Happy Halloween 2009

Happy Halloween!

This holiday has always meant a lot to me. What's not to like...candy, parties and fun. Of course all that changed 19 years ago today.
If you were not here last year you might like to check out my posts about the birth of my son.
They are here and here.

To the rest of you who read them already, please feel free to skip this step and have a happy and spooky Halloween...and don't eat too much candy. :-)

Photo
==============
The front entrance
to Maryland House,
a rest stop along
I-95.

Bureau Of Engraving And Printing

We thought we were not going to be allowed to visit the Bureau of Engraving and Printing and both my husband and myself were very disappointed. What we found out, when we passed the building by on our way to the Tidal Basin is that it is the off season and no appointments are needed, you can literally walk right in and take a tour. Well, we love money as much as the next man and so we did. :-)

It was fascinating to the both of us who have operated printing presses over the years, to see our money being made, right in front of our eyes. 100 dollar bills, 32 to a sheet...sigh

A Highly recommended tour.

Do it and get to kiss your money goodbye!

The National Mall: America's Gift To Its People

I have so much to say about our vacation in Washington, DC. I have been here many times and each time, I am glad I came. Over the years I have visited most everything...or so I thought. We actually managed to find a few things I have never done.
We spent a day at the National Mall and we visited the Korean War Memorial and the World War II Memorial. Both excellent and highly recommended by me. The Korean War Memorial has a unit of troops slogging it out on patrol, Com radios and rifles in hand. The attention to detail was excellent and you felt like you were with them. They have a beautiful black pool that is part of the exhibit and I will showcase that on a later water post, because it is just so beautiful, too.

The World War II Memorial has 2 large monuments anchoring it commemorating the battles in the Atlantic Theatre and the Pacific. Each state of the union gets a pole and even non states, like Puerto Rico and Guam, get one too. The battles of each theatre are inscribed on the base of the two monuments and there is a large water fountain, too. It's so beautiful and my Father (who fought in that war) would have appreciated it. I am glad that veterans who fought in those 2 wars finally have a place to reflect and to honor their sacrifice. These have both been added to the Mall in the past decade. Relative newcomers.

I have seen the normal monuments, but I noticed something really different this time. Each of these Monuments, Lincoln, Roosevelt, Jefferson and Washington use words to convey the spirit of the American People. What is usually shown on TV in action footage or whatever, it is the words that have power and by being inscribed onto the walls of these monuments it gives those words even more power.
Why did we fight in WWII?
We fought because no people should be considered "better" then another person.
As that thought rears it's ugly head, even to this day, the words speak of how wrong this is.
Our people fought and died for this principal.

All Men ARE Created Equal.

It's nice that we get reminded of these facts once in a while.

Thank you for making me proud to be an American.

Touched By An Angel

Day 5 of our trip to Washington, DC. We will be back in LA at 6PM.

The other day I was setting up the shot of my newest angel. In order to get a decent photo of her, I had to move my garden angel. Well, that was just too much excitement for Makenna. She came over to investigate the angel and next thing I know, she is putting her nose where it probably doesn't belong.

Kind of a cute shot. :-)

Won't You Leave Me Alone...PLEASE

Day 4 of my trip to Washington, DC.

I am sure my cat is wishing she didn't think this last Sunday, as I took photo after photo of her being just too cute. She likes to take that chair sometimes and I thought she was cute sitting there. The rest of us, each have a part of couches and she respects that. If one of us leave the couch, she will definitely think about taking the vacated spot, as is her right.


We are still in Washington, DC and so the cat and my son are the only ones in our house right now. Bet she misses me and the Hubby. :-)

Living Water

Day 3 of my trip to Washington, DC


My Water Post For Today.

The cornerstone of our new Church is the baptismal Font, at the entrance. You are invited to place your hand in the streaming water, to bless yourself. Not my thing, but a nice sentiment, for those who want to cross themselves with baptismal water.

It has a wonderful mosaic of the seven sacraments down at the bottom and the colors are just wonderful.

I hope you enjoy.

Church Masses Move Around

Day 2 of my trip to Washington, DC.


Yes, you heard it here first.

