Weens Sure Has a Nice Pear - Thursday 12/6/2007 BONUS!

Weens' hands are small, true-- But this is a whopping big Korean pear. It was like fishes and loaves when she cut it up to share around the office. Everyone left satisfied.

Tastes like a cross between a pear and jicama, if you ask me.



This amazing cloud was hovering over the horizon as I drove home last night. So glad I carry my camera everywhere!


I pulled off Sierra Highway by Agua Dulce Vineyards to get these shots.


Just another view. Just a few months ago Mom and I were looking over the vineyards of Champagne. Sigh.

My Reason for Living - Thursday 12/6/2007

In an effort to maintain my status as a viable contributing member of society, I am transcribing my entire card file of fictional business and product names into a searchable WordPerfect file.

The television series that I work with all shut down weeks ago. The movie I'm working on isn't producing a lot of requests (no rewrites, for one thing.) I've been helping out co-workers most of the week.

And working on adding all my precious information to the document OneL created over the course of several months, from her card file. It'll be helpful for all of us.

Today when I started I was up to "cemeteries." Hmm.

Meanwhile, the little bits of information leaking out about the WGA strike negotiations are not terribly encouraging. Those pesky writers actually want to talk about all kinds of issues, not just a few. Based on what happened in 1988, they'd better do just this; get it all on the table because the AMPTP has proven that it takes drastic action to get issues like reality television writing, etc., discussed.

Nikki Finke's Deadline Hollywood Daily is a pretty good source for level-headed reporting on the strike. I forgive her for jumping the gun last week with optimism and practically reporting that the strike was over.

Remember "Dewey Defeats Truman!" my darling.

My Lunch - Wednesday 12/5/2007

Truth be told, it also involves a piece of pain rustique (bread), a small amount of Asiago cheese and a toaster oven.

Avocados are only a buck at the grocery store right now!

Holiday Bob - Tuesday 12/4/2007

Large festive balls hang threateningly over my table.

"Write about us," they whisper, "Write about Bob's Big Boy and the fascinating array of waiters, waitresses, regulars and novices. You know you want to."

I refer to my notebook, hunch over my keyboard and try to focus on the scene I'm working on. I know what I want to accomplish in it, it's just a manner of concentrating.

It's a party scene. Hey, maybe it's a Christmas party. Maybe there are gigantic decorations hanging threateningly over the heads of the revelers.



Maybe our eccentric antagonist has decorated his home like a fifties diner, complete with happy statues!

Naw.

Scratch that.

Dodger Takes a Bow - Monday 12/3/2007

He's pretty proud of himself for helping me in my first foray into YouTube broadcasting.

This morning The American in Toronto sent me a link to the following WGA Strike video.




And I-- Well, Dodger and I were moved to respond to this call to arms, which involves animals refusing to be cute on YouTube until the strike is over.

I would just like to note before you watch this that we just shampooed the carpet in anticipation of hosting Christmas and the house is torn up because I have today off (one of my part-time layoff days due to the strike) and I am deep cleaning. Which always involves random boxes, etc.

Okay. Now you can watch this video of Dodger not being cute. That's Charanga Cakewalk's Loteria de la Cumbia Lounge CD playing in the background.

The Tee Shirt Project - Part Two - Sunday 12/2/2007

Isn't this cheery? I'm not letting go of this one yet. It's one of my favorites to do yard work in. Given to me by a coworker/friend shortly after we brought Dodger home. Of course, he's a much more somberly colored bird, but his spirit is definitely this bright.


Mona! Hydra gave me this tee shirt a few years ago. I love Mona because she is at once high art and high kitch. I have a Mona Lisa soap dispenser, a Mona Lisa salt & pepper set, etc.


From the first year Hydra and I particpated in the Revlon Run/Walk for women's cancers. At the time we were supporting DeeKay and remembering Hydra's mother. By the next year I'd be walking for Gia. This coming May, sadly, we'll have more names to add to our support list.

It was very emotional walking into the L.A. Memorial Coliseum for the first time. Being serenaded byJapanese drummers into the tunnel and then emerging onto the playing field, which has been in use since 1923.




From The Museum of Jurassic Technology, a truly odd museum on the west side of Los Angeles. I think I have to go back as I'm still not entirely sure what happened to me there. Worth a look if you are interested in unique experiences.



Yeah, I have a tee shirt from my new home town, Acton. This is how the town likes to see itself. I like it too.

This project suggests many more projects! The Mug Project. The Matchbook Project.

Stay tuned, Clutterbusters!

Jungle Tub - Saturday 12/01/2007

Decided that the plants had to be moved in off the front porch for the winter. It's been getting down to around 32 degrees at night.

About half of these are cuttings taken from Braveheart's yard. I lost a lot of plants last year because I didn't move fast enough and she gave me lots of starts.

