Into The Wild Tour Begins

This small crappy cell phone photo was taken at the first concert of the 30 Seconds to Mars "Into the Wild" tour. It's Nottingham, England, a week ago last Friday, 2/19.
At some point in the concert they moved to a small stage in the audience, I don't know for what reason, but I thought the gesture was nice and it made a very interesting photograph. By the way, Jared Leto, frontman for the band, is currently sporting a mohawk haircut, so he is the blury person with the white light on him.

I wonder if the fans were aware in advance of the fact that the area by their seats was a stage. What primo seats! :-)






As videos and photos come in, I admit I am grabbing a few and I made a little collage of them, for here. That way, I am not clogging up my blog with photo after photo. They are in one place. :-)

The Into The Wild Tour...England.

In good news for me, the US leg of the tour has been announced and has just gone on sale...minus Santa Barbara and Los Angeles.

I plan to try to get tickets for the final show of the tour, at the Greek Theater on Saturday May 15th and I plan to go with my "Other" son #1, my favorite son...lol

The Saints In My Life

Who are these women and why do I have them sitting on a blog post?


Answer, they are my Saint's names.

They are a piece of who I am.



Obviously one of them is the Blessed Virgin Mary. Probably most Catholic females have some part of her name woven into the fabric of theirs. I consider it an honor.


Another is Saint Bernadette. I have a cousin who is a nun and my name comes from her. I always think of the Song of Bernadette, when I think of this name.


The final saint is St Catherine of the Catherine Wheel, which is depicted in the photo. The story goes that when they went to torture her, the wheel miraculously fell apart and she was spared the torture. A good thing. :-)

I always got a kick out of the fact that Mike Pinder of The Moody Blues had a reference to Catherine's wheel, in a song called "Eternity Road".

Turning spinning, Catherine Wheeling, forever changing, there's no beginning.


I consider it an honor, to be named after them all.

The Gates To Thai Town

These are the angels that guard the gate to Thai Town in Los Angeles, California.

I get dropped off many evenings by my boss at this very angel and I swore I would come during the day and get a few photos.

I had to go to work on a recent Sunday and I made a stop to photograph the angels.













They are called Apsonsi, and you can read more about them on the plaque that is at the base of the statues. (It is the last photograph in this post)


There is one on each side of the street and though the plaque references 4 of them, I have no idea where the other 2 of them are.












I think it's a beautiful spot on Hollywood Blvd. Something you don't see every day, or ever, for that matter.

For more posts on Thai Town, which is on Hollywood Blvd, just down the road about a mile from where I work, click this link and this link.

To check out the subway stop that started all the redevelopment and made Thai Town, the formal area you can now visit, click here.

Scenes At Work

When things get really ugly at work there's nothing quite like letting loose with the 50 cal gun. :-)














This was how it looked at my workplace yesterday. There was some sort of movie screening going on. A rental.

We were warned that there would be some unusual props around the lot, but I really was totally unprepared for what showed up.










Lots of contaminated signs, quarantine, Mobile command center, red lights blinking. It was truly surreal.

Why was all this going on? It was for a movie called The Crazies. Click the link to read about it. Suffice it to say, the movie is filled with depraved, bloodthirsty killers. It will release on February 26th.
They had the screening party at a nearby movie theater and the after party, over on our lot.








Since our lot was where they filmed the original 1956 version of Invasion of the Body Snatchers, this movie screening party, seems to fit right in.

Here's an account of the screening, from a party goer.

Crazies Event

Underneath A Golden Palm Tree...Hollywood

I got into so much trouble last time I quoted a lyric of a song...but that is what is running through my mind as I write this one...America's "Hollywood"

Actually I took this photo the day after a rain storm, because everything was just so clean and beautiful. Here's the view from the roof of my workplace parking structure.

Yeah, it's pretty darn perfect.


"Hollywood...Come to the party the drinks are on me...for free...the drinks on me"

Soto Station Metro Gold Line

This is one of two underground subway stops on the (mostly) above ground, Metro Gold Line.

Soto Street, in the heart of Boyle Heights is just to the east of Downtown Los Angeles. The station is just a beautiful place to experience. Maps, birds weird blue glowing thing hovering about the stairs. It's beyond anything I have ever seen before.




This is what it looks like, at street level. Clean lines and more structure then many of the subway stations get. It's a hit with me.

