An Oak Grew In Valencia

Back in 2009 I took some photos in the Bridgeport Marketplace. It had just recently opened and I wanted to check it out.

During my walk around the place, I saw this heritage oak tree. It had fencing all around it, to protect it from people and keep it safe.

I thought it was a wonderful tree and I took a few photos of it.

Well, life goes on and I didn't think of it again until last year, on April 30th. On that day or the evening before, the over 150 year old oak tree, with its 3 large branches, broke. You can read the story about it, HERE.

I was sad to hear of this, but I did not go visit the Marketplace until last weekend. I was there for the waterscape, but after I finished photographing the ducks and geese I remembered the tree and so I went to the back of the property, to see how it was. I had heard that it had still been alive after the branches fell off.

This is what I saw. The tree had some growth on it, but right now at least, it is just as dead looking as the trunk.

It might be dormant, because it was just winter, or maybe they are not watering it anymore, or maybe it just gave up the ghost and decided it was time to die.

I thought it was a pretty sad sight to see.

John Paul II - Elevated To Sainthood

It was a big week in the Catholic Church.

Pope John XXIII and Pope John Paul II were elevated from Blessed to Sainthood.

I am not sure what I feel about this, especially since Pope Francis waved the second miracle in the case of Pope John XXIII.

No matter what my opinion is, they are both now elevated to Sainthood and that means, I have celebrated Mass with a modern day Saint.

Here is a short look at that historic day.

The Date: September 16, 1987

The Place: Dodger Stadium

The Event: Mass with Pope John Paul II

Who Was There: Me and my Husband, members of my old Church (Including Father Ed) and around 100,000 other Catholics.

My Church was given a certain amount of tickets to give out to their parishioners, however they saw fit to do it. My Church decided to have a lottery, to be fair. I didn't want to put my name in, because at the time, I was new to the Church. My Husband is the man who convinced me to do so. Amazingly, I won and we were brought down to Dodger Stadium, by bus with our whole group.

The Pope was brought to the stadium, via a military helicopter and then he drove around the stadium, before being dropped off at the altar they had set up out in Center Field. We were in Right Field, on the edge of the warning track. We thought the seats were bad, until the Pope-Mobile drove within a few feet of us. Primo location to see the Pope, up close and personal.

It was a wonderful, unforgettable experience and I have my Husband to thank for it.

Photo #1 is John Paul II and Cardinal Roger Mahony in the Pope-Mobile.
Photo #2 is the Consecration (changing the bread and wine to the Body and Blood of Christ.)

The Bouchert Garden

My Water Post For Today.

Up to Canada we go (Vancouver Island, to be exact)...to The Butchart Gardens.

We visited this wonderful garden back in the summer of 1989 and photographed this waterscape.

The garden has a wonderful history, basically re-making an abandoned quarry into a world class garden. The wife of the businessman, did amazing things with the property and as the garden came to life, the Husband and descendents have made it into the wonderful location it is today.

I have tried to figure out which fountain this is and I am having no luck narrowing it down. I believe it may be the Ross Fountain on the edge of the Sunken Garden's, or otherwise it might be in the Japanese Garden.

No matter what, enjoy a look at a more genteel time, when people stopped to enjoy nature, rather than checking their cell phones to see what is currently going on in the world.

Ticket's In Hand, I Now Wait For My Concert Date

I have got to admit that I have seen Steely Dan at many venues, but most, not more than once. I did see 4 days of different albums at The Universal (Gibson) Amphitheater and I had seen them there before, so that is the exception, but definitely NOT the rule.

Well, let's add another to this long list of venues...The Inglewood Forum!

I have been there many times over the years, especially the 80's. Billy Joel (back in his Uptown Girl days), Genesis (Phil Collin's drumming his heart out, before he went solo), Neil Diamond (in the 90's, a bit older, but still able to crank out those hits with righteous authority) & The Moody Blues, are the ones I remember the most. For the Moodies, we were on the covered ice (from the days when the LA Kings played.) It was COLD on that floor!

Then Staples Center opened in Downtown LA and the Forum was sold to a church. A big disappointment to us concert fans. Lot's of history lost and LA has so little history around, that you mourn the loss of any of it.