As of November 1st they will add the fourth Mass back to the schedule. What that means is that the Mass that used to be at 9AM that got moved to 9:30A will not be at 8:30A. All in 30 days. It's been bad enough learning a new system, but the moving of the times has just added to the madness.

What they didn't realize is that lots of people were waiting for a real Church to appear, before they would actually come to Mass. We would have 600 people per Mass, times 4 Masses or a grand total of 2,400 people.
Now we have 3 Masses with 1,200 people, for a grand total of 3,600 people. That's a large increase in people, attending the Sunday Masses.

For the third Sunday of the month, our Mass switches from our regular team to a wonderful soloist and keyboard team, who had performed at the Mass that was deleted. We had her last week and it was a real treat when she sang a beautiful rendition of Ave Maria, that we applauded at it's conclusion. She will be missed by us, but I am glad she will once again have a place to sing weekly.

Hopefully this will be all the moving we will do. Especially since the Holiday's will soon be coming, with it's excess of people, on top of the regulars.

By the way, with this change in the time, I am looking forward to getting to my Yoga Class again. A good thing.

They Say Clothes Make The Man...Or Is That Woman?

I am in Washington DC this weekend.


As a young girl growing up in the 60's and early 70's, I watched "That Girl" with Marlo Thomas.
Always beautiful and so much more poised then I could ever be.

I never knew that the reason for that, was a designer...Cardinali.


My workplace has received a donation of dresses from The Cardinali Collection.

They are beautiful and scream to me of the styles of the 60's and early 70's.






Interesting all and gee, some going currently for all of 99 cents.


You can check them out and even bid on them, if you are into Ebay and fashion.

Click the link right here. Cardinali Collection Auction.

I wonder what Marlo thinks...

Universal City Station And The Campo De Cahuenga

If you are a Unit fan, you probably recognize this subway station from the Season 2 Episode called "Games of Chance". The door right at the end of this platform was where the final climatic subway scene takes place. Jonas finds the bad guy who is controlling the subway car that Bob Brown is on and gets it to stop. It was a great show and it showed off my subway system, real well.


Universal City Station is on the location of one of the important treaty signings in California History. The Capitulation of Cahuenga signed in 1847 ended hostilities between the Californio vaqueros and the forces of the United States. The Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, signed the next year, would finally end the Mexican-American War and California would then be added to The United States.

In honor of this fact, the station is decorated with many of the historic players from this period of California History. You can see them on some of the columns on the platform level.



When I was down waiting for the subway, I noticed a most unusual thing. The air flow from the subway is felt for a good 5 minutes, as the subway car traverses the entire Cahuenga Pass. It does this via a tunnel through the Hollywood Hills and when finished, it finally arrives at the station.

A little known fact about that stretch of subway. You can hear when you go through an earthquake fault, because the tunnel is larger and the track is laid out slightly different. It was done in the remote event that this fault causes an earthquake. If it does, the wider tunnel and the reinforced track will hopefully allow the subway to survive an earthquake on that fault, without crashing into the walls of the tunnel.

I hope you enjoy a visit to not only a subway station, but to a little bit of California's past.

Lunch With Gina

Gina was coming to town.

Since her layoff from my workplace, she and her husband made a decision and they put into operation a lifestyle change. So off they went to Lompoc, up on the Central California coast. Gina still occasionally visits the So Cal area and when we heard the news of a visit, an impromptu lunch was set up at our local Mexican Restaurant.
Others who were laid off were invited and even a retired engineer came.

The thing that makes this engineer special is that he was the man who put our TV Station on the air, back on September 28, 1964. He was with us (on and off) for 40 years. A major link to the past. As a matter of fact, I even saw a copy of the first log of the station. He kept that for decades and one of the things I found very cool was that Julia Child was well represented, on that first days broadcast. :-)


We had a good lunch, with lots of catching up and I was so glad I was invited. They say that the best part of any workplace is the people and I can definitely say that is true. I have met and worked with the absolute BEST people over the course of my career.

In the picture, the one who is Gina is the person with the lovely hand knitted shawl on her shoulders. She suddenly has time for such things... :-)

My White Angel

Is she not stunning?

