Tuesday, July 11, 2006
What tha'?? - Thursday, 6/29/2006
Okay, I’m probably dating myself here, but… does anyone else remember when the planes seemed shiney and new? When they fed you and gave you pillows, and replaced broken parts so you wouldn’t start wondering what the heck else is cracked and shaking apart in the important parts of the plane?
Actually, maybe this is just a ploy to sell more nerve-numbing hard liquor.
Wednesday, June 28, 2006
Monday, June 26, 2006
Lone Boot - Monday 6/26/2006
I cannot believe I got this shot at all. I pulled up to the stoplight at the corner of Sierra Highway and—I think it’s The Old Road—and there was this boot staring at me. I grabbed my camera out of the bag on the front seat and just had time to snap this over my left arm as the light turned green.
Something about this. Who’s missing this boot?
I have been listening to Reading Lolita in Tehran on my commute, and I have to think that this boot would mean something very obvious and grim to the author. I feel grateful that this boot probably just fell off a truck.
Sunday, June 25, 2006
#56 Now, Voyager (1942)
Huh! I can’t beleive I’d never seen this one before. It’s very melodramatic, and deals with psychological issues in kind of amusing ways, but I couldn’t quite stop watching. As the TCM host said, it’s an ugly duckling story.
Bette Davis is really wonderful in it, especially during the scenes on the cruise and just after, as she is sort of coming into herself. Interesting to see Paul Henreid as a romantic lead instead of the cuckold to Bogart’s Rick in Casablanca. He does all right. Claude Rains is always delightful, in my book. And Mary Wickes… I wish they’d developed the relationship between her and Davis’s character more, but you can’t have everything.
SPOILERSI didn’t realize the famous scene in which Paul Henreid lights two cigarettes at once and then hands one to Bette Davis was in this movie. I have to say that it was probably a lot hotter back then, and that honestly, by the third time he did it and I was supposed to be all moved, I actually giggled. Aw, darn it.
See more progress on: Keep Track of All the Movies I Watch in 2006
#55 Kiss Kiss Bang Bang (2005)
So much astonishing fun. Wow, two movies in a row that succeed largely by breaking all the rules and doing it with amazing skill. An amazing balance of comedy and almost-too-much violence.
It brought to mind half a dozen other films, none of which I can think of now, except for Get Shorty, and that mostly because of the guy who comes to L.A. from elsewhere and gets involved with the industry.
Robert Downey, Jr. and Val Kilmer are a whole lot of fun. I think Val’s truly underrated. I think Spartan (2004) really turned my thinking around on him. Good grief, I see on IMDB that he is in 10 movies this year! Is he in some sort of workathon death-match with Christopher Walken!??
See more progress on: Keep Track of All the Movies I Watch in 2006
Outside Looking In - Sunday 6/25/2006
...at the plants, etc, behind my kitchen sink.
I was outside scrubbing out the bird bath, washing down the outside table and bench, washing Dodger’s playset. Early in the day, before the heat set in.
See more progress on: Take a photo every day
Penguin on my wall - Saturday 6/24/2006
I found it at a thrift shop. It’s ceramic. It’s probably a spoon rest or a soap dish, but I like it on my wall.
Is that so wrong?
See more progress on: Take a photo every day
Just before falling asleep.... Friday 6/23/2006
I took the train because I had one more round trip on the 10-trip ticket that will expire on June 27th. On the ride home, I was reading my paper, but I fell asleep and only woke up when the train came to a stop in Acton! Jumped up, skittered down the stairs.
Irritated a woman who was sauntering down the stairs talking on her cell phone. She really went off on me for saying, “Excuse me, I need to get off the train.” I was still groggy, but I could see that she wasn’t listening to my explanation or apology. Sigh. I think it was really just a big show of her moxie for whomever was on the other end of the call. So ridiculous.
On the other hand, a really wonderful thing happened the same mornig. I’d been making notes on the first 154 pages of a friend’s rewrite of her novel, and when I got up to get off the train I left the notebook on the table! I didn’t even realize it until the woman who’d been sitting across from me came all the way downstairs to the door area and gave it to me! She said she’d nodded off, but she woke and saw I’d left without it, and she came down. It didn’t have any ID in it, so it just would have been lost, along with about 8 hours worth of my focused attention on the writing. Whew! I thanked her so much that she thanked me back and said, “Bless you!”
So, you know, there really are all kinds. It’s going to be a while before I’m on the train again, but I hope I remember to carry a thank you card with me for that kind lady. She really made my day.
Thursday, June 22, 2006
Highland and Melrose - Thursday 6/22/2006
Anyway, I think that's where I saw this billboard. Seemed very odd to me that ST and I were just talking about religious extremism over breakfast this morning. There’s an article in the Los Angeles Times today about religious groups trying to bring on The End Times of Biblical prophecy, and then I saw this sign!
And shortly after that, this license plate.