Good thing I'm not much of a bath person. (And we have another deeper tub in the guest bathroom.)



Cool Thing: This amazing database of bird photographs and calls at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology! I just identified the beautiful song that's being sung outside my window this morning as that of a White Crowned Sparrow. (If you go, you can hear a sample for yourself.)

The Tee Shirt Project - Friday 11/30/2007

Tee shirt from the now-discontinued Art of the Wild workshop at Squaw Valley. What an amazing week that was. Very empowering workshops and panels, and I took a raft tour of the Truckee River with a geology prof from UC Davis for my field trip day.

I'm taking the advice of this show I used to watch on BBC America, where an organization specialist went to people's homes and helped them get rid of their clutter. It usually had to do with emotional attachments to stuff not because of the items themselves, but the memories they held.

So. Today I start taking photographs of my tee shirts so that I can keep the image and the memory in a little photo album instead of filling up my wardrobe. Some of them have the collars cut out of them (because they're more comfy for working out, not because they are actually from the eighties) or are stained and can't be donated. A few I'll keep, and some I'll give away.




From the first L.A. Times Festival of Books. I went to the first three. They didn't expect a big turnout the first year, but 50,000 people showed up. Was this the year I saw Charlton Heston read from Hemingway and the Bible on an outdoor stage with no reservation needed? Or maybe the next year. Whatever his politics and talents, that was a very interesting reading.



Yeah, I worked at the UCLA Engineering & Math Sciences library during the Northridge Quake. If there had been people in the stacks, there would have been deaths. When I finally went in to work a week later, we reshelved books that had fallen into the spaces between shelves three feet deep. Mostly bound journals. Very heavy.



I didn't realize that Wolf Lake was Noble County's oldest town till I saw this. This was the closest town to us when I grew up (still is to my Mom), about 5 miles away and about 150 people strong. My dad owned and operated a service station there with his brother. I won a dance contest at this festival in 1978. Boogie down!



I was working at UCLA's Rosenfeld Management Library when it moved from the old building to the new. We moved the rare books from Special Collections across campus on hand trucks. This was the last place I worked at UCLA. During most of my lunches I went to the pool in the Women's Gym nearby and swim. That and discovering the Fowler Museum next door are my two fondest memories of that job.

My Home Away from My Home-Away-from-Home - Thursday 11/29/2007

Welcome to Panera, Palmdale. I came here for the reasonable soup and salad lunch, and their computer-friendliness, and this is where I got the day's writing done.

I spent too much time goofing around at home in the morning and I had to get on my Three Categories of Accomplishments for my 3rd layoff day. (Remember, we're laid off one day a week for the time being.)

House Accomplishment: gathered up two big bags of clothes, shoes, bags and toys and a box of housewares and delivered them to Goodwill; brought firewood in; did 2 loads of laundry.

Exercise: 20 minutes Pilates DVD. It was going to be 30 minutes, but I began to hurt inside near where my gallbladder used to be. The doctor said I wouldn't tear anything apart but I would know when to stop and that moment hit around 20 minutes of abdominal work. This DVD is a lot harder now than it was pre-surgery.

Writing: worked for about an hour and 15 minutes on the novel.



It was beautiful when I arrived at my home-not-away-from-home. I stood on the park bench in the back yard to take this picture.

Early Evening at the Farmer's Market - Wednesday 11/28/2007

My writing group is meeting in a different part of town now, which means the city has kind of opened up to me again! Instead of busying myself in my work neighborhood, I can do many things with the hours between 3:30 and 7:00 pm.

Tonight's choice: The Farmer's Market at Third & Fairfax. The one that's been here since 1934. I love these unusual shopping carts.


I noticed some fancy new plastic chairs and tables. These are not those. These are the old style ones. There's something lovable about them.



I like this mural. I haven't ever eaten here, but perhaps I will.

There are only two or three produce vendors left at the Farmer's Market. Now it's mostly eateries. But I bought the fixings for a simple salad (red lettuce, mushrooms, cherry tomatoes, and avocado) to share with the writing group, and I stopped by Mr. Marcel for a baguette.




On my way out, through The Grove, I enjoyed the Christmas lights. That's a spouting fountain on the right of the shot.

The Etiquette of Restaurants - Tuesday 11/27/2007

A man with a briefcase comes in and stands near the register. He is uncomfortable. He is unsure whether it’s all right to just go take a seat or if he has to wait for someone to escort him past the curved counter.

He is exposed. He is on display. He won’t look at the other patrons who could probably answer his question. He has committed to some rules of behavior.

I look up a couple of times. If he meets my eye, I’ll tell him that it’s okay to sit anywhere.