Well that changed just a few short months ago, when the Forum was sold and once again brought back to its former glory (or even better, from what we hear.) A whole new sound system and better theater seating.

Steely Dan decided to try it out and so on my 34th Wedding Anniversary, a Saturday night no less, we will be celebrating with the one the only "Mister Steely Dan".

It may be drummer Keith Carlock's last tour with Steely Dan, since he took the main drum position with the band, Toto. I wish him well in his new position, but will miss his take on drumming these timeless Steely Dan hits. But that is for the future, since he will be drumming this last tour.

My tickets are up in the top area, way in the back, but I am happy just to be there and experience Steely Dan one more time.

EcoCar 3 Formally Announced!

Some have heard that my son journeyed to Texas earlier in the month. He was there for the "pre-announcement" of the EcoCar3 competition. They were sworn to secrecy, but we knew that Cal State LA was one of the 16 teams, for this 4 year competition. The new competition will begin at the end of the current competition, in June...though my son is already working on it. Why you may ask, is he working on it? Because it is looking like my son will be team lead on the project.

As with all things, I am hopeful that this gets him somewhere and from what I hear, money will be involved. I think I would feel better if money is involved, since he has never held a true job. :-)

All this is still to be finalized, but that is what the rumors are. Team Lead, money and another 4 year commitment. Ouch!

Read all about it, HERE.

Oh and the car this time...is a Chevy Camaro. The kids are all getting very excited about that.

The Spirit Of The Holidays, On KCET

My latest post on KCET is way out of whack in the way of time, but what can you do when you are only writing posts in March and April.

Here it is, The Spirit of the Holidays.

The photo up top was taken by me, (I was in the third row of the control room). The front row has the Director the Associate Director and the Technical Director, among others. The second row is the producer of the show and other production personal. My row was me and anyone else who needed a seat. :-)

I don't think I mentioned it in the post, but the final 30 seconds to air are the shortest 30 seconds you will ever experience. There is no time to panic anymore, it's show time! Then the merry-go-round begins turning and 12 hours later, it's over. Thank goodness I was young in those days and could keep up with it all. Now days, not so much.

A truly great time in my life, that I have never forgotten.

Enjoy.

Steely Dan Blog Update

Well, yesterday I showed off my new baby, which takes the posts from my final class and puts them together for posterity.

While designing that blog, I went back to my Steely Dan blog (from last semester) and did some work on it. Since I like how it came out, I thought I would show it off here.

My Husband took several "no-no" photos inside of the Beacon Theater in NYC, the night we saw Steely Dan perform their Rarities and Unreleased Show. I have always liked them, especially the ceiling photos and when I was looking to replace the crappy bookcase that came with that blogs standard design, I decided to try it out.

Check out how my project from last semester looks now. Steely Dan, Steely Dan!

I have been pretty busy this week, but I am happy with how things are looking.

Once again, things are winding down to the end and soon, I will be counting them down to my Graduation.

Integrated Media: The Next Step

It's coming down to the wire. 1 class to Skype into and then 1 class to actually attend in Oswego and it is all over.

I decided to create a real web page, where I can archive my posts that are currently living on KCET.org. I figure that this way, I have total control of them and any design changes at the main KCET website, will not bother them.

It is still a work in progress, but check it out and see if you have anything to say.

I am still going crazy trying to figure out what color to make the blog posts. Having the 50th Anniversary Logo as the far background, makes my color choices kind of limited. So don't be surprised if it changes, day to day.

I am also having some problems with 2 photos being on the left side, instead of the right side. I may take care of that issue, by uploading the photos directly to blogger, instead of stealing them from KCET. :-)

Here you go, my KCET 50th Anniversary website.

More Roses!

The other day I posted photos of my Mom and Dad's rose bush, which you can see HERE.

Today I would like to show some of them that live in the back yard, by the bump out kitchen window. By the way, the window is doing just great and my Hubby and I love it.

This first one is a close up of Olympiad. A stunning red rose that I bought one year, around the Olympics.

It doesn't flower all that much, but when it does, it makes a spectacular rose. I am glad I bought it.

This second photo shows off the roses under the window and that includes Olympiad. Mostly what is showing off is Perfect Moment, my Steely Dan rose bush. It must be happy that The Dan are going to tour this year, because I have a multitude of flowers on the bush.