My friend from Las Vegas brought me this beautiful angel, when she came to visit me. I guess as a gift for allowing her to stay the night. She is not the only one who has done this for me and I truly consider myself so lucky to have such wonderful friends, especially my Internet ones. It shows that you don't have to know someone for decades, to become fast friends. But I digress...

This now brings my collection to 3 angels. All are over on the left side of my blog. Proudly shown and all loved by me.

God, please watch over them all and keep them from damage in earthquakes. Thank you.

To Cindy, thank you so much for thinking of me. You are a true friend.

Rainy Day In LA

We actually had maybe an inch of rain over 3 days last week. I know, I know, big deal, right? :-)

Anyway, what was cool was that our programmer had an umbrella from Nielson Media Research and I just couldn't resist grabbing my cell phone and getting a shot for my friend Fran, who used to work for them. I wish I had been as in touch with her as I am now, back when she worked there. We just barely had contacted each other, when she moved on and across the Country. Oh well, a missed opportunity to up those ratings of mine. lol

Hey Fran, I hope you are finished your paper and get a chance to see this (click the photo, to see it better).

Trickling Water At Work

My Water Post For Today.



This is my lot.


When they designed our patio area back in 1999, they decided we needed a place with flowing water. This is what we got.


No comments please... ;-)





In good news, the birds like to sit at the top of the structure and take a bath in the water.
A plus, in my book.

Keeping birds clean and healthy is a Public TV mandate, right?

I hope you enjoy what we have to offer, the trickling water on the fountain that we have here at work.

Breathing Water - A Bangkok Thriller

My friend from Las Vegas sent me a message the other day. She was going to come all the way down to La Cañada, which is in Southern California, near where I live. It is also a few miles from where I work. I told her to drive to my work place and we could get something to eat and then head over to the book signing together. That worked out just fine for us. She arrived around 4:30PM and we got to my local restaurant by 5PM. Finished by 6PM and then a leisurely drive over to the bookstore and we were parked by around 6:45PM. So we headed into the bookstore and immediately bought 2 copies of the author's new book.
The author is Timothy Hallinan (click his name for more info).
Cindy and I met him 2 years ago, when he was about to leave for Bangkok to write this very book. She had been conversing with him via a part of his website called the "Dickens Challenge" and was allowed to come and visit him at the local coffee shop where he normally writes.
Since anything can happen in life, she did not tell him in advance, that she was coming down to the book signing and so when he got a look at us, he was very happy. Of course, it was Cindy who he was incredibly excited about. :-)

We ended up being the only ones who came for the signing, so that made us even happier that we went to the effort. He gave us a slide presentation about Bangkok and I am amazed at how much I did not know about that area of the world. I got to ask him questions of him and all in all, we had a very nice time.

When the signing was over he told us that he hadn't eaten yet and would we like to come with him to a local restaurant right down the block. That sounded good to us, and so he treated us to dessert, while he had some dinner. It's a place called Taylor's Steak House and from what I could see, the food was very good. An old fashioned Steak House, in the midst of trendy LA.

After almost 90 minutes of his personal time, we left Taylor's and drove up to my house, where Cindy got to see my Hubby and catch up with him.

All in all, a very unexpected and wonderful evening.

Now to get to the books...

==========================
Photo
Cindy and Timothy Hallinan
at the exibit in the
Flintridge Bookstore

Silk Floss Trees In Bloom

It's that time of the year again.

The Silk Floss Trees are blooming in profusions of pink flowers. I haven't a clue as to why.
Everything else in town is dying and these trees are acting as if it's springtime. My lot is filled with them, so here we are doing the happy merry it's spring dance in the midst of several days of fall rain.
Talk about why LA is just so screwed up. lol

Next up in January...
These same trees send out wads of cotton to get their seeds all around the lot. I can't wait.

Hollywood And Vine Station - The Heart Of Hollywood

A really cool subway station.

If North Hollywood is the prettiest station, then the heart of Hollywood and much of it's memorabilia is found here at the Hollywood and Vine Station.

Thousands of Film reels from real films are attached to the ceiling of the station. A few movie cameras and spot lights are found on the middle level. A painted big screen with curtain is found on both ends of the platform and palm trees are all over.




