Shepherd Me, O God

Every year when I attend Temple with my Husband and his family, this song* turns up during the Yizkor service. They have slightly different lyrics (Strengthen Me O God) is the most obvious difference. It is beautifully done with harp and upright bass, simple and yet so heartbreakingly beautiful.
It fills my heart with joy, every time I hear it.
At some point in the Catholic Liturgical year, it turns up at my Mass in Church and I am brought back to those Yizkor services in Temple, where we pray for our dead.

In a surprise to me, it was also played at my father's Funeral and it was the only bright moment in the whole service...well, that and having my father's 4 Grandchildren together that day.

*Note: If you click that You Tube Link above, my apologies for the ad at the top of the video.


The Lyrics follow.

Shepherd me, O God,
beyond my wants,
beyond my fears,
from death into life. [bis]

1. God is my shepherd,
so nothing shall I want,
I rest in the meadows
of faithfulness and love,
I walk by the quiet waters of peace.

Shepherd me, O God,
beyond my wants,
beyond my fears,
from death into life. [bis]

2. Gently you raise me
and heal my weary soul,
you lead me by pathways
of righteousness and truth,
my spirit shall sing
the music of your Name.

Shepherd me, O God,
beyond my wants,
beyond my fears,
from death into life. [bis]

3. Though I should wander
the valley of death,
I fear no evil,
for you are at my side,
your rod and your staff,
my comfort and my hope.

Shepherd me, O God,
beyond my wants,
beyond my fears,
from death into life. [bis]

4. You have set me a banquet of love
in the face of hatred,
crowning me with love
beyond my power to hold.

5. Surely your kindness and mercy
follow me all the days of my life;
I will dwell in the house of my God
forevermore.

Shepherd me, O God,
beyond my wants,
beyond my fears,
from death into life. [bis]

Round And Round And Round In The Circle Game

Ok, I KNOW Google hightlighted these things on September 15th.

This is the first time I ever saw one from the air. Being that they had just been highlighted, I immediately stopped what I was doing and grabbed the camera.

I have no idea where I might be, but my best guess is Colorado.

I was pretty impressed that I found some.

How cool.

Fountain Of Beauty

My Water Post For Today.

A fountain in Central Islip, NY. Right outside this REALLY excellent Italian restaurant .

I normally do a little fixing on my photos, but this one is just outstanding on its own. You can see every drop of water on those fountain streams. Look at the moss, growing on the overhang!
I have not seen anything so interesting in quite a while.

I hope you enjoy.

The Place I Was Born

I had to stop and make a few phone calls, upon my arrival in New York. Since I knew the hospital where I was born was on the way there, I pulled off the road and parked in their lot.

Many years ago, I came into this world. Mom, good Catholic that she was, had me in a Catholic Hospital quite a distance from our home. The story of my birth goes that my Dad was told to go home, since it would be quite a while before I made my appearance. So he did. Mom said that I came shortly after, at 10:45PM that evening. She never let my Dad forget that he was watching some game show at that time, while she labored to have me. Whatever...

I don't believe this section of the hospital is where I was born. I remember a 2 story wing over behind the main hospital and that is where I believe all of us were born. I remember Mom at a window one time (I think for my youngest brother) and we got to wave to her. For my middle brother, I remember my Dad taking me and my sister out to buy my Mom a comb and brush set as a present. We were staying at my Grandmother's house, so that Dad could continue to work. It was a big outing for my sister and I.

Only fun memories are tied up in this place, since only our 4 births happened here.

National Parks

Ken Burns' latest series begins on Sunday.

As with most stuff coming from Ken, I am sure 12 hours are going to drag on just a bit. That seems to be his way.
The footage I saw back in April at a Conference I attended, was stunning.

So I will check it out at some point and enjoy the best part of this wonderful Country of ours.

Oh, Pioneer!

I was on the subway last evening and this man was standing next to me, reading the food section of the Los Angeles Times. The headline for this post caught my attention, because many years ago my station did an episode of a show that carried that exact name. Well, I look at the photo that accompanied the headline and I immediately recognize The Pioneer Woman. I read her blog every day, because I love her photos. She takes the ordinary...and makes it into a work of art. If only my photos were half as good. :-)

The reason for the article was to announce that Ree Drummond has a cookbook coming out next month. The Pioneer Woman Cooks. She spent the better part of last year, working on the book and it is filled with photos that show "step by step" how to make whatever it is she is showing you.

I personally can't wait to hear that the book is out and for sale. I feel a Christmas gift coming my way.

If you would like to check her out, go down the left side of my blog and click the link to her...or query The Pioneer Women on Google.

Babylon Sisters...Shake It!

