One of the things that has changed in the past year, is the fact that the Metrolink trains run right on the side of the I-5 Freeway now days, in the Burbank area.
I have POSTED about this before, but never showed you the result of the work.
Well, here it is.
The train was moved up above grade to get past Buena Vista crossing and so for about a mile or so, it rides level with the freeway.
Always pretty cool, when it happens.
As I mentioned before, my Son is in town for the next week or so.
The other day he wore a Star Trek shirt that I had seen on Facebook.
I guess he decided it was worth the money and he got one for himself.
I think it looks pretty cool, with all the cartoon characters on it.
If you want a closer look, I found a page that has it, HERE.
Remember the other day, I had a close up photo of the Gold Medallion Tree.
I normally walk on the other side of the street and so I thought it would be good to get a photo of the tree in full bloom.
As you can see, it is just full of flowers. Not like the other trees on the block, that have just a few.
It is pretty striking, this time of year.
Summer started the other day.
Just to explain, this is how hot it got on Sunday of last week.
I had to take out my throw (which I got from my Van Pool friends at Disney), and put it on mid-afternoon.
I was cold.
It did get hotter, as the afternoon progressed, but I was impressed with the coolness throughout most of the day.
A racing aside: I was watching racing at Sonoma Racing, at the time.
It is the last race broadcast by Fox.
Darn! NBC Sports Network takes over, so no more races for me this year.
I have seen many cats who sit on tables, but we discourage that practice here at the angel house.
Well, Monday I had a surprise waiting for me, when I got home.
I walk into the kitchen and see this sight. Makenna resting on my table.
I did not yell at her, since I wanted to document the moment and after I took the photo, she left on her own.
Silly cat.
Oh and yes, my Son is now in residence. We are a happy house.
On Sunday, we had our final call with our son. As you know, he flies over to L.A. for 2 weeks.
We have been cleaning his former room, getting it ready for a resident.
With luck, he will be arriving at Burbank Airport sometime today.
My Son, who I miss so much...and I have to work this week. Ugh!
My Water Post For Today.
A Facebook friend (and one time Steely Dan Back Up Singer) Diane Garisto, is vacationing in Antibes, France, on the French Riviera (Côte d’Azur).
She posted this photo, taken during the Full Strawberry Moon, a week ago and I could not resist it.
A moon-rise, all in pastel colors.
I hope you enjoy.
On last Sunday's post I talked about Father Gabriel leaving our parish and that Father Albert is taking over as Pastor, starting July 1st.
I mentioned in the post that Father Albert never seems to be the Priest at our Mass.
Of course, that changed last week.
There was Father Albert, who I basically recognize by his photo in our Parish Bulletin.
Maybe he figured he should start hitting the Masses he does not normally preside over.
No matter, it was good to get a hands on view of the man.
They are back!
I noticed a tree blooming close to my building, but the other day, I passed a tree that is in total bloom right now.
If you remember, these are Gold Medallion Trees that are in front of the Disney Lot on Alameda.
This one is so beautiful, that I had to take a few photos of it.
I thought this photo turned out best, because main flower in the photo is just so large and as a matter of fact, it still has much more blooming to do.
I am going to miss them, when I leave the area.
Enjoy.
It was bad enough that there were Lime scooters in front of The Walt Disney Company Lot about a month or so ago.
Now we have something called a Sherpa laying down on our grass, at the entrance to our building.
It is going to ruin the drought tolerant "grass" the building has and if this trend continues, they should mark an area away from where people walk and direct the users to not place the scooter on or by the plantings.
From what this article says, these things will be getting worse, due to the addition of these scooters.
I took this photo to show off the CVT truck.
I did not go down to get ice cream, but thought getting the tear down of the truck would be cute to photograph.
Between Friday (when I took this photo) and Monday, the building you see across the street, is now getting a new coat of paint.
I had just noticed how drab it was, compared to the one next to it and wondered if someone else owned it.
Well, now I know.
It is being painted the same color as the other one and I can't wait til it is done.
That is the view out the window in my office.
I will post the finished product another day.
Last week was a particularly hard week, for me.
It was my boss's first week away from us and so all the things she did that we do not know how to do, still has to be done. My partner and I kind of split that list.
It has been quite a learning curve, for us.
I also had call in for Jury Duty the entire week, so every night I brought work home, just on the off chance I would be in court.