I hope you enjoyed a second look at some of my roses this spring.

I am not hopeful for flowers throughout the summer.

It is going to be a dry year out here.

A Water View Of High Roller

My Water Post For Today.

Since I showed off High Roller last week, I thought I would post this companion photo, with a fountain in the photo.

I personally think it is my best shot of the Observation Wheel, but I saved it for today.

I love the coordination of the colors between the buildings, the fountains and the wheel itself.

Worth the walk, to see.

Enjoy.

Happy Easter 2014!

Yes, it is that time once again. No, I am not talking about candy and such, it's time for Easter Egg Bread and Pizza Rustica. Recipes are HERE.

These photos were taken at 11:30PM. That's basically when I finished baking them. It has to be the latest that I have ever finished.

In spite of that, we had a normal Saturday and so I was not at all upset, that I finished so late.

Here is the meat pie, aka Pizza Rustica. It is just out of the oven about 10 minutes and is still warm at this time.

We put different sausage into it this year and I hope that does not ruin it for us.

We found the sausage at Sam's Club and both decided to try it. Cavanaugh smoked sausage was the name of it.

Otherwise, it is what you would expect.

Here is the Easter Egg Bread. This year we decided to add raisins to it. I go back and forth on it and this year I let my husband make the decision and he chose raisins. No surprise there.

Easter Dinner will be a 13 lb turkey with stuffing, rolls and green beans.

I don't expect to spend too much time working on it and hopefully, it will turn out yummy.

Happy Easter To All.

My American Bandstand Days

Way Back when...in '87, I was part of a team that worked on a studio rental we had. You might have heard of it...it was called the American Bandstand Show. Dick Clark got kicked out of ABC and so he came to his near neighbor...us. We were glad to have such an iconic show tape at our studio and me as a music fan, adored the chance to see so many performers lip sync their songs.

At Christmas time, Dick Clark Productions gave us all an American Bandstand Bathroom Radio. I still have mine, all these years later. It never worked worth a darn up here in the mountains, but I love it anyway.

Check out my American Bandstand post on KCET, to see what I said about those long ago days.

Trust me, it's worth the click over there. :-)

"And we'll rock and roll and stroll on american
Lindy hop and slop, it's american
Tune in, Im on, turn on, Im in, Im on

Today! (bandstand)"

Remembering My Mom & Dad With A Rose

I mention it most years around this time. After the January cut back, when all roses are brought back to their base and all greenery is taken off, the April re-bloom comes along.

This year it was going on last weekend and I noted how full of blooms my Mom and Dad's rose was. So off I went, taking photos of what was coming up around my house.

You will see some of the other roses in a later post.

I have mentioned before that this particular rose was chosen, because the color reminded me of my Mom's lipstick and the white symbolized my Dad.

It was planted as a tribute to my parents. The rose was planted back in 2002, on the day of their 50th Wedding Anniversary. Mom passed away just after their 40th Anniversary, so she was not around to know I planted this. My Dad knew about it, since he died several years after I planted it.

It always reminds me of them, when the rose is blooming and I appreciate the fact that I gave it the most prominent location, the front of my house. There, everyone walking by my driveway, can view it and enjoy.

High Roller

This is High Roller.

It is literally the new kid on the block...having opened just the week prior to our visit to Las Vegas.

On Sunday night we decided to take a ride over to it and walk around the area. What that did for us, is it allowed us to see the loading and unloading of the observation wheel itself.

It reminded me of a ride at Disneyland, with the guests exiting on one side, as the new guests entering on the other side.

It is located in an area of the Strip called The Linq. They put up lots of stores and shops, for people to check out, while trying to get close to the wheel itself.

My Husband figured out that there are exactly 28 cars on the wheel. How did he do that? He saw car 1 and then car 28 next to it. Car 1 seems to have a GPS or something hanging from the bottom of the car, maybe it helps them if they need to figure out what car someone is in.

We found it endlessly fascinating and if it was cheaper then $65 for an impulse buy, I think I might have tried riding it.

MS Walk 2014

My sister Martha, has MS. Once again she will be participating in the MS Walk taking place in May. It is a yearly thing and the only fundraiser for the organization.

