Cooking and Photography

Japanese Maple (Spring Deep Cinnamon Colored Leaves)

"Cinnamon bites about kisses simultaneously."

~Vanna Bonta

 

The garden is officially off and running toward harvest. That is a happy things. Just this past week I sprinkled cinnamon all around the yard, with taking special care to sprinkle it a bit heavier around each rose bush and each planter that has vegetables or potatoes growing in it. The yard smells wonderful, and it's nice to know that all those pesky aphids and ants will have NO place to stay while in my yard. I owe whoever discovered that cinnamon drives off garden pests a million thank yous! It is so lovely on warm nights to open the window and let the smell of lavender, and cinnamon, fill the room. As a lifelong insomniac I have always looked for natural ways to get a good night's sleep, and in my search on the Internet I found out that lavender is one of the best scents for relaxing and sleeping, and come to find out that not only is it true, but now I almost can't sleep without it!

 

Both cinnamon and lavender can be found in my kitchen as well. I have a small lavender plant that I purchased at an organic gardening center that I use for cooking. It is amazing when used in small amounts. Lavender Chicken is delicious, but so is lavender honey cupcakes! YUM. YUM. YUM. I have been wanting to try a recipe for lavender ice cream, and with summer just around the corner, doesn't that sound particularly good for dessert on a hot mid summer night? I been considering cooking with edible flowers, and lavender seemed like the perfect one to begin with. The plant itself is low maintenance and very nearly pest free. And the scent... Mmmmmm!

Cooking and photography go hand in hand as my two favorite creative outlets!

So tell me, do you enjoy photographing food? Have you done any organic gardening? Have you ever cooked with edible organic plants and flowers? If so, what did you make, and did it come out as good as you thought it would? What were the pluses and minuses?

Mood: Happy

~Me :)

50 Watts

"I travel light. But not at the same speed."

~Jarod Kintz, The Days Of Yay Are Here! Wake Me Up When They're Over.

Dim.

Dim like a burned out light bulb, or dim like a 50 watt bulb?

The question was certainly a poser!

Wait, wait, wait... let me think. Dim like a 50 watt bulb, but you have to understand, if I were one of my really cool, really decorative and trendy purple lamps, well they are actually more of an eggplant color, I would require a 100 watt bulb to work properly. I could take a 50 watt bulb, but there wouldn't be the maximum output of light you would be used to. No. I would cast a much dimmer light. And the light wouldn't go as far into the room. You wouldn't want to read by me, but if you were needing to surf the Interwebs on your laptop computer machine, and you needed a little bit of light to see by, I would probably work out ok.

That's how the conversation went. I was describing what it feels like to experience a case of Fibro-Fog. In case you don't know what that is, it is what those who are diagnosed with Fibromyalgia feel like when they will go to say a word, and something completely different comes out. Like, for example, if I were having a conversation with a friend and they asked what the best utensil for flipping pancakes would be, most people would say a spatula, where I might say a ladle. Even when I am thinking about the word I want to say, and picturing a spatula in my head, somehow, and I have NO idea how, it will come out ladle. But hey, at least I thought of a word on that occasion, sometimes I will be thinking of a word, and again picturing the object in my head, and nothing will come out. No word. Can't do it. Can't think of the word! LOL.

Fun.

Never dull.

Frustrating as HELL!

And yes, I even laugh at it sometimes! LOL. What else can you do? It is what it is. It's all good!

I am much more of a visual person anyway. I will just let my pictures tell the story, in any words the viewer chooses. I like it better that way I think. My photographs tell a much better story than I ever could!

;)

Mood: Happy

~Me :)

So. Monday. We Meet Again.

"Reach high, for stars lie hidden in your soul. Dream deep, for every dream precedes the goal."

