydra Hits the Trail! - Thursday 5/28/2009

Look at that intrepid explorer! Just 10 days after surgery to repair that meniscus tear (Ooh! Look, ma! No spellchecker!), he's on the trail again. They write songs about stuff like this!


Admittedly, the going was about half of our usual pace, but really really good for a guy who had a camera and a knife in his knee joint so recently! Beautiful day for it.


Around the far side of the neighborhood... Is that fire road looking a little long to anyone else?



As I was taking photos of these cactus flowers, bees kept diving into them and burying their faces in the middle. Can you see the one that took a header into this bloom?


Oleanders down by the mailboxes.


The neighbor's coreopsis. The neighborhood is lit up with flowers these days!


We arrived home to discover ground squirrels nibbling on the tender cucumber sprouts I planted. And this container has herbs in it that I started from seed. Herb soup. Sigh. Hopefully I saved some of them.



Found about six ounces of beef in the freezer and used up the carrots, celery and some of the red potatoes making this soup. Also called in the help of Better Than Boullion to flesh out the soup, so to speak. Used fresh thyme and mint for seasoning.

Hint: When using fresh herbs that have stems in soups and stews, don't bother nipping off all the leaves. Just put the whole sprig in the soup. The leaves will cook off and you can easily pull out the stems before serving.

Doo Doo Doo Hiking Out My Back Door - 2/27/2009

Heading up the steps we put in our first year here and up toward Hydra's Mountain.


Just have to point out that this was the view on December 17th, 2008 when we had our rare Snow Day! All the leaves fell off the tree on the left fell off in between pix.


The vinca I transplanted from the too-sunny slope between our house and the neighbors' are thriving in a little light shade.


Looking north up the 14.


Cutting across the neighborhood on the way home. Great way to start a weekend!

Poetry in Motion - Friday 2/13/2009

As I left Priscilla's with my coffee this morning I noticed a flier for their upcoming poetry reading. A note at the bottom urged open mic readers to honor the wishes of the coffee house that will provide them a stage by abstaining from profanity or graphically sexual language.

My first thought was, "Wow, poetry ain't what it used to be."

But by the time I got upstairs and pulled this book off one of the shelves in the office, I'd realized that poets have been pushing the boundaries for a long long time. (See: Walt Whitman's "I Sing the Body Electric".)

Wonder what racy stuff Homer wrote when he wasn't working on "The Iliad" and "The Odyssey."





Oh, and it snowed in SoCal again!

I drove home around noon so I was able to see it fall in big fluffy flakes. It coated the hillsides in a little over an hour .

Hydra's van pool was stopped on Sierra Highway on the way home, but make it through okay. He'd left the Tahoe parked by the pick-up point, so when he got home, he brushed snow off of it before putting it in the garage.

Remains of the Day - Sunday 12/21/2008

One of the last snowy places in our neighborhood is our yard! I guess we get a lot of shade from the pine tree on one end and the cypresses on the other.


The road's pretty clear, but there's still a little snow on the other side of the valley, where it really belongs.


We drove into Palmdale for lunch and errand-running. On the way back we saw probably a hundred cars parked along Sierra Highway near the Pearblossom Highway turnoff, and dozens of people scattered up the hillside, sledding!

This isn't that mountain. My camera was in my backpack, out of reach at the rear of the car. But we've seen that before--people coming from down below to sled further up into the mountains. I love that Acton got to be that place this time: the place the kids are going to remember as an amazing day.

All Winter in a Day (or Two) - Friday 12/19/2008

A touch of cabin fever may have helped to inspire me to drive down to Toluca Lake to work today. The road in front of my house was still a bit icy as I started off.

The holiday party was postponed because I wasn't there. Nice of them. I wanted to see my coworkers before the break.


Stopped at the post office to (at last!) get my packages in the mail. I was already behind before the snow storm.

I love the Acton Post Office. There were only a few people in line, but we were all swapping snow stories. The P.O. was closed yesterday!



Amazing. There's still snow all around my neighborhood, but just 10 miles away, on the 14 near Agua Dulce the only sign of snow is on the roof of that SUV up there.


