Reaching For The Sky

My Water Post For Today.

Water reaching for the sky, flying higher and higher...until gravity takes over and makes it come back to earth. A fountain like this is always a beautiful sight and the extra added visual of potential rainbows from the lower streams, make fountains like this so interesting.

I hope you enjoy it.

Of Shoe Polish and Navy Medics

I can't resist posting about this boy.

He's sort of a son, but a second generation son. 2 years younger then my son, but he was on Drill team with him in the ROTC and spent several competitions sleeping over our house.
He was young and in his young enthusium, he ended up putting a shoe polish spot on my family room rug that is still there, to this day.
Have I ever let him forget it...nah. :-)

He is already signed up for the Military, when he graduates in June. He is on a delayed entry, similar to my "Other" son #1. In his case, he will be a Navy Medic. Not for the faint of heart, that's for sure.

The other night, my son heard that not only had this boy had been taken off of Drill, he then lost his ride to the Competition, too. Nice guy that my son can sometimes be, he offered to drive him to the Competition in Anaheim. My son came to me, to ask if half a tank of gas would get him there and back. That clued me in as to the plans for Saturday. As I went to bed, I realized that I really didn't know if my son would have an easy time getting there, with little to no sleep. Due to my Marine son being on leave this week, there was a 14 person party, going on in my family room. So I text messaged him and asked if he wanted me to drive them down. He answered with a yes...and a grateful thank you. That's how I ended up going to a competition, 2 years after my son was finished with the ROTC.

I sat down with them all and this boy decided to help his Drill Team, by shining boots. As soon as I saw it, memories of those nights before a competition, came back to me. So I took a photo of him.

He's my shoe polish son.

No Man's Land

Eric L. Haney wrote the book that the TV show, The Unit was based on...Inside Delta Force. It is a biography of his life as one of the founding members of the Army elite team, Delta Force. He admits that he was not one of the first members, but he was brought on just as the team gained operating strength and began the process of becoming Delta. Much of what Delta became, shaped the man and the man shaped Delta. He retired as a Command Sargent Major and trust me, this is a man you want on your side in a firefight!

So I was totally shocked when I had the chance to meet Mr. Haney a few years ago. You can read about that experience here.
He is a very quiet and reserved man, but not much gets past him, even now. At the time we met, he mentioned that he had many irons on the fire, in regard to his future plans and one of them was his Tanner books.
When I read that the first Tanner book, No Man's Land was about to release, I immediately ordered it. I did not do it because someone made me buy it, I did it because I knew for a fact that Eric L. Haney has that unique talent of spinning a good yarn. How a man of war is able to do this and do it so well, is amazing to me. I mentioned that very thing to him, in regard to Inside Delta Force and he said that he cast a very wide net, in regard to the writing of that book. He made it interesting to the widest possible audience and in his first Tanner book, I see much of the same attention to getting the story across, but also explaining what is going on. Going to the effort of making the story interesting to me, a non military romance reader. Not exactly his core demographic. :-)

On to the book itself. I don't really want to get into specifics too much, but the lead character is based on much of what Mr. Haney has experienced in his life. This is the same way that Inside Delta Force, was handled. He writes what he knows, with maybe just a little bit of embellishing, but that's a writer's privilege. I am sure in the real world, things don't tidy up quite so nice at the end, but that's just fine, too. The character is likable and has honesty and loyalty as his base. That is something that permeates everything that Eric touches, from his life, to his fictional characters. He has that at his core and it always shines through.
I truly believe he is one of the good guys and that makes your reading experience so much more interesting, because you believe in the man you are reading about. His character is open to other cultures and works with people in other lands and treating them with respect, always. No ugly American here and I thank God for that.

No Man's Land is an incredible adventure and a good read. Enjoy.

Happy Birthday To My Sister

Happy Birthday to my baby sister!

Yes, I am the oldest...but she is only 13 months behind me, in age.

She is my twin in all ways, except in fact. Being she grew taller then me, by quite a bit, we spent much of our childhood as twins. Dressed the same, called the wrong names. Whatever it is twins deal with, we basically did it. We went through school together and to a certain degree, even shared friends.

