I Am Not Supposed to Be Here - Tuesday 2/14/2006

Yes. These photos were taken at the Glendale station.

Yes, that's the stop AFTER mine. I was having a nice time interacting with my fellow passengers when I recognized the view outside the window as BURBANK. In the seconds it took to grab my backpack, get up, turn back for my tea mug, and get down the stairs--I like to sit at a table on the upper deck--the doors shut. They don't open again even if you push the little button.

Honestly, they shouldn't. Everyone shouldn't have to pay for my mistake. I was pretty upset in the first seconds, and would have liked to have burst into tears, but I didn't. Some nice folks informed me that I could get off at the next stop and that at this early hour there are a lot of trains going back and forth along this part of the line.

It only put me off my schedule by about 20 minutes. Not so bad. Trains only leave Acton every hour or so, so I was initially concerned that I'd be stuck for a long time. I think the Media District shuttle driver took me directly to my stop when he was supposed to wind through the Warner Brothers and NBC lots.

I felt pretty exhilerated as I walked the last six or so blocks to work. It's really nice to share smiles and to let people help you out a little. Much more gratifying than getting angry at the guy weaving in and out of the freeway lanes ahead of you.

Much food for thought in this experiment.

Metrolink - Monday 2/13/2006

I'm trying the train for a week.... Well, except for Wednesday because of an appointment, but I bought a 10-trip ticket so I can ride for 5 days. Monday went smoothly. I wrote for more than an hour in the morning and read two scripts on the ride home.

The whole round trip including getting to the Vincent Grade/Acton station 4 miles from my house and getting to work from the Burbank station using a shuttle takes roughly twice as long each way, but I can get things done and even interact with other human beings. Hmmm.

Steaming Hot - Sunday 2/12/2006

Tamales in my own pot at home. Smells soooo good! I love knowing that I stuffed and folded some of these. Ate one fresh out of the pot. Nothing like it!

Tamale Day - Saturday 2/11/2006

We were invited to make tamales with D’s cousin’s girlfriend’s family this year. Had a great time! I’d never done this before. Tamales are my favorite traditional Mexican food, and they’re a bit complicated to make, but well worth it, I now know.

S made the chicken and pork ahead, so all we had to do was stuff the ojas (corn husks) with the masa, meat and an olive. We made almost 10 dozen all together, not including a few dozen sweet tamales to use up the masa. Took them home to steam them, since there were so many and it takes a few hours.

I have a dozen each of chicken, pork and sweet tamales. Lucky me! Now, all I have to do is refrain from eating them three times a day until I run out!

We were also able to pick oranges from their trees!

Acton City Limits

I came into town the back way Friday night, on Soledad Canyon Road. This sign is posted at the edge of town. Makes me smile.

Inside the Disney Channel Building - Friday 2/10/2006

Light, lines, angles. I go here for the ATM.

N's on the move - Thursday 2/9/2006

All the way to Toronto! His mom brought him in for me to play with today. What a doll. He even had the good grace to remember me and not be afraid of me. Pretty darn good for 13 months!

Tomorrow’s his mom’s last day here. She’s moving her little family up to Toronto to work in our small company’s even smaller Canadian office. She will be much missed. (No more book lunches!) But we'll keep in touch through her blog, if nothing else...see the link to An American InToronto? Yeah, that's her.

Baby N was in our office every day for about 4 months, and I got to take lots of baby breaks with him. You can’t tell here, but his skin is absolutely perfect and glowing.

Just like his little spirit.

Longer Way Home - Wednesday 2/8/2006

There was an accident on the 14, so I took Little Tujunga Canyon through the mountains. It takes longer because it’s 17 miles of very twisty roads. But it was just beautiful yesterday. Warm enough to have the windows down. It's nice to have options.

I stopped at Bear Divide to take this photo of my little car enjoying it’s outing. I have to love places with names like Bear Divide.

Close up of the trees that are in the background of the first photo. Last of the light coming down the valley.

