Happy Passover (2018)

I have been watching a promo on KCET all week and it finally got me to try to convince my Husband that watching this movie would be better than what we normally watch on a Friday night.

Being we did not have to shop, we were home at 8PM and we saw it directly on my station, KCET.

The movie is called Deli Man and is about the uniqueness of the Jewish Deli experience.

Things I learned while watching...deli's originally opened in New York by people from Romania and Germany.

The Jewish immigrants began eating there, because it reminded them of the homeland they had lost.

Eventually, they took it over, as their own.

BTW, when Ziggy (the man profiled) made stuffed Lamb Shanks, I was in love.

Got to find that place!

If you watch Deli Man, let me know what you thought.

Happy Passover, for those who celebrate and a line from the movie to close this post.

Why is this soup different from any other? :-)

Easter Egg Bread and Pizza Rustica (2018)

The recipes don't get old, they are always yummy and eagerly anticipated... but what will my son do next year?

Just to get them out there once again, here are the links to the ones on KCET's Website.

They make me so happy that it still exists there.

Easter Egg Bread

Pizza Rustica

My Son's Life Outside My Home, Is Beginning

My Son is currently in Michigan, getting his life together.

His housemates are closing on their new home and they gave my son a tour of the house yesterday.

He brought a measuring tape with him and took the dimensions of the space and decided what exactly he wants to place in the room and how he intends to space them out.

This is a first rough draft of the room, with a queen sized bed in it.

His command center is right by the door, with its three monitors mounted on the desk. One of those monitors is my TV from Oswego, I believe.

We mentioned that he might want a bedside table next to the bed and I think he might agree with that.

The other thing we did question is having the bed by the window. Totally his choice and we are fine, either way.

It is coming along and his start date is July 16th, so I am glad it is coming along.

A Trip To The Cemetery

This time of year I feel the need to check in with our ancestors in the cemetery.

We were on a journey to Newhall, which is half way to my Husband's family and so I asked if we could make a brief stop and bring them some flowers.

My Husband chose these flowers, for their bright color and you know what? I like them.

My sister informed me that they got 19 inches of snow last Thursday, so my chances of getting my Brother to the cemetery where our parents are, was slim and none.

Good thing I found a photo he took last year, showing off the cross I pay to have placed on their cemetery plot.

Another month or so, my Brother will probably plant some flowers for the summer months, but for now, this makes me happy.

Oh and you can see the difference between East Coast headstones and West Coast headstones. :-)

Scenes Of Palm Sunday (2018)

I actually stayed for the Mass this year.

Knowing that the chances are good that I will skip Easter Sunday, I decided to attend Palm Sunday and I actually got a seat this year.

The Knights of Columbus had a food and water drive and I wanted to give them my contribution. On a new thing that I had never heard of, I asked them what a water drive was?

They told me that the water is given out to the homeless living in the streets and river beds of Santa Clarita. How sad is that?

It made me double glad I bought $2.99 worth of water for them.

Onward to Palm Sunday.

They did the normal start of the Mass outside and then processed into the Church. The Priest then anointed us with Holy Water and went to the front of the Altar.

It was quite a moving ceremony and I was glad I stayed for it.

My best to those who celebrate on Easter Sunday and a shout out to those who celebrate Passover on Friday Evening.

The California Coast

My Water Post For Today.

On the Amtrak just south of Pismo Beach. The year was 2016, when we were coming down from Seattle.

The train track is right by the water and I was in love with that fact.

I am really missing the beauty of that section of the Country and State.

Enjoy.

St. Clare of Assisi Church

This was my Church, for something like 10 years.

I was Married here.

I had my Son Baptized here.

I signed him up for Religious Education here.

Then one day, we had to move to Blessed Kateri Parish, which was originally in a rented auditorium in our area of Saugus.

This Church you see, I contributed to not only the Church Building Fund...but to the Stained Glass Windows that shine down upon the space.

I didn't know the diocese of Los Angeles, had other plans for us, when I made all those contributions. I don't get to enjoy the power of those stained glass windows...and yes, I do miss them.

I don't get here often, but since a friend's father passed away last week, I wanted to say a prayer for him and so I took the time to find the door that was open and go inside.

There were not many people there and so I could look around, after my praying was over.

It is still a beautiful building that I am honored to have been married in.

A Neighborhood Bridge

I was going to a location to (once again) take some photos of the electric towers in our neighborhood.

In order to get to the spot I wanted to take a photo at, I had to walk across this bridge.

