A small "one of" concert took place this past Memorial Day Weekend.
Who showed up, because Jon Herington is busy touring?
Larry Carlton!
I have seen Larry play before, but this time he is lead guitar for the entire concert.
Quite a promotion for him.
Check out the video of Kid Charlemagne.
My apologies for the fact that it is so shaky.
Almost a year ago, we went to the Seattle exhibit: Chihuly Garden and Glass.
The thing about Chihuly, is exhibits similar to the one we saw, are set up in different gardens and conservatories around the United States.
A friend of mine just went to the exhibit at the New York Botanic Garden.
So many of the pieces that he showed off, are old friends of mine. Seeing what he viewed, brought me to my iPad, where so much of what I took photos of last year, live.
So, in honor of my friend going to the exhibit in NY, I give you a few more pieces that we saw in Seattle.
I never get tired of seeing the magnificence of Dale Chihuly.
The first photo is called Sealife Tower. If you take a close look, you can see that there are sea animals and fish among the glass.
The second photo has some glass pieces that have been formed into cactus plants. I wish I could have photographed the entire room, at once. There were so many different pieces.
He loves big works, as these two pieces show.
My Water Post For Today.
The Twelve Apostles are outcroppings in the beach area, not too far west of Melbourne Australia.
My Professor in Human Computer Interaction is currently there with several students. Note, I would have loved to take advantage of that overseas travel opportunity, but alas, I had work and a family to return to.
This photo was taken by my Professor, Damian.
To say the least, it is a truly magnificent place and even though there are no longer 10 stacks (I don't think there were ever 12) it still has that "holy" look that only something made by God (or nature) can come up with.
I hope you enjoy.
I am so close to seeing this view of the Disney Lot, but being it is just past the guards, I am kept from this view.
On Thursday, that changed.
We had a van passenger who hurt his leg and so we dropped everyone off right next to Legends Plaza that leads to the Team Disney Building.
I asked my friend if I could take a few photos of the plaza and she said it was just fine.
So I went in and spent all of about 2 minutes taking photos, before leaving the lot and going to my own workplace.
Since it was the run up to the Memorial Day weekend, I had work to do. :-)
Cool place and sorry I could not read the different plaques.
Last week, since we did not have my son at home, we decided to try a relatively new restaurant in town.
They gave us a 20% coupon in the mail and we decided to take them up on their offer.
The place is called Bonefish Grill and so we did expect that fish was the main event here.
I was going to go with salmon on a plank, but they had a special offer of 2 dinners for one lower price that included appetizer and dessert.
We ended up ordering Crab Topped Cobia as our main entree.
The waitress said it was a whitefish, so we both decided to try it.
Note that the fish itself was just fine, but the crab they placed on top of it was not as good and neither was the jalapeno sauce that accompanied it.
So I ended up eating some of the potatoes, some of the broccoli and all the fish. I left most all of the crab and sauce.
The appetizer (Bang Bang Shrimp) was good, but not great. The bread was excellent and the dessert was just fine. Hard to screw up a brownie with ice cream and whip cream. :-)
For the price, we were a bit disappointed and will probably not go there again.
Happy Memorial Day weekend.
This photo was taken by me, at Arlington National Cemetery, several years ago and I felt like bringing it back this year.
My son returns home tonight, just in time to celebrate the holiday with us.
I am very happy.
Whatever you do, enjoy the time with family and remember those who gave their lives, so we could be free.
I have mentioned the beautiful Jacarandas at my workplace before.
Spring is almost at its end and the traditional summer season begins this weekend.
The May tree that says its final goodbye in the spring, is the Jacaranda.
It blooms throughout the month and then loses its colorful blossoms in a carpet of purple.
I came to LA at the beginning of May and to this day, I remember my first job and parking on the streets surrounding Melrose Avenue, in the Fairfax District.
The thing this East Coast transplant learned, is to NEVER park your car under the blooming Jacarandas.
We had nothing like this, on the East Coast. :-)
Happy early Memorial Day weekend and enjoy your travels or barbecues, or just the 3 days of rest.
My son made it across the East Coast on Sunday.
They had rain during the Cleveland to Pittsburgh part of the drive, but smooth sailing for the rest.
