In & Out - Wednesday 7/16/2008

6:27 a.m.

The way into work is clear.



3:34 p.m.

The way out of work.

Also clear.

Although this is clearly not a high-traffic area, it's pretty hard to lurk here.

P.S. Apologies to any Southern Californians who were hoping for commentary on the fabulous In-N-Out Burger.

Fruitful Morning - Tuesday 7/15/2008

I stood here framing a couple of shots of these--I think they're maybe an uncultivated kind of date?--until a squirrel up there pitched a fit.

It suddenly began racing around up there, chirping and chattering and rustling the fronds. Then it jumped to a neighboring tree, in a huff!


The fruit, after having been run over by a car.

Meanwhile, in the Yard - Monday 7/14/2008

Okay, thanks. I feel a little better now.

Back to the yard where the tomatoes kept ripening while we were gone.


And the sunflower developed a couple more heads.

In the Shadow of the Mallard - Sunday 7/13/2008

GuitarDaddy whipped us up a mighty fine breakfast!



We ate in the shadow of the mallard. I did mention that I'd had a mallard for a pet when I was in middle school.

His name was Wolfie, because when I got him from the incubator in the science lab at school he was black and gold, the school colors of Wolf Lake High School where my dad and brother went. (Before Evil Consolidation.)


A lingering look back up at our bedroom window. It was a great weekend to be at 5000+ feet, since it was about 20 degrees cooler up here.


Heidi sees us off.

Bye! Thanks!

It was a wonderfully relaxing weekend, and it was great to get to know these two terrific musicians better.



On the way back, we stopped to take photos around the ruins of the Llano del Rio commune, which opened in 1914. We walked around speculating, and I just found that link above which tells the history of the place.


Here's a photo I found online! Apparently the hotel burned down in 1920!

How much do I love the Internet? This much [holds arms as far apart as possible.]


The back of one of the big old fireplaces.

I've been wanting to stop here for a long time, but not quite enough to actually pause in our travels. Now they're in the process of widening parts of the 138 and I figured I'd better do it sooner than later.



An old cistern.



I suspect that this was the base of a water tank. You can see some other remains in the background. This place was much bigger than it looked from the road, with traces of what looked like a dozen or so dormitory style rooms in one area, and lots of less-identifiable foundations.


Looking through what was once a window. As Hydra commented, it's amazing how much of the rock wall is missing. He theorizes that what didn't burn was scavenged to build other structures elsewhere. Nicely collected rock.


And here's my theory...that this duel track of stone was once an aqueduct. It runs from up near the big lodge house to the furthest structure on the property...probably a distance of a couple of hundred feet.


Not sure if you remember, but a while back Hydra and I stopped at the Pines Cafe. It had been operating on the same site for decades and had a very good local reputation.

So glad we stopped there the two times we did! It's no longer there!

Now it's Habanero Grill.

Ideal Wild - Saturday 7/12/2008

Yeah, not that wild. I admit it.

We started the day as we love to start a day, lying abed for a while reading and eventually writing.

Dodger's happy to sit on my shoulder as I read in bed. But he's not comfortable with the way I cradle a pen in my hand. Too much competition.

Also, he needed to check out that side of the bed.


The view from "our" upstairs window. Dodger likes it too!


It's really lovely to be amongst tall trees.

After a lovely breakfast of waffles and sausage whipped up by GuitarDaddy, we visited their favorite thrift shops around town.

Ooh, we found some good stuff. Like a medicine cabinet with a wonderful beveled glass mirror that I discovered leaning against a fence behind a cork board. For five dollars! It has a nice pair of geometric lines etched in it. I'm hoping to remove the mirror and frame.



We liked this giant wooden squirrel, but no one took it home. This was being sold at a restaurant that was going out of business. GD and MM had eaten there and knew the owners. We picked up some DVDs and some other good stuff here.

Sad to see someone going out of business though.




The view from downtown Idyllwild. We had lunch there and walked around a little. There were a bunch of very tame Harley riders there.

Really had a terrific day hanging out with MandolinMama and GuitarDaddy. She made a lovely dish of pasta with rolled stuffed flank steak for dinner and we talked into the night again. Never quite got to playing music, but it we were enjoying the conversation.

Into the Woods! - Friday 7/11/2008

GuitarDaddy and MandolinMama (friends from Songmakers) invited us up to their cabin in the Idyllwild area for the weekend. Isn't it adorable?

We had a nice 2 1/2 hour or so drive up here. The road up is much more gracefully curving than the way up to Big Bear & Lake Arrowhead.

Ours is the window in the peak.



Love the sheet music on the stand in the living room.


The way up to our quarters illustrates that this cabin is knotty pine heaven. Being surrounded by so much wood is truly relaxing.



But we need to go back down and join in the conversation. It's going to be good!


And there will be cake. I made this vanilla almond cake to take with us. Brought dinner of Tuscan sausage soup, salad, Asiago cheese bread and dessert to start the weekend off with.

It was good that our hosts had told us they wouldn't stress if we were delayed. We were about 45 minutes late. We didn't stress either. I seem to finally be learning that my stressing out about being late will only make the situation worse.