St. Joseph Husband of Mary Church Courtyard

My Water Post For Today.

I have better photos of the fountains at this Church in Las Vegas, but I love how the Church photo looks almost like a water color painting. My friend, Cindy, brought me to this Church a few years ago and I really loved it's California Mission Style, in the midst of HOT, HOT, HOT Las Vegas. An oasis of calm and coolness and just a perfect place to gather before or after Mass.

I hope you like it.

All Things Come To An End

If you have read the top part of my blog over the years, you saw that my Husband lurked in the Electronics Department of Walmart.

As with all things, I knew that this fact would eventually change and as of Friday, it did.

Walmart is no longer a part of my families life.

No more discount card, no more asking the guy to pick up something at work and bring it home.

Walmart came into our lives 7 years and 3 months ago and we thank them for all the years of supporting our family, through some tough times.

Now days, we are doing much better, financially and even though my guy lost his job, we are not overly worried. He has retirement income and his pension coming in. We were just using that extra money to work on our house a bit. You remember the roof from last year, right?
This year, God willing, are windows, doors, a kitchen counter and painting the outside of the house.

Some of that will hinge on my job, which, of course is always of concern. I am sure they are looking for more people to cut there.

Our benefits come from my work, and darn, I was hoping that the Congress would get some form of health care legislation passed.

I would feel more secure, with that albatross off my neck.

It seems that this will not be the case, so onward we will go, on this ride called real life.

Breed Street Shul

A few months ago, the Gold Line opened up an extention into the East Los Angeles area. A predominately Hispanic area of Los Angeles, it has a long history of housing immigrant populations, as they arrived in the city. Back in the early part of the last Century, it had a thriving Jewish immigrant population.
The original Jewish Deli, Cantors, was located at the corner of Brooklyn (now renamed Cesar Chavez Ave.) and Soto, along with Jewish butchers, bakeries and of course, a place of worship...The Breed Street Shul.
At it's height, there were over 10,000 Jewish residents of Boyle Heights, in East Los Angeles. As things changed, they moved on to places like the Fairfax District, the Valley, etc and other newer immigrants moved in. The Shul closed and had been left to fall into disrepair. If you would like to read more about it, here is the history of the Shul.

A Jewish friend of mine will soon be leaving the Los Angeles area and when he came over a week ago, I told him that he really should take a trip on the new Gold Line and visit the Boyle Heights area, where the Jewish roots of Los Angeles are. He answered back that he would love to, especially if I came along. That worked for me, since the only time I took the Gold Line, I was alone and really didn't feel safe walking around without someone along.


After the recent rains and cold weather, last Saturday turned out to be a beautiful warm, blue sky day and just perfect for a walking tour of the neighborhood. We rode the Gold Line to the Soto Street Station and got off at an underground station. I guess they do not want the trains climbing high elevations, so instead they tunneled underground in this area. It is a beautiful station, by the way and deserves it's own post.
We walked north for a block, until we got to Michigan Street and then turned to the left. Walked a block and then turned to the right, which brought us to Breed Street. A short distance ahead, we could see the Breed Street Shul. It dominates the street, even from a distance and behind its construction fencing. There is a restoration effort going on and you can read the current update on the Breed Street Shul.

If you find this of interest and would like to learn more, the restoration web page where you can make a donation, if you so desire, is here.

I am glad that the City is trying to keep this small piece of Jewish history and I was glad my friend and I took the walking tour of the area. We experienced so much and I highly recommend it to people.

An Annoyed Kitty

I know it's a dark photo, but to me the shot says so much about me and my cat. I love how she looks and I tend to take many photos of her. Unfortunately for her, that just annoys her no end.

I win though, cause I get those photos anyway.

Be annoyed cat, it doesn't bother me at all. :-)

Save The Peak

They covered the Hollywood sign the other day.

It has been illegally covered many times, but this is one of the few times the changing of the sign is sanctioned by Hollywood, itself.

The sign is referencing the fact that they are trying to raise something like 11 Million dollars to buy the land around the sign. Actually, the land off to the left of the H.

You can read about it here.

My Needy Child Gets His Orders

I would like to start this post by saying that I love this child so much!


My "Other" Son #1 finished his schooling last week.

On Tuesday, he got his orders. He will be coming to Camp Pendleton in San Diego County.

Yay we all think.

