A Photo of Water

My Water Post For Today.

My son says I am an idiot for taking a photograph of this photo that was mounted on our hotel wall. Every time we came out of the elevator at our hotel in Phoenix, we would see this totally awesome photo of a river canyon. Nothing wrong with his opinion, but since the scene totally rocked my world, here it is, a water post to beat all water posts. Or at least my best attempt to capture a photo on a wall.

Look at those canyon walls! The bright colors! Truly awe inspiring.

I hope you enjoy.

Max Martini On Castle

A photo of Max Martini on the ABC show Castle. The episode he is in is called "Knockdown".

I have heard that this will be a reoccurring role for Max. He plays a sniper in the show, killing people having to do with a murder 14 years earlier. He gets caught in the end and the female lead visits him in jail. She knows he is protecting someone...but doesn't know who. The final line in the episode indicates that she is coming back to the jail every week, to check in with him and see if he changes his mind about not telling her who killed her Mother, 14 years earlier. Since it is her Mother she is trying to solve the murder of, you can take the fact that she says she will visit him often, to the bank. This is good news for Max and his family, of course, but for me, not so good. I did not like the show and I really did not like the role they put him in. In my humble opinion he is so wasted just doing bad guys. He is a great actor and these people treat him like a quick walk on. An Ensign Liebowitz, if you will...one dimensional and totally expendable.

We will see how this goes. Maybe I am just too hard on the show and it will grow on me. I seriously hope so.

Android's In Our Lives

Yes, this is the thing that is taking so much of my time these past 3 days.

We were at the end of our contract and so my son, with our permission, did a price comparison between phones and contracts. He spent the better part of a month or so, talking to us and narrowing our choices down.

The final decision meant that we needed to change carriers and if we did this, we needed an Android phone. I indicated that I could really use getting real time arrival info for my bus, while I wait at North Hollywood Station at night. Of course Facebook wouldn't hurt... :-)

So we are now Sprint customers. It might get interesting come NASCAR Sprint Cup time of the year. :-)

So far, I am getting used to the phone, but eventually, it will be just fine. Oh in kind of cool things, there are ringtones for techie stuff like, Don't Panic (the sound of the Hitchhikers guide to the Galaxy book) or Captain's Log (from Star Trek).

What a week it has been.

Opryland: The Home Of American Music

It's been a busy day here at the angel house. We got new Android cell phones and so every minute I have not been living my life, I end up working on it. So pardon me for an easy post. :-)

This is a postcard I found when I was cleaning out my den the other day. When I saw it, memories of Opyland came back to me.

Opryland was an amusement park dedicated to American Music. We visited it back in 1979, when we drove across the Country, to come out to Los Angeles. It has theme areas that were about different styles of music that were born in this Country. Being its location was Nashville, Tennessee, what today is called American Roots Music, was highlighted. That was just fine with me, because I like almost any music.

Well, the developer did not like having the land where this Theme park was located, left empty during parts of the year. So they decided to tear the place down and put in a shopping mall, instead.

I have a friend who grew up in Nashville and she even pointed out a group on Facebook called the I Miss Opryland USA group. They talk about the days when they would visit it, or work there and about how special it was.

A real shame, in my humble opinion.

Birthday Flowers

My Sister In Law totally rocks!

She sent me not only these wonderful flowers...but a box of cookies, too.

I took this photo and until the next morning, I didn't realize that there was a smiley face on the other side. Now I know why it is SO bright yellow.

A very wonderful bunch of gifts from a really incredible Sister In Law. My brother is just so lucky. :-)

Don Quixote And Sancho Panza

I have mentioned Huell Howser before.

I went to his Holiday party last month and though I enjoyed being there, someone was missing and has been missing for many years now. That is Huell's long time cameraman, Luis Fuerte. I was cleaning out my den this past weekend and I found this photo that was taken when Huell decided to create his first show in the late 80's, called California's Gold. He asked KCET cameraman, Luis Fuerte, if he wanted to take a year off from work at the station and follow Huell around the state, making shows and telling stories. Luis agreed to do it and what followed was something like a 12 year relationship, between host and cameraman. Huell went around the state talking in front of the camera and most times he would say something like "Come on Louie, let's go see this" (whatever "this" happened to be). It was an easy way to give direction to his cameraman, but eventually, Luis became the unknown sidekick to Huell. Always following and documenting what was going on. As time went on, Luis got older and carrying that camera finally got to him. He retired from the show in 2000 and retired from where I work, a few years after that. Once in a while he turns up at our station, coming out of retirement, for whatever they are thinking of doing. One such case was a week or so ago. He's grayer and obviously older, but Luis is still Luis, with his Latin good looks and kind personality. It was a pleasure to get see him and catch up a bit.

