This One's for Saramarie! Friday 9/8/2006

I know you know what this is. Since it was the first one of the season, I splurged on the whipped cream.

Nice companion for the drive home!

Fire in the Sky - Thursday 9/7/2006

Smoke from the fires about sixty miles from us was high in the sky above us Thursday night. I had no idea whether this shot would show the strange orange sun or not.

The firefighters who work on these fires are so fit and so brave. Hydra and I saw them working out one day when we went hiking on a trailhead that started near a fire station. Running in some of their gear. We talked to one and he said this was their easy day; they didn't have to run up and down hills.

Imagine doing your job in 40 pounds of gear, in searing heat, and you have to run up a 45 degree incline to get to the photocopier.

I Like This House - Thursday 9/7/2006

It’s on the route between Braveheart’s house and work. Those palm trees are just perfect. Love the color, too.

I wouldn't want to live on this busy street, but I'd like to take the house with me somewhere.

Does Anyone Else See a Bird? - Wednesday 9/6/2006

Or am I just hallucinating after a 10-hour day of staring at my computer.

This is a sun splotch on the wall inside Priscilla’s cafe. I sat outside to read a novel and Reese Witherspoon smiled at me. No kidding! I didn’t realize it was her under those glasses till she smiled.

Also, when I got up from my table a kestrel zoomed out of the fig tree behind me, right in front of my face.

Just stuff I thought you should know.

May the spirit of the sun-splotch bird travel with you all of your days.

Fig Season! - Tuesday 9/5/2006

It’s a good thing I tasted fresh figs from my brother Beefeater’s tree before I found out how they are fertilized. It has something to do with a special kind of wasp climbing up inside of it.

I think.

Or maybe I dreamed this.

I’m a researcher, I could look it up. But today I research at the bidding of my clients and they are all clamboring for my attention. Clambor, clambor! (Hear them?)

Am I posting too many photographs of food? At least it’s not Italian beef sandwiches and French Fries!

More About the Bean - Monday 9/4/2006

I finally got around to cooking up the garbanzo beans. Just boiled them. For like an hour.

This is them before cooking. They are in the bowl I bought that afternoon during my writing vacation when I had noodles and cruised the shops on Sawtelle.

They never lost their color. How do they get brown?

They were nice, but not that much better than canned. Reminded me of edemame, which are easier to cook. I may try them again and roast them, if I can find some sort of guidelines.

Brunch Companion - Sunday 9/3/2006

You never know who you might run into in Pasadena. We brunched at Burger Continental on Lake Avenue today. The name doesn’t do the food justice. Wonderful Mediterranian food.

The courtyard at the back has lots of tables in it, and they serve an amazing buffet brunch. When we were waiting for the check, Hydra left the table to use the euphemism, and when I glanced up from my copy of this week’s The West, I had a handsome new companion.

After taking a couple of photos, I realized that the people at the next table were turned around looking at me with gleeful anticipation that I would flip out at the sight of a pigeon on the table. I explained—shrugging—that I have pet birds at home.

Harvest! Saturday 9/2/2006

Ooh, all the sudden there were multiple ripe tomotoes out there!

What’s been done to the flavor of tomatoes for the sake of getting them to market is one of the great sadnesses of modern life. There is so much flavor in these babies! I cut them up and topped them with fine strips of fresh basil. So juicy and tasty.

Wish I could share them with you.

And now for a completely gratuitous shot of the sky. Spent the whole day installing two new sinks in our bathroom. Pretty soon the I-am-not-writing neglies will begin to dance on my head. But for now, the skies are gorgeous and the tomatoes are still warm from the sun.