Tiny Greek Dancers

While we were at the Greek Festival on Sunday, the children who attended the Greek school, showed off their Greek dance skills. The traditional dance called the Kalamatiano was the first dance done. The children dance in a line, moving in a counter clockwise circle. The male at the front of the line, not only leads, he does extra steps and moves, like squats and jumps. It was quite cute.

The next dance was done by just the males. It was a more advanced dance, incorporating those same moves that the lead dancer had done in the Kalamatiano dance.

I can't tell you how cute they were and how much the audience (and me) loved them. :-)

St. Nicholas Greek Orthodox Church

Last August I made an Icon of St. Kateri. The group that put on the workshop, have kept us informed of things over the past year. I got an email the other day that said that St. Nicholas Greek Orthodox Church, which is located in Northridge California, was having their yearly Festival.

I have gone to this festival occasionally, over the past 30 years, so it wasn't news to me. What was news, is that they give tours of the Church itself, all afternoon. Being it is a Greek Orthodox Church, it has Icons all around the altar area.
I was encouraged to go check them out...and so I did.

The Icons are not actually painted. They are mosaics and as you can see, stunning mosaics. The tour guide explained many things about the layout of the Church.
The most prominent part of the altar area is the iconostasis. Here is an explanation, via Wikipedia.

The iconostasis, also called the τεμπλον/templon, it is a screen or wall between the nave and the sanctuary, which is covered with icons. There will normally be three doors, one in the middle and one on either side. The central one is traditionally called the Beautiful Gate and is only used by the clergy. There are times when this gate is closed during the service and a curtain is drawn. The doors on either side are called the Deacons' Doors or Angel Doors as they often have depicted on them the Archangels Michael and Gabriel. These doors are used by deacons and servers to enter the sanctuary. Typically, to the right of the Beautiful Gate (as viewed from the nave) is the icon of Christ, then the icon of St John the Baptist; to the left the icon of the Theotokos, always shown holding Christ; and then the icon of the saint to whom the church is dedicated (i.e., the patron). There are often other icons on the iconostasis but these vary from church to church. The curtain is also drawn and opened at various points in the service.

Above and behind the iconostasis (if the iconostasis does not reach the ceiling) is the Πλατυτέρα των Ουρανών/Platytera ton Ouranon ("more spacious than the heavens"), the icon of Virgin Mary with Christ blessing all. Oil lamps burn before all the icons.

So, in St. Nicholas Church, you have an iconostasis with - from right to left, St. Michael the Archangel, St. John the Baptist and Jesus Christ. Past the door in the middle you have Theotokos (Mother of God) aka Mary and the Christ Child, St. Nicholas and St. Gabriel the Archangel.

Above the iconostasis is the icon of Mary and the Christ Child, with 2 angels surrounding them.

The second photo is a relic of St. Nicholas. As you can see, it is highlighted with a spot light.

The dome is also absolutely beautiful and it contains Jesus Christ, so that he is symbolically at the highest point in the Church.

I am so glad I spent a few hours of my day, visiting the Church and Festival.

More on the festival, tomorrow.

The San Diego Surge

One of the changes that has happened to the couple down in Oceanside, is that my Marine son's wife has joined a women's football league.

When she was in High School, she played on the men's team, so she is no stranger to hard played football.

This time around, it is a woman's pro team, that tries to fill the gap between Superbowl and the start of the new season in August.

Her team is the San Diego Surge and it has been interesting seeing her (via photos) competing in games and her team winning very consistently. Their record is currently 5-1 and they are assured a spot in the playoffs.

Honestly, as a woman and as a women who competed in sports in High School, I am amazingly proud of her.

You GO girl!

=============================
Photo:
Is of a Touch Down dance.
It was one of several she had
in that particular game.

The Stuff At My Workplace

After a 3 day weekend, I am back in my cubbie and I thought I would share a photo I took recently.

Yes, I know you have probably seen some of this stuff before.

I am a collector of things and I get great pleasure having some of them sitting on my desk, making me just a little happier then other people, who have absolutely nothing but whiteness.

I have no idea why pigs have ended up being part of the collection, but there they are. I have the sheep that artist and coworker Henry Cram made and I gave him a pink tie recently. I have no idea why, but I guess I did it for the amusement factor.