He is not only a part of the history of KCET, he is truly a special part of California's Gold and I am sure he is still missed, by the viewers of the show.

We still love you Luis. :-)

Happy Birthday To Me 2011

Yep, here it is again, I am another year older, as of today.

Today is my birthday and to celebrate this fact, Barack Obama came by, to wish me a Happy one. Not really, but it sounds nice.

To set the record straight, this is me with the wax figure of the President. I mentioned that I had my picture taken with the wax figure of Obama, as we entered the wax museum and I decided to use it here. My boots that I got for Christmas, are also my birthday present, so a photo with the President may be about it, for presents.

Well, minus the cute "Jade" angel that came my way from my sister who loves me. Thanks sis.

Happy Birthday dear, me...Happy Birthday to me.

Bridgeport, Through My Son's Eyes

My Water Post For Today.

You spent many Mondays looking at the Bridgeport development, usually at sunset. My son took a friend to the lake and took some outstanding photos of the ducks and things, but the clouds parading across the sky in this shot, caught my attention. Reflected in the Bridgeport lake, I totally like the not quite so sunny look of the photo.

My kid has some good photographic instincts.

I hope you enjoy.

Hollywood Blvd. In Action

Hollywood Blvd. is always hopping at Highland Ave. We normally avoid this area like the plague (except when my Magic "Other" son is doing a Magic Castle gig) so us being here on a weeknight, was unusual. We were here for the KCET Launch Party and as we walked over to Madame Tussauds, we saw that there was a movie shoot going on right across the street at the El Capitan Theater. It was a muppet movie (which we actually thought worked out quite well for our stations members. After all, they raised the kids on Sesame St. :-)



When we were on the rooftop, for the reception, this was the view from our party. That is Grauman's Chinese Theater, over on the far left of the shot and the former bank building at the corner of Hollywood and Highland, is the white tower just a little to the right of it.

Those lights shooting up into the air were for the movie premiere/movie shoot and they gave it an even more Hollywood "cool" look. Don't miss the movie crane out on the street, shooting some of the footage for the movie.
My Husband and I were stunned and remember, we are jaded Hollywood types. We couldn't have set this up any better.

We had a great time checking the whole thing out and of course, it made the area, just a little safer. Win!

Madame Tussauds Wax Museum

When I wrote about our Launch Party earlier in the week, I promised you, my humble blog readers, a glimpse of what Madame Tussauds Wax Museum was like.
As I mentioned, it was quite a night. Walking among our many members and then finding a wax figure right next to you, added a surreal quality to the museum itself.
When you enter the museum, immediately on the right is Barack Obama. On the left, with a microphone in hand, is Joan Rivers. I had my photo taken with Obama, my husband, with Joan.


You go up to the 3rd floor and begin your descent down to the first floor. On each floor are pathways with wax figures in displays, or just to throw you off, wax figures right next to the walkway. In a big crowd like we had, it was easy to think that the wax figure was real. Especially if you did not immediately recognize it.


Here is the incredibly beautiful, Vivian Leigh as Scarlett O'Hara wearing the dress made from Miss Ellen's Po'teers. Yes, the dress does look just like curtains, especially the sash. :-)





The wax figure who looked the most real to me, was Leonardo Dicaprio. The flash gives the wax its shine, but in the light of the room itself, he looked young and just so natural, standing next to me.

It was impressive as all heck.











One that didn't look real, but I got a kick out of, none the less, was Uma Thurman, in her Kill Bill outfit.
Outrageous, but so cool to see and be a part of.

When you get down to the first floor, they have a gift store, with Lucy in there with all the candy they are selling and then you are out. it took about an hour all in all, to walk through and check everything out. I don't know if I would have paid the admission, but for free, it was perfect.