Thankfully for me, I was not called in.
We also have been moving our email and our servers over to PBS SoCal, so everything is mixed up right now.
In spite of that, we have managed to keep moving forward. I can't believe it.
Anyway, by Thursday, I was a wreck. Seriously a wreck and so when I saw this comic on Monday morning, it spoke to me "Lord Don't Let This Week Be Like Last Week".
I printed it out and put it on my desk, to remind me that things will come up and I have to cope with them.
1 week to go and we get our son back for his vacation.
As I have probably told this blog, he will be visiting us and packing up his girlfriend who will be relocating to Michigan to be with him.
He has been putting together their trip and the locations they plan to visit, along the way.
On their agenda are such places as The Grand Canyon AZ, a gondola ride in Durango, CO, and the Golden Spike Tower and Visitor Center in NE (my kid, always interested in railroads). :-)
Their last night is in Altoona, IA and they may not have a stop there, since it is a long drive to their home in Michigan.
We can't wait til he gets back to us.
My Water Post For Today.
After we exited the train in Skagway, I wanted to take a walk to some park like area, which was just down the road from the station.
So after lunch, I left my guy and walked a half block to this creek and pond.
Looking it up afterwards, I see it is Dewey Creek and it has a pond that they have picnic tables and fire pits for the residents and visitors to use.
If it had not been blowing a gale, it might have been worth it to sit for a while.
I hope you enjoy.
For some reason that I don't really understand, we seem to go through a lot of priests at St. Kateri Church.
We had Monsignor Mike (along with Father Blaise) for decades and it is only now that he is now retired, that we keep changing Pastors.
I believe we have had something like 4 Pastors. Father Albert, Father Tom, a year with no one, and then Father Albert (a different one).
He was not even allowed to be the Pastor, until he completed a year on the job, which happens on July 1st.
So he will be our Pastor, moving forward.
At the same time we heard about Father Albert, we heard that the other priest, Father Gabriel, will be reassigned to another parish.
What the What?
So I think we have a Pastor and no one.
No matter what, I really enjoyed Father Gabriel, for the past 4 years and wish him well, moving forward.
That is him serving at Pentecost Mass, last Sunday.
Good luck, Father Gabriel.
My friend Gina, from Belgium occasionally finds angels and sends them over to me in America.
It is always appreciated and my home is filled with angels (but if anyone wants to stop sending me angels, it's alright by me). :-)
This angel, though seems to be different.
It had a number 332-200 and the Country of Italy stamped on the bottom of it.
So my friend and I started Googling that number and Italy and started to find similar styled angels around the Internet.
We found out that is a Fontanini Angel.
It is hand painted (look at those blue eyes) and probably worth a little bit of money.
I think it was the fact that we were so very far away and both doing detective work and sharing our results with each other, that made the experience so exciting.
Thanks Gee, you are great.
Last Friday was the final day of work for my boss for the past maybe 15 or so years.
We did a quiet final toast for her as she and her Husband move on to make their life in Sonoma.
Just before my Husband and I left, we managed to get a few photos with the woman of the hour.
One with the girls and one with the guys.
For those who love Huell Howser, the one with the blond hair is the infamous Kathy from the credits to the show.
I can't tell you how many times I have been asked if I knew Huell, since they hear my real name and equate me with her.
Here is the photo of my boss with several of the guys and Cara, one of our Programmers. If you saw the photos from last week, you can see my work partner is there, too.
We are all going to miss her terribly and do already, but we are happy for her.
Now if I can get out on time...:-)
Our lives have moved from rain and cool, to HOT...in about a week.
What happened to Spring!
Seriously, my grass was beautiful and now it is dying on me.
Life in SoCal.
Due to the high heat, the humidity was high, too and so I woke up on Tuesday Morning and I could see out my window at 5:35AM all this wonderful color.
It almost made the oppressive heat worth it...but not quite.
My Iconography teacher, Kevin, is thinking of using a free application called Wordart for our Iconography symbol and other things.
He showed off several ideas he had and told us that if he wanted high resolution copies of the creations, it costs just a few dollars.
I have seen things like this, over the years and he seems quite taken with it all.
We shall see what this brings to our ministry.
My Water Post For Today.
This is the view of Glacier Bay, as we began our exit from it.
It is a long, skinny passage and you can see that in the photo.