Some of the things that it does, on a local level, is give her and others who have MS, a chance to get together, socialize and make crafts. In other words, it gives them a reason to get out once in a while. They also learn about new treatments that have promise, new drugs that are being tested, etc.

Last year her team were the Chatterboxes, but they are the Sunflowers (which was their original name) this year. It made both of us were happy to hear that they brought back the Sunflowers.

Please click this link and donate.

She will be extremely happy with any amount given.

Hofbräuhaus Photos Year 2

A friend posted these two photos. Not exactly the most photogenic, but oh well.

These are my friends.

We got together for the final day of TechCon and after the entire day went on, we assembled at The Hofbräuhaus. It is thankfully not right on The Strip, but over on Paradise, where you can actually find a place to park, right by the event building. Trust me, to get to Caesar's or the MGM Grand, takes a half hour walk, from their parking structure (or so it feels.)

Kevin, Nick are old timers who I served under, when I was briefly Chair of the Traffic Advisory Committee. I also served with Karen and Susie, though never with Regina (who is the only other female in both shots.) She is on the Committee right now, for the third time, so I think she has the right to be in the photos. :-)

I cannot tell you how much pride I felt, as I sat in the final Traffic Session, working through what worked and what didn't and what should be addressed next year. I wanted to stand up and ask how many had served on the Committee, over the years...but I didn't.

I am so glad that no one can take that away from me.

Sunset By The Golden Gate Bridge

My Water Post For Today.

With water as golden as the state itself, I bring you a wonderful image of The Golden Gate Bridge at sunset.

This photo is seriously making me want to take a drive up to that area of the state that I call home.

Probably my absolute favorite photo of the San Francisco Bay area (of course I could say that about all photos from that area of California).

I hope you enjoy.

A Proud History Of News Parts One and Two

While I was in Las Vegas last weekend, two posts of mine were added to the growing number of articles I have written for my Integrated Media Projects class. What started as a small post, has now expanded into a monster 3 posts. Of course I am talking about a local news presence that goes back almost 50 years, but I was not prepared for this, when I began my journey. I just knew that I had to point out some of the very important (award winning) shows that we have produced over the years.

It was no easy project, but with the help of our long time VP and host of our News shows, Val Zavala (pictured above with Jess Marlow), I got it going and even got a quote from our current President, Al Jerome.

Please take the time to check them out. We work hard making important things and there is nothing more important than "real" news, instead of "infotainment".

A Proud History of News, Part 1

A Proud History of News, Part 2

Huell's Enduring Legacy - Huell Foods

I have been and continue to be sick and so working has been less then wonderful. In spite of that, I managed to write and get posted a really good serendipitous article, using as a jumping off point my recent experience finding a menu with a Huell Howser named item on it.

We who worked with Huell knew that these places existed, but I believe mine was the first time that we brought it all together into one post.

Originally, a map with the locations of these places was supposed to be added, but my New Media Guru ran out of time. He did find some kick a$$ photos of some of the items, so kudos to him for that.

This will be the last time I drink at the Huell Howser fountain. It is a cheap way of getting hits, but I should not overuse this. Of course, it also allows me to put the Huell Howser DVD Donate button at the end of the post, but again, I really should not be overusing this device. :-)

So onward to the post itself. Enjoy the photos, if nothing else.

Finding California's Gold...In California Food

A Look At Ethel M

We wanted to eat our lunch and the nearby park was filled with pets.

So we moved to our second location...the cactus garden at Ethel M.

We hadn't been this way in decades, since our baby was small. Thankfully, it was still around and people were looking at the much more mature, cacti. It is a stunning display.

We ate our lunch and than decided that it would be nice if we took the "Tour". The tour on the weekend is usually just 1 line maybe running. In our case, it was not running, so we saw nothing going on. It was a fast tour.

Next up, you are in the gift shop and of course there is lots of candy, that is not cheap. They give you one candy, which back in the day was their primo liquor filled candy. Now days, it is just a chocolate coin. Still excellent, but a different market.

I did end up getting some bars of chocolate, for my friends in Oswego and a few for the family and work friends here in LA.

You can see what I bought in the lower left hand side of the second photo. I put it down, when I took the photo of their Easter Display.