It was fun, too.

When Cropping Saves A Photo

OK this photo is meant to be totally unsettling.

My son and I were discussing the original image and what was wrong with it. In his class he can not crop an image, but we talked about what was currently wrong and how he could reshoot it to add to the feelings that the photo gives off.
As I was walking out the door to run an errand, I mentioned that something that would help the image he had, would be to cut off the head of the man with the knife. That innocent suggestion gave my son some ideas and when I returned home, this was what he had come up with.

Pretty creepy, right? :-)

By the way, that is my Marine "Other" son and his fianceé, as the models.

My Marine Son Gets Inked

My Marine "Other" son decides he is getting a tattoo last Saturday, along with my Shoe Polish "Other" son, who is getting his 3rd. If you missed them, you can see his 2 other tats, here. Oh and they drag my real son along with them, for moral support. Thanks guys...not.

I was worried that they would be real bad, but in actuality, my Marine son's are fine.
I am not too much into color and I really hate when there are tattoos all over someone's arms...Max Martini, are you listening to me! :-)

I am not enthralled with having the words on both the front and the back, especially since they go together, but hey, his life and his body. You can see them down below. My real son took the photos.









After it was all over, we went out to dinner at TGI Friday's and met up with my Magic son, who was working. He hadn't seen the tattoos yet and someone makes the comment that the tattoo that my Marine son got, was of my Magic son's face. He looks at us all and goes "You did WHAT?" So then my Marine son's fianceé turns to my Magic son and says that "Yeah, it's going to be hard waking up in the morning and seeing that every day, talk about scary." LOL

A good laugh was had by all.

KCET Launch Party 1/18/11

Last night was the official KCET Launch Party at Madame Tussauds in Hollywood.

My husband and I decided at the last minute, to attend and so we drove over to the Hollywood and Highland complex, (which is still pretty dead in this economy), to park and get something to eat. After dinner we walked over to just past Grauman's Chinese where the museum is and I just couldn't believe the lineup of people waiting to get into the event. I heard that 1,900 had sent an RSVP to us and I am pretty sure we didn't have that many, but it was plenty crowded enough. They opened the place and we walked in and were immediately sent up to the 3rd floor and a rooftop party with a big band era group of musicians and finger food and a cash bar. They had a place where you could have your photo taken and downstairs they were screening Doc Martin for members. Those that didn't want to watch the screening, could wander around the wax museum, which I will mention in a separate post. It was an interesting time, all in all.

Adding to the surreal quality was the fact that a movie was shooting out in front of the El Capitan Theater. So they had Hollywood Blvd closed.

Wow, only in Hollywood.

Satellite

A band named Guster is the current guest on Live From Daryl's House. I have never heard of them and as usual, I am not sure what this episode will bring.
First song up and I am in love with it. It usually doesn't happen this way for me, with a new band and a new song. I am a repetition type of person. :-)
Anyway, check it out. it's called Satellite. Totally love the harmony between the lead singer and Daryl. Wow!


Satellite

Shining like a work of art
Hanging on a wall of stars
Are you what I think you are?

You're my satellite
You're riding with me tonight
Passenger side, lighting the sky
Always the first star that I find
You're my satellite

Elevator to the moon
Whistling a favorite tune
Trying to get a closer view

You're my satellite
You're riding with me tonight

Passenger side, lighting the sky
Always the first star that I find
You're my satellite

Maybe you will always be
Just a little out of reach

You're my satellite
You're riding with me tonight
Passenger side, lighting the sky
Always the first star that I find
You're my satellite
You're my satellite

Moai At Sunset

My Water Post For Today.

My good friend, Ken Kurtis, was diving down on Easter Island this past week. He made a Facebook Group and is sending daily reports in photos and this was one of them.

I loved it at first look and decided to share it with my blog readers.

Ken is an outrageously cool guy and a wonderful friend. He was also our pitch man for decades, at KCET. He has that rare command of language, that makes one want to be around him, so if you Facebook and would like to "Like" his new Reef Seekers Facebook page, feel free. It has been a joy so far and I am sure he will have manatees in February and Yap later on this year, etc. I think he has 4 or 5 major dive vacations scheduled...but I digress.

