A Day at the Races - Saturday 8/23/2008

I've been reading about how California's Central Valley produces something like 75% of most types of fruits and veggies grown commercially in the U.S. Click on that link for a picture of this amazing approximately 450 mile feature.

As we arrived at the Auto Club Famoso Raceway outside of Bakersfield I saw this mound. Can it be?

Does the Central Valley also provide the world's supply of Cheetos coating!?



As we waited behind our friend Racer's rig to check into the ANRA Cool August Nights nostalgia drag races we discovered that the air conditioning in our idling Echo was no match for the 100 degree temperatures.

We're here as part of the crew!


There's lots to watch while you wait your turn!

See those fruit trees behind him? Part of the bounty of the valley. We drove through miles of these on the way up here.



Hydra helps unload the Phantom Bantam!


Racer built this car from the ground up. Those metal flames are removed before start up, of course. For more info, including videos, click here.

His talented daughter did the graphics, including the saucy rooster.



The yellow band means you've paid your entrance fee to the races. The orange band means you're part of the crew.

I had one too!


It started to cool off as the sun went down. There was plenty of time for talking, although a lot of punch lines were lost in the roar of the engines. Some of the cars are so loud, when they started up I literally jumped!

Thank goodness Racer's daughter brought us earplugs!


Racer's daughter and future son-in-law and I drove to a space at the end of the track and walked back to try and get a shot of DP (the driver) opening the shoot as they crossed the finish line during the qualifying round. We were turned back by a staffer who pointed out the places where cars had come through the concrete barriers.

Oh, yeah. That shattered glass we walked around...


I'm not sure I'd have been so confident walking down there if I'd sat in the stands beforehand. Some of the cars get up to 190 miles per hour on that short track!

This shot is of a couple of cars burning rubber and heating up their tires so they expand, right before their runs.



Racer, DP and Hydra right before the first elimination race for the class. It was interesting to watch his face as the time came near.

These drag races are more about the skill of the drivers than about just having the fastest car. You have to get as close to a time of say, 7.60 seconds as you can without completing the run any faster.

It was interesting to watch DP's face as the time grew nearer. Concentration, adrenaline...

The car was towed almost to the starting line.


Unfortunately, when he revved it up for the race, something went terribly wrong. Possibly as bad as a thrown rod.

I remember Dad uttering those words over the engine of my beloved Renault 10. Sigh.

So we packed up. The others drove back to the San Fernando Valley and to Big Bear. Ooph. We were so glad that we'd decided to make a mini-vacation of it and stay in Bakersfield for the night.

Really fascinating, fun and interesting night!

Sanchez Produce - Friday 8/22/2008

I'm so glad I stopped by the produce stand again today! Not only to take a shot of the cute new sign, but also to pick more heirloom tomatoes. This time I nabbed a few pounds of green ones. I'll figure out how to cook 'em on Sunday.

It was great to see JS there. He was glad to see me too. He's the son of the woman who owns the stand. Great kid. He's the drum major of his high school band now, and still plays the saxophone. He was chosen as part of the Bands of America Honor Band to march in the next Rose Parade. Only 300 kids from the whole U.S. get to do that.

He's a senior and so busy with school, college applications, etc. I told him about my niece who was in drumline. She's working for a TV station in Kentucky now and her husband is a band director.

JS said he's debating whether to major in business or music. "Why not both?" I asked. He said he's considering that. I just hope he keeps music in his life in some way.

If you'd like to visit Sanchez Produce, you can get directions by clicking here.

Local Grapes - Thursday 8/21/2008

These small round Thompson grapes came to the office via Jens, who got them from a neighbor. I have to go check the vine behind our house and see if anything came to fruition!

Non-commercial Thompsons are smaller and less oblong than this backyard strain, which is probably from heirloom stock (like mine.)

My Foot at the Gym - Wednesday 8/20/2008

Had a kind of wretched day at work. It lasted from 6:00 a.m. to 4 p.m. I took a script with me to read over a stress-eating lunch which included the dreaded french fry. (Okay, french fries.)

A fairly new client--who is not completely educated in what we do here--yelled at me over the phone, questioning our methods, our charges and by extension my integrity. It was highly unusual. I stood my ground, but it was no fun.

