Breakfast of the Damned - Friday 2/16/2007

Well, maybe not damned. In fact... I hope not damned.

Breakfast of the overworked might be more appropriate, but where's the drama in that?

Friends, I worked 6:30am-5:45 pm yesterday, ate fast food on my drive home (which took till 7:30) and fell asleep on the couch at 8:15. Right in the middle of our TiVoed Boston Legal. Sigh.

This morning I skipped my writing time and went straight into the office at 5:30. It's pilot season, so I'm working on a couple of extra scripts beyond my usual work load, plus the film I picked up in November is now shooting (Juno)--which means sending me work--and a new series is starting up. (Army Wives for Lifetime.) When a new series starts, they often need to populate a whole street with businesses, which is what's happening.

If it weren't for the upcoming three-day weekend I would now blatantly solicite your tokens of verbal sympathy. But now it's Friday evening, and there are good plans ahead.

Yes, that's a triple espresso trying to balance out the banana.

Hmmm - Thursday 2/15/2007

Apparently, Bob comes from a town where the gene-pool is rather... limited.

This probably explains the chili spaghetti.

More Fun Than It Looks Like - Wednesday 2/14/2007

Hydra and I hiked across some open land to get to a restaurant for dinner last night. It turned out that there was a big ravine in our way. Hmm. Then found that there was one on the side of us, too.

When we got close to the restaurant we had a choice of going several hundred yards to where the ravine bumps into the road and has been managed with bulldozers or climb down through it. We climbed. It was about five feet deep, 12 wide at the top and 3 wide at the bottom. Good thing I didn’t wear my pumps!

Sadly, the food at La Cabana is not as good as that at Don Cuco’s (which is three miles away…maybe a Saturday hike?).

But we had fun hiking back. It was completely dark--hence this fabulous photograph--so we kept to an established horse trail. Had to walk right next to the backs of a bunch of houses at one point, and there was a German Shepherd just going bats three feet away behind a chain link fence. No matter how compose one remains--"Good dog, gooooood dog"--this sort of thing rouses one’s adrenaline!

It was good exercise getting back. About 15 minutes each way, and all uphill on the walk back. Good to burn off the margarita!

Birdlife - Tuesday, 2/13/2007

My best raven shot yet! Hydra and I went out for a hike as soon as we got home and this guy was kind of toying with us. Hopping and flying ahead of us for a little bit. Taken with my "old" Kodak point and shoot, which will probably be a part of my life for a long time in spite of the new Nikon. It's light and smaller.

Now, see, this is some kind of hawk. Wider wing span than a raven.

And it doesn't absorb all the light. Ravens seem to cut black holes in the sky.

In the Details - Monday 2/12/2007

Detail of a plant outside Hondista's apartment.

Detail of Hondista's napkin holder.

Detail of Hondista's NutraSystem lunch. "You can eat pizza!" Hmm. In all truthfulness, that should be edited to "You can eat a big cracker smeared with tomato sauce and freeze dried cheese!" And this is a double portion. This and a big bowl of broccoli will keep you on track. Right.

Later that Day - Sunday 2/11/2007

Hydra snapped this shot of what I think is some sort of falcon, on a powerline, hunting.

This Color of Blue Makes Me So Happy - Sunday 2/11/2007

Not much else to say, really. It rained last night and the sky was scrubbed clean. Everything that became dusty in yesterday's winds was refreshed. Even us.



I will never grow tired of watching the ravens dip and glide along the currents created by our local hills.

Nikon Goes for a Hike - Saturday 2/10/2007

Hydra suggested that we take my new Nikon out for a hike. Yes! It was a great day for it. We hiked the peaks around our neighborhood instead of sticking to the lower fire road. This makes for a challenging workout, because the hills are very steep and the dry paths are loose and a bit treacherous.

This first shot is looking past "my" mountain toward the Angeles National Forest. I think that might be Mount Gleason in the distance, but you probably don't want to quote me on that.



Yes! The big 300mm lens from my non-digital Nikon works on the new one, just as promised. We were at least 30 feet from this thrasher.


I love grasses. Love the way the wind works through them and the way the sun illuminates them. Once Hydra surprised me by mysteriously whisking me off to the pass near Tehachapi just to see the sunset light up the grassy hillsides. He'd seen it on his way back from Bakersfield and knew I'd adore it. Is that romantic, or what?

This grass only about four inches tall. It was dancing in the wind in a way I always associate with stop motion photography.


Looking back across the neigbhorhood at the fire road we usually walk on. It looks like it's snowing on the other side of the mountain, but it's just wind-borne dust lit by the afternoon sun. Did I mention it was very windy?

Luke, the neighbor's dog, would like us to know that he's up for a hike any time. I wish we could take him with us!