~Pamela Vaull Starr

 

Mondays have gotten a bad rap methinks. Like black cats and broken mirrors. I have had long irritating Wednesdays, and Fridays that didn't live up to their promises, but Mondays have always been the best chance to reinvent the way I spend a day. Today we get up and its all new. New things to learn will be learned this week, and for the most part it begins today. Of course all things being relative, maybe this isn't Monday at all. From Alan's perspective, today is Friday because he works Thursday to Sunday 6:00 am to 2:00 pm, but his last shift of his work week is Sunday 10:00 pm to 6:00 am making this, in his world, Friday.

Some days of the week I have two of. Others only one. Maybe that's why some days seem months long, and some months years long but some moments, only seconds. All of it goes by so fast that sometimes my heart just pounds when I realize 20 years ago, wasn't 5 minutes ago. I think the powers that be were right in not allowing us to travel back in time. Can you imagine the mess we mortals would make?

Life. Time. Maple Trees. The Moon. Black Cats. Mirrors. New Beginnings. And Of Course...      

                                                                          Monday

Mood: Hopeful

~Me :)

Here Comes The Sun, And I Say Blorift

Common Checkered Skipper (Pyrgus communis)
Male

"I was a little excited but mostly blorift. "Blorift" is an adjective I just made up that means 'Completely overwhelmed but proceeding as if everything is fine and reacting to the stress with the torpor of a possum.' I have been blorft every day for the past seven years."

~Tina Fey, Bossypants

If Only I Could Have Found My Blorift...

I read Tina Fey's book, Bossypants, and couldn't put it down. She is amazing! Truly, she is this generations Lucille Ball! Can you imagine if she and Lucy could have starred together? Wow, it would have been comedy GOLD! Recently, I saw her in her latest film, Admission. She impressed me yet again with her ability to entertain. This time, she took a bit of a break from her usual comedy escapades, to show a different side, her dramatic ability! She had me in tears at one point, but in a good way.

As I was mentioning in my post yesterday, movies give us a chance to shake off the stresses and distractions of everyday life, and when you can find a movie that is so good it actually makes you forget your cares for an hour or so then it's a not just a fun way to shake off the stress, but a smart one as well. Stress is a bad thing for the soul. I know of what I speak, because this past week was really stressful. For me it began last Sunday, when the current owner of the property I live on decided to help herself and walk right into my home. I have warned her before that under our contract that I am to have 24 hours notice, but there she was, once again, trespassing, and this time she brought friends!

People I have never even met!

As I said, this happened last Sunday afternoon, and the stress from that resulted in the headache from HELL! Then Monday came along, and well, we all know how the week played out from there. Compared to what some went through last week, my petty problems seem just that... PETTY. And in the grand scheme of things I suppose it doesn't compare, but that's just it, can you really compare problems with other folks, or can you just do the best you can do with the problems you own? Most of us are just doing what we can do to get by, for me that means explaining one more time that not only are my landlord's actions annoying... they are illegal! And remedying things by purchasing a decent little security system and installing it so it will be able to document the illegal entry.

I wish I didn't have to do that. I like the lady very much.

She doesn't want the fact to be true, that she can't walk into my home just because she owns it.

Stress happens... right? And with each new event, my headache seemed to pound harder. What can you do? I did what I could to get rid of it, but didn't have much luck. My usual coping mechanism, in lieu of a day at the movies, is watching General Hospital. It was preempted several times last week, so there went that! LOL. I get the news needed to report about the the terrible things that went on last week, but after a while the wall to wall coverage became downright horrifying and several times I found myself rethinking what leaving the house means. I hate that! I want to just live my life, but who knows what living in America is really about anymore. Things have changed so much from when I was a child. Sometimes it doesn't seem like America. Like it's something different, but I don't understand how to feel or think about it or who to trust.

Like I said. Stress. It was the word of the week! But like with everything, the stress did pass!