It spans Copper Hill Drive and is about a mile from my house.

I had never been on it and in the wake of the Florida Bridge Collapse, I must admit I was feeling a bit scared, as I walked across it.

The one thing that gave me confidence, is the fact that it is made of steel and not concrete.

I will take that victory and enjoy the fact that it is a lovely bridge and neighborhood.

A New Bus Shelter Sign

We pay the City of Burbank for the right to have our current publicity poster, live on the bus shelter in front of our building.

We change the poster about once a year.

I had noticed our sign was getting a bit out of date, since it had our host Val Zavala, on it. She retired back in February.

This poster is on the bus shelter. It profiles one of our local series, The Migrant Kitchen.

We just found out the show is up for a James Beard Award, for the second year in a row.

So we are pretty proud of it.

Here are the nominees for 2018.

Television Program, on Location

Chef’s Table: Jeong Kwan
Producers: David Gelb, Brian McGinn, and Andrew Fried
Airs on: Netflix

The Food Flirts with the Brass Sisters
Hosts: Marilyn Brass and Sheila Brass
Producers: Bruce Seidel and Denise Swidey
Airs on: PBS

The Migrant Kitchen
Producers: Juan Devis, Antonio Diaz, and Stef Ferrari
Airs on: KCET and Link TV

It is also worth WATCHING if you care.

Spring Arrives?

I mentioned Spring had come on March 20th and this photo shows how little I have in the way of things blooming.

I have 2 freesias and that is it, for now.

No trees have woken up from their winter slumber, which is unusual.

I am sure I will have something soon, after this rain leaves us.

Rain Is Coming

They call it an Atmospheric River and it is coming our way today.

What is this thing?
An atmospheric river is a huge plume of subtropical moisture. “Atmospheric rivers are relatively long, narrow regions in the atmosphere – like rivers in the sky – that transport most of the water vapor outside of the tropics"

We shall see how it goes, here in L.A.

Hopefully not too much rain at once.

St. Joseph Feast Day (2018)

I believe today is the First Day of Spring. Enjoy the change of season.

I have not been over to the little Church at St. Joseph's Hospital for months.

My boss working from home on Monday, definitely puts a crimp in my getting away for an hour or so.

Since I knew Monday was St. Joseph's Day, I decided to attempt to make the time to visit him and go to Mass.

His statue was full of the many gifts the Hospital gives him and I always love visiting it, as I walk into the Lobby area.

The Mass was normal, which made me happy, because I was worried it was gone, in the time I had not been around.

It always makes my day just a little brighter and a prayer for my work peeps, didn't hurt either.

In The Heights

My Water Post For Today.

Courtesy of Lin-Manuel Miranda. (No, I did not get his permission, but I am sure he won't mind)

I think that due to the fact that his son Francisco Miranda was born a month ago, he is more house bound, than usual.

All I know if that he takes some beautiful photos of the Washington Heights area, where he lives.

Washington Heights is a neighborhood that is just north of the George Washington Bridge.

Anyway, according to Lin's Twitter feed, he ran to the top of a neighboring apartment to get this photo.

I was quite impressed with it.

I hope you enjoy.

It's Time For Makenna's Yearly Check Up

Yes, the Ides of March bring us to Makenna's Birthday, once again.

She was born somewhere in March and so I chose that date (mostly so I could remember it).

She turned 9 and we took her to the vet for her yearly appointment.

As you may recall, she has some problems with her eyes and the vet definitely feels that we have made progress with that.

Both eyes look fine, at this point and I was told to keep doing what we are doing.

She lost about 3/4 of a lb this last year and so the vet was pleased about that, too. Keep up the good work, she said.

Next year we start to do a geriatric panel, since she turns 10.

ACK! we are all getting old.

Happy St. Patrick's Day (2018)

Happy St. Patrick's Day to all who are Irish...or want to be Irish.

This year I did buy a small round of Von's Irish Soda Bread.

They had a great deal on Corned Beef and I have cabbage and potatoes.

Thus, we are set to celebrate another Irish holiday.

Enjoy.

The Wizarding World At Universal...Or Not

I recently mentioned that Universal Studios now has the Wizarding World of Harry Potter.

I have been trying to get a photo of that area of the theme park, but to no avail.

No tall spires raised high up into the air.

All I can show you is that it is off there behind the white building, all the way in the back of the photo, I think.

That's how close I am to Universal, which is pretty darn close.

