An Oak Grew In Valencia

Back in 2009 I took some photos in the Bridgeport Marketplace. It had just recently opened and I wanted to check it out.

During my walk around the place, I saw this heritage oak tree. It had fencing all around it, to protect it from people and keep it safe.

I thought it was a wonderful tree and I took a few photos of it.

Well, life goes on and I didn't think of it again until last year, on April 30th. On that day or the evening before, the over 150 year old oak tree, with its 3 large branches, broke. You can read the story about it, HERE.

I was sad to hear of this, but I did not go visit the Marketplace until last weekend. I was there for the waterscape, but after I finished photographing the ducks and geese I remembered the tree and so I went to the back of the property, to see how it was. I had heard that it had still been alive after the branches fell off.

This is what I saw. The tree had some growth on it, but right now at least, it is just as dead looking as the trunk.

It might be dormant, because it was just winter, or maybe they are not watering it anymore, or maybe it just gave up the ghost and decided it was time to die.

I thought it was a pretty sad sight to see.

John Paul II - Elevated To Sainthood

It was a big week in the Catholic Church.

Pope John XXIII and Pope John Paul II were elevated from Blessed to Sainthood.

I am not sure what I feel about this, especially since Pope Francis waved the second miracle in the case of Pope John XXIII.

No matter what my opinion is, they are both now elevated to Sainthood and that means, I have celebrated Mass with a modern day Saint.

Here is a short look at that historic day.

The Date: September 16, 1987

The Place: Dodger Stadium

The Event: Mass with Pope John Paul II

Who Was There: Me and my Husband, members of my old Church (Including Father Ed) and around 100,000 other Catholics.

My Church was given a certain amount of tickets to give out to their parishioners, however they saw fit to do it. My Church decided to have a lottery, to be fair. I didn't want to put my name in, because at the time, I was new to the Church. My Husband is the man who convinced me to do so. Amazingly, I won and we were brought down to Dodger Stadium, by bus with our whole group.

The Pope was brought to the stadium, via a military helicopter and then he drove around the stadium, before being dropped off at the altar they had set up out in Center Field. We were in Right Field, on the edge of the warning track. We thought the seats were bad, until the Pope-Mobile drove within a few feet of us. Primo location to see the Pope, up close and personal.

It was a wonderful, unforgettable experience and I have my Husband to thank for it.

Photo #1 is John Paul II and Cardinal Roger Mahony in the Pope-Mobile.
Photo #2 is the Consecration (changing the bread and wine to the Body and Blood of Christ.)

The Bouchert Garden

My Water Post For Today.

Up to Canada we go (Vancouver Island, to be exact)...to The Butchart Gardens.

We visited this wonderful garden back in the summer of 1989 and photographed this waterscape.

The garden has a wonderful history, basically re-making an abandoned quarry into a world class garden. The wife of the businessman, did amazing things with the property and as the garden came to life, the Husband and descendents have made it into the wonderful location it is today.

I have tried to figure out which fountain this is and I am having no luck narrowing it down. I believe it may be the Ross Fountain on the edge of the Sunken Garden's, or otherwise it might be in the Japanese Garden.

No matter what, enjoy a look at a more genteel time, when people stopped to enjoy nature, rather than checking their cell phones to see what is currently going on in the world.

Ticket's In Hand, I Now Wait For My Concert Date

I have got to admit that I have seen Steely Dan at many venues, but most, not more than once. I did see 4 days of different albums at The Universal (Gibson) Amphitheater and I had seen them there before, so that is the exception, but definitely NOT the rule.

Well, let's add another to this long list of venues...The Inglewood Forum!

I have been there many times over the years, especially the 80's. Billy Joel (back in his Uptown Girl days), Genesis (Phil Collin's drumming his heart out, before he went solo), Neil Diamond (in the 90's, a bit older, but still able to crank out those hits with righteous authority) & The Moody Blues, are the ones I remember the most. For the Moodies, we were on the covered ice (from the days when the LA Kings played.) It was COLD on that floor!

Then Staples Center opened in Downtown LA and the Forum was sold to a church. A big disappointment to us concert fans. Lot's of history lost and LA has so little history around, that you mourn the loss of any of it.

Well that changed just a few short months ago, when the Forum was sold and once again brought back to its former glory (or even better, from what we hear.) A whole new sound system and better theater seating.