"Drive west on Sunset
To the sea
Turn that jungle music down
Just until we're out of town
This is no one night stand
It's a real occasion
Close your eyes and you'll be there
It's everything they say
The end of a perfect day
Distant lights from across the bay"




Here are photos of the two biggest cities in my adopted state. I flew through both of them yesterday and just marveled at how totally different they are. I live, love and work in LA...but I have got to admit that San Francisco has always had my heart...from all the way back in 1974, when my family visited it for the first time. The bay, the hippie types, the cable cars. They have it all. :-)

I was not surprised that the fog was rolling in through the Golden Gate...that is such a normal occurrence. All I saw was one golden tower peaking out of the white. It was so beautiful.

When I got back to LA, there was that same fog at the very edge of the runways at LAX, so they sent us inland and we turned at the Alameda Corridor (that funny rail thing you see in the photo, leading toward the Downtown area.) It brings freight to the area, without holding up traffic. I have never made that maneuver before and it was quite thrilling to do.

I am so glad to be home, though I am missing my sister terribly.

BTW, I have one ear that is killing me right now. It did not like all the changes of pressure. Sigh...

The Two Of Us

I am still in New York, but I will be returning to LA today. Yay!

I wanted something to remind me of my guy, who I am missing.

This was taken last Saturday at the Beach.

Smell the sea, feel the wind.

In Honor Of The First Day Of Fall

I am still in New York.


This is my son (the weird one), modeling a lovely headdress of some Fall leaves.


I don't know quite what to make of this photo, but here it is.
My Halloween son showing off his favorite season of the year.


Or as he says, "Gotta love the fall." :-)

Hit The Beach

My Water Post For Today.

I live all of an hour from the water. Why do I wait so long to go visit it?

I love the wind in my hair, the smell of the sea that stays with you, even when you go back inland. There is just something magical about the hypnotic waves crashing on the shore and then retreating, back to the sea again.

I hope you enjoy this as much as I enjoyed being part of it.

Last Mass In The Old Church

Today is the day when we celebrate our Last Mass in our Multipurpose Room. It was only supposed to take 3 years and instead it took over 11. A generations time for the children of Kateri, who don't know when to kneel at a Mass. Boy are they going to have a rude awakening, when they have to kneel next week. :-)

I am out of town in NY, so this photo was actually taken the week before, on September 12th. I am one for total truth, so I let you know this. But since I am in NY, this was indeed MY last Mass in Kateri...

This room seats 600 and our new Church will be the second largest in Los Angeles. It will hold over 1,200. It's going to be quite a change for our humble parish.

What Do I Do With This?

I am in New York.

A new Makenna photo for my sister and something for me to see, while I am away from my family.

She looks totally confused with the fake plant. Especially since she ate a bunch of my real ones, just days before.

I now have grass for her, thanks to my friend Becca who suggested it.

I learned my lesson.

The Jewish New Year, According To Google

A friend of mine forwarded this over to me. Credit goes to Bangitout.
I personally love the little Honey Bear. :-)


Happy New Year 5770.

May your joys be many, may your troubles be few. May the economy recover and may your year be filled with love and peace. In other words, a good year to all.

For those who follow my humble blog, I am flying out to New York tonight. I will be back in time for the end of the High Holy Days. In a sign of the times, my first Furlough Day is Yom Kippur. I figured since I was going to be in Temple with my Husband anyway, might as well not get paid for it.

Car Chase

Click on the photo to read the story.


I was driving home on Tuesday night. Things were weird and I had just consciously said that to myself, to make me aware of the fact that I had to be even more vigilant on my drive home, when I saw a light in the Newhall Pass. Not just a light in the sky, but other aircraft that I very soon realized were helicopters. Uh, oh, I thought...Car Chase. I slowed down a bit and soon others slowed down too, because yes, there were at least 6 or 8 cop cars on the other side of the freeway and a light shinning down on the road. A Fire Truck followed them at a safe distance.

I called my Hubby and he checked it out, but nothing was on TV at the time.
When the news came on at 10PM, my story made it on the air.

That's the first time I have ever seen one of those things...definitely scary.

Reggae At The Harbor

How cool is this? A reggae band playing on a barge out in the Harbor.

I am not a big reggae fan at all, but my Husband and I definitely enjoyed the bit of music we got to hear. There were many people sitting on chairs and eating and listening to the music. It looked to us like the locals came out to see the band. It's a good way for the Ventura Harbor Village to get more people out to the Harbor area and shop.

I wonder how they managed to keep their cables from getting wet. :-)

Ventura Harbor Village

I have discussed this area of Ventura before.

Ventura Harbor Village is an area of the Harbor that has shops, restaurants, divers, fishermen and all things water. It's a lovely area, but as with most areas, they are experiencing the downturn in the economy and they have been hurting. I was glad to shop in their stores and eat in one of their fine restaurants. I was also glad to see that, for the most part, they are hanging on (more on the how, tomorrow.)
The things I remember from over a year ago, are still in operation.