The Cask of Amontillado

Things are changing at work.

I moved up to the 6th floor, so as to clear part of the 5th floor for other uses.

We moved our New Media and News Department over to my side of the room, to use the other half of the floor for something new.

We have not yet seen our new residents, but they are closing in the area and adding doors with security entries.

This picture shows our little kitchen area and the wall that they are putting up. No door involved.

It reminds me of Edgar Allan Poe and the Cask of Amontillado.

Creepy.

A Cat And Some Egg Supplies

I came home from the egg decorating class and I put my bag of stuff down on the floor, by the desk.

I had a few things to do, before we went out to dinner.

Next thing I know someone is nibbling on it.

I couldn't believe it!

Makenna never ceases to amaze this cat owner.

Pysanky (2018)

Our 3rd Pysanky Ukrainian Egg Decorating class happened on Saturday.

We had our normal teacher, Barbara Wampole, who grew up in Islip, NY.

We both get a kick out of that fact.

Even though that pattern was the same as the last 2 years, I did it and changed some of the color in my egg.

By putting it into Blue dye, instead of Black dye, I got a lovely purple color on the egg.

I like it.

I now have 9 decorated eggs.

If I have some extra time, maybe I can make another one, this year.

More Coots

My Water Post For Today.

More coots, what can I say...that is what is hanging around Santa Clarita these days.

We actually have a weeks worth of rain in our forecast, so we will see if some of our rivers and streams start producing some new water post material.

To my East Coast friends, I send sympathy to you, since you have a third Nor'easter coming your way.

A final piece of business.

Happy Birthday to my one and only sister!

I love you.

Lent Rolls Along (2018)

Happy beginning of Daylight Savings Time. Hopefully, you have moved your clocks forward 1 hour. We will see that hour again, in November.

Today is the 4th week of Lent and this is how my Church decided to decorate the worship space, for this 40 day period of time.

If you remember, last year they had the cross laying on the steps leading to the altar.

You can refresh your memory, HERE.

Two more weeks to go to Palm Sunday and then Easter follows on April 1st.

Cherry Blossom Tree Stamps

While we were waiting on the line at the Passport office, I decided to get some stamps.

Normally, I get flag stamps, but I saw these stamps highlighted at the counter and decided to get them.

I didn't realize that there are stamps on the left side that do not match the ones on the right side.

My thought is that maybe some of the stamps celebrating the anniversary of Japan gifting the United States with Cherry Blossom Trees, were only on the Japanese edition of the stamp?

Who knows.

No matter what, I thought they were cute and I have actually started using them

St. Josephine Bakhita

Our Church has a niche at the back of the worship space and we place Icon's there.

I happened to check it out in February and saw someone I had never heard of St. Josephine Bakhita.

I took a photo and wanted to check her out, since I had never heard of her.

You can get the whole story of her very hard early life and salvation via her Italian owners...HERE.

I give you the end of her life and road to Sainthood.

On 9 January 1890 Bakhita was baptised with the names of Josephine Margaret and Fortunata (which is the Latin translation for the Arabic Bakhita).

A young student once asked Bakhita: "What would you do, if you were to meet your captors?" Without hesitation she responded: "If I were to meet those who kidnapped me, and even those who tortured me, I would kneel and kiss their hands. For, if these things had not happened, I would not have been a Christian and a religious today".

The petitions for her canonisation began immediately, and the process officially commenced by Pope John XXIII in 1959, only twelve years after her death. On 1 December 1978, Pope John Paul II declared Josephine Venerabilis, the first step towards canonisation. On 17 May 1992, she was declared Blessed and given February 8 as her feast day. On 1 October 2000, she was canonised as Saint Josephine Bakhita. She is venerated as a modern African saint, and as a statement against the brutal history of slavery. She has been adopted as the only patron saint of Sudan.

Bakhita's legacy is that transformation is possible through suffering. Her story of deliverance from physical slavery also symbolises all those who find meaning and inspiration in her life for their own deliverance from spiritual slavery. In May 1992 news of her beatification was banned by Khartoum which Pope John Paul II then personally visited only nine months later. On 10 February 1993, he solemnly honoured Bakhita on her own soil. "Rejoice, all of Africa! Bakhita has come back to you. The daughter of Sudan sold into slavery as a living piece of merchandise and yet still free. Free with the freedom of the saints."

Pope Benedict XVI, on 30 November 2007, in the beginning of his second encyclical letter Spe Salvi (In Hope We Were Saved), relates her entire life story as an outstanding example of the Christian hope.