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Light on Condiments - Tuesday 2/7/2006

As the sun sank behind the San Gabriel Mountains, MGS and I met to catch up with each other and to write.

We were on a writing date. Basically, we talked about how the work’s been going for us, then got down to writing. It’s nice to sit across a table and offer each other a little respect for the time and effort. Afterward, we read what we’d been working on to each other.

I always get a lot out of the conversations before and after writing. She’s working on an amazing book, and I’m always thrilled to hear snippets of it. Can’t wait to pluck it off a shelf in a bookstore and say, “Hey, I KNOW her!”

It’s going to happen.

Signs along Highland Boulevard - Tuesday 2/7/2006

Christmas lights are gone, but we still have neon.

That African violet - Monday 2/6/2006

It’s the one that I rescued from my boss’s desk. So it gives me even more than the usual pleasure to see it blooming.

African violets are really pretty easy once you figure out that they need to have water around their roots all the time and be fed regularly. I wish more things were this simple.

No matter how many books they sell on the topic, there is no formula for a fabulous novel, or memoir, or short story. There are elements that will surely help them along, but they have to be infused with a life beyond the words on the page.

Maybe those of us who write need to be willing to risk our hearts to give the tales their own breath.

Dodger vs. the Vegetable Brush Sunday 2/5/2006

I was framing a shot of the vegetable brush when Dodger popped into the act.

Poppy outside Mimi's Saturday 2/4/2006

Down in Laguna Hills. Just so pretty in the afternoon sun.

Chimineria and lavendar Friday 2/3/2006

We’ve had a warm spell and the flowers are all excited about it. Me, too. I have a nice studio to write in, but I tend to sit at this window in our library to write.

Heading Out Saturday 2/4/2006

Following our honorary nephew out of our neighborhood. He stayed with us a few days before heading down to Laguna Hills/Irvine where he’ll live and work. He just arrived from Indiana. He’ll be staying with D’s cousin during his internship, and then hopefully staying on after the three months for the job.

He's been very interested in all the classic cars you see on the road out here, and how there's no rust damage!

Stop Sign Thursday 2/5/2006

Lines and colors.

Something "ugly"

Encountered while walking by the side of the road.

The View From My Desk - Wednesday 2/1/2006

Well, part of it anyway. Just some of the stuff hanging on the divider behind my desk.

I met this guy at the Norton Simon Museum in Pasadena, and I thought, “I’d like to have lunch with him.” That’s sort of my test of how much I like a character in a book or a film, whether I’d take the opportunity to have lunch with her or him.

Maurice-Quentin de La Tour painted this self-portrait in 1764. Doesn’t he look like fun? I think I’d actually bump the date up to a dinner. And drinks after.

Maybe even dancing.

Pony Coin Purse Tuesday 1/31/2006

Made by one of my honorary nephews many years ago. I still have it on my backpack.

I put away my backpack a couple of years ago. Trying to carry more adult-looking bags. But I brought it out of the closet for my trip to Indiana and I’m hooked again. Lightweight, easy to manage compartments, and plenty of room for the papers, books, and notebooks I have never stopped carrying around.

My name is Sundry, and I am a backpack addict.

Long Way Home Monday 1/30/2006

I like signs like this. Simple. Direct.

I Have Not Met Anyone By That Name - Sunday 1/29/2006

Goldilocks? I know no Goldilocks.

I’ve just been napping here on the bed all afternoon.

Freeway Advertising Saturday 1/28/2006

Snapped on the 10 freeway while D was driving.

This sign seems very optimistic to me, for some reason. I like that everything’s written there twice. I exchanged a smile with the driver as we passed him.

The sun was going down as we hit downtown L.A. We'd been to Frank Wilkinson's memorial over on Adams Boulevard. It was an emotional and inspirational celebration of his life.

Music - My First Album

Well, actually the first album I bought myself with my saved up allowance money. This photo prompt got me all sentimental.