On the way home I stopped at the gym, thinking I'd just do the minimum. Maybe 20 minutes on the elliptical or some weight machines.

But there was a spinning class starting shortly after I arrived. Usually I'm in and out of the gym by the time it starts at 5:15. I tried spinning when it first came out in 1847 or thereabouts, when I was working at UCLA and using the gym there and I didn't like it much. I figured I could do part of the class here and feel okay about leaving early.

Wow, the class was aMAZing. Dimmed lights, good music, and a really responsive bunch of fellow spinners. Halfway through the hour-long class I thought I couldn't do any more. But, as I sometimes do with the elliptical machine, I thought I'd just try for another five minutes.

I hit a zone! It was incredible. Lovely endorphins washed away everything. I did the whole class and felt really proud. I didn't think I could really hack 60 minutes at that activity level, but it was great.

I stopped for Thai carryout along the way and didn't get home till 7:30 (15 hours after leaving home and about 1 1/2 hours before bedtime) but to quote Bill Murray in Meatballs, "It just doesn't matter."

Yay, gym!

Same Place, Same Time - Tuesday 8/19/2008

A couple of weeks ago, I wrote about this as a photo that had gotten away. This week I had my camera on the front seat of my car, where it belongs, as I neared Hollywood Boulevard.

I was actually astonished to see the same guy on the same bench under the same billboard.

Food Pix - Monday 8/18/2008

The more I take photos of food, the more I respect people who do it well. It's so easy to make things look just gross.

These are pickled eggplants I found in an Indian grocery. They were good, actually.



All the pictures I took of our little writers' group feast on Monday turned out blurry. Blame it on hunger!



Nice colors, though.

Another good meeting.

Dream Big, Little Man - Sunday 8/17/2008

Rocky chats up the metal hen in the living room.

You go, boy.

The Cake - Saturday 8/16/2008

The finished cake.

Toasted chopped almonds topping homemade chocolate butter cream frosting were a more worthwhile touch. [KittyW...see the dusting of powdered sugar and cocoa under the nuts?]

Prep Time - Friday 8/15/2008

Some of Hydra's family is coming for lunch tomorrow. There are not enough tomatoes on my plant to share, so I stopped at Sanchez's produce stand on the way home. I've been eying this sign for about a week. Ooh!

When I talked to the woman behind the counter, she said, "Every day, I'm waiting for you!" She knew I'd want to do this, since I was so thrilled to pick my own artichoke here last spring.

They didn't seem terribly ripe and some had spots, but when I got them home, they were terrific. The heirloom tomatoes were the same price, $1.2o a pound.



A view through the tomato plants.


Other signs at the Sanchez.


Back at home, it was time to make salsa and a cucumber/onion/tomato/fresh basil salad. Waited to make the guacamole the next day, to serve with chicken quesadilla's.

Oh, yeah, and a cake for Cuz-V's birthday. I spread brandy-soaked Morello cherries in the center. It actually wasn't very satisfying. Needed more sweet and more goo.

Alma 'Mater - Thursday 8/14/2008

I stayed home with the tomatoes today.

Worked from home. Work has been way way too much this week. I've been telecommuting one day a week anyway, but I really needed the extra couple of hours of sleep I had today.

My homegrown tomatoes are so sweet. They're almost too sweet to use in pasta, but great for eating like a peach.

Photo that Got Away

Saturday afternoon under a spreading live oak tree.

Just outside a circle of guitar players and singers at a campsite, a white poodle rests inside a guitar case lined with emerald green. Her chin rests on the edge of the case.

She sighs happily

Blame it on d'Beans - Wednesday 8/13/2008

He's a great photographer. Recently, he confessed to being a "composition snob." Knowing that he's actually no kind of snob, I love that phrase.

So when I came out of Kaiser Permanente in Valencia the other day, I had to stop and take a couple of shots.



Thanks, d'Beans!

Superhero Waitstaff - Tuesday 8/12/2008

P poses with the lascivious looking plastic chef. That's her artwork and lettering. She loves changing the special boards and she's good at it.

I haven't been getting to Andrew's in the mornings very much lately because I've been going in to work early. Working 9 to 11 hour days. It's just all hitting at once...aaah.

This means no writing in the mornings, and then I'm too beat at night. It'll come back. But it's frustrating right now.