After the capture of the Boston bombing suspect Friday night, I went to bed happy and relieved for the people of Boston, and slept deeply for 7 straight hours, which seemed to be just what the doctor ordered! Of course it didn't hurt that Dylan cuddled into me, and Hendrix bit my toes all night, in that cute little way he does when he wants to play! And when I woke up yesterday morning, the sun looked a little prettier, and I actually felt like working in the garden! The headache had moved on, and my body was ready to play. Since there wasn't any movies I wanted to go see, I thought it would be good to finally get the Heirloom tomatoes planted, and start our newest project of growing Yukon Gold potatoes!

 

And if all that wasn't enough to put a smile on a stressed out girls face, look who fluttered by to say "HI"...

 

It was a sunny day! Don't you love sunny days and little blue butterflies?

"Here Comes The Sun"
The Beatles
 

Here Comes The Sun
Here Comes The Sun
And I Say It's All Right...

Mood: Happy

~Me :)

Round Robin Challenge: Theaters

Berkeley Repatory Theater, Berkeley, Ca

"You need three things in the theater... the play, the actors, and the audience. And each must give something."

~Kenneth Haigh

RRC: Theaters.

Theaters. The THEATER is pure magic to me, whether I am attending an amazing play, or a wonderful movie. In any case, a trip to the THEATER is at least 2 hours of relief from the real world. It's a marvelous escape and I love it! I always marvel at the architecture of the buildings, and I enjoy reading about their individual historical presences. There is a lot to appreciate about going to a movie or play, and I always go home smiling after the show has ended because a wonderful new memory has been made, just by going to the THEATER! :)

The Grand Lake
Oakland, California

I was an uncredited extra in the Brad Pitt movie, Moneyball. This is the theater in Oakland where they held the movie premiere. I wasn't able to be there to watch all the movie stars arrive, but I did get to see local coverage on the news. :) Oh my, it looked like fun! The Grand Lake is a gorgeous theater that has inspired me many times over the years.







United Artists
Berkeley, California

I just love the Art Deco styling of this theater!



Regal IMAX
Dublin, Ca (Hacienda Crossing)

One of our favorite theaters to watch a great movie!



I thought it would be fun to add some popcorn to this post, because who doesn't love popcorn at the theater? ;)



Finally...

The Fremont
San Luis Obispo, Ca

The Fremont, in San Luis Obispo, California, is one of the last Streamline Moderne theaters built by architect S. Charles Lee. It is a gorgeous theater day or night, but at nighttime it is particularly lovely. I had some wonderful evening photos that I took of it back in the mid 1990's, but unfortunately they were lost when our storage room was burglarized a while back. That's okay, I will hopefully be able to visit SLO sometime later this year or perhaps next year, and I will do a new series of photos to share! I would love to attend the San Luis Obispo International Film Festival later this year! Doesn't that sound like fun?



Okay, now that you have seen my post about THEATERS, be sure to visit the other Round Robin participants! Just click the link at the beginning of this post to be redirected to the official Round Robin blog. You can find all the information there!

~Me :)

The Butterfly's World

Great Southern White (Ascia monuste)


"I almost wish we were butterflies and liv'd but three summer days... three such days with you I could fill with more delight than fifty common years could ever contain."

~John Keats, Bright Star: Love Letters and Poems of John Keats To Fanny Brawne

Please forgive the photographs from the archives, but Thursday was a long day. Not a bad day mind you, but a busy one. I was engaged in a all the tedious tasks that I had been putting off. It felt good to feel normal. My body has been put through it's paces since the first of the year, and my Fibromyalgia seems to be running my life to a degree, and stress always exacerbates things. But the sun was warm, and the garden is getting off to a slow, but healthy start so it made things easier to take! It also helped to get a little good news from Alan as he was on the way out the door for work. It seems the Conservatory of Flowers in Golden Gate Park will be opening a new butterfly exhibit in early May! I love photographing butterflies, so I am really looking forward to seeing what my current cameras can do in that setting.

 Indoor shooting has it's pluses and minuses as you probably know. I am really looking forward to that exhibit, but I wish my friend Steven were here to give me some advice. I loved sharing my photos with him, and I know I will be thinking of him when I visit the Conservatory. Still, I can remember his advice sometimes, just as if he were right there... coaching me along. (Smile) He is still my friend, and one day we will meet on the other side, and hopefully there are cameras in Heaven, because I still have a lot of questions for him! LOL.

