Saturday, February 09, 2013

Round Robin Challenge: Frozen



"Cold! If the thermometer had been an inch longer we'd have frozen to death."

~Mark Twain

RRC: Frozen

When I first saw what the challenge would be for this round, I wasn't sure I could come up with anything. The weather in the Bay Area has been nothing short of glorious... if you like that thing! LOL. Personally, I like a little more rain in my winters. But one of the hazards of living here is that you rarely see snow, unless you are willing to take a drive to one of the far northern counties of California, or western Nevada. Plumas is lovely with snow this time of year, and I might make it up there before the end of the season, but it's going to take a bit of planning. We'll see. But for now, I have assembled some examples of "Frozen" from both the archives and the 2013 files.

Frozen...

Frozen Lime Cocktail (February 8 2013)


Frozen Water Fountain (A Snow Day In Tilden Park) 2010


Ben & Jerry's Chocolate Scoop (San Francisco Haight Ashbury Summer 2009)


Frozen Hot Cocoa ( A different interpretation of the effects of "Frozen" 1/23/13)


Frozen Rain Drops (Tilden Park 2011)

 


Hey, Why Did The Rain Freeze? (Little Bird's First Look At Snow Tilden 2/18/11)


I liked this challenge. It was fun! Now that you have seen my post, go check out what the other participating Robins have come up with. Just click the link at the top of this post, to be redirected to the official Round Robin blog, where you will find all the information you need to join in, and the list and links to everyone's posts.

"Who bothers to cook TV dinners? I suck them frozen."

~Woody Allen

~Mood: Happy

~Me :)

Friday, February 08, 2013

My Two Cents



"The post office has a great charm at one point of our lives. When you have lived to my age, you will begin to think letters are never worth going through the rain for."

~Jan Austen

It made me sad, when I heard the news the other day that the U.S. Postal service will be discontinuing Saturday letter deliveries late this year. The Saturday delivery is something taken for granted in my lifetime because it was one of those things, like banks being closed on Sundays, was just how stuff worked. But when I was a child, we didn't have postal carriers... going... well... "P*O*S*T*A*L" either! I can remember, when I was in first grade, postal carriers were one of those people we were told we could run to, if a policeman wasn't around, in the event a stranger was attempting to hurt or kidnap us. But in my lifetime there came the phenomenon known as the "going postal." A phrase that is associated with sudden, extreme workplace violence. The first case of which occurred in 1983. For the generation after mine, suddenly, the postman wasn't necessarily the adult to go.

But then when I was a child, we were told that the police were our friends. They could help us, if we were lost or in danger. But as I sit here writing this blog post, there is a manhunt for a former L.A. County police officer. It seems that 5 years ago he was fired from his job in the police department for allegedly lying about a fellow officer. Apparently the resentment from being fired, when he felt he had told the truth, has been simmering for most of the last 5 years, and now after having killed at least 3 people, he is heavily armed with different kinds of ammunition, including an assault weapon, and is threatening to kill police officers and their families. I guess this incident could be put down to "going postal" but somehow that seems way too simplistic.

Both services, both stressful working places, and no money to take care of the people who take care of us. The postman seeing pay freezes, hostile dogs, larger routes, pressure to deliver on time, low social support, the cuts in budget have resulted in sometimes mandatory overtime, and physical pain due to carpal tunnel and low back pain. And police officers face dangers from what the L.A. County police department is facing now with a former police officer experiencing a mental break, to the dangers of gang violence, and the over abundance of assault weapons on the street. And unless something is done soon, things will only continue to deteriorate.

Why is it America is exceptional again?

Between the time I was 6 and the time I was 26 I saw a lot of things change.

When you look back, I am sure you see it as well.

It makes me wonder why we haven't discussed national health reform before now.

It we hadn't become such a greedy nation. If we had put thought and resources into health reform and gun control, and making psychiatric services available, and not stigmatize those who sought help, would there be a manhunt tonight for a former policeman, going postal? I suppose we can't know for sure, but I would love to see some real change begin to happen and maybe check back in 20 years to see how the statistics move. If I lived in L.A. tonight I would be terrified. The man they are looking for is mainly threatening police officer's and their families, but he is characterized has highly intelligent weapon savvy, and I have a feeling, no one in southern California is safe.

America has changed a lot since I was 6 years old. I hope it will changed again soon... for the better. I would like to see us become a truly exceptional country, one leading the world in health and psychiatric care. One that leads the world in it's people putting each other above any materialistic object of mass destruction, such as the assault weapon, and large capacity ammunition. One that cares deeply for our children, and put nothing above their safety! When the Post Office was created by Benjamin Franklin I doubt he had any idea what would take place one day, likewise, I don't believe the writers of the consitution could look into the future and imagine assault weapons.