They got into Washington, DC fairly late, but got themselves dinner and checked in by 9PM.
On Monday evening I asked how the day went and I get a "meh".
Thinking that might be all I get out of him, I came up with a question.
How was the view from his room?
He told us that he was low down, but that the view up toward the top of the hotel was nice.
On Tuesday, he proved it with this photo.
There is the Air Force Memorial and the Pentagon behind it.
You can also see the Washington Monument.
Glad I got him to talk about his view. :-)
I make Meatloaf, quite often. But adding ketchup has not generally been what I do.
My only complaint is that it came out maybe too moist. Maybe I will cut down the water a bit.
MEATLOAF
2 lbs. ground beef
1 cup seasoned Italian bread crumbs
1/2 cup finely chopped onion
1/3 cup ketchup
1/3 cup water
1 teaspoon garlic powder
2 eggs
Pepper to taste
Salt, if desired
4 strips bacon, if desired
Heat oven to 350 F.
In large bowl, combine all ingredients except bacon. Shape into a loaf; place in 9-by-5-inch pan. Arrange bacon strips on top of meat mixture, if desired. Bake for 60 minutes. Serves 6 to 8.
My Water Post For Today.
Sean P. Mills (photo posted on Long Island Sunsets and Beyond group on Facebook) comes through again.
Sunset at Orient Point and the Coffeepot Lighthouse.
I have seen this lighthouse before, most recently in 2015, but trust me, mine did not look anything like this photo.
A truly talented man and a great photo.
Enjoy.
It has been a month and it was time for my box of produce.
Here's what I got.
2 heads of butter lettuce
1 lb of small carrots
2 Zucchini
1 Yellow Squash
1 basket of Strawberries
1 container of Blackberries
6 Santa Rosa Plums
1 English Cucumber
1 bunch of Collard Greens
1 Bunch of Red Russian Kale
2 lbs of Red Potatoes (about 10 small)
1 bunch of Purple Basil
Thoughts I had, right off the bat. What the heck is Red Russian Kale?
The LA Times says it is the sweetest of the kale types and to cook it in some olive oil until tender. hmmmm...
The Strawberries are gorgeous this time around and so are the blackberries.
The Santa Rosa Plums are usually fabulous and I can't wait to try one of them.
I cooked the collards and will eat it this week with my dinner.
The potatoes look perfect for potato salad.
See you next time.
Henna Tattoos are a body adornment that many cultures use.
I have many friends from India and I found out about a shop that gives free henna tattoos, right down the road from my house.
Curious, I went over to the shop and asked for a tattoo.
It was interesting to watch how the owner of the shop applied the henna, via a small tube.
The amount of henna placed on your body, dictates how strong the dye becomes in your design.
The parts that have stood the test of time (2 days and counting) are the dots at the end of the lines and the 3 dots going down from the design. I totally lost my flower, after my shower last night.
Being I had to shower and work and also go to gym class, I decided not to do anything to attempt to keep the henna on my hand and it has been fading away.
If I ever do it again, I will definitely make sure I go AFTER my shower. :-)
Another month and another 3 hours of work on my Icon of St. James the Greater.
First off, I didn't really work on his eyes at all. Moving on...
Most of my time was laying in the second light and second float onto the Red, Blue, Tan and Skin.
I realized that my colors were a bit too different from what I need for St. James (I got the colors from St. Kateri). So what I am doing is darkening them with a bit of umber.
HERE is what it looked like last month.
My instructor mentioned that I should paint curls on his hair, so next month I may do that.
He also mentioned that I should add something to the edge of the board. Where I put kind of a greyish color. To make it look more finished. Maybe I will get to that, too.
Otherwise, still have 3rd light and float and 4th light and float and final lines and such.
Not done yet.
The EcoCar3 Year 3 competition is happening right now in Milford, Michigan.
The latest video shows my son, within the first 5 seconds. Check it out HERE.
I asked my son if he thinks they will get the car on the track and he seems upbeat about it.
I hope that turns out to be true.
Last year they got the car to pass inspection 1/2 hour before the track closed.
Good luck guys and girls and get that car going.
I happen to have a love of Starbucks.
Take it for what it is. I try not to go to them often, because their coffee and products are just so expensive.