I’m dating myself here, but I started being serious about music and buying albums pretty early because my brother, B, was so into it. He said you didn’t really know a musician from just their radio releases. You had to hear the whole album.

I can almost smell the incense burning in the little bitty hippy-ish music shop in downtown Columbia City. They sold jewerly and smoking supplies, too. The guys behind the counter had long hair and beards.

I pretty much stopped going to the old music store where I’d bought 45s. It sold sheet music and band instruments, and the prevailing scent was of dust. The owner gave music lessons in the back room, and I often heard students oomphing away on brass instruments in the background when I shopped there.

This album and so many others felt like dear friends to me through high school. I can’t quite get rid of them, even though the turntable’s boxed up in the garage now. I love CDs for their convenience and clarity, but the experience of buying an LP, finding great liner notes and lyrics printed inside, and even special inner sleeves like this one was a real treat. I moved the records into vinyl lined inner sleeves to cut down on static that drew dust, but I kept good sleeves like this one.

Lunch out - 1/27/2006

At Picanha in Burbank. A late celebration of my birthday and an early celebration of CT’s leaving us for the Disney writing internship.

Good food, good company, but maybe I’ve spent enough birthdays at this job.

CT’s a good example of hard work carrying the talent forward. She’s done so much with her writing in the past few years, and it’s because she kept moving forward. Cleverness alone doesn’t get you this far.

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Bacon Bandage - Not Just a Fashion Statement Thursday 1/26/2006

Yes, it’s a beautiful alternative to boring blend-in bandages, but it’s also a soothing health-care product! The Santa Ana winds have been blowing, and the skin on my fingers is cracking in response.

Do I have a future as a hand model?

Acton Post Office Wednesday 1/25/2006

Went to the post office yesterday to pick up a package a friend sent me.

The sign on the railing says “Please do not tie horses to railings.” There’s a hitching post around the back of the nearby, though, and people use it to take advantage of the Saturday $3.00 hamburger and fries special.

It works for us.

ST and her Mom - Tuesday 1/24/2006

This amazing portrait of my friend and her mother was created from costume jewelry and newspapers. It’s a very good likeness.

ST is an excellent cook, and the newspaper strips that make up the skin tones are cooking articles. I think the costume jewelry was her grandmother’s.

The artist’s name is Jason Mecier. You can Google him.

I win! I win! - Monday 1/23/2006

Well, actually I bought it on Ebay. But I FEEL like a winner.

It’s a vintage piggy planter. I like using old planters to hold things other than plants, like in this case Q-Tips. I’ve had a little sheep carrying artificial sweetener packets for years.

Bacon Bandages - Sunday 1/22/2006

These continue to crack me up. They look amaziningly gross on your arm.

These were a gift from my well-rounded friend, E. They came with a toy inside: a tiny plastic pig. EEk! She also gave me a book of Walt Whitman’s nature poems with gorgeous illustrations and a nice frame for my photographs. Pretty great.

The wren and the snake 1/21/2006

I stopped to photograph the cholla cactus. Then I saw what I can only assume is the nest of a cactus wren. In fact, three cactus wren nests! Who else would dare to go in there?

Well, apparently this snake, who never made it out.

The photo of the day is inside my head - Friday 1/20/2006

I saw a beautiful thing die today. A falcon darted out of the darkness that flanks Sierra Highway and into the light from the stream of cars heading down below. I thought he was going to make it. Enjoyed a second’s thrill in his flight before he connected with the windshield of the truck in front of me.

The photo of the day is a triple exposure.

Imagine the bird, alive and flying straight against a backdrop as dark as this exposure. Imagine the bird vaulted twenty feet straight up into the air. Imagine the bird, wings blown back from its fall, landing on the asphalt off your right fender.

It happened too fast for any shutter to catch, but it’s all there in my mind.