Brown Bear was a toy that we got in a Happy Meal at McDonald's, decades ago. My son used to sit on my floor playing with him and I can't let it go.
He stays and keeps me company, to remind me of those long ago days, when my son wasn't winning 7K awards at car competitions. :-)

May they brighten up your day.

A Water Fowl Family

My Water Post For Today.

It's Memorial Day and what better way to celebrate, then to sit by a lake in a park and enjoy a day with picnicking, games and fun.

I am sure many will travel today, to do just that and one of the things they will do at MacArthur Park, is watch these ducks zipping around the lake.

I honestly have no idea why there are 3 adults and 2 children, but that's what is there. Could the male duck have 2 females? Could the couple have adopted the lone female, or a female with 2 ducks? The possibilities are endless, but they were definitely acting like a family, protecting their young.

I hope you enjoy a day at the lake, on a lazy holiday weekend.

Los Angeles Central Library

If you remember, we spent a bit of time in the Los Angeles Central Library a few weeks ago. I showed you the inside, but this time, I am going to show you the outside.

It is the most unusual building I have ever seen. In New York, you have the 2 lions who guard the front doors, but here in LA, it is an Egyptian theme that influences this building...especially the very top. As you can see there is a pyramid with suns on it and the pointy thing at the apex of the pyramid is a torch that symbolizes the light of learning.

There are so many pieces of artwork, I can't even begin to explain it all, but you can read about a lot of it, HERE. One of the things that we did physically see, is the elevator that is totally covered with the cards that used to be in the card catalogs in the library. There is a photo of the car, on the link I gave you. We all got a kick out of it.

In my research, I found out that there is a reason the tallest building is right across the street from the library. I thought it was just chance that brought that high rise to the land adjacent to the library. Instead, it was a fundraiser called "Save the Books". Back in 1986 there was not one, but two arson fires at the library, which closed it for the better part of a decade. Lots of rebuilding and restoration had to go on, especially of the priceless collection of books that got water and smoke damage. What they did was sell the Air Rights above their historic building to the developer across the street. Up to 35 floors of air rights are allowed to be sold. That allowed the First Interstate Bank building to be as high as it is, at 73 floors. So Los Angeles got a beautiful restoration and the tallest building west of the Mississippi, both at the same time.

It is a beautiful place to visit and if you are in the area, via subway or car, you should check it out.

Love, Lust, Faith + Dreams

30 Seconds to Mars has a new CD out, as of this past week.

It is called Love, Lust, Faith + Dreams. I used to listen to whatever cuts get released ahead of the Streeting Day, but now days I avoid them like the plague. This helps me view the work as a whole, without getting to a cut and skipping it. Only 2 times through and this is my favorite cut Conquistador. BTW,this cut also contains "Up in the Air". They did perform it on Jimmy Kimmel, but it seems there is no official video on his site, just crappy cell phone videos with people screaming and hands waving in front of the phone. It must have been a rehearsal song.

Anyway, that aside, the first cut on the CD, "Birth" seems to be just perfect to start their live show. Very moody and theatrical and no words...it then breaks into this song and I can see that Conquistador is going to be a kick a$$ opener. Listen to it, it's got lots of energy and should work just fabulous in that role. They are truly a touring band first and so anything that helps them put on a good show, is a good thing.

I do like their first release from the CD, "Up in the Air", but it has been taken and made into their first video. Similar in style to their This Is War's "Hurricane" video, it has lots of S & M and soft core porn. Honestly, not my cup of tea. So that hovers over the song and hurts it, IMHO.

As to the rest of the CD, there are good tracks, including "City of Angels", which attracts me, natch. Another cut,"Bright Lights". includes the lyric Bright Lights, Big City within it. For the Steely Dan fans in my blogosphere, Donald Fagen wrote a song, "Bright Lights, Big City", for the movie of the same name. I feel this song might be a node to the movie, but who knows.

After 2 run throughs with the CD, the remainder of the songs are not as memorable but I look forward to learning them all.

The CD is stylistically similar to This Is War, so if you are looking for their first CD, this is not it and if you are looking for A Beautiful Lie, this is also not it. They have moved on, as they should.

More power to them. Onward guys.

