More Posts From The Steely Dan Mini-Tour

Donald has been continuing to send his missives to Rolling Stone Magazine, for this short mini-tour. Here are the next 3. You can see my original post, with the first 2 posts, HERE.

Part 3

Part 4

Part 5

Most all the press has been giving them good grades for their first Coachella appearance. I was glad to see this and it bodes well for my near future, since I will be seeing them in Santa Barbara tonight.

Look forward to me comparing what I see, to what Donald documents.

This should be interesting. :-)

Note: The photo is from the Rolling Stone article and states that it is from Getty Images. I think it is such a beautiful photo and (for once) Donald's mouth isn't wide open. :-)

Chamomile

In my box of produce last week, I got this lovely herb, Chamomile.

Chamomile is known for its calming properties and is mostly made into a caffeine free tea, that people usually drink close to bedtime.

As you can see, I originally placed it in a vase with water and left it hanging around my bay window for a few days.

When it started to be less than perfect, I dried it in my oven, so save for the future.

By the way, I did make it into tea on Saturday night, but it was not as wonderful as I remembered. That might be because some chamomile (for example Tazo Tea) is mixed with other herbs like, hibiscus flowers, rose petals and spearmint.

Mine was fine, though and it made my weekend.

I am sure it was because of the calming influence. :-)

Fish And Water

My Water Post For Today.

We are back at Bridgeport, walking in the evening.

This was our first evening and I felt like showing off the fish pond, at the end of the walk.

There are at least 6 or 8 fish spiting water into the pool and I like that it is shady and serene.

No ducks this day, either.

Probably their best waterscape.

I hope you enjoy.

Easter At St. Kateri (2015)

This was last Sunday at St. Kateri Church. It was so busy that I had my Husband drop me off outside before the service started and then I walked into my neighborhood, where he met up with me, after the service. We are lucky in that the Church directly abuts our housing development.

As you can see, they had video going during several sections of the service, mostly at the top, but again during the Mass.

We always video the service, so that the people in our overflow area, can see the service, too.

This second photo is of the head audio tech, running the video. It has been his job for years and I got a kick out of seeing him all duded up in black and talking into his walkie talkie.

May I say that I am glad I don't do this anymore.

I walked out early. :-)

Storm Drain History On A Manhole Cover

We were walking down a street in LA a few weeks ago and I suddenly noticed several manhole covers on the ground. They were each different and told (in a compressed way) the history of the building of the storm drain system.

I ended up taking a photo of this one, but I could have gotten one or two others.

I looked up information on the history of the storm drain system and found this information.

"LA’s storm drain system, which was built in the 1930s and 40s to prevent flooding, carries excess water from rain, sprinklers or business activities away from city streets and straight out to the ocean. Every day, tens of millions of gallons of urban runoff – enough to fill the Rose Bowl – flows through our local waterways. The system is unable to treat the water due to the sheer volume of runoff and it now serves the unintended purpose of carrying pollutants such as used motor oil, paint, trash, pet waste, and pesticides through our local rivers, creeks and lakes, and into our local bays."

So we have 2 different systems, the storm drains that keep us from flooding and the sewer system that processes our waste and then dump it into the ocean.

In case you can't read it, this is what my manhole cover says.

"Under your souls. Shoveled in the 1920s and 1930s by workers paid a dollar a day. 5000 miles of storm drain channels. The distance from Los Angeles to New York and back again."

If it was placed there to make me think, it did that and I must admit that I never knew.

Donald Fagen Will Be Documenting This Mini-Tour

In honor of Steely Dan's appearance this weekend at the Coachella Music Festival, I bring you the first 2 (of several) mini-diaries, documenting the next 2 weeks.

I don't know how many there will be, but similar in style to his book, Eminent Hipsters, Donald Fagen gives us a bird's eye view of the upcoming mini-tour, as it happens.

More to come.

You can read Part 1: HERE.

and you can read Part 2: HERE.

Angel's Flight, Flying No More

Angel's Flight is a throw back to a kinder and gentler Los Angeles. It began operation in 1901 and brought residents of the "tony" Bunker Hill area, up to their houses. When Bunker Hill was redeveloped in 1969, Angel's Flight was dismantled and left in storage for decades. I told the story, via this blog...HERE.

It has been an on again, off again relationship since it was reassembled a half block from it's old haunt. It leads up to The California Plaza and my family has used it quite a few times, over the years. Unfortunately, it has had several accidents and so it currently is sitting idle. The cars are there, but nothing happens anymore.

It is such a shame and I hope it gets redesigned one more time. Especially since they say the third times a charm.