I burst into tears. I thought about turning around, braving the onslaught of vehicles, calling for animal rescue. But I know the falcon was dead before it hit the ground. The sound of the impact had reached me over the voice coming from my CD player. There’s no way that fragile body survived a sixty-mile an hour blow.

The rest of my drive felt like a funeral procession.

Usually, I’m good at rationalizing road kill. It’s part of the natural progression that things will die and that other things will live as a result of that death. The falcon was probably drawn across the highway by the shining eyes of a rabbit. I’m not a vegetarian any more, so how outraged am I allowed to be?

But something deep within me cries that falcons are supposed to be long lived. They’re supposed to glide and soar and cull the weak of other species.

And I’m not supposed to have to see one die. I’m not supposed to have to see my own beautiful fleeting life in the final flash of its cinnamon and rust wings.

When good fruit goes bad - Thursday 1/19/2006

It’s not my job to provide social commentary.

I just take the pictures.

How does he know? -- Wednesday 1/18/2006

In the nearly 13 years we’ve had Dodger, we’ve probably had a cake box in the house 3-4 times. As soon as he saw this, he went over and started trying to get into it. When I was putting things away, he went back and made a little progress.

It’s leftover coconut cake from Sweet Lady Jane’s. Wow. He’s right, it’s delicious. I gave him a sliver with some milk in a little bowl.

My writing group gave me an amazing celebration. Fondue, cake and & champagne. Thoughtful and beautiful gifts. As if being invited to share in their work and experience their dedication and talent weren't already gift enough!

Traffic Cop -- Tuesday 1/17/2006

At the corner of Barham and Cahuenga.

I want to take more pix of people. I think FrannieGirl’s fireman shot put the thought in the back of my head that cops and firemen, etc. are a little more public figures than just the guy drinking coffee at the cafe.

Almost got a shot of firemen down at the coffee shop, but then they saw me and started milling. This guy had to stay put.

Shot below is on Highland heading south, just past Highland. Sunset in Hollywood. Could today's road look any more different from yesterday's?

Roadrunner - Monday 1/16/2006

I was out for my little solo birthday hike around midday yesterday, and a roadrunner appeared in the path ahead of me! They are a pretty rare thing to see. Until we moved out here, I’d only seen one in my life. Since then, maybe on average once a year.

She popped into view at the left side of the trail, glided a few feet forward, turned and looked at me. Tail up, tail down, tail up. Repeated this about three times until she crested the hill.

I hope you haven’t strained your eyes looking for her. No, I didn’t get the shot. My camera was in my backpack and I just stood there grinning.

Of course, she was nowhere to be seen by the time I went over this rise. Wonder if she was watching me.

It felt like a very good omen. When I got back home, I checked my Medicine Card book to see what it means when a roadrunner wanders into your live. Had to check the table of contents three times. No roadrunner! I even had a picture in my mind of what the card looked like.

The creators of the book/cards provide blank cards so you’re free to design your own if an animal speaks to you. I never thought I’d have occasion to do it, but I sat down yesterday afternoon and wrote a preliminary interpretation of what the roadrunner means.

The whole encounter and subsequent thought processes gave me a big lift.



Bonus photo: tenacious weed.

N's cool cake - Sunday 1/15/2005

It was his first birthday. They didn’t have a Curious George themed cake, so his mom—my friend and coworker MM—put this together on top of a Madagascar themed-cake. I like the way he’s rising out of the lagoon.

The birthday boy was one of two babies whose moms brought them to work for about the first six months of their lives. We had a great time with them. Little S, who had also been in the office, came and sat on my lap twice! Quite a privilege.

It was a very relaxed, fun party. I ended up with lots of little cakey-fistprints on my dark brown shirt. Pretty perfect, really.

The road home - Saturday 1/14/2006

Just had to do this again as we came home from running errands in Palmdale. It’s been raining a bit off and on today, and these shafts of sunlight were just breathtaking. We stopped several times along the way.

See more progress on: Take a photo every day