They make high end chocolate and the M stands for Mars. You may have heard of that brand. Ethel, was his mother.

Cat Woman At The NAB

A short post. I was writing one for KCET tonight, about Huell Howser.

I haven't a clue what this company was or what the display was about, but when Catwoman turns up at the National Association of Broadcaster's Convention, she definitely got my attention.

She also posed for me. A plus.

I don't know if all of these are stamps...or dreams of stamps. But I like them.

Peggy Sue's

Our favorite place to eat on the journey between LA and Las Vegas, has closed. Bun Boy/Bob's Big Boy is gone and the world's tallest thermometer is also dark. So we had to come up with an alternate place to eat.

Out in the middle of the desert, just about 10 miles north of Barstow, is a diner. Most people think it is nothing but a hole in the wall place, but trust me, it's a great place to eat. It is known as Peggy Sue's Diner. It is right outside the gate of the Yermo Annex, so you can actually see tanks unloading, as you walk to your car (as we did recently.)

The diner has your basic burgers and things, but on top of that, they have a Huell Howser pineapple ham cheeseburger that was actually pretty good.

They also have shakes and ice cream and things that include, home made pies.

It's a nice place to stop, check out the memorabilia (the owner used to work in the entertainment industry) and enjoy some down time, on the long drive home.

Glad I remembered the place.

National Association of Broadcaster's Convention - 2014

We are back from our yearly pilgramage to Las Vegas. I spent a day at the PBS TechCon and had a wonderful time hanging out with my friends in the PBS System. I also got to hear PBS President, Paula Kerger, speak and that always lifts my day.

Saturday we went shopping at the NAB Store and picked up tee-shirts for us all 3 of us and looked around the venue. We got our 3 day Monorail pass, so that we were set for the weekend. It is not cheap, but it comes out worth it, if we buy multiple days. You just don't want to be trying to park around the area of the Convention Center, on Monday.

Sunday we got gas for the car and then after dinner, headed to the new kid on the block...The Linq. The highlight of that shopping area, is a large observation wheel, similar to the "O" in London. It was cool to watch. I will probably post more on it, another day.

Monday we got onto the Monorail and made it to the Convention Center, just after 9AM. Being we had done most of our shopping and such, we made it through the exhibits in record time. We had made lunch for ourselves and that helped with the timing. We were out of Vegas by 2:30PM and made it home by 7:50P. Definitely a record for us, considering we stopped for dinner and gas, along the way.

In case anyone cares what the big things were this year. 4K is huge! It is supposed to take the place of 3D, which has really not caught on with the public. We shall see if this one does.

The other thing that we saw all over the place, were cameras attached to mini-helicopters. There had to be at least 5 companies showing off their design of copter and camera. Obviously, the bigger the camera, the bigger the copter. Kids and their toys...

All in all, a good day and a fun weekend.

Glad to be home.

Oregon Coast

My Water Post For Today.

I am still in Las Vegas.

Since I am so far from the ocean, I thought I would bring you up to Oregon today.

It's a rough area, with lots of rocks out in the water, sneaker waves crashing onto the shore and pulling in the people who don't treat the water with respect. Those waves are called sneaker waves, by the way.

What makes this photo so wonderful is the grey sand and the blue sky and those dark, ominous rocks.

A total winner of a water post and I hope you enjoy.

My iBook Cookbook - Update!

Back when I was in school, I was asked to create a book in iBook Author. I did so and then at the end of the project, my teacher asked me to attempt to publish the book at the iTunes Store. I managed (with lots of problems) to finally get it uploaded and available on the iTunes store. You can see my original post about the book HERE.

That was 6 months ago and I finally decided it was time to check out my sales in the iTunes Store, to see if anyone besides a few work and Facebook friends, had downloaded it.

My guesstimate was in the area of 20 total sales, all in the US.

The analytic shows sales broader then just my home Country.

Obviously the biggest being in the US and Canada, but wait, there's more.

Europe, Asia and South America are also represented.

That means that I am published on 4 Continents.

The figure for total sales, is a whopping 69 books sold. 11 books a month, on average.

I am so proud.

Thanks so much to my teacher in Oswego, for pushing me to publish it.

The California and Nevada Line

It used to be called State Line Nevada.