Enjoy the Moai, the silent sentinel, watching the ocean and waiting for whatever, to return to the Island.

Ducks!

Yes, there is water in this post, but since the focus is on the ducks, that's what I will be concentrating on.

My son took this one a week ago and I immediately knew that sometime, I would steel it from him. The ducks are just so cute, beak to beak like they are, with the ripples circling around their heads.
He used the extreme macro lens to get the shot and no cropping is involved, so the composition was in the lens.

Well done!

By the way, it was so well done, that the teacher took the photo and used it in his class presentation.

New York Snow

Snow of a different kind.

My brother in law viewed my pitiful attempt at a snow post last week and decided to show off what a REAL storm puts down. I got a laugh out of it and decided to share it with you all.

Here is my sister's house, full of the snow from the storm last Wednesday. It's not the worst one they have had, but it is definitely snow and they had to do quite a bit of snow removal, to get the car out. I hope he did this by snow blower.

I also hope the snow plows had already gone through the neighborhood, before he did the apron at the front of the driveway. I always hated opening up the driveway and watching the snow plow push the snow right back in.

I am glad you got the snow moved.

I hope it is starting to melt.

Tim Tams

Today's post is brought to you by the Land Down Under. :-)

I have a friend who comes from Australia and even though she has spent the past year or so in England, she is still Aussie through and through. One of the things she does is introduce us to products from Australia and Australian Holidays. I posted about some cookies I bought a while ago, that were baked in Australia.

One of the products I have heard her mention, are Tim Tams. I saw them in the store at Christmastime and I grabbed my cell phone and took a photo. To say the least, my husband thought I was crazy. What I should have done is buy them, but I didn't.
Now that the holiday rush is over, I was thinking that maybe I should look for them again. The wiki page I read mentions that they are sold all over now days, so it shouldn't be too hard.

Through her, know more about where she grew up, then I did 4 years ago. Thanks Suzanne.

Snow On The Mountains

OK, I admit that I didn't expect to have snow at my house, when I took photos of the mountains around the Big Bear area of Los Angeles.
I don't know why we don't do it more often, because the road to Palm Springs is so filled with interesting things to see, this being one of them. These mountains are the ones that people mention when they do ads about you can go from the snow to the sea in 2 hours. It is very true, you can downhill ski or snowboard in the morning and run down to the ocean and surf the afternoon away.

Thankfully for me, I do neither of these activities and never have.

Now viewing the snow vistas...yeah, I do that. :-)

Enjoy.

Windmills!

Today's post is a photo of some the windmills that are built at the mouth of San Gorgonio Pass, just outside Palm Springs. I swear that even on a cloudy day, it always seems that the sky is so blue, in contrast to the blinding white of the windmills themselves. They stretch out for miles, both on the lower elevations and then higher up on the hills surrounding the I-10 Freeway. They are one of the highlights of a trip through that area of California.

Their beauty is amazing and on top of that, they generate electricity. How cool is that?

If you want to read about the wind farm itself, information is HERE.

California Agricultural Inspection Station

You people in the East, just have no idea...

One of the thrills of driving across state lines out here in the land of fruit and nuts, is the fact that when you return, you are stopped at the Agricultural Inspection Station. Similar to the Immigration Inspection Stations, most times they just wave you through...but sometimes they feel ornery and they ask if you have any produce or in the case of the Immigration Station, illegal immigrants.

As we drive up to the Station, I always do a mental check list of what I have in the cooler. Did we bring some fruit across from Arizona or Nevada this trip? Yikes! I think I have an orange in there.
Thankfully, most times we are just fine and they don't even stop us, but you just never know when they will decide that your car is the one carrying all sorts of stuff that you shouldn't have, like med-fly infested produce, or the occasional undocumented worker. :-)

By the way, this particular Station is real cute, with the mission style bell, on top of the station. Most are very nondescript and functional.

It is always an experience, returning to California.

The Fountain At Fountain Hills, Az

My Water Post For Today. (Courtesy of my real son)

While we were in Phoenix, Arizona, our friends decided to drive all the way out to Fountain Hills, because they had heard from their son that I did a water thing here on my blog. Nice...