Here is a favorite photo I took several years ago at the Conservatory of Flowers Butterfly Exhibit several years ago...



Such a delicate Little Yellow ( Pyrisitia lisa) butterfly, not even the size of my thumb. :)

I think after yesterday's gray post, I am looking for color again! :) And how can you not smile in the presence of a Little Yellow butterfly going about it's life, completely unaware of all of the harsh human realities? Lucky her!

:)

Mood: Hopeful

~Me :)

And This To Shall Pass

"Gray skies are just clouds passing by."

~Duke Ellington

Okay, so my mood has been a bit dark this week. Among all the anguish and pain of the happenings in Boston, are the everyday irritations that seem a lot bigger and more powerful than they actually are. I know it's true, and yet... (silence). My problems seem petty compared to what some have gone through this week, and yet as I try to consider they're pain, rather and wallowing in self pity, I only come back to the same answer my dear late friend June would always say in times like this...

"AND THIS TO SHALL PASS"

On a slightly different note, I love gray San Francisco days. There is something quiet about it that allows me to think about things on a different level. It's a good thing I think. Sometimes one has to stop for a moment and just reflect or face falling down from sheer exhaustion. Gray days are good days for me. The quiet mist in the air. The clouds. The fog moving through the Golden Gate. The joy of wearing my favorite brown sweater one more day before summer encroaches on spring.

AND THIS TO SHALL PASS.

Mood: Quiet

~Me :)

Fuzzy Blossoms

"The sun was warm but the wind was chill. You know how it is with an April day."

~Robert Frost

The sun was ridiculously cheerful yesterday. My mood not so much. But I appreciated the beauty everywhere all the same. You know how it goes after a tragedy like what happened in Boston, you get up the next day and suddenly the sky has never been so blue, and the pink fuzzy blossoms never so soft and pink, and a little while later in the day you realize it doesn't honor those lost, to take life, and it's simple earthly gifts for granted. Right? The next day in April will come along and it's a blessing, so don't take it for granted, or forget to appreciate it.

Mood: Quiet

~Me :)

With Love For Boston

"When one person is missing, the whole world seems empty."

~Pat Schweibert, Tear Soup: A Recipe For Healing After Loss

To The People Of Boston...

I send my love, prayers, and healing light for the days and the weeks ahead. I wish I had something profound to say that would instantly take your grief away, but I can't, all I can do is send you my support and love so you know you always have a friend in me. I grieve with you. I wish I could do more.

((((((((((BOSTON))))))))

With Love...

~Carly

Utility Box Meet Art... Art Meet Utility Box

"Enthusiasm is the electricity of life. How do you get it? You act enthusiastic until you make it a habit."

~Gordon Parks

I love this fairly new art form of communities painting utility boxes. I spotted this one in downtown Hayward. Hayward began painting the utility boxes to fight growing graffiti, and now there are over 30 boxes throughout the city, making it a prettier place! And they aren't just in Hayward, I have been seeing painted boxes throughout the Bay Area in the last few years, and the list of participating cities is only growing! Personally, I love them, I think they add a nice splash of color to the landscape! Cute isn't it? I will have more of these soon, I want to make a whole day of it and see how many I can photograph.

Stay Tuned!

Mood: Hopeful

~Me :)

In Berkeley

"It's been said that men think only about sex and food. And some men, like my uncle Lester, thank about sex with food. Needless to say the church has ordered him to cease bringing his own food to the potlucks."

~Jarod Kintz, This Book Is Not For Sale

I don't know why I don't do more photography in Berkeley, in my opinion it has some of the most beautiful buildings in the Bay Area. And it has a ton of difference churches, as you might expect of a collage town. This church, The First Congregational Church Of Berkeley, is one of my very favorites to photograph. It just has a gentle vibe about it, of course I suppose some might say that's God. LOL. Perhaps. All I know is that I have taken a few photos of it over the years, and I am always happy with the end result of what I was trying to capture. It is especially beautiful in autumn, but then, isn't everything?