It was the first place that east bound Californian's could legally stop and gamble. Whiskey Pete's has always been there, at least in all my years of driving through the area. Later on, Primmadona came along, named after the owner, Primm. In 1996 the area was asked to change it's name, due to confusion with Stateline up in the Lake Tahoe area and so they decided to name the area after the owner and it became Primm or Primm Valley.

There are 3 resort/casinos there. Whiskey Pete's Hotel and Casino, Primm Valley Resort and Casino and Buffalo Bill's Resort and Casino, Buffalo Bill's has an absolutely HUGE (209 feet tall) roller coaster, "The Desperado", on the property, which makes it the most eye catching landmark on the site.

The only times I have ever stopped there, is when the gas in the car, just wasn't going to make it all the way to Las Vegas. Since we are always on our way home in the evening, after looking at the exhibits of the NAB, we are always (can I say that again) ALWAYS in a hurry...

Maybe someday we will make a stop and look around.

Ivanpah Solar Electric Generating System

Obviously, Hubby and I made it to Las Vegas safely.

The Ivanpah Solar Electric Generating System is the new kid on the block, in the area just before you cross the California Nevada border. It was not functioning last year, when we drove by and we had no idea what it was that they were building.

Well, this year, it's pretty obvious what it is. Currently 2 towers glow with the reflection of the sun, from the mirrors that are pointed at them. The third one will be going online by the end of the year.

I am sorry I did not get a photo, when we were on top of the mountain pass area. You could see the mirrors better from up there. By the time we got lower and closer, we could see the towers better, but we lost the view of the mirrors.

There is controversy, in regard to the plant. There are problems with the habitat of the Desert Tortoise and the company that is building the plant, is trying to mitigate that problem.

The other issue, is the loss of birds, due to being burned by the mirrors. Not a good thing at all. I am not sure what they can do about that.

An interesting sight to see, on our way to Las Vegas.

Off To Las Vegas, Once Again

Yes, it's that time of the year, PBS TechCon and the NAB. The photo is from last year's TechCon and I can't wait to visit with my many friends in the PBS system. Lots of changes are going on, especially the proliferation of Joint Master Controls, so I need to keep up with these changes. My time spent at WCNY will come in handy, as I check out the latest coming from the Engineers, CPB, and of course, PBS.

The Hoffbrau House is also on the agenda on Friday night. I had a good time last year. Hopefully my Hubby will get in and we can have another nice evening.

More when we get there.

Our Integrated Media Projects Are Moving Along

A long time ago...in a galaxy far, far away...Oswego, New York, to be exact.

There was this party.

It was held at the Old City Hall Bar, after all our classes were done for the semester.

Inside you could get some bar type food. I had a cheese quesadilla, before running to my last class. It was good, by the way.

Later on in the evening, I returned and I brought another student from my art class.

We ended up joining the better part of our Integrated Media program's students, which I talked about last year in THIS post.

We had a good time dancing and singing karaoke music. Pictures are from that night.

What we didn't know at that time was that the cafe was not doing well and new owner's took over.

They might have been there that evening, or they took over, just after the new year.

I have no real idea.

Well a new semester arrives and we are to design an integrated media project for our final class. I have mentioned mine before, but we had one that came in from the Water Street Cafe, too. I was interested in the project, because they offered real money to totally redo their Social Media presence and Webpage, which you can see, HERE. Currently not a wonderful web presence and I can't wait to see what our team does to it.

It ended up that 3 of the students in my class of 8, decided to take on this difficult project. All three show up in the photos you see.

I am getting a kick out of how the project is evolving and I totally intend to stop by, when I go visit Oswego next month, for my last week of class and my Graduation!

iHeartRadio Moves In

Happy April Fool's Day. Don't listen to anything today. :-)

One of the changes that has happened to the old NBC lot, is that iHeartRadio has moved into a stage. Last week they had some sort of music event going on and unfortunately I didn't see much.

What I did see, reminded me of doing Tavis Smiley on our lot, back in the day. Lots of limos and limo drivers hanging around the front of the building, but you couldn't see what was going on.

It is sad to see all that property empty (NBC left a few weeks ago).

Minus their remote trucks, which still park there and minus the Tonight Show staff, who are still being paid by Jay Leno, there is nothing much going on.