He is coming back to us, only a 2 hour drive away.
He can even get his car and drive it down to the base, so he has transportation, while stationed there. Great!!!!!

Then he drops the bomb...he hopes he will be assigned to the deployment that is going out next month. Deployed means more pay and trust me, there is never enough money for my "Other" son. Of course there is never enough money for my real son, either...but that's another story. lol

Have any of you seen what is going on in Afghanistan, with the Marines? I was watching some of the news on Sunday and I was not happy to see how dangerous some of the things that the Marine Battalions have to deal with, are.

You can read some of it, here.

Well, guess what?

That boatload of heartache, that I referenced to in my second post about my "Other" son and his enlisting, may now be arriving in the Angel House.

I may have one of my "sons" in harms way...like next month.

ACK!

Presents Back And Forth

My Birthday, My Sister in Law's Birthday and My Sister's Birthday. That's how it goes every year. January, February and March. We send money to the kids, of course and the guys don't seem to care for gifts...but the three of us exchange gifts each year. Hey, we know how to party. lol

The beautiful lighthouse egg was a present from my Sister in Law this year. I don't know if she has ever seen this blog, I truly don't think she has, so the lighthouse is just one of those coincidences in life. It's created by Thomas Kinkade, who as a painter I go back and forth on...a bit too commercial for my taste.
This is very beautiful though, so points to Mr. Kinkade, for that. :-)

In the background of the photo is a San Francisco music box that was a gift from her many years ago. As I have mentioned before, I am a real fan of San Francisco and love cranking up the music box, upon occasion.




This is my and my sister's gift back to her this year.
I fell in love with the amethysts that form, either a flower or a sort of cross, according to how you view it.

We are hoping that she likes it.

The Harbor At Morro Bay

My Water Post For Today.


I have visited this area before, but this time, no rock is involved.

Here is Morro Bay, with the boats, the far mountains and of course, the water.

Here, in the middle of a brutal winter, enjoy the peacefulness that our wonderful views of the Pacific Ocean, can bring.

A Valentine's Day Gift - More Rainbows

Happy Valentine's Day!

I didn't send anyone chocolate, so instead I send the gift of beauty to all my blog readers. :-)


For some reason we are getting lots of rainbows this winter. Not just a rainbow, but dramatic, multi-arch rainbows.
Right at sunset, as the storm is finally ending, each time.

That is probably the reason for the rainbows. Most of the storms this season come during the day and end around 4PM. Great for traffic and great for rainbows.

The sun finally peaks out from the edge of the cloud cover and bingo, there you have it, another stunning rainbow that makes all of us in our office, go running to take photos.

Enjoy.

Dennys Grand Slam

Here was the scene at the North Hollywood Dennys the other day. It was free Grand Slam Breakfast Day and in such a depressed economy, this is something not to be missed, I guess.

It looked fairly orderly, but I wonder if the free publicity is worth all the money they gave away to their customers.

Only Dennys knows for sure.

One Hot Valentine's Day Photo

I have many favorite photos of Max Martini. But in honor of Valentine's Day, we have been posting some nice ones, that harken to that elusive thing called love.

Here's my favorite one...from the movie, Street Warrior.

If you are not into people in bed together, please do not click this link. ;-)

Max

Mars Stuff, On A Boring Friday Evening

I was waiting for a chat that didn't materialize on Friday. I think the increased security onsite, after the bomb scare Thursday night, caused it to not happen. As I sat there, working and keeping an eye out for a chat, images like these passed by my view and I couldn't resist capturing a few of them. This first one is the Glyphs for 30 Seconds To Mars, done in petri dishes. A member of the Echelon posted this in chat and I thought it was very creative. lol




The next two were captures that I grabbed from test footage at the chat site.
I got a kick out of both of them.
Of course the fact that Tomo, my personal favorite member, is featured in both of them, could have something to do with that. Almost always in the backround, but steller, none the less.



Don't ask me what goes with the chicken. All I know is Jared Leto, totally cracked up when Tomo did this.

Why do I feel a choke the chicken inside joke going on. ;-)

Paul Turns 18

One of my nephews turns 18 today.

Though he is not my godson, my sister gets that honor, he is closest in age and looks, to my real son and I have always had a special place in my heart, for him.

He will be graduating High School in a few months and is currently working on getting into college.

I talked to him the other day and his comment was that he is looking for a location that is warmer then where he lives now...which is way up in New England.