Franklin Canyon - Wednesday 6/21/2006
G called in the morning and asked if I wanted to go for an hour hike before our writing group. I said yes! We drove up to Franklin Canyon and had a really nice time. It was amazingly cool up there, with all the trees to shade us and little streams running along the roads and paths. A really nice break from the regular week!
Up close and personal with G's favorite tree.
Wednesday, June 21, 2006
Herbilicious! - Tuesday 6/21/2006
My writing group is going to take note of the Summer Solstice tonight, and I suggested that we share a communal cup of sage tea as part of our little celbration. So I went out and harvested some from my herb garden.
As soon as I saw the little plot of land outside the back door of our house, I knew I wanted an herb garden there. This abundance lies just a few steps from the stove. In this shot you can see summer savory, varigated sage, oregano and rosemary. There’s also thyme a little further down, and mint around the corner. Mmm!
I love fresh herbs, and I love that I have made this small wonderful thing happen.
Bagged herbs, ready to share with my friends....
Monday, June 19, 2006
My Crocs Rock! - Monday 6/19/2006
I am still learning the many valuable aspects of wearing outrageously comfortable, brilliantly pink shoes.
1) They are outrageously comfortable. Did I mention that? Little foot-massaging ridges inside. Light! Airy!
2) Pink shoes don’t go with anything—so they go with everything! Unless you are one of those ladies who gets herself up in a monochromatic outfit every day…which requires too much focus for people like me.
3) No one will ever, ever suspect you of hiding a WMD in the soles
4) You can assume that the department store dressing room staff holds you in disdain because of your shoes, not your hair, clothes, bag, waistline or age.
5) If you drop a big container of watermelon at your feet, the juice will splash right in through the holes! This may not exactly be a selling point, but it is one of the features I discovered this morning!
Get yourself some! Seriously, you won’t regret it.
They come in other colors and styles, and you can find them at Whole Foods Markets as well as their website. I bought mine at a funky little tee shirt / smoke shop in Ventura.
The photo below is from their website. They're for women, men, kids.
Sunday, June 18, 2006
Home for the Holiday? - Sunday 6/18/2006
I saw all these trucks parked along a street where you don’t usually see them and I had to wonder if they were dads stopping over for Father’s Day.
Mine died in 1990, but he was…
A farmer’s son, who worked hard while going to high school. A high school basketball star. An Army-Airforce football player right after WWII. A Golden Gloves Heavy Weight regional champion.
A friend to strangers. A factory worker. A mechanic who owned his own service station. A great dancer, with my mom in his arms. A traveler who took us on great camping vacations and eventually went to Europe—even lived there for two years—which no one else in his peer group was doing.
A guy who prefaced advice to his kids with phrases like, “I don’t want to tell you what to do, but…” and really meant it. A man who acheived his dream of paying off his house.
A regular at the breakfast counter in the town of 150 where he’d owned his service station…so much so that his coffee cup stayed empty in front of his usual stool while the waitress and his friends began to worry, on the morning that he died.
I still miss him sometimes.
Who's your daddy? I love to hear about him.
Saturday, June 17, 2006
Venture to Ventura - Saturday 6/17/2006
We drove up to Ventura for the day. D needed to take his guitar up to a luthier there for repairs.
The fabulous heavy duty guitar case he bought to protect his fabulous guitar flopped shut unexpectedly and one of the latches took a bite out of the finish on the back. That, Alanis, is ironic.
We wandered around, tried out a South American restaurant—some of the food was great, but the ceviche was not ceviche. It was gaspacho with shrimp in it. Went to a couple of museums. Nice nice day.
Thursday, June 15, 2006
Baby Squirrel con Quail - Wednesday 6/14/2006
MM wanted to see the baby squirrel, so here you go. It’s having a great time stuffing its cheeks with Dodger’s leftover seeds.
The funny thing about the squirrels is that they will sit and sort through the food, and come back and pick over it again, until it’s all gone. Why not just scoop it up at all at once and figure it out later? Nope, they want the best they can find every time!
I didn’t even see the quail in this shot till I looked at the review screen on my camera!
Wednesday, June 14, 2006
Sunset walk
Didn’t pick up the mail on the way home, so I had to walk down to the mailbox, about 5 minutes there and back. Bonus! D went with me and then tugged me over to the cross road, and we walked all around the neighborhood for a half an hour. I’d almost forgotten we lived in a neighborhood, we get so enchanted with our own yard!
Sad moment: we found this dead snake in our yard, right by the road. I thought I smelled something! We wonder if it was run over on the road and sort of wriggled into the yard. Couldn’t see a head on it!
Ick, I clearly didn’t get all the snails out of the yard over the weekend. I intend to move this carcass up the hillside tonight. It’s still good coyote food, isn’t it?