We're probably going to do more long weekend trips this year rather than a week or two of vacation at a stretch. I love that we have plans for the next few months!

Bloomin' Burbank - 7/10/2008

Some kind of flowering tree on the street outside my office.

There's a guy on 43things who includes things like power lines in his work, and I thought it was interesting. I tend to edit out a lot of things about modern life that I don't particularly find attractive.


Like in this shot, taken just a few feet away.

Coffee des Artistes - Wednesday 7/9/2008

These are the guys I have coffee with most mornings. A pretty tough crowd.

Clearly John is uncomfortable with the personal nature of the project I'm working on right now. But it's going really well and no amount of squeamishness on the part of motion pictures icons can stop me now.

Then there's Chuck.

Chuck's a man.

Chuck may not agree with what I have to say, but he'll defend with his life my right to write it.

When I work at home, I miss my posse.

Come Git Yer Coffee! - Tuesday 7/8/2008

Dang, this photo's blurry.

Maybe it's because we haven't drunk the coffee yet.

Gift from Braveheart from her trip to Iowa. There's also a Paw mug for Hydra!

I love the vintage stuff. I love coffee cups and tea cups and glassware. It's stupid, but I do. I do!

Writing Group - Monday 7/7/2008

Writing group meeting last night was as perfect as this vase of flowers on Braveheart's dining room table. It was so good to be in Tomasina and Braveheart's company again after a three-week hiatus.

We each read for about 20 minutes. We like each other's work, and we agree that we all have good taste. Their respect helps me take myself more seriously.

I'm so lucky!

I stepped barefoot onto the wide steps leading from the dining room to the patio. Cool air moved across the the yard to me, but the stone beneath my feet retained the sun's heat. It was the perfect Mediterranean moment.



Jimmy agreed, wriggling seductively in front of me till I stooped and scratched his belly. Braveheart only suspects the depths of our affection for one another...

Peak Hike and Beyond - Sunday 7/6/2008

It was 48 degrees on the front porch when we started off on our hike at 5:55 a.m. Our house is probably in the clump of trees behind my head.

Straight out of bed and onto the trail. Gorgeous.


First peak. This is after a long steady slog up the back side of our neighborhood, which is cupped in a horseshoe of old volcanic cones.

Yeah, I'm feeling confident about saying that after really thinking about the rocks we see up there, which include quartz intrusions, etc.

Hydra and I agree that we would have been up on top of this hill playing around these rocks. They're a perfect miniature of a large formation. He would have played with his military figures. I would have trotted horses around through the little canyons.


Hydra demonstrates the usefulness of a walking stick on a steep slope. I always have this camera in my hand, or I might use one too.


Green fruit of the yucca. I don't think I've ever seen it at this stage before. Maybe because it's right after rattlesnake baby season and we avoid the hills a bit at this time.



Looking down upon the 14 as it winds its way toward Santa Clarita where it ends about 20 miles away, at the 5 .

Atop another peak, looking down over the large burg of Acton. Downtown is just to the right of arc of two curving lines that mark the railroad track and Soledad Canyon Road.


Massive mansion that is right below the peak I took the last shot from. Rumored to have been built by a prominent musician, it went up for sale for $5 million within about six months of completion. The real estate listing said it has an indoor pool with a swim-up bar and a music studio inside.

There are no windows on the top floor! Are those high ceilings or what?


An abandoned trailer high on a hillside. The view is great from here.


I love poking around abandoned places. Hydra pointed out that something dramatic must have happened here. There are still mugs sitting upside down on a towel next to the sink.


It's hard to say how long this has been here or when it was abandoned. The license plate is of the black and gold style that was used in the sixties. The place has been empty so long that the power lines have fallen from the poles leading to it, and haven't been fixed.

There were lots of paperbacks around the bed and some more stacked in the main room. There were chairs on the deck and a grill. Someone must have loved it up here.




See the little critter trail we followed around the side of Sundry's Mountain? This is a flat version of it. There's also the type that is barely cut into the steep side of a slope, and we spent a lot of time on those too.


Comin' around the mountain (Sundry's.) That's Hydra's Mountain we're headed toward. He picked it before we climbed either of them, and thought it was the highest.

Ha! When you stand on Sundry's Mountain--which we don't very often because it is a bear to get down off of--we look down upon the pretender. Then again, we discovered that we gave the tallest peak to our friend Trueness when he was here a few years ago. Harumph.

Anyway, that green is part of the 154 homes that make up our neighborhood.


Just as we arrived back on our Homeowner's Association land, down by the RV storage area where our trailer lives, this strange contraption came flying by. It was circling Acton Valley. Looks like fun.


It really is an oasis. Our house is up the road to the right.



But we didn't take the easy route. This is known as the home stretch. The tall narrow pair of trees (that look like one) sticking up on the left are at the end of our front porch.


Aaah! Shade and Gatorade after two hours of hiking and exploring. Dodger has been wanting to "go outside" all weekend, so finally he had his chance.

He's sharing the Gatorade even though he didn't hike.