I’ve been in that position. Most recently in a restaurant in France in which my mother and I made spectacles of ourselves standing and waiting for a cue, then walking deep into the busy dining room, then walking awkwardly back to the door and waiting until we could catch the eye of one of the busy servers to get permission to enter.

Yikes. I felt like I had "AMERICANO" or the French equivalent etched on my forehead.

The waiting man gets the attention of someone in the back. He lifts his chin, smiles, nods, points with one fully outstretched arm toward the back of the restaurant and starts walking.

The rules are different in the early morning hours. Unless the back is blocked off, it's anarchy! You can sit anywhere! If you get here at lunch time, not only do you have to be seated by a hostess, but you might have to wait 10-15 minutes for a table.

A man in the black sweater and baseball cap pushes through the big glass doors. He knows his way around restaurants. Or at least around pre-dawn Big Boy. He slides into the booth in front of me with his back to me.

He orders coffee, ice water, corned beef hash with poached eggs, fruit, and an English muffin with butter on the side without even looking at the menu.

Diner Rock Star!

*******

Oh, and here's another WGA Strike video. A really funny one. Only 2:56 minutes of your time. Free! (Sold yet?)

Up Front - Monday 11/26/2007

Grumble grumble. They've been closing off the back (cozier) part of Bob's for the past couple of weeks. Because they only have one server on duty in the early morning hours. Because there are no production crews coming in before or after long days of shooting.

So I have to sit up front. It's okay. The table's bigger.




But the new waitress, who has now waited on me at least 8 times, still doesn't remember that I take milk with my tea and that I want a glass of water. I miss UT and K. And when E came in today, she was busy setting up the back station and didn't have time to chat.

That's okay.

I'm here to write.

Sniffle.

[On a lighter note, I'd just like to say that I had a wonderful time over the five-day weekend. Wrote for an hour and a half by candlelight every morning. There is no one easier to live with than a writer who has written. We can be very nice people.]

Cool Thing: I learned how to embed a video. Very easy if someone writes the code for you.

Sirius Skiing- Sunday 11/28/2007

Hydra spent parts of the weekend putting up Christmas lights! I think the full moon is a particularly nice touch.

I took my tripod out and set it up. Which is why the photo is on an angle. I decided not to correct it with software.


Peering up the front walk.



Sirius, the star of the show.

Saturday? Sunday? - Saturday 11/24/2007

No wonder I'm confused! When I make a fire in the fireplace, I usually do it on a Sunday morning.

But ah, this Saturday I turned my wing-back chair to the flames and put my feet up on a footstool and read for an hour or more by the fire. Lovely.

Dodger sat on my knee and kept an eye on it. Looked at me when I first started it like, "Hey! There's a fire in the room. Shouldn't we be leaving?"

This is the first time I've burned larger wood from our own trees. It burned quite nicely.

My World and Welcome To It - Friday 11/23/2007

No, not really a reference to the James Thurber book. Just an invitation to look over my shoulder and see what I've been saying about writing by candlelight. It's truly magical.

After taking the photo I realized that the black object in the left background is my 250 gig external hard drive. Just so you should understand that although I am committed to my fountain pen, I am no Luddite.

I am most happily productive when I am writing new material in my notebook and then transferring it to my computer later. The pen taps into something that my keyboard doesn't. Maybe because the written page is not intended to be perfect while the computer file just begs to be edited.



Chez Sundry is open for business. I'm glad to report standing room only crowds this morning.

Note the female goldfinch on the top tier on the right fending off a finch who's trying to land on her head!

Taking the Cake - Thanksgiving Day 2007

This is what it's supposed to look like. Except that it's supposed to be four layers rather than three.

But four won't fit in my vintage cake carrier!

So yesterday I frosted and caramel-glazed and pecaned the extra layer and put it on a paper plate and took it over to the retired single guy in our neighborhood who follows his dog around the hills half the day. I was a little nervous that he might think it was odd or that I thought he needed charity, but--yay!--he was just very pleased and maybe a little moved.

Everybody wins!



The mysterious city of oil. A couple of times a year we pass the Signal Hill/Long Beach area at dusk and I wish I knew where to set up a tripod and get a shot of this massive refinery all lit up.

Someday, maybe.

Shhhh! - Wednesday 11/21/2007

I can't tell you everything I did on my layoff day. Because it involves hiking over the the hill.




To meet Hydra at the offramp.



And embark on a Super-Secret Mission!

Which didn't involve this L.A. Sheriff's Department helicopter. But it was big and it took off right next to us, and doesn't my Nikon D80 just kick ass in a pinch?

Fulfilled my list of things to do on a layoff day by writing for an hour and a half, cooking ahead for Thanksgiving and hiking over that hill.

CSI: Toluca Lake - Tuesday 11/20/2007

Who killed the laser printer?

J'accuse! Shall we blame Mamalisa, who lurks in the background?