See more progress on: go outside more
Tuesday, June 13, 2006
Monday, June 12, 2006
Snails. Why'd it have to be snails? - Sunday 6/11/2006
EEEEEEEEK. I spent about an hour picking snails off the wall, from behind the wall, from under the damp ground cover. More than 3 liters of snails (I collected them in old bottles).
Even though I used disposable gloves, just washing wasn’t good enough. I had to have a shower.
These empty shells I found are the invertibrate equivalent of mounted deer heads.
I read somewhere recently that the Brown Garden Snail was introduced to California in the mid-1800s as a possible food source for San Franciscans. So I guess we could just wait for them to reproduce again and throw a big ol' escargot fest.
Not bloody likely.
Yard Project - Saturday 6/10/2006
We had let stuff accumulate back here because no one can really see it but us. Old PVC pipes, the frame from a broken glass-topped patio table, our old front door. Eeek!
We carted away the junk last weekend, and this weekend I spent a couple of hours clearing out leaves and rearranging the concrete pieces that we aren’t going to get rid of, but aren’t using yet. It’ll be a nice place to sit outside in the heat of the summer!
Joe's Cafe - Friday 6/9/bonus
Do you recognize this? It’s the cafe from Steven Speilberg’s great TV movie, Duel (1971). It’s been expanded and it’s now a nice French restaurant, Le Chene. Always seems to be busy, even though it’s kind of in the middle of nowhere.
Here's a photograph of it from the Santa Clarita Valley Historical Society's wonderful website. This is what it looked like c. 1923.
Friday, June 09, 2006
Hillside at Sunset - Thursday 6/8/2006
Sat at the table in the back yard yesterday afternoon/early evening and read. Then my friend B called from Indiana and we talked for about an hour. I’ll get to see her at the beginning of July!
There’s something about sitting outside as the air cools, watching the shadows creep up the hillside—it’s good for the skin. I felt when I went inside that my skin had been revitalized, like it finally got to breathe.
Thursday, June 08, 2006
For Your Consideraton - Wednesday 6/7/2006
Some of the more interesting packaging for DVDs sent out in search of an Emmy nomination. Most of them are just simple cardboard packages, but some companies really go all out to get the attention of the voters. I'm not a member, my boss is.
Wednesday, June 07, 2006
Blue Rooster - Monday 6/5/2006
What's better than a blue rooster on a friend's front porch?S is thinking about selling her house. Not immediately, but she's thinking about it as an asset to help her continue with her creative life. And a house is a lot to maintain, especially for one person.
I am already feeling nostalgic for this house. A deep appreciation for art, and for old things that are good, is expressed here. I enjoy S's asthetic, share much of it, and am pleasantly surprised by some of it.
Neighborly Foot - Sunday 6/4/2006
The foot of the little girl sitting next to me at Barnes & Noble Cafe. She and her friend sat at a table separate from their mothers. Each had a saucer in front of her. One had a big chocolate chip cookie, the other a Rice Crispy treat.
The snacks looked huge beneath their small hands. They performed a little hand ballet, each crisscrossing the table to pull a chunk off of her dessert or her friend's.
Flowers for Aunt M - Saturday 6/3/2006
Took a bouquet of miniature roses from our yard to Aunt M when we picked her up to go to a potluck and hoot with us. We had a great time... I think she did too!
Where the Water Comes From - Friday 6/2/2006
This water comes all the way from the Owens Valley—more than 200 miles away—to make the San Fernando Valley comfortable and green. There are no pumps along the way… It’s all done with siphons.
When they built the thing in the early 1900s, there were no engines that could pull the weight of some of the big concrete pipes they built, and they had to be pulled by up to 40-mule teams.
http://geoimages.berkeley.edu/geoimages/BainCalif/subjects/WaterOwens.html
Thursday, June 01, 2006
Yellow House - Wed. 5/31/2006
There are flowers in this window. That’s what made me stop and take the photo. But I liked the long shot better.
This is probably actually an apartment building, but it made me think of the wonderful song “Little Yellow House” by Susan Werner.
This little yellow house
Has too many rooms
Too many rooms, too many rooms
This little yellow house
Has too many rooms
And I sit all alone and cry
Wednesday, May 31, 2006
Waiting for the Bus - Tuesday 5/30/2006
I took a different route home yesterday because I stopped for a haircut and to pick up dinner from Pinochio’s (lasagna for D, penne with sausage and peppers for me). Something about these two people, probably strangers, talking on this bench struck me. That’s the thing you miss when you drive…connnecting with people you don't know.
I've been driving most of the time again since work is slow and I can sometimes leave early. I miss the train, but I can't leave early because it doesn't run all the way to Acton earlier in the afternoon.
Hanging Out - Sunday 5/28/2006
We took Dodger and Rocky outside in their cages for the first time on this trip, too. They’d both been pretty spooked before about being in the trailer at all. But now they’re getting to be old hands, and they both seemed to be thrilled to be outside.
Friends stopped by to chat and sing along with D’s playing. Dodger tooted along and laughed a lot.
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