Because I really miss riding it.

Makenna On Passover

I actually got to sit down for a few, while I was cooking last Saturday.

Makenna decided to get up and look at me, so I picked up my phone and got a lovely photo of an exasperated cat.

It took a bit of time to get her to turn to me, because she saw me pick up the camera.

She finally complied and this is the result.

I truly love that cat of mine.

My 14th Order From Abundant Harvest Organics

It has been 3 weeks and I really got to the point where I had to buy produce at the store, we were totally out. Thankfully, there wasn't too much overlap, though I could have lived without the oranges. :-)

Here's what I got.

3 Carrots
1 Head Cauliflower
A Bunch of Chamomile
A Bunch of Kale
Lettuce
A Bunch of Mizuna
3 Murcot Oranges
5 Valencia Oranges
10 Potatoes (very tiny)
4 Spring Onions
Small Container of Strawberries (maybe 10 in all)
3 Lemons (again, not on the official list)

I had just broken down and bought a lb of carrots, so I was still wanting a few and these were bigger then the ones I ended up with.

We had the cauliflower for our Passover Dinner on Saturday.

Seriously thinking of making Kale Chips this time around. Tired of it in soup.

I had just bought a huge container of strawberries and so we did what we could to eat as many as possible, before these came in house. Hopefully, we will eat the rest before they go bad.

The Mizuna is another green leafy vegetable, usually eaten in Japan. It is milder than mustard greens and I hope to saute it and find out.

Potatoes, lettuce and spring onions are no problem, of course.

The Chamomile is a beautiful delicate flower that is made into an herb tea. I am currently using it as a table decoration, but intend to dry it and drink it in tea.

That's it. See you again in 3 weeks.

Bouquet Creek - Saugus, California

My Water Post For Today.

This is Bouquet Creek. It runs through the Saugus area of Santa Clarita and enters the Santa Clara River, right past this point. The Santa Clara River is the one that runs all the way down to Ventura, California and out into the Pacific.

This was back in 2005. We had rain and as happens, a rainbow appeared right after the rain. I was very lucky to get the flowing water in Bouquet Creek and the rainbow, that day.

I hope you enjoy.

Happy Easter 2015

Happy Easter Sunday!

It was an outrageous day before Easter, but I got it all done and here they are. Ready for their close-up.

On top of cooking these beauties, I had to make Passover Dinner. We had a good one, with Tri-Tip Roast, Matzo Ball Soup, etc...and there are leftovers for another day.

Today is all about leftovers. I am using a turkey I made back in February and so with just a small amount of work, we will have a mini feast for the 3 of us.

Finally, I want to send good wishes your way.

Wherever you go and whatever you do, enjoy the day.

Steely Dan In Germany 2007

A rare concert video just posted up on Youtube. A really well done video of a concert that Steely Dan did back in 2007. Live from Germany, no less. You can view it HERE.

I have no idea how long it is going to stay up, so if you want to watch it, do it soon.

Tracks include:

Bad Sneakers

Godwacker

Two Against Nature

Hey 19

Peg

Green Earrings...and more.

Easter Is Coming - 2015 Edition

I thought I would, once again, begin the biggest part of Holy Week, with links to my Easter Sunday Recipes. Mostly so that you have some time to gather ingredients and make them. Both are majorly yummy and can be made into any size you want. I have been cutting down on the bread itself, because it takes about a week to eat it all and it seems to dry out, in that amount of time. The curse of having a small family, I guess.

I love going back to a few posts that KCET put up for me. The photo has changed over the years, but the recipes and words are all mine. Please check them out.

Easter Egg Bread

Pizza Rustica.

Enjoy.

Lori Muir Design

I posted this photo on Facebook a few weeks ago, to let the maker of the necklace see that it had arrived and that I loved it.

Lori worked with me at KCET for the better part of 25 years, over 3 decades.

When retirement time came along, she and her husband, moved up to Oregon.

With all that time on her hands and the fact that she has always been creative, she started making these beautiful necklaces and began selling them at an outdoor art market up there.

To get a wider audience, she made an Etsy page called LoriMuirDesign, which you can see HERE.

So far, my pendent is holding up just fine and I have no complaints about it. As a matter of fact, I have been wearing it almost every day for the past 2 weeks.

I wish her the best, moving forward with her business.

Another Day, Another Sunset

When the sun goes down, my Husband and I have a tendency to run to the backyard and take at least one photo through our windmill.

We hate to waste a sunset with just light poles, roads and cars (the view from the front of our house).

I always feel like I live on a farm, when I post one of these, but they are pretty.

I hope you enjoy it.