Sometimes, if a deal is particularly good, I break down and get a cup of coffee.
I used to be a big fan of their Mocha Frappuccino Light, but I stay far away from that nowadays.
I usually get a Pike Place Roast Grande with Soy Milk. Much cheaper and better for me.
Last week they had a promotion that gave up to a maximum of 175 points toward rewards, for 5 purchases in 5 days.
I had no plan to go that many times, but I did sign up figuring I would get 50 points for 3 purchases.
Then, on Saturday, my computer stopped connecting to the Internet at home...bummer.
I took my laptop that I used up at Oswego and parked myself at the local Starbucks that is a half mile from my house.
Bought some Earl Grey Tea and sat there doing what needed to be done (via their Internet connection).
Sunday night, no change from Saturday and so there we were, both my Husband and I drinking coffee and tea and doing what had to be done on the Internet.
The result of these unexpected purchases is that I earned the 175 points and I now have 2 free products on my account.
Well, I am glad that something useful came out of the misery.
The Internet is still giving us some problems, but it is better than it was.
When is my son coming home?
The ice cream truck that has been coming to The Pointe for the past 2 years or so, just added a second truck. I wrote about them HERE.
The first one is known as Charlotte, "Charlie" for short. It is named after the owner's mother or mother in law, (I get confused).
Just recently, he got his second truck out on the streets and named it Francine, "Frankie" for short.
On Friday the owner posted that we were getting Frankie. I was so excited to see the "new" truck.
As you can see, he did a nice job and he even added a cone at the front of the truck. It also goes by the license CVT2, so you can definitely tell them apart.
Mister Softee never looked so good. :-)
My Water Post For Today.
A few weeks ago, when we were at the LA Times Festival of Books, we went to lunch at the student center.
Right next to us, there was this pretty impressive water fountain, making quite a bit of racket.
I thought we would be in trouble, with the sound of water...but it turned out just fine.
It also cooled off our area of the world, as we sat in the shade on a hot day and ate our salads for lunch.
Lucky students.
My life is never easy.
The other day I come home from work and what do I see?
My cat on top of all the clothes that have been left out, so that I will put them away.
My Husband does this, so that the cat won't bother them since she can't climb that high...
Well, she obviously figured out how to scale the clothes and she made herself quite at home.
As a matter of fact, he chased her away at one point and she returned and climbed the mountain again.
My poor clothes.
A few weeks ago my son asked me for his pinky ring size.
Honestly, I had no idea, what his ring finger size is, which means I was even more ignorant of his pinky size.
Ends up that he was getting a ring from the Engineering Department, since he did graduate with a BS in Engineering.
Here is what I found, online.
Engineer’s Ring
The Engineer’s Ring in the United States is a stainless steel ring, worn on the fifth finger of the working hand by engineers who have accepted the Obligation of an Engineer in a Ring Ceremony. In Canada, the Engineer’s Ring is a wrought iron ring accepted by engineers inducted into the Ritual of the Calling of an Engineer in a secret ceremony.
They took many photos, but these two I grabbed, because I thought they looked good.
He leaves at around 7AM today, for EcoCar3 Year 3 Competition.
My son is a busy man.
My friend and former co-worker makes pots in her spare time.
I am truly envious of her and really would love to get my hands dirty someday, making some of my own.
For now, I get to gaze on her work and sometimes buy one, as I mentioned on THIS post. BTW, the link to her Etsy page is there.
I took a trip a few weeks ago to see her display at the Jackalope Arts Festival in Pasadena.
The main reason I spent a Sunday morning traveling to and from Pasadena, is that I fell in love with the pots with swirls of different colored clay.
You can see them in the first photo and to me, at least, it truly looks like ice cream swirls.
My only complaint, was that they are not made with a glaze that makes them smooth. Instead, they are rough and being the tactile person I am, that was a bit of a turn off.
This second photo shows off pottery that you can put your yarn in, to use as you are knitting or crocheting.
I think they are pretty cool, too.
Now some of those pots are smooth, so that the yarn does not pull.
I was pleased with my second purchase (which is not in either photo), but I was sure my Husband was going to divorce me. So far he has been quiet, so I guess I made it past that.
Melissa is a great potter and so worth the time, to check her stuff out.