I wish him my best, as he reaches adulthood.

Go Paul!

A View Of Park La Brea

This was the view from the third floor escalator at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art.

In the foreground is Park La Brea, a unique housing development in the Mid Wilshire (Miracle Mile) section of Los Angeles.

On the hill further back, is Griffith Observatory and then way back, is the snow on the San Gabriel Mountains.

It was around 4PM and the sun was low in the sky, giving the photo quite a golden hue.

The Year Of The Cat

My Water Post For Today.

For my birthday, I was given a gift card for Bed, Bath and Beyond. I figured that buying something for myself, would be the best thing, rather then buying something for the house.
So I FINALLY bought a new showerhead for my bath. We are talking that my old one was bought almost 15 years ago. It was time for a change.

I think it fits the bill as a water post. ;-)




The other things I bought, were new luggage for our (hopeful) trip in May and of all things, discounted candles.

They had one in particular that spoke to me, for use in the bathroom I share with my lovely female cat, Makenna.

It is patchouli and the name reminds me of the song, Year of the Cat, by Al Stewart.

Click the title, to hear a You tube version of the song.

Enjoy.

Year of the Cat


On a morning from a Bogart movie
In a country where they turn back time
You go strolling through the crowd like Peter Lorre
Contemplating a crime

She comes out of the sun in a silk dress running
Like a watercolour in the rain
Don't bother asking for explanations
She'll just tell you that she came
In the year of the cat

She doesn't give you time for questions
As she locks up your arm in hers
And you follow 'till your sense of which direction
Completely disappears

By the blue tiled walls near the market stalls
There's a hidden door she leads you to
These days, she says, I feel my life
Just like a river running through
The year of the cat

Well, she looks at you so cooly
And her eyes shine like the moon in the sea
She comes in incense and patchouli
So you take her, to find what's waiting inside
The year of the cat

Well, morning comes and you're still with her
And the bus and the tourists are gone
And you've thrown away the choice and lost your ticket
So you have to stay on

But the drum-beat strains of the night remain
In the rhythm of the new-born day
You know sometime you're bound to leave her
But for now you're going to stay
In the year of the cat

Super Bowl Sunday 2010 - White Chicken Chili

We normally go to our friend's place. He owns a dive business and he used to have the party in his Dive Shop. To say the least, it was an interesting way to spend the day of the game. Chili is always on the agenda over there.

He forgot about the date of the Superbowl this year and will be off leading a diving trip today, so we weren't sure what to do. Stay home, or go somewhere that we normally never go to.

Hopefully, we will be attending a party at a cousin's house.

As my contribution, I am making White Chicken Chili...cause I don't eat regular red chili.


Cha Cha's White Chicken Chili

Delicious white bean chili. Cha Cha says: 'It's kinda spicy, so watch out!' Substitute mild green chiles for the jalapenos if you're scared! Use more chicken and cheese as desired."


Ingredients:

1 tablespoon vegetable oil
1 onion, chopped
3 cloves garlic, crushed
1 (4 ounce) can diced jalapeno peppers
1 (4 ounce) can chopped green chiles
peppers
2 teaspoons ground cumin

1 teaspoon dried oregano
1 teaspoon ground cayenne pepper
2 (14.5 ounce) cans chicken broth (or fresh broth you make yourself)
3 cups chopped cooked chicken breast
3 (15 ounce) cans white beans (or 1 bag of uncooked beans, soaked and cooked before final assembly)
1 cup shredded Monterrey Jack cheese (I use Mexican 4 Cheese Blend)

Directions:

1. Heat the oil in a large saucepan over medium-low heat. Slowly cook and stir the onion until tender. Mix in the garlic, jalapeno, green chile peppers, cumin, oregano and cayenne. Continue to cook and stir the mixture until tender, about 3 minutes. Mix in the chicken broth, chicken and white beans. Simmer 15 minutes, stirring occasionally.
2. Remove the mixture from heat. Slowly stir in the cheese until melted. Serve warm.

I intend to add some rice, or bring fresh corn bread.

Enjoy, if you make it.

The Hand Of Creation Wall

This photo was taken at the Family Temple.

The wall is one of my favorite things about attending Temple with my Husband and his Family. It's called the Hand of Creation Wall and there are plaques dedicated to people who have passed away, including my Mother In Law and Father In Law.
I have never stepped into this Temple, without going over to them and saying Hi.