Steely Dan decided to try it out and so on my 34th Wedding Anniversary, a Saturday night no less, we will be celebrating with the one the only "Mister Steely Dan".

It may be drummer Keith Carlock's last tour with Steely Dan, since he took the main drum position with the band, Toto. I wish him well in his new position, but will miss his take on drumming these timeless Steely Dan hits. But that is for the future, since he will be drumming this last tour.

My tickets are up in the top area, way in the back, but I am happy just to be there and experience Steely Dan one more time.

EcoCar 3 Formally Announced!

Some have heard that my son journeyed to Texas earlier in the month. He was there for the "pre-announcement" of the EcoCar3 competition. They were sworn to secrecy, but we knew that Cal State LA was one of the 16 teams, for this 4 year competition. The new competition will begin at the end of the current competition, in June...though my son is already working on it. Why you may ask, is he working on it? Because it is looking like my son will be team lead on the project.

As with all things, I am hopeful that this gets him somewhere and from what I hear, money will be involved. I think I would feel better if money is involved, since he has never held a true job. :-)

All this is still to be finalized, but that is what the rumors are. Team Lead, money and another 4 year commitment. Ouch!

Read all about it, HERE.

Oh and the car this time...is a Chevy Camaro. The kids are all getting very excited about that.

The Spirit Of The Holidays, On KCET

My latest post on KCET is way out of whack in the way of time, but what can you do when you are only writing posts in March and April.

Here it is, The Spirit of the Holidays.

The photo up top was taken by me, (I was in the third row of the control room). The front row has the Director the Associate Director and the Technical Director, among others. The second row is the producer of the show and other production personal. My row was me and anyone else who needed a seat. :-)

I don't think I mentioned it in the post, but the final 30 seconds to air are the shortest 30 seconds you will ever experience. There is no time to panic anymore, it's show time! Then the merry-go-round begins turning and 12 hours later, it's over. Thank goodness I was young in those days and could keep up with it all. Now days, not so much.

A truly great time in my life, that I have never forgotten.

Enjoy.

Steely Dan Blog Update

Well, yesterday I showed off my new baby, which takes the posts from my final class and puts them together for posterity.

While designing that blog, I went back to my Steely Dan blog (from last semester) and did some work on it. Since I like how it came out, I thought I would show it off here.

My Husband took several "no-no" photos inside of the Beacon Theater in NYC, the night we saw Steely Dan perform their Rarities and Unreleased Show. I have always liked them, especially the ceiling photos and when I was looking to replace the crappy bookcase that came with that blogs standard design, I decided to try it out.

Check out how my project from last semester looks now. Steely Dan, Steely Dan!

I have been pretty busy this week, but I am happy with how things are looking.

Once again, things are winding down to the end and soon, I will be counting them down to my Graduation.

Integrated Media: The Next Step

It's coming down to the wire. 1 class to Skype into and then 1 class to actually attend in Oswego and it is all over.

I decided to create a real web page, where I can archive my posts that are currently living on KCET.org. I figure that this way, I have total control of them and any design changes at the main KCET website, will not bother them.

It is still a work in progress, but check it out and see if you have anything to say.

I am still going crazy trying to figure out what color to make the blog posts. Having the 50th Anniversary Logo as the far background, makes my color choices kind of limited. So don't be surprised if it changes, day to day.

I am also having some problems with 2 photos being on the left side, instead of the right side. I may take care of that issue, by uploading the photos directly to blogger, instead of stealing them from KCET. :-)

Here you go, my KCET 50th Anniversary website.

More Roses!

The other day I posted photos of my Mom and Dad's rose bush, which you can see HERE.

Today I would like to show some of them that live in the back yard, by the bump out kitchen window. By the way, the window is doing just great and my Hubby and I love it.

This first one is a close up of Olympiad. A stunning red rose that I bought one year, around the Olympics.

It doesn't flower all that much, but when it does, it makes a spectacular rose. I am glad I bought it.

This second photo shows off the roses under the window and that includes Olympiad. Mostly what is showing off is Perfect Moment, my Steely Dan rose bush. It must be happy that The Dan are going to tour this year, because I have a multitude of flowers on the bush.

I hope you enjoyed a second look at some of my roses this spring.

I am not hopeful for flowers throughout the summer.

It is going to be a dry year out here.

A Water View Of High Roller

My Water Post For Today.