Would the Wright brothers have invented the airplane if they could have somehow known about the events of 9/11? We had to change the way we did things in America after that day, and I think since the shootings massacre at Sandyhook we need to change again. Will there be a peaceful ending to the manhunt in L.A.? I hope so, and will pray for that tonight. Will we somehow face an America that doesn't have a post office one day? Well, of all of the things I mentioned here, that is the one thing I think could be put back on track. It won't happen overnight. It might not happen in 20 years, but if we don't try then we might as well give up on it now.

The price for a First Class stamp rose to 6 cents on January 17th 1968.

~Mood: Discouraged/Quiet

~Me

Thursday, February 07, 2013

Orchid Gallery Winter 2013



"When two friends understand each other totally, the words are soft like an orchid's perfume."

~Unknown

In yesterday's blog post I mentioned that Alan and I spent the day, earlier this week, at the Conservatory of Flowers in Golden Gate Park. The conservatory is one of my favorite places to spend time, no matter what time of year we are experiencing, but I think visiting during winter is the best time. Just when all the trees, and gardens of sticks, start getting to me, I know the conservatory will be bursting with color from the gorgeous orchids they have on display. The orchids on this past visit were stunning! I couldn't possibly choose a favorite, but I do admit, the vanilla orchids inspire me to come home and whip up a little homemade vanilla ice cream. Yum. :)

Conservatory OF Flowers
Golden Gate Park
San Francisco
February 5th 2013



Ahhh... all that color is so beautiful! Spring will be here soon, and that is when Golden Gate Park really comes alive with color. Its beautiful everywhere you look! :) I have some photos of different types of flowers from different parts of the conservatory, but I will share them in a future post.

Stay Tuned!

~Mood: Happy :)

~Me :)

Wednesday, February 06, 2013

Prelude To A Tulip



"If flowers were boogers, I'd pick a few big ones and flick them on your grave."

~Jarod Kintz, It Occurred To Me

LOL. I love that quote and couldn't resist using it for this post. There were exactly two choices yesterday for a photo outing jaunt. Visiting Golden Gate Park, and taking advantage of the free day at the Conservatory of Flowers and the DeYoung museum, or attend one of the free Jell-O Pudding cup giveaways being offered by the Jell-0 company, to lift the spirits of 49er fans, still sad about the team losing the Super Bowl last Sunday. Guess which outing I opted for?

Hey, it's not that I don't find pudding all kinds of nifty. I do. And while I prefer rice pudding to chocolate pudding, it's not like I haven't been know to indulge from time to time. I just found the whole thing in really bad taste. First of all, we 49er fans don't need to climb into a pudding cup to ease our collective football depression. All we really need to do is to get on with the rest our lives, well the next two seasons worth anyway, and before we know it, we will be right back at September, and the beginning of the 2013-2014 football season. No pudding required. Or needed.

And second... pudding? I would have thought an Oscar Meyer hot dog giveaway would have been more appropriate? Or maybe a BBQ tri-tip sandwich, maybe a sourdough? Perhaps even just a nice, plain sourdough bread loaf? After all, we San Franciscans are known for our sourdough! But... pudding? Really? I checked different websites when I got home, and it seems the giveaway didn't away didn't go as smooth as chocolate pudding. It turned out exactly as I thought it might. I wonder whose bright idea that was?

Ho-Hum.

Anyway... on to Golden Gate Park.

Free day at the Conservatory of Flowers was wonderful as always. Amazingly lovely orchids, and a pretty great new train exhibition. It has been a couple years since I have visited the conservatory, so it was nice to be able to visit there. I have a nice collection of orchids photographs that I will be posting in the coming days, but this post is all about the small hints of spring I found dotting the park here and there. I also found some solid yellow daffodils, which always makes me smile. The yellow is so vibrant and mood lifting. It's a nice prelude to the gorgeous tulips that can be found at the Queen Wilhelmina Windmill Garden. Oh my, I can't wait!

California Poppys...







I will post the orchid gallery later this week.

Stay Tuned.

"If our destiny stems from our name, then I weep for the flower named Wilt."

~Jarod Kintz, It Occurred to Me

San Francisco Weekly (The Snitch Blog)
Loser Pudding: Jell-O Dispensaries, Ronnie Lott Given the Bums Rush

Mood: Happy :)

~Me :)

Tuesday, February 05, 2013

But Is It Art?



"I want to meet a guy named Art. I'd take him to a museum, hang him on the wall, criticize him, and leave."