Down toward the end of the journey, just before we would exit to the main part of the Inside Passage, was the area we saw whales.
I did not get any photos of them though.
In spite of that, the area is beautiful and cold and calm.
I hope you enjoy.
There will be a Water Post Tomorrow, sorry for the delay.
Happy 12th Anniversary Blog.
For the occasion, I thought I would update my Guns N' Roses photo, to bring it up to the present, at least computer wise.
Well, the past year has been everything I thought it would be and more.
My Son is gone and we are a three person house.
We miss him terribly, but we do like the neatness and freedom that living alone brings.
Makenna doesn't seem to miss him, too much.
We did travel to see him and he came along for the ride into Canada. It was great family time.
My station is about to do the final combine of our two stations, as Public Media Group of Southern California. It has been a challenging year, making this a go as a combined organization.
Moving forward with that, we get combined Medical and Retirement plans, July 1st. We will see if a raise follows.
As you know, I gave my notice, back in January and so this is my final year working Traffic for anyone. It will be 39 1/2 years for me. Enough already.
My Boss just left on Friday, so that will be a new experience, for me, working without her.
My Son is coming on the 25th, for vacation and to pack up his girlfriend. They intend to drive her car to Michigan and they will set up their life together.
All I can say is WOW!
Makenna will be seeing him for the first time in 6 or so months and we will see how that goes for her. :-)
So that is how life is, here in the angel house.
On to year 13 of Blogging...who knew.
I missed 2 classes and in the middle of them, I painted Pysanky Eggs, so it has been 3 months since I worked on my Edith Stein Icon. I looked it up and I originally started her, in February of 2018.
You can see what she looked like back in December, HERE.
Quite a change.
In this class I did the second light for all areas, so I will do the second float of the image, next class.
It is moving along, but it needs much more work.
Unfortunately for me, I will not be able to take off a week in August, for our workshop. I am bummed out about that, but I am saving my vacation for the end of the year and into January.
I heard in class yesterday that the workshop is full and so they do not have room for me, anyway.
That makes me happy, because new people are coming.
Hopefully, I will attend the July class, so I can move along on her.
Crazy Otto's is a breakfast restaurant, that opened in Canyon Country.
Being it closes in the early afternoon, we just can't manage to juggle our lives, to drive over to that area of Santa Clarita.
I had heard good things about the place and when they opened a second restaurant not far from our off ramp to the I-5, I promised myself I would try it out.
Since I had the appointment for a procedure in Mission Hills, we had to pass right by the restaurant on our way home.
I told my driver (Hubby) we were going to make a stop there and he did what I asked and parked in front.
Being it is so new, I wasn't sure how good it was all going to be, but the food was excellent.
I had been warned about the portions and note it took me 3 more days to finish the entire meal.
It was all great and worth the money.
Thanks Crazy Otto's for coming to our side of the valley.
Today is my boss, Sherri's last day.
I have such mixed feelings about the entire situation.
On the one side, I am so happy for her, because she has been commuting via Southwest Airline for the past 2 years.
Enough!
She is only 62, at this time, but she plans on getting some sort of job up in Sonoma.
More power to her.
First photo is the Broadcast Operations Department. We make it happen for KCET, every day.
On the other end, is the fact that I am leaving in 7 months.
I really wanted to have someone full time, in place to do her work.
That didn't actually happen and we will see how that goes in the near future.
I figure I only have to deal with it for 7 months, so no matter what, it is a temporary situation.
Good Luck Sherri and enjoy your time away from KCET.
You gave it your all, for 39 years.
Second photo is The Engineering Maintenance, The Head of IT and The Chief Engineer, with us. An unbeatable team that is still at KCET...well, minus Sherri and soon, me.
I originally posted this story about the Father of our Air Conditioning repair man, back in January of 2013. He had passed away and this was a recounting of his time on the beach at Normandy.
Since it is the 75th Anniversary of the Invasion of Normandy, I thought I would showcase it, once again.
"I found out at the service on Saturday, that he was a World War II vet, who took part in the Invasion of Normandy and received a purple heart.
The story goes, that he was not wearing his metal helmet and his buddy was. When a bomb went off, his partner was killed because he was wearing the helmet. I don't quite understand why this is so, but OK.
