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.

Sinks installed! Saturday 9/2/2006

The old ones were fiberglass. It took us all day to do these, and we had to go back to town for more supplies three times, but we have bright shiney new sinks.

Now the trick will be to refrain from obsessively wiping the water spots off of them at all hours of the day and night.

Sorry, Hydra, I don't have the before pix with me... They will follow!

Holiday Traffic - Friday 9/1/2006

I got to work at 6am in hopes of leaving a little early, but I am still here. Will leave at 3pm after nine straight hours at my desk. Creak!

Already there are two accidents and three reports of debris in the road between me and home. Half of this happened between the time I took the photo and the time I rechecked, so they don't show up here.

It's going to get ugly out there, ladies and gentlemen.

I’m listening to a audiobook of A Farewell to Arms, thank goodness.

Later: I decided that it was just going to take some time and I'd rather spend it in the mountains, so I took this long cut--it's probably more miles and takes more time--from Sunland to Sand Canyon. You can't go very fast on this road, but it's really beautiful and hardly anyone else is out there.

Yes, I pulled over to the side of the road to take this!

Fresh Garbanzo Beans! - Thursday 8/31/2006

I’ve never seen fresh garbanzo beans before!

Huh! They come two in a pod, not a hundred in a can. Who knew!?

I bought some. Looked ‘em up online and it seems that roasting is recommended rather than boiling. Maybe I'll do a little of both.

8:10 am - Jimmy drinks rosewater

Braveheart’s cat lapping water from the petals of one of the roses in the front yard.

She and I are at the kitchen table, having oatmeal with fresh figs and blueberries for breakfast. She knows how to eat well.

My 24-hours of a photo-an-hour ended at ten a.m. It was fun. It was interesting to see how fast the day goes by when you're trying to remember to do something every hour. Also, some hours are really jam-packed and I had a hard time believing so little time had passed.

10:20pm - Watching PBS

We watched part of a wonderful documentary about Passionworks Studios a place where developmentally challenged artists work.

This was captured from Braveheart’s big screen TV.

The artist’s first name is Harry, I think.

7:08 pm Back at the Office

Oh no! I went to Target to pick up these photos of Gia’s cats. The black and white one died this week, and Gia was very upset and wanted to have a little memorial for Angie the cat before our writing group met.

I took these photos of Angie and Becky on a great afternoon when Gia and I were writing in her apartment.

Why am I back at the office? Because the frames were a tiny tiny bit too small for the photos! I had to go back to my office and cut them down! (One of those hours when you begin to question whether everything is going against you. But no, you can’t go there.)

Jumping in - 10:15 am

Okay, what the heck. Why not today? It’s going to be a busy one, but many of them are.

I'm doing this little challenge, to take a photo every hour for one day. If you want to see the whole tragic story, check out the link below.

Polly Pockets pals in a water jug. The boss’s 7-year-old daughter has to amuse herself in our office, so the 5 gallon jugs were used for doll spelunking this morning.

See more progress on: A typical Day (Take One Photo an Hour for a Day)

Driving Under the Cloud - Monday 8/28/2006

There was a fire in Placerita Canyon yesterday afternoon. I went a long way around to avoid it and to go to the Trader Joe’s in Valencia. This was the view on Vasquez Canyon Road near the intersection with Sierra Highway.

Probably only Hydra will know what this means, but they are nice road names.

I've been trying to stop and take photos of some of the abandon structures I drive by on the canyon roads. Before too long they will probably be gone. I like the lonly look of them.

This old water tower is along Davenport Road.

My Foot at the Hospital - Sunday 8/27/2006

Auntie Em was in the hospital. Breathing issues. We went down to see her, Hydra, my foot and I. Met up with the cousins and went to lunch. She was in good spirits, as usual. An amazing soul.

You never, ever regret taking the time to do these things.

The View from Here - Saturday 8/26/2006

This is the view from my new porch swing, which is actually located under the big tree on the hill side of the house rather than on the porch. It’s the coolest place on the hottest day.

Yes, I was trying out the “it folds down into a bed” feature, so the photograph is right side up. It was yours truly who was head over heels. Or, actually, heels over head.

Other than the big bar down through the middle of the so-called bed, it was quite comfortable. I won’t be using it this way often, but the view’s nice, no?

I think I enraged a hummingbird by being back there, but hey, I’m feeding him, so he should just be a little more gracious.

43 Books/Authors #2 - Ray Bradbury

He was my first author. You know, the first author who’s books I sought out because he wrote them. I waited for his new books to be released.

I remember receiving The Martian Chronicles for Christmas when I was in 8th grade. I don’t know if I’d asked for science fiction or for him specifically, but it was a much coveted book and I was thrilled. I like his style of science fiction, which is more about putting real human beings in unusual situations and seeing how they’ll react and adapt. I think he celebrates humanity, with all its flaws.

My junior English teacher knew him, because her father was the famed E.E. “Doc” Smith, a very early sci-fi writer. She didn’t much like Bradbury and we argued about whether he wrote science fiction or science fantasy. Not enough nuts and bolts for her.

I met Bradbury briefly at a reading about 10 years ago and dropped my teacher’s name…told him how I’d defended him. He is very generous to writers and does lots of readings and signings. He signed my copy of Zen and the Art of Writing.

Shooting the Shoot - Friday 8/25/2006

This television shoot was going on down the street from where I worked. I took a chance and just snapped a couple of photos as I drove by.

I think this is the back of the head of a CSI: Crime Scene Investigations crew member. This is the glamorous truth of Hollywood.