Probably the hardest thing about living my life in LA, is that we don't get to see each other much, but we try to connect more and this blog has helped with that.


We may not have loved each other every minute during the years, as this photo can attest, but I can safely say, that I do now.

I love you and I miss you.

Happy Birthday, sis.

===================
Photos
The first one is at the Hudson
Winery. To say the least, we
got sloshed that day.

The second one was taken at Westdale
Girl Scout Camp. Note that we are
dressed alike. the story of
our lives.

I Am A Lineman For The County

This was the scene happening outside my bosses window yesterday.

I ended up singing the following song, for the next hour.

I am so sorry, I just can't help it. It's probably my favorite Glen Campbell Song ever!

To hear Glen perform the song on the Smothers Brothers Show, click the title.

Wichita Lineman

I am a lineman for the county.
And I drive the main road.
Searching in the sun for another overload.

I hear you singing in the wire.
I can hear you through the whine
And the Wichita Lineman,
is still on the line.

I know I need a small vacation.
But it don't look like rain.
And if it snows that stretch down south,
won't ever stand the strain.

And I need you more than want you.
And I want you for all time.
And the Wichita Lineman,
is still on the line.

Lady Liberty...The Talk Of The Town

I know it's a crappy cell phone photo taken from inside my car...but I didn't want the kid to know I was taking his photo.

We have a new tax preparer in town this year.

Called Liberty Tax their gimmick is to have a bunch of kids dressed as Lady Liberty, waving American Flags, to call attention to the service. Obviously, this has had a profound impact on the community. Especially since there are usually at least 2 and maybe as many as 4, located at two high visibility intersections in my area. As a matter of fact, both are photo enforced intersections. I know that members of my family have talked about those kids who are dressed as Lady Liberty, several times, over the past month.
Funny fact...most of those Lady Liberty impersonators are men, not women.

My major comment, is that it's bad enough that we have to watch traffic, watch out for those photo enforced lights. Now we have to watch out for Lady Liberty. Heaven forbid we run "her" over...it would be Unamerican! :-)

Little Saigon - Westminster

We were at a Competition in Anaheim, on Saturday.

Lunchtime came and the guys looked at the Carls Jr truck that pulled up to feed those who felt like a hamburger. My son's of course, were not interested. Darn, I thought, now I have to find somewhere to take them. My Magic "Other" son suggests we go to Little Saigon. Where is that? I asked. He says Westminster. Well that sure helped this Northern Los Angeles girl, a whole lot. I am lucky I know how to get to Disneyland. lol

So we head to the car, hoping that a map of the area was in there. Yes, we find Westminster and the location of Little Saigon. It is just a few exits away from us. Off we go and about 10 minutes later, I am where I have never been before. Lots of signs in Vietnamese and when we hit a street called Bolsa, we see the signs say the name of the street with a second line saying Little Saigon. He is not sure where we are going, but suddenly he goes to me, pull over to the right and turn here. So I do and we are taken to a storefront with the name Com Tam.



I don't know about you, but from looking at the photo of the storefront, it definitely did not look like a restaurant was there. Amazing, at least to me, it goes far back in the corner of that mini mall and the eatery has lots of tables to sit at. The place was full and the food was authentic and good. I couldn't finish it all, but there was chicken, tofu, shrimp, some sort of pork and noodles and an egg frittata type thing. It was all good and I think I am probably better off not knowing what was really in some of those things. He decided not to tell us the specifics.

Thanks again to my Magic son, who widens both my eyes and also my son's eyes, to a bigger world....all the time performing magic tricks. :-)

I love that boy.

The Fountain At Grand Panda

My Water Post For Today.

This photo was taken at sunset, with my cell phone.

I was picking up my families pre-Oscar Dinner last night.

The fountain sits right outside Grand Panda, our local Chinese Restaurant. The fountain is a real help on those incredibly hot Santa Clarita summer days, when neither man nor beast, wants to be out.
I was surprised how beautiful it was outside and that is what finally made me stop and take a photo of this fountain.

I hope you enjoy it.