I went in this morning with new scripts from three different shows that I had to read and do reports on by this afternoon. This is a huge amount of work. I vowed I'd power through the reading and breaking down part while I was at the diner because I am so sick of my desk at work.

"We're gonna get you through this," P said as she poured my fourth cup of coffee.

Whew! I made it.

Rabbit Ears - Monday 8/11/2008

What can I say? I'm back at work. The Olympics are on in the background.

Soon these rabbit ears will be replaced with an analog converter box.

I'm ready.

Savoring Sunday - Sunday 8/10/2008

It's the beginning of the end of a lovely weekend. Hydra went into town to enjoy Starbucks. I opted to haul the birds out to the front yard of the camper and read So Brave, Young and Handsome, by Leif Enger. Every time I lay down to read during the past few days, I fell asleep.

So armed with strong black tea, I finished the novel this morning. What a great read. It's been a while since I've read a writer I'd like to emulate, but Enger is one. I need to read his first book Peace Like a River. (Both titles are lyrics from songs. Know which ones?)

My breakfast reminded me of OneL's eccentric uncle. He had an alphabet wheel that he'd spin every day to see what he could eat. Only foods beginning with the letter the arrow stopped on. You'd have to hope you could find a quince every so often!

For me: blueberries, banana and bacon. Finishing up things we had with us.



How sweet! How...bittersweet? The camp manager--we'll call her Upright--brought us this pair of cacti in celebration of our 21st anniversary. She took them from her own garden.

I love working with her. I organize the reservations for our group (about 20-35 campsites each time we go) and then co-ordinate with her about who actually showed up and whether or not they need to pay for hook-ups (electrical and water...not the modern kind!), extra vehicles and pets.

She's very straightforward and easygoing, but she has great boundaries and is able to stand her ground when she needs to. She's from Ohio originally. Buckeyes and Hoosiers. Not so different in some ways...well, anyway, she's been managing and improving the campground for more than 20 years and I admire her.



Looks like a movie set to me! That's a tunnel over a railroad track that's supposed to look like the entrance to a mountain. OneL speculates that it's for the Escape to Witch Mountain re-make that she's been working on.

Off to See the Lizard - Saturday 8/9/2008

Yeah, I'm hanging out with the lizards again. This big guy came to listen to us sing.



Weekend under the trees. It's hot, but if you sit very still and drink Arnold Palmers, you'll be okay.

Succulents - Friday 8/8/2008

Lovely succulents abound in the campground in which we spent the weekend. I love getting there on Thursday nights and having the day to laze around. Kept trying to finish up a novel I'm reading, only to doze off.


Succulent parrot enjoying being outdoors and having people stop by and visit. Why do they all make such strange squawking noises, he wonders.

They think they're talking parrot, dear.

Into town for dinner with friends. We actually do that every night of camping.

I love cooking. You know I love cooking. But I don't so much like cleaning up afterward when camping.

We didn't even go grocery shopping until we got to Fillmore. No time to prep. But that's okay. I've learned not to stress about it or to feel inauthentic because I'm not doing it by someone else's standards.

We're so happy to be in our little home away from home.

On the Road - Thursday 8/7/2008

Hydra brought me roses in a vase that fit perfectly in the cup holder of the Tahoe. As soon as I got done working from home, we set off for camping with our music friends. It was an awful workday. I actually cried when I realized I'd missed sending out an entire report and had to... Oh, it doesn't matter.

The roses are in celebration of our 21st anniversary, which will be tomorrow. Perfect!



I just find this interesting. There are some kind of seedlings getting a moister start under these strips of plastic in the fields along the 126.

From the Stairs - Wednesday 8/6/2008

Looking out the window next to the double doors that lead into the building where I work.

Work has been really hard this week. Too much of it.

Meet the Doris Day - Tuesday 8/5/2008

It's quite possible that someone else has come up with this refreshing beverage and has named it something else. But since I've been on a celebrity-named beverage kick on an online community, when I was making this the name just popped into my mind.

This is a very loose recipe...

For one glass:

Cut sweet watermelon into 1/2 inch cubes (about 2/3 of a cup per glass)

Put into 6-8 ounce wineglass

Pour in enough chardonnay or Riesling to cover the watermelon

Crush some of the watermelon against the side of the glass with a fork, and add any watermelon juice that escaped onto your cutting board.