Mood: Inspired

~Me :)

Trusting The Guy Next To You To Get It Right

"For years politicians have promised the Moon. I'm the first one to be able to deliver it."

~Richard Nixon

 

Wow... isn't it the truth? President Richard M. Nixon did indeed put a man on the moon, a dream that was bipartisan as it had also been President Kennedy's goal as well! Something went really right when it came to this kind of working together. It was a good example for children of the 60's myself being one of them. It was impressive to me that America could work together on a program that  not only gave us a step up scientifically, but also politically and socially. Socially in that Americans could put at least some of their differences aside, to pursue something that brought us all together on common ground and gave us all common pride.

Pride, is now simply the "P" word. It holds no particular meaning for America any longer.

I am feeling a bit reflective because we in the Bay Area learned this week that pretty much the highlight of our usual Fleet Week festivities, the Blue Angels, will not be attending here, or any other Fleet Week celebrations throughout the county. But hey, maybe all isn't lost, at least we will have the Parade of Tall Ships... um... no, maybe not... well... actually probably not! You see,  as we sit waiting for the next shoe to fall in the mess called Sequestration, it is likely that shoe will be the cancellation of the Parade of Tall Ships... which means full cancellation of the event altogether!

I know, I know... it's just a big military propaganda party... right? Well, it's certainly your right to feel that way if you wish, but I would ask you to consider what it will mean above and beyond any political feelings you might have, like the much needed income an event like Fleet Week brings to a city like San Francisco... an estimated $65 million dollars.

The sequestration is affecting a lot more than the elite flying team, it is affecting the very existence of elderly people. It is affecting the future of our children by cutting the First Start program, it threatens cuts to Social Security and Medicare, which is devastating for the most needy, and  the ironic part is the fact that neither of those programs has anything to do with the federal deficit. It is merely a talking point carrot that apparently both sides of the aisle like to dangle when they can't think of anything else to do. Raise your hand if, like me, you knew he sequester was a stupid idea when you heard about it the first time, and feel free to pat yourself on the back, as I am doing here, for being right!

But for all the I TOLD YOU SO'S...  it's little comfort considering how much damage is being done by our current president, and the republican party. Sometimes it's difficult to remember that President Obama is a democrat. As such, cutting Social Security, hell even bringing it into the debate, is not something any democrat I know would do. Creating a special group of senators to settle the budget because the congress and senate can't work together, was an unusually strange idea. Why, if the two chambers couldn't work together in their usual capacity, would a special committee have a chance in HELL? Did President Obama really think anything would accomplished in a super duper situation? Apparently, but hell if I know what he based that idea on.

Thank goodness we only have 3 more years of this nonsense to deal with and he will be gone. Things will get back to normal and we will once again be able to tell the good guys from the bad guys, or at least the good guys from the well meaning guys, or the straight up liars... right? Sigh... if only. I think sometime during the Bush (W) administration America found it's dark side, and I seriously doubt it will once again see the light of day in my lifetime. But hey, there's HOPE. Right? You know, that old four letter word.HOPE.

Sigh. Here's the thing. When it comes to what programs will be cut, as a result of the sequester, I can understand giving up the Blue Angels, if it meant some elderly person wouldn't have to go without the basic necessities of life, or a child could get a true head start, or a the blind person be able to keep a job that was contracted through the government, or any of a 100 other directions of need that exist, but it doesn't, this mess is hitting everyone but those who need to feel the pain the rest of us go through daily. Federal workers. State workers. Unemployed who want to work, but can't find a job. Collage students who simply want a future. Teachers. Home Health Workers. The Blind. The poor. All those groups could show those in Washington quite a lesson about REAL LIFE! And I suspect that after about a month of dealing with a scary, cold, uncertain futures, the word sequester would no longer exist.