On a trip to this area of the world, make a stop here. It's worth it.



Photos
========
The top photo
shows the place
where we normally
have dinner.
Andrea's Seafood.

The bottom photo
shows the area where
the carousel is.

A View From Nantucket

My Water Post For Today.


A field trip to the East Coast of this Country, where a college friend spent this past summer.

Nantucket Island, at sunrise.


I hope you enjoy it.

Metro Orange Line AKA The Express Bus

Right across the street from North Hollywood Subway Station, is the termination of the Metro Orange Line. It runs along an old rail right of way, through the lower third of the Valley. Bringing people from the outer areas over to North Hollywood. I have never ridden it, but as I sat there watching it, there were bus loads of people disembarking and running for the subway, so it seems to be doing it's job of getting people out of their cars and onto Mass Transit.


I am truly impressed at how inexpensive it is to take Mass Transit here in the City of Los Angeles. My Rail Pass used to cost me over $200 a month. I am currently paying $124 a month and these people may be around $65 a month. Nice...

A good thing to know for me, is that I see in one of the photos, an Enterprise Rent a Car location. You just never know when it might come in handy. :-)

NCIS Los Angeles

You can tell that CBS is worried about this show...

There are billboards plastered all over the Los Angeles area, announcing the arrival of this show. It already had a premiere back in May, but they feel they have to get it even more buzz.
I must say that seeing LL Cool J on these posters, does nothing for me. I worked an American Bandstand back in 1987 and his Rap Tune, complete with turntable crap, gave me a headache. That never bodes well for me liking someone's music. ;-)

It saddens me, because the money they are spending on this spin off, they could have spent on Season 5 of The Unit.

Am I bitter?

North Hollywood

My Husband and I met in North Hollywood. We spent the first year of our "together" life over there, so I have some very vivid memories of that place and of that time. We moved to Santa Clarita, just a year later, so I have spent 29 years up here...but North Hollywood still has a tie to me.

I recently changed how I commute to work. I now take a bus from Santa Clarita and it drops me off at the end of the Red Line Subway at North Hollywood Station. This was not here, back in the day, but it sits just 2 blocks from my first apartment on Burbank Blvd. As a matter of fact, I pass it, both coming and going. It used to be across the street from a park...now days, the North Hollywood Police Station sits there. Wow, what a difference that makes.

When I sit there waiting for the bus, I look around at the station and it is just a hub of activity at that hour. People coming and going, buses coming and going and planes taking off from Burbank Airport, flying over us. I think they really did a nice job on this station. The colors of the "band shell" that covers the entrance are interesting and the fact that they have been revitalising the neighborhood into the NOHO Arts District, gives the area some feeling of vitality. It's a very mixed area of the city and it actually reminds me a bit of NY. All that hustle and bustle going on, in different languages. Preachers preaching, people trying to sell you watches and hot dogs, or even bumming a cigarette off you.

It's all there...in North Hollywood.

Pretzel Logic - - Or Me And Yoga

I am now the proud owner of a yoga mat.

I am not yet sure I made the right decision, as I sit here aching after my first class. Maybe I should schedule a hot tub session, after my class ends... :-)

I learned that Yoga is hard work. I was sweating, by the half way point.

I learned that I do not have great balance, on one foot...but amazingly, I held my own in this Pretzel pose we did. Who knew I could wrap one arm around the other and one leg around the other and make it work? I certainly didn't.

I think aspirin is calling my name.

Health Insurance

I really try not to get into the middle of major Political discussions. If there is one thing I have learned in these 5 plus decades on this planet, it is that you never win. What I decided to do is quickly discuss one person's Health Care and why she is hoping that real change can be had, this time around.

I have had health insurance since I married my guy. When I got my job (a month later), I also had my own insurance, paid for by my company. In those days, double coverage was quite common. Then in 1987, my guy lost his job with a Fortune 500 Company and so my humble employer, has paid our way. I thank them so much for that, but they should not be doing the heavy lifting here.

To say the least, it has been a hard road. I left the Engineering Department, to get stable hours so that my Husband and I could have a baby. What that meant is that when all I wanted to do was stay home for a few years and take care of that which we had created, I had to work...because I carry the Health Care Insurance. Back in the 80's, when I wanted to move to Freelance Graphics Operator, this was not really an option...because I carry the Health Care Insurance.
I worry about any of us having a major illness, because I am sure that how much you cost your company, directly affects who gets laid off at a point in time. Too many bills and you may see the door, the next time the grim reaper appears at your job. I have no proof of that fact...but let's just say, it's a feeling I get and I am not the only one.