Nelson, who was not wearing the helmet had it hit his leg and he received a compound fracture from it. So there he is, in the water with a compound fracture. The first boat comes over to pick him up. It was a troop transport, so it had the front of the boat that comes down, so troops could disembark to the shore. Nelson is pulled onto the boat and they gave him 2 shots of brandy, to warm him up. Because of the fact that the boat had the ramp down, the boat ended up sinking and he ended up back in the water. The next troop ship that picked him up did the same thing and gave him 2 more shots of brandy. It had the same result happen to it, as had happened to the first boat and Nelson is back in the water. When he got picked up a THIRD time, Nelson had had enough. He shouts at the crew, "Get me onto this boat and bring up the ramp!" Well, the crew thought this 20 year old was an officer and so they followed his directions and he finally was rescued.
According to him, the month he spent in the hospital, he was treated as an officer and yes, he did receive his purple heart for this."
Thank you, Nelson and everyone who was there.
Photo is from NARA.
I found this photo on my blog yesterday and emailed it over to my work friend.
She was putting together a social media roundup of employees hugging their cats.
Why not, I thought.
She ended up giving me credit, my cat credit and my work position at KCET/PBS SoCal credit.
I was quite impressed.
I happen to think it's a great photo of me and my cat.
I love cats and I especially love this one.
It takes work, but once in a while she will become a lap cat.
I still wasn't perfect from the Friday thing and so I stayed in on Sunday morning and rested.
Makenna decided that being on my lap was just the perfect thing to do and sat with me for something like a half hour.
Unheard of, for her.
It was nice.
By pure fluke, today is National Hug Your Cat Day. How perfect is that?
My Water Post For Today.
I admit that I love The Butchart Gardens and am so glad I returned to it.
This Dragon Fountain is their newest (it was first opened in 2015) and we were so glad we stumbled upon it, in our travels.
It is a gift from the People's Republic of China in honor of their Sister City relationship with Victoria.
I hear that the fountain looks even better, at night...since they have computer controlled LED lights.
I hope you enjoy.
My station moved me down to the 4th Floor recently.
One of the things that they do not have on the Outlook Amusements floor, is Television.
So we have been finding creative ways to get connected, since we are a BROADCAST STATION!
No help from my place of work, what a surprise.
My lead programmer mentioned that he bought one of those flat antennas that go on the wall or lay on a piece of furniture.
It costs an incredible...$10.
After a month without anything on my TV, I broke down and bought the thing.
Connect it up, scan the channels and there you go!
I have television...free Television.
I am so proud of myself.
I asked my Doctor if I could have a wellness check up, on my birthday.
They come free, with our health plan (save a few bucks, I thought). HA!
She did all the normal stuff and some of my OB/GYN stuff, too. Good so far...and I asked and found out that I could skip my OB/GYN this year, if I wanted.
Then she goes over my records and sees that I last had a Colonoscopy 5 years ago. I pleaded with her, no, no, it is too soon!
No such luck, she used the "You need to stay healthy for your Son" (who used to be a patient of hers before his move to Michigan).
How can any Mother say no to that logic?
So I make the consult appointment and go on the appropriate day.
I tell them flat out that I will NEVER take that gallon of prep again. No Way!
He then offers me something called SuPrep.
He said it is taken in 2 sessions, one in the evening and the other in the middle of the night. Joy.
It was much easier to deal with, I will tell you that. The first glass of prep and water took me a half hour to get down. The 2 additional glasses of water took another hour. I can't chug, obviously.
The one in the middle of the night was slightly worse and when I looked at myself in the mirror, I looked like the living dead.
By the time I showered and went to the Doctor's Office in Mission Hills, I was looking pretty good. On 3 hours sleep, no less.
A work friend emailed me David Barry's column on his colonoscopy and it gave me a chuckle and something to focus on those last few seconds before you go under.
Here is how Dave's went:
"I have no idea. Really. I slept through it. One moment, Abba was shrieking ``Dancing Queen! Feel the beat from the tambourine . . .’‘ . . . and the next moment, I was back in the other room, waking up in a very mellow mood."
In my case I looked at all the people, Doctor, Nurses and an Anesthesiologist and said "What, no Dancing Queen"? That is the last thing I remember, truly.
The Doctor came by after and explained that they found and removed 3 polyps and will (of course) check them out for cancer cells, but otherwise, all is well. I remember none of this conversation. The nurse went through it for me, when I woke up later.
Done! For another 5 years.