And The Winner Is...

This information was embargoed until the morning, so that is why I am posting it so late. Rather then at my 6AM ET/3AM PT normal posting time.

The EcoCar2 Year 2 Award Ceremony was held at the Hotel Del Coronado last night. They live tweeted the evening and one after another, many teams won...but our team lost.

It was getting pretty depressing, because I knew how hard my son worked on his Electrical Engineering presentation and another team won the award. Toward the very end, CSULA won the Most Improved Award (remember they were 13th out of 15 last year) and that gave my Husband and I the first hint that maybe they were going to pull this thing off after all.

Remember back in March, when they went to Colorado to be inspected, the guy who looked at their car said that chances were good that they would end up in the top 3. (I was going to be real disappointed if that guy was wrong, btw.)

I sent a text message to my son and sort of hoped he would give me a hint as to what happened. My prayers were answered.

Year Two Standings

1st Place: Penn State

2nd Place: California State University Los Angeles

3rd Place: Ohio State

I found an article: HERE and a press release HERE, if you want to read more.

Another View of the Tallest Building in Los Angeles

I wrote about this building, back in January...but I didn't have a good photo. If you want to see that post, it is HERE.

One of the really good things about our recent walk around Downtown Los Angeles, was that we got really up close and personal with several iconic LA buildings. This one in particular. It is the U.S. Bank building and I am just 1 block away from where I took the original photo...and what a difference it makes.

The building is the tallest one west of the Mississippi, but even from this vantage point, you can definitely tell it commands the entire area.

Supposedly, it will eventually be shadowed by a new building. The first one to be built in LA since the late 80's.

We shall see if that comes to pass.

Saint Honoré Pistachio

I am only a few days late on this post. Saint Honoré's Feast Day is May 16th.

Several years ago, I went to lunch with Huell Howser at Bottega Louie's in Downtown Los Angeles. It was quite the place. They spared no expense and as someone remarked, it looks like the Taj Mahal inside.

Well a few weeks ago, my Husband, friend and I took a walk around 7th and I had to bring them inside this restaurant...at least for a moment.

I hadn't been there in 4 years...but my memory of the pastries was spot on. They are still incredible.

This particular one really got me interested enough to take a photo. Saint Honoré Pistachio. It is the obviously green one in the middle.

So I went searching, to find out the origin of the name and a bit about it.

It ends up that Saint Honoré is the patron saint of Bakers. Ah, now I understand. :-)

Maybe someday, when I have a fortune and don't mind spending it on a dessert that costs $12...I will try one.

It's Just About Official - Oswego In The Fall

It looks like it is official. Well, I am waiting for the paperwork to sign, but I hear that it is just about wrapped up.

I will be attending SUNY Oswego for the Fall Semester.

The first thing I wanted to find out was, if I was still capable of learning. I was worried. I am getting up there in age. Is it still possible?

In good news for me...the answer to that is a resounding YES! I got an A+ in my Social Networks and the Web class. What got me, is that the teacher said he was a hard grader and didn't routinely give out A's...or B's for that matter. He kept mentioning that most work ends up in the C category, just average.

Obviously, don't ever wave a flag like that in front of me. lol

I emailed him to thank him and he said I had earned it with hard work. I am truly humbled. An A- would have made me very happy. This...wow.

In good news, I have him for 2 classes in the Fall. Double work, but now I know what he is looking for in his projects and I hope that gives me a leg up.

Oops...back to the story: I did apply and I did get accepted to full time Grad School. 4 of the courses I need for the degree are offered in the Fall. They don't overlap on each other and they are all on Tuesday and Thursday. So the germ of an idea hit me. Why not ask if I can work 3 days a week remotely and go to classes on the 2 days. If I have a laptop that connects, I am in business. My employer gave me one back in 2008, to use when I attended a PBS Traffic Advisory Committee meeting and I found it worked out well for me. I asked I.T. if we still had such things and the answer to that is yes.

I have a friend who I went to school with and he teaches in the Comm Studies Department. I asked him if he knew of anyone with a place to rent, so he hooked me up with his landlord and I have an apartment in downtown Oswego for the Fall semester.

I am hoping to get my car out there, either driving it or having it brought over. We will see how much money we have and what we can arrange.

