Hapy New Year!

Happy New Year to all my faithful viewers!  I was wondering what I was going to post for a New Year's post.  Then when washing some dishes I was looking out the window and saw a pretty big fire next door.  The flames were twice this size when I first saw them.  Then it occurred to me that this would make a perfect New Year's post.  I could say the flames were part of a pagan New Year's ritual, which is why I took the picture!  Yeah, that's it!  A Pagan ritual!  Happy New Year!

 

California Dreaming II

Every day in the afternoon the dogs that Liz and Sarah own need to be walked.  On this particular day, Liz was joined by Amy and Vivian in a stroller, and I joined then as well.  It was some time after the sun had set and everything was lit by the last light in the sky, to the west,  as we did a trip around the neighborhood.  I was stunned at the beautiful landscaping in the front yard of this home a couple of blocks from Liz and Sarah's.  It is hard to describe the quality of the light on this evening, but it was soft and warm and magical.

 

California Dreaming I

So now that we are back home, I still have a bunch of photos which I didn't have time to post.  I am calling them "California Dreaming" because we are home and can dream of visiting California again in the Spring, perhaps.  I really love this photograph of a young woman in the Venice Beach Skate Park!  It looks as if she is in a trance as she starts down into one of the bowls of the park.  What is wonderful to see at the park, is that everyone is well mannered and gets respect from the skateboarders, from the guys who "shred the course" to the really young children who are just starting out, to women young and old, and even older guys. The great manners all the skaters show is really something nice to see.

 

The Nice Ride Home

We woke up at 6 AM this morning to pack and head for the airport. It was gray outside and cloudy.  We had gotten an email from jetBlue to allow three hours before the flight because of holiday crowding. After we had showered, we got an email saying the flight was delayed from 11:03 to 12:13.  Too late to go back to bed!  So we drove to the airport, turned our car in, and got through checkin and security quickly.  No crowds when we were there.  But it was now 4 1/2 hours before our flight!  So we had brought with us our breakfast, instead of buying dried-our scones, we had a large cheese danish in a box, and we got coffee and tea and began our long wait.  Not going to miss this flight, nosiree!   :-)

After boarding, waiting for pushback, this was the view of another jetBlue aircraft tail, and the iconic Los Angeles International Airport control tower.  Not another like it anywhere.

Near the end of our flight as we were approaching New York I went to the bathroom and when I came out I saw this amazing blue world!  They use dim blue light to illuminate the aircraft at night.  What a spectacular scene.  But here is the best part - our trip to JFK was in record time - Four hours and five minutes!  What?  The flight to California usually takes about 6 1/2 hours.  The flight home is about 5 1/2 hours.  But FOUR HOURS?  That's incredible!   The calculated ground speed for that flight is 689 miles per hour!  Astounding!  I asked the pilot on the way out if that was a record, and he said it was not.  We had strong tailwinds, and because we were late, the used a bit more power on the engines as well, to try and make up the delayed schedule.  What an astounding trip.  And it is wonderful to be back home!

 

Goodbye Selfie

                             

Amy and Vivian and Gus live about a half-hour's drive from Liz and Sarah'a where we are staying.  So we went over to Amy and Gus' this afternoon to hang out for a while, and then we left just before supper.  We needed to get back to Liz and Sarah's home to pack up for the trip tomorrow morning, and then have a bite to eat.  So Amy decided to do a selfie of all of us.  I looked at her shot, and decided I wanted my version of the shot so I used my little Sony Rx 100 and a self timer to get his photograph.  I can't believe how great everyone looks in the shot.  So we had our long goodbyes and long hugs and kisses all around, and headed back to where we are staying.  Wonderful to have been here, and hard to leave.  What a wonderful Christmas trip!

Vivian's Bedtime Serenade

When it is time for Vivian to go to bed, depending on where she is, she gets a bedtime serenade.  If Liz happens to be around, as in this photograph, she plays her Ukulele, and whoever is around gathers to serenade Vivian.  The song goes like this: "Good night Vivie, Good night Vivie, I wish you sweet dreams tonight."  Then the next verse may go: "Good night Nana, good night Nana, I wish you sweet dreams tonight,", and it continues around the room naming everyone who is singing to her.  It is a lovely and beautiful moment in our day to be part of this.