~Jarod Kintz, I Want

"You don't make a photograph just with a camera. You bring to the act of photography all the pictures you have seen, the books you have read, the music you have heard, the people you have loved."

~Ansel Adams

LOL. The other day, while creating photographic art with my camera, I accidentally took a picture of my hand. It was irritating at the time, but when I got home and uploaded my photos from that day for editing, I kinda got a laugh at how the hand shot looked. I liked the colors, and the way they were placed, so I decided to play around a bit with my editing program just to see what I could come up with, you know, in an abstract way. LOL. I deepened the colors. Turned up the contrast. Added some texture, and finally placed it in a black and white frame, and above is the end result.

I call it... "Finger Painting." LOL.

But tell me... Is it art? :)

"We have art in order not to die of the truth."

~Friedrich Nietzsche

Mood: Silly

~Me :)

Monday, February 04, 2013

Sunsets, Cell Phones And Food Poisoning Oh My



"You know, a cell phone's like a guy; if you don't plug him in every night, charge him good, you got nothing at all."

~Catherine Coulter, Tail Spin

 

Above you see the last of the early February sunset photos that I photographed from Grizzly Peak Boulevard. I think it's appropriate to post now, in that we have just seen the sun set on yet another football season. Oh my, and what a game Super Bowl XLVII was! There was winners (Ravens 34)  and losers (49ERS 31) Beyonce didn't lip sync, and no one would have noticed if she had. There was a blackout in one half of the stadium, courtesy of bad infrastructure, the hotness of Beyonce or perhaps it was... maybe... Al Gore producing the show? Nah. You know Al Gore wasn't producing the show, that was something I said off the cuff to Keith Olbermann that made him laugh. Yep, Keith Olbermann saw my tiny joke and laughed. My work on earth is done! LOL.

 

Life is funny that way sometimes.

As fun as it was to know that the awesome Keith Olbermann saw my who-ville Tweet, I actually also made contact with another awesome person, and hopefully brought a smile to her face. One of my favorite actresses from the now defunct, but about to rise like a Phoenix back to life, One Life To Live, Farah Fath, who played GiGi Morasco. It seems that she is experiencing a bout of food poisoning, and asked how long it could last. I responded that in my case it was 6 hours. Then I offered the advice of... Never eat Thanksgiving in June, or date a guy who has a serial poisoner for a mother. Honestly, a life experienced based on a true story. Well, she favorited that Tweet, and it made me feel good to think I may have brought her a grin. LOL. I like to make people smile. But just think, if I hadn't been poisoned by my boyfriend's mom, I couldn't have brought her that little grin!

 

Life is funny that way sometimes.

I have a big package coming to me later today. It's a brand new cell phone. My former cell phone is on it's last legs, after having served me well for 3 years. I loved my HTC Aria, but it was time. But I am not crying too much, as the Aria and I will remain close, as it will live on as a back-up camera and video device. I can't let go. I never could. I have found a new use for all my old cell phones. I just can't let go. Each phone has a memory attached to it. The last conversation with someone I loved dearly. A great email with a friend that I have stored in the memory. I am way too sentimental I suppose, but I come by it honestly! My birthday is June 29th, and that makes me a hopelessly romantic Cancer the Crab! What can I do, it's written in the stars!

Life is funny that way sometimes.

All Most The Cells Of My Life...
(Not including my slide phone and my basic 1998 model Nokia Archaic :)




Life is funny that way sometimes.

I like being one small tweet in the Universe. I don't need the whole world, just a camera, a really good sunset, and my sense of humor and my thumbs. That last part will make sense to anyone who was a fan of the Dick Van Dyke show. Humor... know it... use it!

Mood: Happy

~Me :)

Sunday, February 03, 2013

The City Of Red And Gold... Good Luck San Francisco 49ERS!



"The reason women don't play football is because eleven of them would rather wear the same outfit in public."

~Phyllis Diller



Are we in the San Francisco Bay Area excited about the Super Bowl? YOU BET! Not only is San Francisco City Hall all dressed up in the red and gold, but so is the sky above us! It's been a long time since the 49ers have been in the Super Bowl, their last time was on January 29th 1995, when they beat the San Diego Chargers 49 - 26. That Sunday, all those years ago, is also the last time Alan and I have been able to watch the big game together! He usually works two shifts on Sunday's, so it is a real treat to be able to have him home for the game, and a little half time fun. I am a happy girl! Now, lets see if I have everything...

Chips? Check.
Dip Fixings? Check.
Cheese Tray? Check.
Hot Wings? Check.
7 Layer Dip? Check.

Yep, I have it all ready to go!

 

Go 49ers! I mean GO 49ERS!

Mood: Excited!
~Me :)