You can Follow The Yellow Brick Road, via the floor tiles and the seats on the platform level are shaped like cars and taxi's. They are the most destroyed part of the station and that is why I did not show them here, but even covered with grafitti, they are still interesting to see.

I did not go up to the ground level, but it contains a ticket counter and a replica of The Brown Derby hat.

Want to read more? Click the link for Metro.net Hollywood and Vine.

Cat Antics With Her Cat Toy

Almost 2 months with us and things have settled in nicely.
We still have those moments when you are trying to go to sleep and she is not quite with the program, but otherwise, we are doing well.





A couple of cat toy photos.

This is her favorite toy...the cat in the catnip bag, toy.
Of the two shots, I especially love the second one, where Makenna looks like she is ready to punch someone or something out.

You go girl!

Making Room In My Life For LA Fitness

I have been a member of LA Fitness for 2 months now.
This is the first time I have ever joined a gym and I have a few things to say about the experience.

I am definitely glad I joined.
I am so incredibly happy with their pool and with their Aqua Fit class. I am trying to shift my workday a bit, to avail myself of the morning swim class on Tuesday and Thursday. It's at 9AM and I would have to drive in on those days...or take the day off. :-)
I am now a standard feature at the Saturday Class and that has consistently been the one I have been at, vacations and sickness being the only things to keep me away. Even my Magic son waits for the class to end, before we go down to the Magic Castle.

I have done 2 yoga classes, but I am having trouble getting home prior to 8PM on the nights that the class is in session. The Unit (a TV show I watch) is on the best night for yoga, Wednesday. They don't have a class on Tuesday or Friday, so that leaves Monday and Thursday. We will see if I can manage one of them sometime. I was planning on making the Sunday Morning one my standard class and then they moved my Mass at church to 9:30AM. Trying to get to a yoga class at 11AM is almost impossible. Oh well.

So for me, who is not a weight lifter, I am doing OK using what I have purchased. Hopefully I can build on this and improve my health and fitness.

Young Mom And Her Family

I have been going on and on about my Dad's Father for the past few days, but I would like to switch gears to my Mom and her family.
Along with Grandpa's framed painting, came a box of photos and stuff and one very large photo of my Mom and her family. Another of those very formal things from back in the mid 30's, when she was quite young. She was the youngest child in her family. The thing is huge and has been taped and scratched, but it's still wonderful to look at, all these years later.

I love looking at the shoes, myself. :-)






This is teenage Mom, when she was in High School.

The back of the photo says 1939, but I would think it was in the 40's, because that was when she was in High School.

Sitting on the stairs of a Brownstone in Brooklyn, NY.

Pretty cool find.

The One, The Only...The Golden Gate Bridge

My Water Post for today.


What more can I say. This bridge is perfection. Sitting at the Gateway to San Francisco, it defines a city.

Fog rolling in, a boat chugging along as it is about to go under the Bridge. The wild water of the Pacific hitting the breakwater. It is so wonderful.
Just the thought of that bridge, made me fly out of my way to on my trip to New York last month.

I hope you enjoy it as much as I enjoyed finding this photo, from a few years back.

I Found An Old Article On The Metrolink Accident That I Witnessed

I wrote about three fatalities that I witnessed back on August 15, 1994. You can read my thoughts Here.

At the time I wrote that article, I tried to find the LA Times follow up article that was printed 2 days later and I could not find it. The other day I was organizing my desk and what popped to the top of my drawer that has clippings and cards and stuff in it?
The hard copy of the article.
I haven't seen it for at least a decade, but there it was. With the article in hand I was able to search for the online LA Times Article. Click it to read, if you are interested.


Photo Credit:
Boris Yaro, Los Angeles Times

Does that name sound familiar?
The photographer who took the
photo of the three women crossing
the tracks 2 days later is, the
photographer who took the famous
photograph of Bobby Kennedy,
after he was shot in the
Ambassador Hotel Kitchen in 1968.

