My Water Post For Today.
Yes, it is Bridgeport, but I found an old photo (2005) with some dramatic clouds in it and so I went with it.
The duck swimming in the water, adds a little something to the photo.
I hope you enjoy a winter view, in the heat of the summer...I know I do.
Another month has passed and so it was time to get my box of produce from Abundant Harvest Organics.
I was so looking forward to the artichokes from the last box, but maybe it was because I pre-cooked them a tiny bit and then finished them off another day, but they were not cooked enough. They also were not very "meaty", if you know what I mean. Very disappointed.
Without further ado, here is what came this time.
A basket of Cherry Tomatoes
4 ears of Corn
A bunch of Garlic Chives
A large bag of Green Beans
5 Tiny Hot Peppers
2 Pickling Cucumbers
1 large head of Romaine
7 Plums
3 long baby Summer Squash and 4 other round baby Summer Squash
3 Tomatoes
I also bought a 4 lb bag of oranges for $4 and they look good, so I think I am pretty happy with them.
I used up the 2 small baby summer squash and the 3 tomatoes in my sauce. I also added some of the garlic chives to it.
I will make a batch of pickles (yay)
Guess we will eat green beans this week and corn on the cob.
All in all, not a bad haul.
So the Non-Activist was at it again. This time for a good cause. I sent Thank You messages to the three brave Republicans who voted with the Democrats Thursday night, at almost 2AM.
The "Skinny Replace" has been shot down in the Senate and thus, it can not go back to the House (the Legislative Body that passed a Repeal and Replace bill, back in May).
So, according to what I heard on Friday, essentially the bill is dead and once again. The Affordable Care Act (Obamacare) is still the law of the land.
No 32 million, 26 million, or 16 million losing their health coverage.
I am pleased, since it means my son continues to have insurance.
We will see if the House and Senate can work on something together to prop up the Affordable Care Act, though I have my doubts.
Apologies that I was not able to get a better photograph, but I did want to bring up the fact that after at least 2 years, we have been getting water through the 1st and the 2nd Los Angeles Aqueduct.
I pass the two of them every day and it was very alarming that no water was sent down those 2 water courses for at least 2 years. It always felt like we were slowly being killed, because of lack of water.
This year, due to the fact that there is more than ample water in the Sierras, they are desperately sending it down to us to replenish our lakes and dams and even Silverlake Reservoir.
I am happy to see them send the water to Los Angeles, because sending it ALL out to the ocean, is a waste.
BTW, the 1st Los Angeles Aqueduct is right there on the left side bottom of the high water course of the 2nd Los Angeles Aqueduct. You just can't see it well.
I have taken this particular photo before.
As a matter of fact, I think I got a better sunset that evening, but no matter, it was still worthy of my time.
The storms down south make lots of humidity and so we get clouds.
Always a beautiful sunset, when that happens.
To add to the beauty, it reflects on our bay window. Nice to see.
This photo was taken 2 nights ago.
Not like that matters, but my Husband and I were totally confused as to why she decided to sit like that and stare at me.
It was not dinner time, it was after dinner.
Whatever it was, I was glad that she let me take a few photos of her, before she finally laid down and napped.
Always inscrutable, those cats.
My girlfriend who walked across Spain last year posted on Facebook that today is the feast day of St. James The Greater.
From Wikipedia: "James, son of Zebedee died 44 AD, was one of the Twelve Apostles of Jesus, and traditionally considered the first apostle to be martyred.
He was a son of Zebedee and Salome, and brother of John (the beloved) Apostle, who was the apostle who wrote the Gospel of John.
He is also called James the Greater or James the Great to distinguish him from James, son of Alphaeus and James the brother of Jesus (James the Just).
James the son of Zebedee is the patron saint of Spaniards, and as such is often identified as Santiago."
On this, his feast day, I send a quick prayer for all who travel, especially those who are walking the Camino, in his honor.
My Water Post For Today.
I heard about this "Man Made" island in Montenegro, from Rick Steves and it intrigued me.
From Wikipedia: "According to legend, the islet was made over the centuries by local seamen who kept an ancient oath after finding the icon of Madonna and Child on the rock in the sea on July 22, 1452. Upon returning from each successful voyage, they laid a rock in the Bay. Over time, the islet gradually emerged from the sea. The custom of throwing rocks into the sea is alive even nowadays. Every year on the sunset of July 22, an event called fašinada in the local dialect, when local residents take their boats and throw rocks into the sea, widening the surface of the island, takes place."
In honor of the image, they eventually built a Catholic Church on the Islet and people have weddings there.
This is the closest water post day to July 22, so that is why I posted it today.
Enjoy a look at a really interesting part of the former Yugoslav Republic.
I talk quite often about the roses in my garden and how they are chosen for people in my life, etc.
While I was watching the program on Descanso Gardens, the other day, I found out about Tom Carruth. He has 9 winning roses in the AARS. I thought he worked for Descanso, but it seems he works for Weeks Roses.
Here are the 9 roses he has created over the years.
All-America Rose Selections winners
'Scentimental.' No two blooms are exactly alike, with petals randomly splashed with burgundy, red, cream, and white. Blossoms are fragrant as all get-out.
'Betty Boop.' Single-petaled and bicolored Floribunda with shades of red and white.
'Fourth of July.' Red and white climbing rose.
'Hot Cocoa.' Blossoms are notably fragrant, foliage is glossy green and plants are resistant to common rose ailments.
'Memorial Day.' Heavily petaled Hybrid Tea rose with strongly scented blossoms. An undisputed hit in areas with hotter-than-normal summers.