You know from watching the show, that the most obvious answer just can't be right.

A quick interview of the usual suspects garnered the following speculations:

"It killed itself." From the person most likely to empathize with the poor overworked machine.

"It's number was up." From the person with the most Zen presence. Who, coincidentally, orders the toner and replacement drums and may actually be aware of the projected print-life of the machine in question.

"It needed killing." From the person most likely to lose a document somewhere between her computer and said printer.

Given that the holiday is fast approaching, I 'm afraid that this crime scene is going to go cold and stay cold. Given that the strike is on, I'm afraid we won't recruit another printer for a long long time.

Foggy Bob's - Monday 11/19/2007

I was amazed at how the flash revealed texture in what looked like solid fog to the naked eye. It was so foggy I became disoriented driving down Riverside Drive. They even shut down Burbank airport due to the fog.

Cool Thing: Another funny video: The WGA Strike: A Love Story.

And now some thoughts about writing, because it's been going well again for the past week or so. (Rah!) You're excused, if you want to be. But if you do read on, I'd love to hear any thoughts you have about the process.

I remembered that candlelight provides a private sphere in which to create. It helps me focus and dims out the rest of the world. I rose before dawn and Saturday and Sunday and had a great time writing in candlelight.

How interesting! My bad guy, who would spend a lot of time in firelight, came out of the dark and had so much to tell me.

I planned to write in third person from the points of view of the three other characters and let him be a mystery, but when it comes right down to it, a good villain is someone we can relate to on some level.

He has a whole different perspective on everything that happens in that canyon. Of course. His set of recent experiences has been vastly different from anyone else's

In exchange for letting him express his point of view, he showed me how to address a couple of plot problems.

I guess it takes me a lot of writing and thinking to get to the point where the characters start showing me things. Kind of like acting, where you have to learn the lines and really own them before you spark to the character’s perspective and motivations.

It’s interesting to know that others are doing NaNoWriMo right now, and to reflect on how good it was for me. I’ll always know I started this novel on November 1st, 2006.

Pumpkin Cake! - Sunday 11/18/2007

I found this truly wonderful recipe for a pumpkin cake several years ago and finally got around to trying it today. You can go to the link if you like. This is just going to be notes about things you should know if you're going to try it.

Like... Note the photograph above. I had to laugh when I tried to follow the instructions to beat the cream cheese (for the frosting) at medium until creamy. Even though it was at room temperature, it all migrated instantly to the beaters!

This is where the recipe's 20-minute prep time first gets thrown off (unless, like me, you realize that neither you nor your husband actually put the eggs into the cart and you have to wait for reinforcements) as it takes 3-5 minutes to repeatedly scrape the cheese off the beaters as you try to get it creamy.

Tip #1, kind of: Next time I will try adding in just a few spoonsful of the pumpkin puree at the beginning. (Maybe I'll let you know. I'm making this again for Thanksgiving.)

It will also take you another few minutes if, like me, you have to pause to laugh helplessly, find your camera and stage several shots along the way.



Tip #2: Don't believe them when they say to mix the frosting in a "small bowl." What is Kraft's definition of a "small bowl" anyway!? I had a suspicion that my definition of a small bowl wouldn't hold the 8 oz. of cream cheese, 7 oz. of pumpkin puree, 8 oz. of confectioner's sugar and full tub of Cool Whip.

Right I was. This bowl is probably about 2 quarts and it's just about full!


Tip #3: KEEP AN EYE ON YOUR PARROT AT ALL TIMES!

Or he might just wander over--while you're waiting for the cakes to cool and trying to design your Christmas card online--and take a big bite out of one of them.

If this does happen, simply cut around the bite with a knife and fill in with frosting. Don't tell anyone about this. It will only make them uneasy about eating in your home.

Unless they have cats. People with cats have fewer food/animal issues because if they're honest with themselves, they know that their darlings dance all over everything in the kitchen anytime you leave the room.


Tip #4: Half of this cake is enough for most reasonable people to enjoy. I called Braveheart for advice on freezing cakes. (In her spare time, she is the Mistress of Cakes and the Doyenne of Pies.) I wrapped the other 8-inch round in plastic wrap and aluminum foil and slid it into the freezer for later. Froze the extra frosting separately, in a yogurt container.

If you followed the link, you'll see that this cake is configured differently because it's only two layers (really one layer split into two) and it has frosting on top, and there are no pecans.





Which leads us to

Tip #5: If it's your boss's birthday and she's allergic to nuts, don't even bother to toast the pecans and take them on the side. Let her feel that the cake is complete as it is.

Or, like me, tell her that you omitted the pecans because you didn't think she should have to provide the entertainment by puffing up and being Medivacked to the hospital.

"Happy Birthday! Buh-bye!"

A good, hypoallergenic time was had by all.