Since I showed off High Roller last week, I thought I would post this companion photo, with a fountain in the photo.

I personally think it is my best shot of the Observation Wheel, but I saved it for today.

I love the coordination of the colors between the buildings, the fountains and the wheel itself.

Worth the walk, to see.

Enjoy.

Happy Easter 2014!

Yes, it is that time once again. No, I am not talking about candy and such, it's time for Easter Egg Bread and Pizza Rustica. Recipes are HERE.

These photos were taken at 11:30PM. That's basically when I finished baking them. It has to be the latest that I have ever finished.

In spite of that, we had a normal Saturday and so I was not at all upset, that I finished so late.

Here is the meat pie, aka Pizza Rustica. It is just out of the oven about 10 minutes and is still warm at this time.

We put different sausage into it this year and I hope that does not ruin it for us.

We found the sausage at Sam's Club and both decided to try it. Cavanaugh smoked sausage was the name of it.

Otherwise, it is what you would expect.

Here is the Easter Egg Bread. This year we decided to add raisins to it. I go back and forth on it and this year I let my husband make the decision and he chose raisins. No surprise there.

Easter Dinner will be a 13 lb turkey with stuffing, rolls and green beans.

I don't expect to spend too much time working on it and hopefully, it will turn out yummy.

Happy Easter To All.

My American Bandstand Days

Way Back when...in '87, I was part of a team that worked on a studio rental we had. You might have heard of it...it was called the American Bandstand Show. Dick Clark got kicked out of ABC and so he came to his near neighbor...us. We were glad to have such an iconic show tape at our studio and me as a music fan, adored the chance to see so many performers lip sync their songs.

At Christmas time, Dick Clark Productions gave us all an American Bandstand Bathroom Radio. I still have mine, all these years later. It never worked worth a darn up here in the mountains, but I love it anyway.

Check out my American Bandstand post on KCET, to see what I said about those long ago days.

Trust me, it's worth the click over there. :-)

"And we'll rock and roll and stroll on american
Lindy hop and slop, it's american
Tune in, Im on, turn on, Im in, Im on

Today! (bandstand)"

Remembering My Mom & Dad With A Rose

I mention it most years around this time. After the January cut back, when all roses are brought back to their base and all greenery is taken off, the April re-bloom comes along.

This year it was going on last weekend and I noted how full of blooms my Mom and Dad's rose was. So off I went, taking photos of what was coming up around my house.

You will see some of the other roses in a later post.

I have mentioned before that this particular rose was chosen, because the color reminded me of my Mom's lipstick and the white symbolized my Dad.

It was planted as a tribute to my parents. The rose was planted back in 2002, on the day of their 50th Wedding Anniversary. Mom passed away just after their 40th Anniversary, so she was not around to know I planted this. My Dad knew about it, since he died several years after I planted it.

It always reminds me of them, when the rose is blooming and I appreciate the fact that I gave it the most prominent location, the front of my house. There, everyone walking by my driveway, can view it and enjoy.

High Roller

This is High Roller.

It is literally the new kid on the block...having opened just the week prior to our visit to Las Vegas.

On Sunday night we decided to take a ride over to it and walk around the area. What that did for us, is it allowed us to see the loading and unloading of the observation wheel itself.

It reminded me of a ride at Disneyland, with the guests exiting on one side, as the new guests entering on the other side.

It is located in an area of the Strip called The Linq. They put up lots of stores and shops, for people to check out, while trying to get close to the wheel itself.

My Husband figured out that there are exactly 28 cars on the wheel. How did he do that? He saw car 1 and then car 28 next to it. Car 1 seems to have a GPS or something hanging from the bottom of the car, maybe it helps them if they need to figure out what car someone is in.

We found it endlessly fascinating and if it was cheaper then $65 for an impulse buy, I think I might have tried riding it.

MS Walk 2014

My sister Martha, has MS. Once again she will be participating in the MS Walk taking place in May. It is a yearly thing and the only fundraiser for the organization.

Some of the things that it does, on a local level, is give her and others who have MS, a chance to get together, socialize and make crafts. In other words, it gives them a reason to get out once in a while. They also learn about new treatments that have promise, new drugs that are being tested, etc.

Last year her team were the Chatterboxes, but they are the Sunflowers (which was their original name) this year. It made both of us were happy to hear that they brought back the Sunflowers.

Please click this link and donate.

She will be extremely happy with any amount given.