A Moon At The Disney Gate

I just downloaded my photos for the past 3 months and saw this one for the first time in a month or so. It was photographed on January 23rd.

I was shocked at how cool it looked.

That is one of the supports of the sign at the front of the Disney Gate.

It is where I place my bags, as I wait for the van to arrive.

There was the moon, on it's way to being full, but a few days short of that event.

The colors, the fact that the support is lit and yet the sky is totally blue.

I am shocked that just a cell phone camera could do this sight justice.

A worthy post for this blog.

Artbound: That Far Corner: Frank Lloyd Wright In Los Angeles

If you pay any attention to this blog, you know my Husband and I are big Frank Lloyd Wright fans.

We have visited at least 4 or 5 different buildings that he created.

My station, KCET is airing an hour long program about Frank Lloyd Wright and his buildings in Los Angeles.

You can watch the video HERE.

You can also read an article about the making of the Documentary, HERE.

Kudos to Christopher Hawthorne, the Los Angeles Times Architecture Critic.

Red Lights And Balls In The Sky

About a year or so ago, new higher towers replaced the old towers in our neighborhood.

They are tall and black but they did not bother me too much until just this past week or so.

They announced that they would be placing navigation lights on the towers and colored balls on the lines between the towers.

All of a sudden, on the mountains I see from the front of my house, I see blinking red lights peaking over the top of the hills.

It definitely changes my neighborhood and I am not particularly happy about it.

Falls In Valencia

My Water Post For Today.

We went over to Black Angus, which is at the corner of Magic Mountain Parkway and McBean Parkway in the center of Valencia.

You would think that there would be nothing much to see at such a important and trafficked intersection, but amazingly, there is a double waterfall.

I managed to get a photo that did not show off any of the cars that are driving right behind it. So that you can have a taste of the serene look that the waiting area outside Black Angus and Olive Garden Restaurants has.

I hope you enjoy it.

So This Piano Guy Walks Into A Bar

It has been getting quite a bit of business on Facebook and I decided to bring it over to my blog, since I was born and raised in Hicksville. :-)

As much as this looks like a video, it is a written piece from McSweeneys dot net.

Check it out, Billy Joel at The Bar where he wrote Piano Man.

Improvements To The Pond Controller

We show off our pond, quite often, but since it has been connected to our Internet Controller, it has been nothing but hell for us.

We have to remember to check it every day at 7AM and even more important, wake up on weekends before 7AM, to turn it on, if it does not do so automatically.

Why has it been having a problem?

The best guess is that the antenna in our garage does not reach the backyard...or something is blocking it.

Our thoughts went 2 ways, bring the controller inside the house...or take the controller out of the metal box that it currently sits in.

My Husband and I went to Lowe's the other day and bought a plastic box.

My Husband and Son worked on it Tuesday afternoon and on Wednesday morning it came on, right on time.

I was shocked that they finally made the fix.

I can almost forget about it...but I do have to make sure a racoon of something hasn't knocked over the water feature.

It just never ends.

Penguins In My Doctor's Office

It's that time of year when I have several "yearly" doctors appointments, since my birthday was last month.

My first one was my Internal Medicine doctor. She is young, has 2 children under 5 years old and her office does not in any way reflect what I am used to in a doctor's office.

The rooms usually have posted messages about signs of heart attack, your inner bodies workings, or in the case of my OB/GYN...explicit photos of the female genitalia (ouch).

Well, this photo was up on the wall in her office.

3 Penguins!

I couldn't stop starring at it.

It is totally refreshing, actually.

In good news, I passed all those yearly tests with flying colors...they will see me again, next year.

Drawing With Markers

I am not one who goes for the latest fad...or a 2 years ago fad.

I am an artist and this artist is not interested in drawing within the lines of an adult coloring book.

Well, I take that back.

My Son received a large box of various markers for the Holidays.

It was sitting around, doing nothing and so I decided that I would buy a book that interested me.

So I did.

I take the markers out and I find there are 3 sheets to color, in the box.

I chose the least offensive one and sat down during the closing ceremony of the Olympics, drawing flowers.

I actually got 4 flowers done, that night.

I worked on it again last night, since I was off work on Wednesday and added leaves to the picture.

It is not as bad as I expected...though I wish they gave me more than 1 shade of green. I have been vamping using yellow to lighten up the green.

I am an artist, after all. :-)