A Face Of Autism

A friend of mine has an autistic son.

He has been dealing with this for the past 10 years and recently they took his child away from him, to get specialized help. It was heartbreaking to my friend and heartbreaking to his older son.

He recently, had a visit with his son. After the visit, he posted a video of his child eating lunch. It was 9 minutes long.

It was the first time I had ever seen a video of him and I watched it twice. What struck me the most, is that his son is so incredibly beautiful.

He also has never spoken, in his life.

I hope this separation actually helps his son. Early reports from my friend lean toward him seeing a little improvement.

I hope that is true.

It has been so hard on them all.

Griffith Observatory

Griffith Observatory has shown up in many of my posts, especially over the past few months. It is right down the street from my workplace, but due to it's extensive remodel and expansion and then due to the lack of parking up on the hill, I have not been there for the past 6 years.
A week ago Saturday, my Hubby and I had to bring my Magic "Son" to the Magic Castle and while we waited for him, I offered my Hubby either a visit to the Observatory or a ride on the Gold Line. Being it was an on and off again rain type day, we figured the Observatory was the better choice. We were so right, it was a beautiful day to visit.

I won't go into the expansion or remodel, but I did want to show off that which is and has been, the Observatory since it opened in 1935. It is a stunning building with echos of Art Deco, Moderne, Greek Revival and Beaux Arts styles of architecture. It so dominates the area, that the Red Line Subway station at Sunset Vermont, right down the hill, uses those same influences in it's styling.



The Observatory was built at the direction of the man who gave the City of Los Angeles, the land for Griffith Park and the money to build the Observatory and Greek Theater...Griffith J. Griffith.

The people who live in LA, owe the man a huge debt. Not only for giving us a park...but a way to touch the stars.

I hope you enjoy a look at the building. At a later date, I will talk of the new exhibits, Theater, Cafe and Gift Shop.

Happy Birthday To Makenna

She turns 1 year old this month.

My kitty was born sometime around this month, a year ago. She was born of a feral cat and thus was a feral cat. With 3 other siblings and no home, her chances were slim of living to a ripe old age. She was also the runt of the litter, another black mark in her having a "long happy life" book. Then she got rescued by the Happy Strays Rescue and ended up adopted by me and my son. We may not know the exact date of her birth, but since I need to ween her off of kitten chow this month, I figure I will acknowledge it here toward the top of the month.

Makenna has been a joy to us. She is shy, though not when it's feeding time. Quite often, one of us has to move her off the sofa and bring her into the family room. She seems to go with quiet spots, since she startles quite easily. A bang on the TV will frighten her. Those cowbells rung during the past Olympics, annoy her no end. lol

But she is mine. She sleeps at the foot of our bed at night and many a night, when I move into the Family room around 4, so I don't disturb my guy at 5:50AM each day, I will wake up with her sleeping in my lap. Knowing that kitty treats will follow, as soon as I wake.

At night, when I get home from work, she watches out for me (sometimes the only one) and greets me at my bedroom. Again treats will follow, as soon as I sit down. Even though it could be and probably is those treats, I like to think she cares about me and misses me when I am away.

She is my joy and my love.

Happy Birthday my kitty. Welcome to adulthood...and Cat Chow.

One Thousand Posts

1000 Posts

Let me state that again, One Thousand Posts.

If I received a dollar for each of those posts, I could thank my poor Hubby and take him on a vacation for free. :-)

I know people like Ken Levine have done retrospectives when they reach a milestone amount and I know I have that same feeling looking back.
When I started this blog almost 3 years ago, I had no clue I would manage to come up with 1000 different things I wanted to say, or have the time to say them. Thankfully, in regard to the time it takes to write and post something, things have gotten better. I can write several, to get ahead and then fill in or create or bump posts, as things change or computer time becomes scarce...like when my son's computer crashes and he is back on ours. lol
Blogger has grown with me and fills the biggest gaps I have (my vacation) with the capability of pre-entering the post and telling blogger when you want it to publish. Probably the biggest change that has happened in the 3 years I have blogged. Thanks Blogger, for that.
In regard to relibility, it too has gotten better, over the years. For a free service, this is a remarkably beautiful and easy way to have an Internet presence.