 

Christmas Day & A Greeting

This is our family gathered on Christmas Day.  From left, Ken, Sarah, Jeff, Katie, Kathy, Liz, Vivian, Amy, & Gus.  Jeff and Katie are members of Sarah's family and they drove down from Salt Lake City, Utah, which they have done for the past ten years!  What a wonderful gathering for Christmas Day for all of us!

So some of you know what our official Christmas Card was this year, from the East Coast.  This is our unofficial west coast Christmas Card.  For those of you who follow this blog, this is a photograph, of a donut in the sky, similar to the powdered donut I posted in the Tuesday is Dunkin' Donuts day series.

 

Merry Christmas from Los Angeles!

Vivian and Amy and the Christmas Tree!  Such a beautiful scene.  Christmas, which celebrates the birth of a child who would be our Savior.  And we here celebrate the birth of beautiful Vivian after so many years of trying.  Vivian is a dream come true for Amy and Gus, and we are overjoyed.  Vivian is now 16 months old and is so cute and so incredibly curious about everything.  Such a joy to watch as she races around the house looking at everything!  So with gratitude in our hearts we wish you all a Merry Christmas and best wishes for a Happy New Year, with love.

 

It Never Rains in Southern California

Well you have heard the song "It Never Rains in Southern California" and I can report to you today, that in fact, it does rain here!  All day long, and with pretty high winds as well.   I don't remember the last time I was here when it was raining.  The forecast is for several more days of rain, but we are only going back and forth between Liz & Sarah's and Gus and Amy's for the rest of our time here, so the rain won't be a problem.

One interesting thing is that Liz and Sarah's home is about a mile or so north of the path of aircraft landing at Los Angeles International Airport.  They made sure that they were not buying a house right under the flight path.  And the airplanes are usually fairly quite when headed to LAX.  But not today - the wind is from the east, so the aircraft are taking off from the airport and heading in our direction, and since they are climbing up to altitude the engines have a grinding sound since they are pretty much at full power.  But I like the sound of airplanes, so it is no big deal.

 

Vivian and the Chipmunk

                                       

Today Amy decided that we should go to the Wallis Annenberg PetSpace.  They have a small display of some live animals, like Guinea pigs, a snake, a box turtle, and and then they have kittens and puppies that are available for adoption.  Vivian was entranced by some of the large sculptures of other animals, like this chipmunk. She wanted to touch its face and arm and feet.  She was so taken with this sculpture!  Fun to imagine how she sees the world at this age.

Mother and Daughter

I have taken so many photographs of Vivian alone and while being held by other people and I realized I haven't posted a photograph of Vivian and Amy together.  So yesterday I made sure to do a photograph of the two of them when they were visiting Liz and Sarah's house where we were.  I could post ten different photographs because they are all so cute!  In fact, let me add another photograph of them to this post:

I think the window was open and Amy's hair was blowing, and when her hair was in front of Vivian, she was reaching out to touch the hair as was it was waving in front of her.  A real picture, this one!

 

Fun in the Skateboard Park

                               

I am sorry that I am late with my post from yesterday.  I have a good excuse for why I forgot to post last night - James Bond.  Yes, you read that correctly.  Kathy has been staying at Amy's for the last two nights, and so Liz and Sarah and I have been watching James Bond movies!  They were really excited knowing that we were coming out for Christmas, and that a brand new James Bond movie had been released, "No Time to Die."  They said they couldn't wait to watch it with me!  I had introduced Liz and Amy to James Bond movies when they were children, and for the life of me I can't remember why.  But they loved watching those movies, and I guess it stuck. So we watched the newest movie two nights ago, and then we watched "Casino Royale" last night.  Nice movies if you just want to have some fun.