When we went to the LA Times Festival of Books, there is a stage by our KCET booth.
I happened to like the group (Bellorage) that was playing. The female was singing a Jewel song from the 1990's, "Who will save your soul" Then these women in red sort of nuns outfits, with white hoods, came over and stood by the stage.
I had absolutely no idea what was going on, but knowing a photo op when I see one, I took a picture of them.
Shortly after I took that photo, they moved on out to another area of the book fair.
I thought nothing more about them...until I saw a photo of them as a highlight of the week.
"In a dystopian near-future, the totalitarian and Christian fundamentalist government of Gilead rules the former United States amidst an ongoing civil war. Society is organized along a new, militarized, hierarchical regime of Old Testament-inspired social and religious fanaticism and newly-created social classes, in which women are brutally subjugated, and by law are not allowed to work, control money, or read. Widespread infertility due to warfare-induced environmental contamination has resulted in the conscription of the few remaining fertile women — called Handmaids, according to Biblical precedent — who are assigned to the homes of the ruling elite, where they must submit to ritualized sex with their male masters in order to become pregnant and bear children for those men and their wives.
The main character, Offred (Moss), is the Handmaid assigned to the home of Gileadean Commander Fred Waterford (Fiennes) and his former-televangelist wife Serena Joy (Strahovski), and as such is subject to the strictest rules and constant scrutiny; an improper word or deed on her part can lead to her execution. Offred, who is named after her male master like all Handmaids, can remember the "time before", when she was married with a daughter and had her own name and identity, but all she can safely do now is follow the rules of Gilead in the hope that she can someday live free and reunite with her daughter."
It is an 11 part series on Hulu.
Not like I care to watch it, but it did make for an interesting 5 minutes of my life.
I have mentioned this bush before.
It separates the parking area of Santa Barbara Mission, from the picnic area and Stations of the Cross.
I have never in my life seen anything so...uh...orange.
Being we had a few moments, I went over and took a few photos of the plant, hoping upon hope that I could find it on Google Images.
It took a bit, but here it is: Thunbergia gregorii - Orange Clock Vine .
They planted it on every chain link fence, that rings the area and so it is quite striking.
You have to control it, because it can become invasive easily...but that is part of what makes it so beautiful.
I don't plan on buying one, but I do enjoy looking at it.
The day we went to the LA Times Festival of Books, we took public transportation.
One of the things we rode on, was the Expo Line.
We have done it several times in the past and it is an interesting line to ride.
After we were done with what we wanted to do, we had a bit of time and so we got back on the Expo Line and headed out to the sea.
Not many people got on with us, but the car was packed and it took me several stops before I got a seat.
Yikes!
We had been on the line up to Culver City back when it opened, but never all the way to Santa Monica.
It felt like it took a long time, but it was about an hour in total, from Downtown LA to Santa Monica.
As it ends up, you do not get to the sea. We would have had to walk about a block or two, to get there.
We didn't have the time this trip.
Maybe summer. :-)
===========================
First photo is the Expo Line at USC.
Second photo is at the end of the line...Santa Monica.
My Water Post For Today.
I have shown off this fountain before...HERE, as a matter of fact.
Unfortunately for the other photo, it was hard to see the water. Not so on this newest photo.
The water, the lilies and the Mission itself are spectacular on this particular day.
I hope you enjoy.
I saved this photo of me at the Santa Barbara Mission for Sunday, since I sometimes put religious things up here. :-)
When I was at the Mission, I decided to light a candle for my parents.
I always feel good when I get somewhere particularly "Holy" that allows candles to be lit.
I did not ask my Husband to take the photo, but did see later, that he took one.
They have been gone for, in Dad's case 11 years and in Mom's case it will be 25 years this Fall. She basically passed, just before my son's 2nd birthday.
I remember how much they loved visiting Santa Barbara, so I was glad that I had the time to do this.
I have stated this before, I am not an activist!
Yet on Friday I found myself writing our congressional representative in regard to his recent vote.
I seriously did not want to do this, but hey.