All I ask is that I be in charge of the who, what and where. I don't want to be part of a group that has to sit there and deal with how many cancers, how many heart attacks, how many kidney failures and oh, our rates are going up again this year. This is not right. We need to get away from this form of Group Coverage.

I keep hoping that something better then what we have now, comes to pass. I don't ask for Government control necessarily, but some place that is not your employer, would work for me. Somewhere with stable rates and no chance of your insurance dropping you, because you actually got sick. (I ask for the moon, don't I?)

Let's see what the Obama Administration puts on the table. So far I have not heard any specifics, but I really want to.

The bottom line for me is, let's take the instability out of Health Insurance and make all our lives healthier.

Hubby And Makenna

Slowly...oh so slowly, he is coming around.

I thought they looked so cute together last Friday. Of course he would look even cuter with her on his lap...but not quite yet.


In things she did this weekend.
I woke up at 5:20AM Monday morning to find her on my chest.
OMG!
Get off me, you trying to kill me, Makenna?

Thankfully, she did not repeat this and I hope I made enough of a stink so that she won't do that again.

Water And Light

My Water Post For Today.


I took this shot at sunset and so some of the jets of water are not easily seen, but I really love the reflection of the blue lights on the water.


The guy over on the A&F building isn't a bad sight, either. :-)


I hope you enjoy.

Steely Dan Takes The Rent Party Tour Out In The Fall

I got an email yesterday from the folks at Steely Dan dot com. The band, which played it's last show on Saturday, is not done for the year. They just added some October dates and others are scheduled to appear in the next few weeks or so. Seattle, Washington was lucky to get 2 dates and (of all places) Southern California gets another chance to see the band at Pechanga Casino in Temecula.


Here are the start of the dates:


Leg II - Autumn


Special Setlist shows are marked with | a setlist link |
Bookmark this page and check back often for fast-moving adds.


Oct 12 - Seattle WA - Paramount Theatre | Aja (Plus) | AMEX presale 9/8 - general on sale 9/11


Oct 13 - Seattle WA - Paramount Theatre | The Royal Scam (Plus) | AMEX presale 9/8 - general on sale 9/11


Oct 16 - Temecula, CA - Pechanga Resort & Casino | on sale now


It was one of the finest tours I have seen, so I am glad that others will get the chance.

I've Got The Sun In The Morning And The Moon At Night

This has been our lives for the past few days. Our sunsets and sunrises are dominated by orange balls of fire, that have to punch through the layers of smoke that surround the LA Basin.

On the other end of day, here is a photo of the moon, which spent several days hovering over us all in that same shade of orange.

As of Friday, things seem to be getting back to normal, as least as far as the sun and the moon are concerned.




Last I heard, the fire was over 40 percent contained. A good thing.

Hope you are enjoying a fun Labor Day Weekend.

Silverlake Life...The View From Here

My workplace borders many areas of Los Angeles. As I mentioned yesterday, Los Feliz is right down the street. Going in another direction up Sunset Blvd, you have Silverlake. Whenever I look out the windows in our offices, that is the view I see most often. Everytime I see those hills, I think of a show we ran back in the day, in a series called P.O.V. The show is "Silverlake Life: The View From Here". The title and the view I see are closely bound together, at least in my mind.
It makes me think of how many people have died of AIDS, not just here, but around the world...in the time frame of the almost 3 decades I have worked here.

A sobering thought.

Kenmore Avenue

I will admit this freely, this photo has been in my mind for months.
I have been taking Franklyn Ave. this past year, when I drive into work by car. As I mentioned in a post previously, I have never driven on this stretch of road, for my entire 29 years of working in the Los Feliz section of LA. One day, shortly after I started taking this road, I happened to look down this street called Kenmore. It has a church on the corner and I glanced to the right and there was this building, right in the middle of the street...or so I thought. I meant to go back sometime and finally did and took the street. I found out that it branches off into 2 streets. So then I drove up to Finley then to the left and then down Alexandria. There was another weird street set up (look at the map below to find it.)
I have tried to research this section of town to find out it's history, but basically to no avail.

It's kind of cool, though.

Makenna: Week Three (For My Sister)

My sister has become a fan of this humble blog and since she is not on Facebook, I would like to post this for her.
There are others who don't see Facebook either, so here it is, for you to see, too.
Makenna beginning week three, living with the angel house.


You can definitely feel the difference from the first photo I took of her. She is now in her element, Princess of all she commands.

I am so glad she is working out for us. Yay!

That's My Guy...Always Waiting For Me

Day 4 of the Steely Dan concert marathon finds this intrepid concert goer, taking photos of the Universal experience.


As I flitter off to here and there, my guy...my long suffering guy...is waiting for me, again.

I couldn't resist a photo of him, doing his waiting by the light post.

Love that man. :-)