Though I do not use my real name on this blog, I like to think that I do show real emotion, as life happens to me and mine. A few that I really feel showcase that, follow. Click or not, as you choose.

A post about when my son decided to stop flying. Probably one of the worst days for me, in the way of not knowing how to deal with not only him...but with me.

A post when I found out that my son could not apply to Any 4 year college. It STILL pisses me off 3 years later. :-)

My "Other" Son #1 and when he joined the Marines. Here and Here.


Max Martini and The Unit and things. Fun times...

CAN Walk with Max.

When I was an Extra on Redbelt, the movie.

Steely Dan and where the handle "Angel" came from.
I have been active for almost 10 years on Steely Dan boards, as angel. That's also a very long time to stay around something and some people. Thankfully, there are many who have enriched my life, in so many ways. :-)


This girl rode the rails daily from 1994 to 2009 and this was the worst personal moment in her commute.

Though getting glass into you hair in another crash, came a close second. lol

If you have the time to explore, feel free to look back yourself. My blog and my photographs tell a story of a life. The good, the bad and the indifferent.

I hope you have enjoyed your time and feel it was not wasted, by reading it.

Thank you for commenting, it always brightens my day and many days, you are the only bright spot in them.


As Huell Howser would say...The Adventure Continues.

Two Against Nature 10 Years (and two days) Later

As with EVERYTHING Steely Dan, nothing is as it seems.

On February 29th, 2000, the band put out it's first album in 20 years...Two Against Nature. Can I actually celebrate that fact on their 10th Anniversary? Nooooo, because they chose a leap year and more importantly, leap day, to be the important day. Thanks so much guys. :-)

Shortly after this monumental day, I found an archives for Metal Leg, which was a fanzine for Dan Fans during the the Diaspora. Any trivial piece of information ended up in this magazine and is still a great read, decades later. That led me to a place called Under the Banyan Trees (the Yellow) where Steely Dan Fans hung out. I met many friends and even became a posting member in early 2001. Now days, it's mostly The Blue that gets my Steely Dan posts, but most of the people are the same. It's been a wild ride, with lots of people who I still cherish, a decade later.

So back to the album, CD, whatever...

Do I still like it? Yes, I definitely do.

Favorite tracks are:

Almost Gothic
West of Hollywood
Two Against Nature
Jack of Speed
Janie Runaway
What a Shame About Me
and Negative Girl

The funny thing is, I never did warm up to Gaslighting Abbie (which they played as the band walked up to the stage, the day they won the Grammy for Best Album) or for Cousin Dupree (which ended up being Song of the Year). Well, that shows that I have never been a hits kind of person, at least when it comes to the music of Steely Dan.

I thank them so much for going to the effort to give us new music, when others would just sit there playing their old hits.

Happy Anniversary 2VN.

In honor of this almost day, here are a few of the lyrics to the title cut to the album. Don't try singing this without the words, it is probably almost impossible to do. :-)

Bad news breaking in 18A
Missy's kitty turn inside out she say
Spider queen demon and that whole crew
Across the lobby the wicker wing chair flew
All the nice people those goodly souls
Quaking in their respective hidey-holes
Everyone's wasted in this gruesome dream
Not a one of them left to hear you scream

CHORUS:
Two against nature don't you know
Who's gonna grok the shape of things to go
Two against nature make them groan
Who's gonna break the shape of things unknown


I have posted about this album on it's 8th Birthday, it is here.

Pluto Files

Poor Pluto...dumped from our list of planets (in the photo it's the tiny blip on the final rod to the right). I posted about this sad fact, before on this post.

This is just a post to mention that Nova will be airing a show on Pluto tonight at 8PM.

For those who care that Pluto was downgraded to a non entity, please feel free to check out the show.

If you missed the show, here is the webpage for The Pluto Files.

A Hidden Star

My Water Post For Today.

A serene fountain hidden in the middle of a formal English Garden.
Order and beauty in form and function.

A truly wonderful place to sit and enjoy.

I hope you do.