Representative Knight,
I am saddened to hear that you ignored your constituents and voted yes on repeal of the ACA. By doing so you have now put yourself into a situation where your chances of wining reelection are seriously compromised. My son (26 years old) could potentially lose his healthcare and I feel very helpless, because I cannot cover him anymore. Santa Clarita is full of parents and young adult children, who you have attacked, with your vote. Thanks for that...not.
Maybe I am the first to think this thought, but I see Cameron Smythe as a potential candidate in 2018, since you are now so toxic.
Good luck. You are going to need it.
Cathy Bower
First off, Happy Cinco de Mayo.
One of our original engineers came down from Las Vegas on Thursday and so he and another engineer (who I talked about HERE), came by the station.
I decided since I was going to go to gym, I would drive down with my Husband and ask them to go to lunch with us both.
That ended up being a good idea and we took them on a tour of the place and then headed over to Bob's Big Boy.
Richard was our video engineer in the days I worked with him and he did productions like Puzzle Place, American Playhouse, Penn and Teller go Public and going way back, Hollywood Television Theater.
I spent years sitting on a milk box in a corner of color video, watching him work. He would match the color of the camera's and then ride the camera's iris, to make the darkness and lightness match each other, as the camera shots changed. It was fascinating to see the miracles he could create with color and light.
My son, in the Puzzle Place era, would be with me. Dick was always ready with toys for him to play with. I always got a kick out of him showing off train whistles and circuit boards with light up parts. Probably where my son got his early engineering interest. :-)
The guys told me a new piece of information, that when we went on the air, Roy was in Master Control and Richard was also there, maybe in telecine or even up at the transmitter on Mount Wilson. I will have to follow up on that comment, but they were indeed both working that day.
Lunch was wonderful and the guys are wonderful (as is the Hubby).
A fun day.
When my Husband asked me what plans we had for the morning after the concert, I realized that I really wanted to return to a place we had visited just 1 time. The Santa Barbara Botanic Gardens in Mission Valley.
Our friends from Phoenix introduced us to the ancient way the residents of the Santa Barbara Mission received their water.
They routed the water via aqueducts, to get it down the canyon.
So we drove up behind the mission and got to the Botanic Gardens.
It has a field of poppies and purple lupine, right in the front and we definitely stopped to take some photos.
Also, check out that killer view of the Santa Ynez mountain range right behind it.
As you follow the trail toward the dam and the creek, you pass through a grove of Sequoia trees, which is not something I have seen often.
As we walked through the area, we found a bench and sat down.
I couldn't resist and I looked up. It was gorgeous and so worthy of a photo.
I hope you enjoy it.
By the way, there was almost no water in mission creek. Darn!
Here are some photos of the dam and creek from their website, so you can see what it can look like.
Donald Fagen has worked with Todd Rundgren before, specifically a tune called Rhymes.
Well, along comes a new Todd album and who shows up? The Donald himself.
Tin Foil Hat is obviously about our current chief executive and you can definitely hear the distinctive groove and vocals of Donald Fagen.
The best that us fans can come up with, is that Todd definitely helped with the lyrics (never Donald's strong point) and Todd probably also played and produced the tune. He also did the vocal overdubs and the line about tiny little hands, too.
It is interesting and worth a listen.
Our day in Santa Barbara consisted of a visit to the Mission, a visit to the Botanical Gardens and then lunch at Brophy Bros.
We usually eat down in Ventura, but since it was already 1PM, we went with our second choice.
It is right on Santa Barbara Harbor and we waited for a table on the 2nd floor outside area. How can anyone want to sit inside, with all that wonderful harbor just feet away?
As you can see, we were enjoying the view of the boats and the ocean...which was after the breakwater. Check out Hubby's photo to see it, off in the distance.
Being we were in no rush, you can tell that we just enjoyed our time together.
Honestly, I felt that Andrea's Seafood is better, but we enjoyed our time, our food and our view.
In case you care, we both had Clam Chowder and I had an appetizer of fried calamari and Hubby had an appetizer of fried shrimp.
He felt that mine was better than his, which says something.
My Water Post For Today.
You knew that a water post from Santa Barbara was coming your way. :-)
Unfortunately, we did not take too many by the water. This is what I have.
It was right by the place where we had lunch, before heading back to Los Angeles...Brophy Brothers.
It was busy, even during a weekday, but the views can't be beat.
I hope you enjoy.