Lots of stuff happening right now, but I have good feelings about the entire thing, so hopefully it will work out to my advantage.

Water At The Mall

My Water Post For Today.

We went to dinner at our local mall.

The place is blast furnace hot in the summer, so to cool it off, the mall put in a wonderful fountain, right outside of TGI Friday.

We got there just before sunset, so I got this really nice photo with my cell phone.

I hope you enjoy it.

Mother's Day Sunday Breakfast

We had to get up super early last Sunday, to bring our son and his friend down to Cal State LA.

Since we needed to make a bagel run, we decided to put the two things together and get breakfast...and bagels.

It was a nice last meal with my son (and his friend). Being I am missing him so much, I am glad we made the effort to do it.

After today, 5 more days and he is back with us.

My thanks to his friend for getting this wacky goofy photo of us. :-)

The Eagle Flies!

There they are, CSULA's EcoCar2 Team, running on the Desert Proving Grounds in Yuma.

They were the second team to pass inspection and first team to complete all testing on the Proving Grounds.

They may get to try to improve their results, over the next day or so, but for the most part, they have proved they have the right stuff.

Congratulations to the team (and my son, of course). Your hard work has paid off in spades.

Onward to San Diego.

My Three Men

These are the three men in my life. My Husband, his brother and, of course, my son.

I liked the fact that the three of them were rocking mustaches and in my son's and brother-in-law's case, beards.

Can you tell these guys are related? :-)

It is so rare we get together now days, with my son so terribly busy.

It was a good that we managed to coordinate a late afternoon dinner, to celebrate a birthday.

Mother's Day didn't turn out that good...oh well.

I think I will keep them all.

Coffee With Jesus: Angels

I have a friend who just got her Master of Arts degree in Pastoral Studies last week. She works in a Church Office and posts all sorts of religious things, via her Facebook account. Many I read and this one, Coffee With Jesus, I love.

I subscribed to them via Facebook and have not regretted getting a comic every day or so. They always make me think...and this one feels like me.

Please click on the photo, so you can read the comic. It is called Angels. :-)

It comes highly recommended.

The Freeway Transition Is Done

A year ago, I took a photo on the I-5 Freeway, which showed a sunset and bridge under construction. You can see the photo and post, HERE.

Well, a year has come and gone and now the freeway transition ramp is open for business, as of a week ago. I thought it would help the traffic situation, since our lanes now cross over the entire freeway and enter on the right side...but no such luck.

It will continue to be a bottleneck, until they open the double car pool lanes, using the old part of the ramp that we used to enter on.

First off, I am sorry for all the reflections off the glass in the photo.

To give you an idea of what you are looking at. We are on the new ramp. Down below, you can see they are already tearing apart the old ramp and of course, you can see all the traffic, after the merge happens.

Better then before, but still waiting for much better then that.

EcoCar2 Competition Begins (Year 2)

...and he's off.

They left on Sunday morning and after an eventful drive that was so far south that they almost went over the border to Mexico, they arrived at the Yuma Proving Grounds, home of General Motors test facility.

He and the teams got together for some play time and dinner and some preliminary awards were given out.

My son's team won an award for Best Pre-competition Safety Inspection. As I reported in March, they had the only running vehicle, going to inspection, so this was not a total surprise.

You can read all the awards given so far, HERE.

Oh and this is what the EcoCar2 Team did to my son's car.

Yeah, hope it comes off OK. lol

The Ohio River

My Water Post For Today.

All the photos of Pittsburgh, that are posting from my friend who got married last week, made me go back to the photos I took 2 years ago and here is another one.

This is at the Point State Park in Pittsburgh, where the Allegheny and the Monongahela Rivers join to become the Ohio River. You are looking toward the West End Bridge, that crosses the Ohio.

I still amazes me how much water flows by this City and how many bridges cross the rivers.

A truly wondrous place.

I hope you enjoy.

A Mother's Day And A Goodbye To My Son

Happy Mother's Day!

I thought I would post a photo of my Mom, the woman who gave birth to me.

She had this photo hanging in her bedroom, so I am sure it meant a lot to her.