I was looking forward to seeing the Blue Angels next October when they come to San Francisco, but it looks like that isn't going to happen. It's a shame, this type of event is just the kind of thing that gives one a minute or two of diversion from the painful every day truths of life in the greatest country in the world. Isn't that a real shame?

Memories Of Fleet Week 2012...

 

Mood: Quiet

~Me

But Why Does Daddy Have To Go To Work?

"A cat has absolute emotional honesty: human beings, for one reason or another, may hide their feelings, but a cat does not."

~Ernest Hemingway

Work? That's Dumb!

Dylan loves his daddy. He loves him deeply, and to the point that he sometimes cries a deep sorrowful cry when Alan leaves for work in the morning. Dylan's cry reminds me, at times, of an old but terribly loyal bloodhound, one that is beside itself with the thought that he could be of absolute help to his person, but for some strange reason that same person had forgot to bring him along. And clearly that decision was going to be a mistake!

Other times I am concerned that Dylan's cries are because he still remembers his Tabby mommy, and how she left him and didn't come back. You see, Dylan was the last kitten in the nest. His mommy had worked most of one morning moving all her babies to a new location so they could begin their lives as cats about town, but Dylan was special. I believe she knew he had some struggles the other kittens didn't. His poor eyesight for one thing. So, I think there is every possible chance that she would have continued to keep him close to her for at least a while longer, but on that fateful day, she owed it to his siblings to get them off in life the right way and across that busy street she went, unfortunately, never to make it to the other side of the street.

Dylan didn't leave his place under that abandoned house. He remained there all weekend. And when the nice man who saved him, pulled Dylan out, he was slightly muddy from the weekend rains, very hungry, and completely frightened. He didn't stop shaking... not until he and I met... when he asked me without speaking a word, to be his mommy. His relationship with me began in a heartbeat, with Alan it took a little longer, but now he adores his daddy to the point that he cries when Alan leaves in the morning. Cats are complicated creatures. I love everything about them. I love dogs to, but they are rather simple creatures compared to cats. Cats. I understand completely why the ancient Egyptians were so fond of them.

But Alan and I have discussed not naming another one after a singer! LOL. Of course, one doesn't always control these things. Years from now, when a new kitty who is lost and alone adopts me, what can I do if he already has the given name of Michael Jackson, or Steven Tyler? If that's the case, so be it, but I will say this now, I draw the line at Justin Bieber! Given a choice, I would name our next cats after a nice journalist such as Keith Olbermann or Anderson Cooper, but I will leave it up to God, or whoever decides these things! So far, they haven't let me down yet!

:) Meoooowww OooMewwwooooow

Mood: Happy

~Me :)

I Love Tuesdays!

 "Let's just say you may regret that second piece of cake. Oh my God. Regret cake? Whatever is about to happen must be truly evil."

~Rachel Hawkins, Hex Hall

I love cupcakes. Well, actually I LOVE cupcakes a lot, in fact, it might be a passionate obsession, but when you live with... the D word... yes... Type 2 Diabetes... you learn to just not got there. But once in a while, with some planning, I ignore my inner responsible person and go there anyway. With glee! With happiness! With Joy! With NO regrets, I get a little treat, such as a cake pop, or a cupcake, and I enjoy the hell out of it! Life only happens once after all, and if you do it right, once is just about perfect!

 

Tuesday's special at the Tea Cake Bake Shop, in Emeryville, is the Madagascar Vanilla cupcake with Honey Tangerine Buttercream! I LOVE Tuesday!

Mood: Happy :)

~Me :)
 

Tea Cake Bake Shop Emeryville, Ca

Backyard Photography ~ Garden Diary... April 10th 2013

"You can clutch the past so tightly to your chest that it leaves your arms too full to embrace the present."