When they said they were going to take me to a fountain, I thought it would be local, but instead it was up on the far north east end of the Phoenix metro area.

The fountain goes off every hour for exactly 15 minutes. It used to the the tallest fountain, though now days it is only the 4th tallest. Still, it takes 3 pumps to get it to its full height of 560 feet. Normally, it is only run using 2 of the pumps, which is how we saw it. Impressive as all heck though.

The photo was taken with our new camera and my son bracketed the exposures using something called High Dynamic Range (HDR). That is what gives the photo its almost 3D quality.

Arizona Desert

One of my favorite things about visiting Phoenix, Arizona is the incredible beauty of the state. So much better then California, the mountains and deserts there are truly lovely. The saguaro cactus that are especially prevalent around the southern and western end of the state are incredible. I never get tired of seeing them growing out in the middle of nowhere. What totally amazes me is the fact that they are there in profusion in Quartzite and then you cross the Colorado River a few miles later and not a single one is there, on the California side of the river. My Husband and I always wonder, how do they know? LOL

We were glad that we traveled on good days and the rain we had been having recently gave the desert some color. Trust me, summer is just brutal here, so it is nice to see it cooler then that.

By the way, the photo was taken at a rest stop. So that is why I only have one lone saguaro. All the good photo spots were as we were driving almost 80 mph.

I hope you like a glimpse of the desert, Arizona style.


======================
On a sad note, being I had just been in Arizona, I was especially sad to hear about the shooting in Tucson, Arizona just yesterday.
What a senseless thing to do.
My prayers go out to Gabrielle Giffords, who so did not deserve what happened to her and to the others, caught in the rampage.

KCET In The Bullseye, Once Again

It has been a roller coaster week here at the nation's largest Independent PTV Station. I came home on New Year's Eve and watched the last night we were part of the PBS System. I was sad, but resigned that the 11th hour reprieve was not going to come our way. New Year's Day, as I reported, we signed on with our new look and new shows. I was impressed and the more I watched, the more impressed I became. Someone had definitely done a good job on the Rethink TV Campaign. Witty, intelligent spots, on top of the normal promos that a station runs. I had my reservations on the black, white and gray, but overall, it looked GOOD. We had an All Staff meeting on Tuesday and they reported good ratings for the first 3 days. Maybe it was the donuts and coffee, but I was really happy walking out of that meeting, to return to the grind that is my new life. Instead of something like 27 or so feeds a day, that we would turn around for air, we were only dealing with 4 and two of those are shows that we uplink anyway, BBC World News. So my feeds have dramatically dropped. Now days the real story is in the amount of tape that is coming in and going out of my life. In many cases, captioning them just before air. As I have also mentioned on this humble blog, it has been brutal, but I and my coworkers, got through it and we basically have January all here.
On Wednesday, my boss and I took our first calm breath, and we finally got to get some of the clutter on our desks cleared up. The next day, they posted February and off we go again, making that happen, before late booking fee deadlines kick in.

At the end of the week, there was an article in the Los Angeles Times that totally trashed our staff's day. Saying that our ratings dropped 50% over last year. The sample they took was 4 days. Some week, right? I had just looked at the last few days and being people were having to find new stuff, I thought we were doing just fine. Obviously to the Times, I was totally off the mark.
What is their agenda, I keep asking myself. They are truly taking this all too seriously. We are just a TV station...but maybe that is the problem right there. We are in competition with their Tribune TV Station, KTLA. Could that be what is driving this? Really?

Here is a link to the article.

Oh and while on the subject, here is a response by one of our VP's. I don't feel like I am totally off the mark here. There is some funny bookkeeping going on there at the Times, because as Brett mentioned, our ratings were strong during the weekend and yet they chose to totally ignore that fact. They have already made up their minds and nothing, even the facts, is going to change their opinion.

Their loss, because I really enjoyed some of the programs we premiered this week. Wednesday night is especially powerful. Hustle (an Ocean's 11 type show) with Robert Vaughn and Prime Suspect with Helen Miran. They had us viewing the entire evening, which just about never happens.

Onward we go...in spite of the Times.