My best guess is that it was taken in Brooklyn (it's a brownstone, so I think I am OK placing it there) and she might be high school age, or younger. I decided to choose 1940. What the heck, give or take 2 or 3 years and I am right on. :-)

On days like today, I miss her terribly. I know she would be proud of me and I hope she would be proud of my son.

Speaking of my son...

I will be spending the morning saying goodbye to my son and his friend, as we bring them to CSULA so they can drive to Yuma, for the year 2 competition.

He's a bit the worse for wear. He's got cuts all over him and something happened to his lip on Thursday or Friday, but the swelling is going down, though he still has some scabs. So hopefully any photos they take will not be too bad.

It's going to be hot in Yuma, since it is over 100 already. No photos allowed, btw.

Oh and did I mention that he broke his 2 month old phone on Thursday? We have it in for repair and he is taking his Dad's phone to Yuma with him. Sigh...

I will update how he and the team are doing, as I hear things. More on that, later.

The Disney Lot

It's hard to believe, but yes, this is my neighbor over to the east of my workplace.

Just a short walk and you are in the world of make believe. Seriously.

Mouse ears on the fencing, Palm Trees holding up the entryway and 7 Dwarfs are holding up a building. It's all just a little too much to take in.

I appreciate the guard allowing me to sneak inside and take the photo of the dwarfs. I really like that building.

Sometimes I have to pinch myself, I just can't believe all that is right around the neighborhood.

A Pennsylvania Wedding

I have a long time friend who is getting married this weekend.

I am pretty sure that it is today, but maybe it is on Saturday.

No matter what, in my humble opinion it's going to be spectacular because...it is happening at Fallingwater!

I don't know where the vows will be taken, but you just KNOW the Official Photo (the one that will be sent out with their thank you cards) will be with Frank Lloyd Wright's majestic home, in the background.

If there is a God, I will sometime get access to a wedding photo and share it with you all.

Good luck to you Rupe and to your lovely bride.

May the sun shine on your day and your life together.

Update:

The wedding was Saturday and here is a photo.

A Bikeway Used To Live In Los Angeles

I have lived in Los Angeles for 34 years (May 2nd, to be exact).

Just in case you didn't notice my story on the side of this blog, you can check out my journey to Los Angeles, HERE. I look back and I still can't believe I survived this journey, pre-cell phones, none the less...but I have great memories of coming out here and settling in Los Angeles. Happy reading.

On to today's post.

It is finals week in college, so my time is limited. Bigger posts will hopefully come soon.

I must admit that I never knew we used to have a bikeway, running from Pasadena. A friend of mine connected me to the link on Facebook yesterday. It is Bike Week and I think that is why it turned up.

Check this story out HERE.

I personally find this fascinating and wish it still existed.

More Spring Flowers

As spring continues here in Southern California, more of the bulbs come out.

These are mostly Ranunculus and I saw them at the hospital property a few weeks ago. I have planted them at my own houses over the years, so they are very familiar to me. I happen to love them but unfortunately for me, mine don't seem to last in the front of this house. I believe they thrived at my Mobile Home, back in the 80's.

If you would like to read up about them, check out Wikipedia HERE...and of course, enjoy.

The Blu Pool

My Water Post For Today.

Sorry for the one day delay, but I had to get the survey out on Monday.

This is the Blu Pool at Ballys Casino and Resort.

What got me about the whole thing is that this is the view through the Monorail window. You literally ride right by it.

Talk about lack of privacy.

Anyway, I thought it was a pretty cool (and Blu) place. ;-)

Enjoy.

Adults And Social Media

My final project for the Social Networks and the Web class is a re-creation of a Pew study about Adults and Social Media.

I decided I also wanted to add in some other questions, so this is my survey.

If you did not see it on Facebook and you have 5 minutes, please copy this and fill it out.

Send your completed survey today, to angellelemarche@yahoo.com, since the project is due on Thursday.

Thanks so much.

Adults And Social Media Survey

1. Do you own a computer? Y N

2. Do you have at least one email account? Y N

3. Do you check it often? Y N

4. Do you belong to social networks sites? (Facebook, Twitter, Pinetrest, etc) Y N

5. Have you ever taken a Facebook “Vacation” (turning off the account)? Y N

6. If you have any, are you “Friends” with your children on Facebook? Y N Don’t have________

7. Do you make purchases online? (Airline Tickets, Amazon.com, etc) Y N

8. Do you own a cell phone? Y N

9. If you do, can you check your Facebook account from your cell? Y N

10. Your age. __________

Thank you for your time.