~Jan Glidewell

My lovely Japanese Maple has transitioned from stick figure to crimson beauty! I am a little caught off guard by how early the leaves have appeared, but I am not complaining! I get to watch this beauty move about now through the rest of spring and summer then turn the most magnificent crayola colors of copper and deep purple as autumn comes and goes. Aww... life in the garden... I love my maple tree, and with the roses surrounding it I feel ridiculously happy inside! And the occasional visit by a little bird doesn't hurt either! Now if I could just talk the opossums into coming back around to!

:)



Lesser Goldfinch...





Coming Soon...

New Roses
Lavender
Spearmint
Heirloom Tomatoes
White Strawberries

Mood: Happy

~Me :)

80 West

"It's an odd thing, but anyone who disappears is said to be seen in San Francisco. It must be a delightful city and possess all the attractions of the next world."

~Oscar Wilde

I am a San Francisco Bay Area native, born and raised, and it's really odd, but every time I see San Francisco, be it the downtown, from high in the hills, or from Treasure Island, it is like seeing it for the very first time! I love it here so much, truly I don't think anywhere else can quite compare to it's beauty or to the joy it gives me just looking at t beauty! Last week I discovered a couple new angles I hadn't photographed the city from previously, so this post showcases those new perspectives!

ENJOY!
:)
Starting Off From The East Bay, It's 80 West And Into The City!
(The Cantilever Section Of The Bay Bridge Soon To Be Replaced)


First Stop Treasure Island, And The View From A Very Old Closed Dock!


After Some Miscellanious Photography On The Island It's Time For Some Photography Back Toward The Old Section Of Bridge Which Will Be Replaced With A Brand New Bridge This Autumn! I Will Miss It, I like The Looks Of This Section Very Much And Will Miss It's Old Fashioned Look!


After A Nice Lunch With Alan, It's Time To Head Back Onto The Bay Bridge And Head Into San Francisco!


Not Bad For A Photo Taken Out Of A Moving Car On The Bay Bridge...


And of course you know what comes next... right? Gorgeous, lovely, exciting, infuriating, amazing San Francisco! I could live here a million years and not have enough time to photograph every fascinating nuance of this city! It NEVER stops inspiring me!

"San Francisco itself is art, above all literary art. Every block is a short story, every hill a novel. Every home a poem, every dweller within immortal. That is the whole truth."

 ~William Saroyan

I'm Home! :)

Mood: Happy

~Me :)

Hauntings

"What we believe spirit visitors to be influences how they affect our lives. What we believe ourselves to be dictates how we react to them."

~S. Kelly Harrell, Real Wyrd - A Modern Shaman's Roots In The Middle World


The Man Upstairs...

I thought it would be fun, since it's been almost a year since the ghost moved in, to give an update on the ghostly happenings next door. Mr. Ghost, as Alan and I call him, is still keeping the same schedule of leaving his apartment at 4:30 AM and returning at 8:00 PM. A brutal schedule for a man half his age, let alone a man of 60-ish! For that reason alone he has my respect, just thinking about his schedule makes me tired! And did I mention he maintains that schedule 7 days a week, 52 weeks a year?! By all practical considerations he is an ideal neighbor. Quiet. Keeps to himself. Respectful of the common areas between the houses... but... there is one other thing curious about the man that h does that gives me pause. Just one thing.

He NEVER seems to produce any garbage!

For a full year now, well, almost a full year, no garbage! Well, wait, that's not all together true now that I think about it. Mr. Ghost did take his garbage down to the street on New Year's eve, and then the next day he brought the can back up to his house, rolled it around the corner of the building, and no one has seen it since! Out of sight... out of mind? Maybe, but a month ago I was up early one morning and I heard him stomp down his upper stairwell, walk around the corner of his house, kinda growl, and then I heard the lid to his garbage can slam... once... loudly. It was like his was personally pissed off at the can!

Otherwise... same old, same old.