ZooLights

While we were in Phoenix, Arizona, we went to the Phoenix Zoo's holiday themed event: ZooLights!

It was a cold evening, but we spent something like an hour or so there, walking the paths and enjoying the lights.







The colors were stunning, making the trees so incredibly lovely.

In some cases they used an evergreen tree and made it look like a tree with no leaves. We discussed and admired how they did that.













I love these saguaro cactus', all covered with lights.

The fact that they used different colors, adds to the beauty.












They did, not only the trees, but they had lit animal cut outs, for many of the animal residents at the zoo.
That brought the zoo and the lights together and added interest to it.

All in all, it was well worth the time and money spent and being we had two very young children with us, that added to the level of enjoyment. It was nice to have an activity that both adults and children can take part in equally.


I hope you enjoyed our visit to Zoo Lights.

We Three Kings Of Orient Are

We three kings of orient are, bearing gifts we traveled afar. Field and fountain, moor and mountain, following yonder star.

Yes, today is the final day of the Holiday Season.

I still have my tree up, though I have removed my Christmas Lights, from outside the house. I figure I will take down the tree and put everything away this weekend.

For now though, it is the feast of the Epiphany and time to celebrate the arrival of the 3 Magi, to adore the Christ Child.




This particular season was a bit challenging in that I had the Nativity right under the tree and the cat could get to it.

We had a few wrecks along the way, as you can see here, but I preferred it under the tree, rather then up on a table or something. I think I had it on a box last year and was not totally happy with that compromise.

In spite of the cat knocking them over, once in a while, they all made it through and will be displayed again next year.

Holiday Celebration Photos 2010

Before I totally leave this festive season, I would like to post a few photos of the holidays, as seen from the Angel House.



Christmas Eve and the guests are hanging around my family room.









December 23rd and it is party time at my house.


How does that happen?










My son fooling around with our new digital camera and taking photos of the guests.


All in all, the holidays were (uh) interesting. :-)

A Snowy Holiday Day

This is my house on Sunday January 2, 2011.
As I have mentioned before, we have last had snow in some sort of measurable form 22 years ago. That happened overnight and yet this one came about 1PM in the afternoon. It was a shock to me, because the snow level never gets down to 1500 feet.
It never got more impressive then slushy snow, but still, it made my final Holiday day off feel like Christmas...and that was very nice.

Oh and for any who wonder, it is all gone.

Waterfalls At Vasquez Rocks

My Water Post For Today (a gift from of my Marine Other son).

My Marine Son took his fianceés brother and another friend, over to Vasquez Rocks a week ago.
He wanted to show them what beauty we have here in Santa Clarita. Vasquez is one of the most unusual places on this earth, but I must admit that I have only seen it in the summer, when the chances of seeing water, are almost nil.
We had a week of rain right before they went and so there it is, the beauty of the rocks and a waterfall, too. He immediately knew that he wanted to take photos of the waterfalls, for this blog of mine.

I am truly humbled. :-)


The second photo is obviously much smaller, but I like it a lot, too. Very different feelings come from these two photos.

Thanks so much my other son, for allowing me to post these, for all to see and enjoy.

Presents

I hear it quite often lately. Mostly in the middle of the night. I got Makenna a few soft fabric balls with a bell in them and of course, she decides that after we go to bed is the perfect time to play with them. Tinkle, tinkle, tinkle, I hear until I can't stand it anymore and I take them away from her.
Truly, I am glad she loves them...just not at night, baby.



One night right after Christmas I placed them on the tree and that became her favorite thing to do, after annoying Mom and Dad at night. Hitting the balls off the tree and then attacking them. She is a cutie, when she does this. Before the Christmas season is totally gone, I wanted to show her off. I hope you like them.

Tomorrow a guest Water Post from my Marine Son. Stay tuned. :-)

A New Year Begins

1.1.11


Welcome to the other side, the first day of the year 2011.

May it bring good things our way.

I was just thinking this very thing, that each year we say the same thing. That we are glad that (whatever) year is over and are hopeful that the new one is better.

I do indeed hope that 2011 brings us better things. Enriches our lives, increases our wealth, brings us things we have always wanted and yet never got. It's all possible, on that first page. The entire year is there to be lived.

Good luck with yours.