Happy Times

Just spent the evening with my niece at Disneyland. We went twice on Tower of Terror and twice on the California Screamin'. We watched the fireworks from the top level of the parking lot (accompanied by the sound track of car alarms). Then went back to Disneyland and waited a long time to go on Space Mountain, which has been temporarily altered for the Halloween season. The changes are ok, but nothing special. It's still a ride I think is best experienced with eyes closed and just listen to the music, feel the wind rushing past you and tune into the physical sensations of the ride. They've got this light show going on on the outside of space mountain that's pretty awesome to watch while you're waiting in line though.

She's 15 and she thinks I'm funny ("laugh with me" funny, but also, "your so weird" funny). She has two (much) older brothers whom I wasn't around much when they were growing up. They lived out of state when they were little and when they came back to California I was having my 20 something messed up life crisis and wasn't much interested in associating with my family. We (the boys and I) have bonded over the years, but not as much, I think, as I have with Ana. I don't know, maybe it's a "girl thing". I love them all, but Ana and I seem to do more stuff together.

I always made sure they all knew I was there for them while they were growing up. Some times kids just can't talk about stuff with their parents and they know they can talk to me about anything. I won't always give them the answers they want to hear, but I will listen. They know that my place is a "safe house" for them if they needed it. The boys are old enough they don't need that now, still the offer is always there for her.

Anyway, we had a lot of fun at Disneyland tonight playing around, having fun and just being goofy.

The photo is an architectural detail on a hotel in Santa Monica I saw last weekend. I thought it was cool.

Haunted Gingerbread House

A couple of years ago I made a haunted gingerbread house and took it to work. It sat there for about a week. The funny thing was that the longer it sat there the more warped it got. The 2nd floor started sagging, the ground floor, which was made out of sugar wafers covered in royal icing started to curl up - it was great! The support pillars for the 2nd floor are pretzels. The rail around the 2nd floor is made up of little "bone" candies. I might do it again this year.

Usually gingerbread houses are a Christmas thing. I thought I'd do something different. It's fun to take a tradition from one area and put it into something unexpected - kind of like the idea of The Nightmare Before Christmas. Think beyond the stereo types and traditions! Dare to be different!

Suede Tree

This tree had the most interesting look and texture. It was like suede and looked so soft. I was walking back to my car after attending a festival that a friend had invited me to and I saw so many things to photograph - including this tree. I only have a point-and-shoot camera at the moment so I couldn't get a nice close-up to really show the interesting texture.

If anyone was walking down they street they were probably wondering why the crazy lady was talking a picture of a tree on a parkway. My sister and her daughter are used to it now and they don't think anything of it.

My niece even asked me to take a picture of some tiny Lantanna flowers we passed. While we were looking at them she screamed and ran down the block. Turns out there was a very large spider about a foot above her head where she was standing looking at the flowers. It was a beautiful spider! and very large, about the size of a half dollar. That was a fun, discovery day.

Leaf

Nature makes the most beautiful things. This is a natural leaf, no enhancement, no Photoshop - it's just the way nature made it. The colors are so beautiful. It certainly calls attention to itself. The oranges and yellows are very bright.

It was outside a makeup shop I took my niece to yesterday so she could buy fangs. I saw it on our way back to the car. I only got this one shot, though. The memory stick on my camera filled up with this shot so I couldn't shoot another one. Glad I got one.

Leo Carillo

I love the beach! I used to think that the beach was just sand and water and rocks (and seagulls) and that there wasn't really any "life" there. Then I took an oceanography class and opened my eyes. That sand and those rocks are teeming with life! You just have to know where to look.

I discovered sea slugs (think squishy, brown, cucumbers), spiny sea urchins, muscles, crabs, tiny fish - it was amazing and beautiful. When kelp washes up on shore I like to look in the holdfasts (roots) for shells of small sea creatures just to see what is there.

A lot of life is like that - we go through our day seeing only the surface of things (or people) and never knowing the richness of diversity of life that is right there to see if we just look in the right place or get to know something or someone a little better.

Catalina

This looks like a very old photo to me. However, I think it was taken only about 4 years ago. I like Catalina Island. It's a very relaxing place and it has the BEST miniature golf course (at least I think so). My grandmother took my sister and I there when were were kids for weekend vacations a couple of times. That was when the only way to get there was on the SS Catalina steam ship. They had a dance band on the boat and a clown (Catalina Cappy).

The docking pier was in the middle of Avalon harbor, not off to the side like it is now. Kids used to swim out to the incoming boat begging for coins. I always wanted to be one of those kids.

One of these day's I'm going to go camping there. I like camping and don't do it nearly often enough. I don't, however, like camping when I know there are bears around. They scare me and I don't get much sleep. Probably silly, as most bears would rather eat what's in my cooler than me (it doesn't fight back or make noise), still, it's one of those phobias that limits what I do sometimes.

I would also like to go dancing in the ballroom at the top of the Casino one of these days. Such a beautiful room! I had been to Catalina for several years before I ever took the Casino tour. I had even been to movies in the theater downstairs and heard the pipe organ. But I love the ballroom with the parquet floor and the Art Deco design. Very beautiful and elegant. I can see myself dancing a waltz or a cha cha in there. Some day....

How Connected Are You?

How connected to the earth are you? When was the last time you walked on the earth? Not sidewalks, asphalt, carpets or floors but on the actual earth - soil, sand, grass, rocks?

I've been walking on the grass and paths at school for the last few months. Since we're in a drought the ground has been packed and hard. It rained quite a lot the last two days and when I was walking over the grass at break time tonight it was soft and springy. It was an interesting sensation and I'm glad I was aware of the change. Makes me know I'm still in touch with the earth and not just existing on the surface of it.

We've become so separated from the earth. We go about our lives on the surface of it every day, but we've paved over so much of it, we put barriers between ourselves and the earth - shoes, cement, carpet, etc. We rarely walk barefoot on the earth any more. It's a wonderful feeling to walk barefoot in the grass, on the beach. You can feel the life of the earth, her warmth and her heartbeat. Try it sometime.