Oh, except I did find someone on a message board who has a similar mystery going on. Message Board's neighbor keeps the exact some hours as my Mr. Ghost but instead of leaving the house every day during those hours, his neighbor gets up during those hours but doesn't leave! Otherwise the two men could be exactly the same person! Same hours. Same quiet demeanor. Same aversion to the garbage can! It's a mystery! And with the rainstorm that just started outside, it's easy for my imagination to wander to all kinds of dark places. Places where alien hybrids live. Places where one day a quiet unassuming neighbor just floats away as quietly as they came. Did I mention he moved in so fast no one saw any furniture move in with him?

Newly divorced? Alien Hybrid? Or Ghost? Hmmmm



Hey Dylan, Wanna Tell Ghost Stories?

The Easter Bunny brought Dylan and Hendrix a special gift for Easter this year, a new IKEA tent shaped like a  Big Top circus tent, and some new assorted stuffed animals for under the big top! The boys have been having a blast in the tent, and it also makes a pretty good place for a time out when someone (Hendrix) gets a little to bitey, if you know what I mean! LOL. Anyway, while the boys were playing with their new toy the other night, and while I was considering my own adventures with Mr. Ghost, I saw the boys live out a real spooky moment of their own. They reminded me of two human brothers playing spooky camping trip. Here have a look at the fun...

Hey Dylan, Want To Tell Ghost Stories?


Wait! Did You Hear Something?


Yikes...Hendrix... Could It Be A Real Ghost?
  Yes... Dylan... I think I Is A REAL GHOST! RUN!


Whew Hendrix! It Was Just Donald Trump On A Macy's Commercial!
Yes, WHEW! But Just In Case, Can We Have The Light On Mommy?


My The Boys Went To Bed Without A Fuss Tonight! Hmmm!


Little boy humans, little boy cats... there's not a lot of difference! LOL.

Love is love and fun is fun, and I am happy with my boys! :)

Mood: Happy

~Me :)

Art About Town: San Francisco "An Injury To One"

"Only put off until tomorrow what you are willing to die having left undone."

~Pablo Picasso

"In memory of Howard Sperry and Nick Bordoise who gave their lives on Bloody Thursday, July 5th, 1934, so that all working people might enjoy a greater measure of dignity and security."
 Inscribed On Memorial Plaque
 Steuart and Mission Streets, San Francisco, Ca

My blog has been filled with more than the usual amount of public art pieces this week, which is wonderful, I just wish I had more time to this kind of photography! I have been doing some research and I plan to visit more communities in the East Bay this spring and summer, so hopefully over the summer I can post more of this kind of photography! Public art is one of my favorite subjects to photograph, because I never stop learning from it. Be it about lighting, or the poignancy of the subject or sometimes, such as with this piece, the history, I always come away a much smarter person!

An Injury To One
By Artists... Miranda Bergman, Tem Drescher, Nicole Emmanuel, Lari Kilolani, James Morgan, Raymond M. Patlan, Eduardo Pineda, James Prigoff, O'Brian Theile and Horace Washington

This piece stands at the corner of Steuart and Mission in San Francisco, and is a memorial to the two men who gave their lives on Thursday, July 5th, 1934 when they were killed by police, who fired shots into a crowd in an effort to breakup a strike by maritime workers and longshoremen. As the day wore on, the violence grew and many strikers and their supporters were injured by police, in an effort to contain the strike on behalf of employers and businesses. The death of Bordois and Sperry only served to empower their fellow strikers, and what had begun as a maritime strike became a general strike (the largest in U.S. history) that included Teamsters and blue collar workers, and resulted in shutting down the Port of San Francisco and Alameda for days!

But there is a lot more to the story! To read more about the events leading up to this tragic day, and the aftermath and it's far reaching consequences and change, see the links at the bottom of the post! There is always something to learn from art, and those who take the time to honor the past and history! If we humans continue to refuse to learn from our pasts, perhaps we can learn from the art it tends to inspire!

Well, there's always hope.

1934 West Coast Waterfront Strike

Longshore Legacy: Dockworkers To Remember 'Bloody Thursday'...
(Los Angeles Times (July 3rd, 1986)

Mood: Reflective

~Me :)