A Sukkah Lives In Van Nuys

Sukkot is the Jewish Holiday immediately following High Holy Days. My family does not observe or build a Sukkah, but a friend of mine does. I casually asked him on the Thursday prior to the holiday, if he was going to put up his and he said that things were busy, but he hoped to do so and would I come visit and eat in it, if he got it done. I figured if he was going to go to that effort, I would try to do so. The week began and I heard nothing and then finally on Wednesday I find out that my friend had been sick and that was why we had no communication. He asked again and we made plans for Friday (which was the final day). I drove to work for the third time this week and managed to get over to Van Nuys, to visit the Sukkah, just at Sundown. Technically the holiday ended with the setting of the sun, but hey...

A lovely Chicken Dinner was cooked with home baked Challah.
My friend said the appropriate prayer before we ate. The fact that it was Shabbot, too, meant that we had to have a special Sukkos/Shabbat prayer.
It all worked out and a good time was had by all.

Riding The NOHO Express

The NOHO Express

For residents of the Santa Clarita Valley, it has basically been, drive or train. Yes, there are buses, but unless you are going somewhere specific and the bus takes you there, you are SOL.
Then along came the NOHO Express. It arrived with little fanfare in August. I was still taking the train...but thinking about the fact that I might actually be able to save a few minutes on my commute, if I switched. You see, I work in Hollywood. I take the train all the way to Union Station and then I take the subway all the way out to Hollywood. That little detour into the City, adds a half hour onto a brutal commute that was taking over 2 hours each way. So anything that might cut that down, is worth exploring.
I talked with another train rider, who also commuted into the Hollywood area and he was thinking of switching over. One day, he disappeared and I realized I had better check this thing out, before August was finished. So I did and I found out that, for me, it cost almost $100 less a month and if the Gods who are in charge of the traffic were with me, I might even shave up to a half hour off my commute, each way. OK, with that kind of incentive, I was in for September.

Well, since it is now October, how is it working?
It's working well enough that I did buy the October Pass. I have good days and I have bad days. There was the day that the evening bus didn't come for quite a bit of time and then there was the time that traffic got stopped for over an hour on the Hollywood Freeway. Just after Sherman Way and before Roscoe Blvd. Just sitting there...I did some work from work, I read for a while and then finally I took a nap. I felt very bad for the driver. As I said to my husband, at least I could DO things. If I had been driving, I would have had to just sit there.
There are things I hope that they change, the next time they figure out a schedule.
Don't expect traffic to be good for the afternoon pick ups at North Hollywood. We have a real problem with the 6:40P bus. It never seems to come and so I end up on the 7:17P, even though I have waited since something like 6:30P for it. It has become a running joke among the commuters...never a good sign.

My morning bus seems to be exactly on time each day, without fail. A good thing.

Metrolink, was never on time in the morning...at least for the 7:53AM Train.

Thank you Santa Clarita, for finally coming up with a connecting bus line into another transportation hub. Your residents who need to get somewhere else besides Downtown, appreciate it. For those not in the know, The Red Line and the Orange Line are both right there. It gets you many places in the Valley and into Hollywood.

I hope it succeeds.


=================
Photo Credit:
A Santa Clarita Articulated
Bus with the (at the time)
new paint job. My bus is
considerably smaller.

Bricks On The Walkway

Leading into my building are bricks that we put in for the new Millenium. At the time, about 10 long years ago, my family gave a Christmas present to each other, by buying a brick. It is seen in the first photo.
We thought it was a nice idea to have something be around maybe long after I even worked here.
As it ends up, here I still am here.
Able to see this brick daily, as I enter my building.





We used to have a cat on our lot. A black cat known as KCAT. I became her mother and was one of the people who buried her and planted a bush for her in the back garden. As a more tangible reminder of her presence over more then a decade, several of us bought her a brick. So I pass her brick too. Reminding me of those long ago days when she would trip the first person who turned up on the lot, asking them for her morning food.

I miss that cat. :-)

Grandpa In His New Home

No Grandpa, you are not in Kansas anymore...


Last month I went back to New York, to bring back some photos and things I had left behind back in May, when we sold my Dad's House on Long Island. I ran out of time and could not deal with packing the things up and so I dumped them at my Sister's house and said that I would be back in October to deal.
So I get to her house and my Brother-in-Law suggests I go to the local UPS Store to let them do the packing up and sending. I did so and let me tell you they did a great job, everything got to my house in LA in perfect condition. No broken glass, all frames in perfect condition. I couldn't believe it!