Wait about 10-15 minutes for the wine to infuse into the melon. Drink and fish out the watermelon (with a spoon or fork, please) in a way that works for you without dismaying your friends.

Best enjoyed sitting on a front porch. Back porch, patio, balcony or open window will also work.

How to Read in Bed - Monday 8/4/2008

I had a rough day at work on Monday. Eleven hours straight--except for walking to El Torito to pick up a salad--with clients questioning all kinds of things and me having to explain to them how and why I do my job the way I do. Aaagh.

Tomasina had kindly offered to pick up Thai food and a banana meringue pie for Braveheart's writing group birthday dinner, so when I got there, I just enjoyed myself. We dished up curry and egglpant and beef and pad thai and checked in. We wrote a little from a prompt. I read them some of my current project. We had pie. Braveheart opened presents.

Where was my camera in all of this? Mostly in my back pack.

After calling Hydra from Braveheart's lovely front patio, I was happy to roll into bed with a book that's destined to be a favorite (So Brave, Young and Handsome by Leif Enger.)

Do you like my book light?

If you get one like this, you can play War of the Worlds with your sweetie.

Giftwrapping and Nostalgia - Sunday 8/3/2008

Wrapped Braveheart's birthday gifts. Used some of the Viennese art paper that resurfaced as I cleaned and reorganized my studio for hours and hours and hours over the weekend.

I have boxes full of writing dating back to when I was about 10. Stories and poems mostly. Too funny, some of it. The adventures of Marco Mondoux are so clearly influenced by my reading of The Count of Monte Cristo between 8th and 9th grades. There were all these references to actual places in France, and I seem to have picked real French names... guess we are who we are from a very early age. Research is kind of in my bones.

One day I'll dive back in and organize it more. Now, just having it vaguely divided by big eras is good.

I found an expenses ledger from around 1998 when it cost $12.51 to fill up our Taurus and $5.32 to fill up our Escort.

Sigh.

Pink Oleander - Saturday 8/2/2008

Another weekend of hiking the hills around our house. These oleanders are in bloom a couple of houses up from ours.

The Road Home - Friday 8/1/2008

Hydra's favorite road cut... on Escondido Canyon Road heading toward Acton from Agua Dulce. It's a nice reveal when you drive through here.

It's easier to drive 55 and get better fuel economy on these smaller roads than on the highly competitive 14.


Hydra on Sundry's Mountain. Can you see him? Hiker Man!

Dodger's Helping - Thursday 7/31/2008

Hydra's on a lemonade kick. Dodger is ready to help.

I'm not sure sticking his beak in the sugar is really helpful, but it pleases him. He gets a little dish of lemonade.

Me, I've been making Arnold Palmers with the lemonade. That's half lemonade/half iced tea. YUM!

p.s. For those of you who eat at our house from time to time, I assure you that no beaks, feet or feathers are allowed in anything I offer to my friends.

Ya Think? - Wednesday 7/30/2008

Really? You don't want me to attempt to use this device?



I'm offended! Offended, I tell you, that you tell me that I can't use the payphone when I know I am perfectly capable of operating one!

Rollin'! - Tuesday, 7/29/2008

Wow, we really felt this morning's 5.8 earthquake in Burbank this morning, even though we're about 45 miles from the epicenter.

The building shook and then it rolled. It went on long enough that I bent over and considered whether it would be better to duck under my desk or my computer table.

We're on the second floor of a two-story building. The window blinds swayed for a while after the movement had probably stopped, but it's disorienting. I felt like I might still be moving!

I have already gone to the USGS site and entered my experience in their database. I think it's cool that they gather anecdotal information. If you felt it, you can report too! (Click on USGS and then when on the site, click on Report an Earthquake.)

You can also just use it to look at the activity that's going on right now. They've had two aftershocks already!

P.S. My all-time favorite earthquake video. I was working in a restaurant in Century City during this one, and the TVs started bouncing on their chains. The cooks ran out of the kitchen because the grease in the big deep fryers started sloshing out!

Water Conservation - Monday 7/28/2008

I really like this graphic on the cards they put out on the tables at Andrew's.

I actually drink the water, so I still get it!