'About Face.' Gold and bronze, for which Hot Cocoa served as the parent.
'Julia Child.' Butter-yellow and fragrant Floribunda.
'Wild Blue Yonder.' Deeply fragrant Grandiflora with red-purple blossoms.
Top photo is Scentimental (the rose I planted for my parents).
Far right in the second photo is Wild Blue Yonder (purple rose) and next to it is Julia Child (yellow rose).
I own 1/3rd of his creative output. Want to see more about Tom? You can read a SF Chronicle article HERE.
BTW, Hot Chocolate, with its brown blossoms is looking attractive to me, at this moment. :-)
37 years ago last month we moved into our first home.
It was in a Mobile Home Park here in Santa Clarita, back before we became a city.
We were quite happy there, bicycling around the park, going to bingo and breakfast events and of course, using the pool and spa. It was all in the clubhouse right across the street from us (I am standing at the parking spaces right at the clubhouse, by the way).
We had friends, we belonged to organizations...in other words, we were involved in the life in our park.
There were two problems with it.
One, we could not have children.
Two, the rent in the park kept going up (as a matter of fact, our first raise came just 2 months after we moved in). After several fights with the owner of the park, regarding such things as him deciding to install individual meters at each home, for things like cable, water, gas and electric.
I did not mind paying individually, but it was originally part of the base rent and he gave no reduction in said base (His comment, "The base is the base"). In our opinion we were being taken advantage of and we decided that we had had enough.
We sold this house that you see. We lost something like $10,000 on the deal, but I was so ready to cut my losses and get out of that money pit.
I visited it just the other day, for the first time in at least a decade or so.
It looks very good for its age of 49.
It has lived through 2 major earthquakes, too. Those earthquake tie-downs really did their job. :-)
My Son brought it to my attention, that a friend of his uses the Duck Sauce to baste his barbecue chicken.
We were given 3 huge containers of Duck Sauce, last time we visited our favorite Chinese Restaurant, so I thought to myself - Why Not?
Just cook the chicken without anything and after it begins to get close to done, baste the pieces with the Duck Sauce.
Similar to what you do with Barbecue Sauce.
It came out crispy, and sweet and worth the effort to make.
A cheap way to dress up your chicken.
Many years ago, my Husband and I would visit the gardens around the Los Angeles area.
One of those gardens was Descanso Gardens in La Cañada Flintridge.
We visited several times and I distinctly remember their camellias, roses and lilacs. It is a stunning place to walk around.
We stopped going when our son was born. No idea why we didn't bring him to the gardens, but we didn't.
So when I heard that KCET and Descanso Gardens were making a Lost LA production together, I had to check it out.
As usual, I could not watch it at home, so I watched it in fits and starts, at my work computer with the captions on. Sigh...
I had already seen the promos that we have running on our air and criticized the slow motion camera work of the flowers...but hey.
Other than that one thing, I learned so much about the flowers, the history of the property and the reason why it is owned by Los Angeles.
One of the little facts, is that they have had several award winning hybridized roses, created by the people who work there. Their current employee, Tom Carruth, mentioned that he did Julia Child, Wild Blue Yonder and Scentimental roses. All roses that I own. I found that fascinating.
I highly recommend watching the show, if you like a little Lost LA History with your flowers.
I was lucky.
Back in the 70's we would bicycle tapes from Public TV Station to Public TV Station.
Our tapes would move on to Guam, of all things. I heard the stories...
I came to KCET in 1980 and the infant Interconnection System was up and running. We had Westar (I think 1) up in the sky and the programs were fed on Transponders A, B, C, and D. The public, who had backyard dishes, could see our downlink, up until the point when we encrypted the signal. That was somewhere in the 90's, I think.
I could do research on all this, but I lived most of it. :-)
So, we get funding from the Federal Government to keep the Interconnection System healthy and upon occasion, improved upon. As a matter of fact, we are moving on to a system called sIX.
All that is in danger, if the House does not pass our Interconnection Appropriation today.
We have full funding for shows and our Community Service Grant, but not for the delivery method to get the shows to the stations across the Country.
If you care about such things and want to make your voice heard, there is a website called Protect My Public Media. You end up getting emails if you do sign up, but they don't seem to be too obtrusive.
No matter what, let your voice be heard, if you care about this issue.
We purchase programs from several different distributors. Miss Fisher's Murder Mysteries, comes from Acorn TV.
I have found the program to be stunning. Not only the first class acting, but the clothes of the day, (which in this case is the Roaring Twenties in Australia).
It is quite the thing, to see the outfits they put Miss Fisher in. From what I read, the costume maker designs each one from scratch.
We are currently in the second season and at the very end of this episode called "Dead Air", the two main characters, Phryne Fisher and Jack Robinson, end up singing a song together. Not something you normally see on this show and so after I watched it, I went looking on the Internet and I found the scene on Youtube.
The song is called "Let's Misbehave" and they did a beautiful job filming it and thought I would give my readers a chance to see what the show looks like.
I am not sure if you can see a recap of the entire episode, but KCET does stream them on its website, HERE.
Check it out, if you are so inclined.
My Water Post For Today.
I really intended to run over to Ventura, to cool off and get some chowder, but the day did not work out that way.
So I decided to find a photo that would be similar to the Ventura Area.
This desolate area is around Vandenberg, in the Point Conception area.
We visited it on the train ride home, last year.
I love the Pacific Ocean, even when the marine layer starts coming in to make the sky gray.
A special shout out to my friend, Gina, who lives somewhere close to this area.
I hope you enjoy.