A Day With A College Friend

I haven't seen the girl I drove across the Country with, for 2 years. Well, we finally decided to rectify that situation, by having lunch together.

My Husband and I met her in Hollywood and off we went to Langer's. The very place where former President Clinton visited about 2 weeks ago.

We tried to catch up with each other, but there is just too much that has happened. She spent the past year and something in Central America and well, you all know what is new in my life. In spite of all we had to speak of, we enjoyed the food and the company. After lunch, we decided to cross the street and walk around MacArthur Park's lake. It's not the best neighborhood, but between the 3 of us, we felt pretty safe.

I wasn't sure what was going to happen next, but my friend wanted to walk around Downtown Los Angeles...and so we did. We parked at Macy's and spent 2 hours exploring the 7th Street to 5th Street area. One of the best things we did was visit Los Angeles Central Library. A very beautiful place and the location where this photo was taken. We hadn't been here since the library opened after the arson fire in the early 90's. It was wonderful to see it again.

I remembered that the tallest building in L.A. is right out front and so we made sure we went out that door and took a look at Bank of the West (formally First Interstate Bank and later the Library Tower) Building.

We then walked over to Pershing Square and visited the Millennium Biltmore Hotel (which had a High Tea thing going on). It reminded me of the time I actually had high tea in Greenport. Maybe my Husband and I will return some time to partake. :-)

We ended up back on 7th and picked up our car, after making a purchase at Macy's.

A lovely day with a friend, who shares so much of my college and early adult life.

Fire Season Has Arrived

Well, winter has left and fire season has begun.

Who knew it was going to be so bad? Well, I mentioned to my professor that we had high winds and that I hoped we didn't get fires. Unfortunately for everyone, that turned out to be false. We got fires and, we keep getting new ones each day.

The closest to me so far, is this one. It broke out in Glendale at around 3PM. This is my view from the window in my office.

They thankfully got it out by 6PM, but for the residents of that area of Glendale, it was pretty frightening.

I Am A Grad Student

It's official, I am now a full Grad Student. It took 5 weeks, but I finally got the answer and just in time. If you don't know what I am talking about, here is the original post, for you to read, if you missed it.

I tried to talk to my big boss yesterday, but we didn't connect. Hopefully I will get that talk over with, sometime today.

I have 2 courses signed up for and I am emailing the other two instructors, to get into the two other classes I need. I am pretty hopeful I will get into them...and if not, I will sic my Professor on them. :-)

Checking out apartments via Craigslist and hoping for some help from my friends.

Still rocking an A- in my Social Networks and the Web Class. 1 week to go and a final paper to turn in.

I really WANT that A. :-)

The Back Story On A Stolen Van

On Tuesday afternoon we start getting messages from our (currently living at CSULA) son. This is week 2 of his living at the school.

He went out to lunch with someone and as they are eating, the person he is with gets a phone call. It was the police and his Van had been stolen and was currently driving around the USC area, crashing into cops and cars and driving on the wrong side of the freeway, etc.

So my son and his friend go running to a TV set and watch the end of the chase in action.

After watching the footage, we hope the van is totaled, cause it took lots of hits.

The owner of the van said the vehicle was incapable of going more then 60 and it had 4 bald tires.

In my humble opinion, the guy stole the wrong van...

High Roller Ferris Wheel

During our trip to Las Vegas, we rode the monorail several times. Each time, we got about half way to our destination and we would see this big thing that was under constructions. Finally, we ended up getting off at the station stop by the construction and asked the monorail worker what that thing was. He informed us that it is a Ferris Wheel. You can read about it HERE.

The one person who will skip riding this Ferris Wheel...is me.

I have a fear of Ferris Wheels and I think at my advanced (ha!) age, I will just leave it where it is and take a pass on riding it.

If you didn't click the link, it is going to be the World's biggest Ferris Wheel. Located just behind the old Imperial Palace (now known as The Quad).

Each car will carry 40 other people and it will take 30 minutes to go around one time.

Pass...