In the case of my Father In Law, I never got the chance to meet him. He was dead the year before I came onto the scene.

My Mother In Law was another matter altogether. She was a strong woman, who worked well into her 70's, as manager of the apartment building they lived in. She is greatly missed by all of us, but especially me. Once she passed away, all things Jewish, in the way of cooking and such, fell upon me. I don't mind doing it for her sons and grandson, but she did it so much better then I do. :-)

It's nice to feel the continuity of the generations, when I visit there.

Tweets

30 Seconds to Mars was having an event of some kind over at their storefront on Melrose Ave, called The Hive. I had been there once before and got to hear the band sing 3 songs. So to say the least, when I heard something was going on, my body wanted to go...but due to many things, I decided not to bring the car to work yesterday. When I got home, it was about half an hour after the event was supposed to start, but knowing how late they usually run, I checked in with their feed of what was going on. I sat reading the chat as I sewed my guys pants (I lost my sewing machine a day ago and someone had to deal with this). lol
After about an hour of watching the feed, we hear that there was a bomb threat going on and that the police were on scene. How were we finding out all this stuff?
Twittering from multiple people and sources, both official and unofficial. Twitpics coming from some of the fans, official tweets from The Hive and then finally Jared Leto himself sent a tweet. As he said...crazy.

As far as I know, a person started acting weird and Jared dealt with him. This same person dropped off a package and that then became the bomb threat.
That's all I know as of bedtime last night.

Update: Here is TMZ's article.

Our modern world, it just amazes me.

St. Paul Winter Carnival...Featuring The Howiedazzle

My friend, Piglet, lives in St. Paul Minnesota.

Besides having an awesome back yard at her house, that was built by her Husband (don't get me started on THAT subject!) he designed a bus that's covered in lights and he drives it in an event called the Saint Paul Winter Carnival.

The bus is called Howiedazzle. I believe the first part is his name. :-)

Now I don't know about you, but I was totally blown over by the amount of lights that he placed on the bus. Great job.




My Dad was a bus mechanic and spent 41 years fixing buses in Queens, New York. Not an easy gig, either...but he never decorated a bus. lol

Major props to Piglet and her Hubby. This is one great looking bus and a wonderful service to the Twin Cities.

Just Another Day At Seco And Decoro

Monday Morning.

A crossing guard stands in the middle of the street, red stop sign in hand.

Children begin walking across.

A few stragglers run for the cross walk, in the lead, a 12 year old girl. She gets to the corner just as a car makes the right turn and is about to drive right into the cross walk. Probably not a totally legal thing, but being the bulk of the children were on the other half of the street, the person probably felt is was close enough to empty and made the bad decision to proceed. The running girl sees the car and literally stops in her tracks, causing her to slip like you would on ice and fall on her behind. Another child, a boy, is right behind her. Thankfully, both are not quite in the path of the car, which finally realized they did a major wrong thing and stopped. The girl gets up and runs across the street.
The car, instead of continuing on, now decides to go straight through the intersection, instead of finishing the interrupted turn.
Say what? I think to myself. You going a different way makes up for your bad judgement?
That you wanted to immediately leave the scene of this almost accident, is very apparent to me at least.

As I sit at the light, I can see the crossing guard shaking her head. She can't believe what she has just witnessed, either.

It's just another day at the corner of Seco and Decoro.

Probably the worst intersection of schools and cars, that Santa Clarita has.

I am so glad nothing tragic happened this day.

When The Lights Go Down In The City

This display is in the front of the LA County Museum Of Art (LACMA).

It reminds me of a display in my area of Los Angeles, called Vermonica.

It's a bunch of light poles in the middle of a shopping center parking lot. Down the street from the parking lot is a storage yard for lots of light poles and the artist borrowed some, for the work of art.

I am not sure what's going on here at LACMA, but why do I feel it's probably related to Vermonica...




I really love the way you can walk in and out of the different rows and how people appear and disappear in a moment.

I did a little research and I see from several blogs, that it's even more beautiful after dark.

Major kudos to Chris Burden for his Urban Light exhibit.

A Waterfall

My Water Post For Today.

A close up shot of the waterfall at the top of the baptismal font, at my Church.

I loved the fact that you are just concentrating on the waterfall and not the rest of the font.

Water falling is always beautiful, as Frank Lloyd Wright proved. :-)

I hope you enjoy.