One of the pictures making the journey, was a painting of my Dad's Father, from the early 1900's. For as long as I could remember, the painting had hung in his family's formal dining room. It is a painting done from a photo of Grandpa with Grandma. He had his hand on her shoulder, in the photo. Since Grandma was painted out of the picture, the painter placed a tree stump there, in place of Grandma. Whatever...
My Dad had gotten the painting, in his later years and Grandpa was placed right at the front door. I never felt that was a good place for him and so when he arrived at our house, I made a command decision that he would be returned to the dining room, where he belonged. Lording over formal occasions, once again.

Welcome to LA, Grandpa. Hope you like Palm Trees.


Just for Gina...the close up.

The New Church's First 9:30AM Mass

For those waiting for this big moment, here it is. The first 9:30AM Mass in the new Church. We got the news mid week.
The Church finally had it's Certificate of Occupancy and we were cleared (a week late) to take possession and make it ours. I had not been in it for months and the finished product, as you can see, is stunning!







I did not feel it was appropriate to shoot photos during the Mass, so 2 of these photos were obviously taken before we began.

I did sneak one photo of our Music Ministry playing during the Offertory Collection. I didn't feel it took away from the solemn occasion, by doing so then.





Singing is soloist, Madeline Neumann. Playing the new keyboard is Reality Show king, David Vanacore. Madeline's brother, Rich is playing the box percussion.
We also have a guitar and a bass player.

It will take a bit of tweaking, but they looked good.

Next week...the Children's Choir. ACK!

Boat At The Foggy Shore

My Water Post for today.


We are back on the West Coast of this Country. A sail boat coming home, just before sunset, with the fog already coming in. I am glad he made it to safe harbor in time.
The thing that is so wonderful about our side of the Country is that the high mountains are right there, whereas on the East Coast, the tendency is to have mostly flat land at the waters edge. Of course there are exceptions...like Maine, for example.

I hope you enjoy.

Metal Gear Solid

A film by Thi, my "Other" Son #2 turned up on my Facebook page on Friday. I found it on You Tube and those not on Facebook can view it by clicking this.




Back when my son was a Sophmore, he and his friends would go hiking many weekends. They explored most of the Mountains of Santa Clarita, at this time. Buying cool gear at the Army Navy Surplus Store and then trying it out. One of their favorite jumping off points, was The Hive. Which is featured in this first still. It's a tube that goes under an entire housing development, keeping run-off from pouring through the streets of the neighborhood.


They were all so happy when they got a hike together and they would meet just down the canyon from this location, to begin their adventure.

Late in the school year they went out and shot a movie for Thi. I was the main driver for all of this, so I knew of many of the things that they did. But I never saw the results of this movie.


All my son said is that he plays an Italian Dictator. Yep, did a good job of it, too. lol








Here is Thi and Austin, "Other" Son #1.










Nate, "Other" Son #3 and Nicole.











Nate and my son without a number, Andrew.




Don't ask me what the movie is about and don't ask me anything else. I don't know.
What I do know is Metal Gear Solid is a video game.

Fun to see the kids so young and doing so well with video, even then.

There is talk of a remake. lol

Mono Lake

I am not going to call this a water post, though technically it is one.


This is Mono Lake in the Sierras of California. I have never been there, but when I saw this from the air, I KNEW it was something special.

A quick look at Google Maps and I had my confirmation. Mono Lake is the only lake on my flight path that even looks remotely like this. I was saddened that the Tufa formations were not visible to the naked eye.

One of the things on my flight home that totally made my day.

Inside NoHO Station

Back in September, I promised you a look inside the North Hollywood Subway Station.



I had to take lots of photos, because they have so many tile murals.
To give you a hint as to what you are seeing, they are set up like you are viewing the image in a kaleidoscope.
I can't even begin to show you them all...but here are a few.

Amelia Earhart is highlighted on one, Nudie's Western shop, on another.
El Camino cars, the citrus industry, palms, you name it, they get their moment in the sun...way down below the ground.

It truly has to be the most colorful station in the system.






























































Don't forget to click the photos, to see some of the beautiful detail. Enjoy.