Nice day at work. Finished up what I had on my plate and helped a couple of my coworkers with theirs. Was behind this person with multiple Trader Joe's bags on his arm. Um. I'm not sure you're getting home with those full, buddy.


Ahh! This is about 5 miles from home sweet home. I am still digging the snow. (But thank goodness, not literally anymore. Yesterday's bout with the 10-inch-deep driveway after the hike left me fairly sore.)

Hydra Dances While Rome Becomes Snowbound - Thu. 12/18/2008

The suspenseful buildup.


The promising first act.


The titillating second act, wherein the conflict deepens.


The triumphant finale!


The crowd goes wild!

There's Got to be a Morning After - Thursday 12/18/2008

Ooh! It's still here! Usually when we get snow, it's gone the same day. This is the view from the bedroom window. Wow!


The full effect in the back yard.



Papyrus with snow.


Not sure what the temperature actually is because this daity garden thermometer is frozen in place.



It's just lucky that I'm not homicidal, huh? Because the perfect weapon is hanging from the eaves of my house.

Or...? Um...? Have I read a few dozen too many episodes of crime procedurals and murder movie scripts?



We have not only snow, but drifts! Gorgeous drifts around the 4 foot high peach tree. The steps are nowhere to be seen, so we'll start our hike elsewhere!


Down the road in front of our house we go. Adventure!

Intrepididity - Thursday 12/18/2008

As we ended our hike, we passed a couple of kids heading out. With a laundry basket as a make-shift sled.


Oops!

Hydra told them that we'd scared off the polar bears.

The little one looked at us, and the hill, and home and said, "I'm going back!"



His big brother soldiered on. Though I think he'd have done better sliding on a garbage bag.

Snow Day - Part 2 -Wednesday 12/17/2008

As evening approaches, the snow's still falling and the front yard is filling with snow. You can see just a little of the brick wall on the right that is 20 inches tall...I think we got about 9 inches, but it drifted.



Hydra dutifully shoveled the snow from the walk between the house and garage. Sundry provides her usual respectful color commentary!



While Hydra diligently shovels, Sundry busies herself with the important work of a snow day: building a snow something. Can you see it? It's a snow bird!



The tree in front of the house looks verrry Christmassy now.



Snow's still falling after dark, but the lantern outside the back door has accumulated about as much as it can handle.

Snow Day - Part 1 - Wednesday 12/17/2008

I went out as soon as there was even a little light to get photos of the snow in case it didn't accumulate much or last long. Boy, was I in for a surprise!


The yard outside our front door and the wall Hydra built a few years ago, dusted in snow around 7 a.m.


Hydra is about to free skiiing bear of some of its snow.


The power went off around noon and stayed off for a couple of hours, so we went out to the garage and brought in all the dry firewood. This is from the inside of the garage looking out through a little drift that I knocked with my foot on my way in.


We walk down to the mailbox where--surprise!--there's mail! I'm a little excited about the snow.

Back in the house, our Internet connection does not return when the power comes back on. Sundry is frustrated not only in her attempts to telecommute but--more importantly--to upload photos to her blog!

We continue our walk...with video! (In which it is confirmed that Sundry will never stop sounding like a Midwesterner. Hoosier pride!)

The Story of Little Tree - Wednesday 12/17/2008

There's this little pine tree that sprouted up outside my studio window. It's the offspring of our fabulous big pine tree.

We had snow in Acton! So exciting. Dodger's watching it dust the little tree. Beautiful.



Dodger and I begin to fear for the little tree around 9 a.m.



Hydra takes pity and frees the little tree from the burden of snow when we venture out later in the day. I'm working from home, except that the power and Internet connections keep coming and going. He has a full on snow day.


Aw shucks. A couple of hours later, it's still snowing and blowing and the little tree is in a fix again!

We had some snow storm. It snowed for at least 12 hours and dropped 7-8 inches. There are so many pictures for me to choose from. I was in heaven!

I'll post more. It's bee so frustrating not to be able to get to my blog!