The Academy Theater

Liz and I went to buy some milk for coffee this morning.  We found a 7-Eleven and this building on the other side of the intersection.  So I had to go photograph it.  It says "Academy" and it has a movie theater marquee on the front.  But the marquee said "Worship Sunday With Us."  So I photographed it knowing that I would have some research to do when I got home.  Opened on November 7, 1939 and designed by architect S. Charles Lee, the Academy Theater, a classic Art Moderne style structure, was originally designed to house the Academy Awards.  Sadly, however, the Academy Theater never did host the ‘Oscars’, but it was often the location of film premieres and served as a major suburban theater for the Fox West Coast Theater chain. The Academy Theater continued to show movies until 1976, when it became a church. The inside is beautiful as well.  If you are curious, check out this website:  Academy Theater Photographs. Only in Los Angeles, right?

 

Fun at Home Depot

 I love coming out to California because Liz and Amy are liable to have projects for me - things to fix or things to work on together.  This trip is no different.  Liz and Sarah had a structure already in place in the driveway in front of their garage and they wanted to turn it into a pergola,  which would shield that part of the driveway from the sun.  So we went off to Home Depot this morning to buy some 2x4's and 2x6's because we weren't sure which size would look good for the purlins on top of the structure.  When we got home we just rested some of both sizes of wood on top of the structure to see which would have the most pleasing design.  It's fun to go shopping together and discuss how to do the project. 

              

Here Liz is measuring the distance from the garage out to the mid point to determine the spacings of the purlins.  the photo gives you an idea of what the structure looks like now.

Miss Vivian's Bedtime

                                   

I was in the living room at Amy and Gus' home, when Liz brought Vivian out from her bath, all wrapped up in, I want to say "swaddling clothes" this being Christmastime. She is an absolutely adorable child and it is a joy to watch her running around at high speed these days and maintaining her balance.  She is curious about everything and smart as a whip!  It is so nice to be around her each day and watch her grow up, seemingly day by day.

New York to Los Angeles

                               

You know how much I love to photograph out the airplane window when I am flying anywhere on a commercial flight.  Kathy and I booked this flight together but then she cancelled her flight and came to California ahead of me.  I usually take the window seat on the way out and she takes that seat on the way home.  But this time I was booked for the center seat, which wouldn't matter if we were together.  But we were not and I ended up in the center seat!  Flying across the country and not being able to look out the window?  Unthinkable!  But that's what happened.  So here was my view while we flew along, unless the woman had the shade closed!  What a predicament...

This is another view of what I saw while crossing the United States, from coast to coast.  Oh well, at least I got here safe and sound!

The Moon and Steeple

So what's this "Moon thing" I am suddenly doing?  Simple.  When the skies are clear and the Moon has risen, I have such a strong desire to make a photograph with the Moon in it.  It is a couple of days after I did yesterday's photograph, and so you will notice the the moon is more fully illuminated.  That's how the Moon works, each day it becomes more and more illuminated until it reaches full moon, and then the illumination begins to get less and less every day.  It is a wonderful cycle, and perhaps more fun to follow when you know how it works.  Maybe instead of a single photograph, I should post "Moon lessons" so that everyone can enjoy the moon as much as I do.  Please click on this - it looks so much better in the larger size.

 

A House and the Moon

When I stopped to talk to my friend Charlie, on the way to the house in dire straits, I happened to look to the east and saw this house with a mansard roof, and the two windows which looked like eyes to me.  Then I noticed the waxing gibbous moon, about two days past first quarter.  I thought it made a photograph, but what would have been nice was to have a longer focal length lens.  I would get further from the house so it would still fit in the frame, but the moon would be larger.

 

The Relentless Sea II

This is a photograph of the remains of a steel bulkhead that has deteriorated until it is now just a shadow of its former self.  I have no idea how long ago it was installed, but we would be surprised at its relatively short life.  After the steel sheets are driven into the sand, they are usually covered with tar to reduce the exposure to salt water.  Bulkheads are so important because they protect the cliff from the erosion by the pounding of waves, especially in storms.

As they rust away, the leave beautiful rich colors, and and interesting shapes.  Note the black tar on the bottom of the steel sheet.

 

The Investigation

So as promised, I carried out an investigation this afternoon.  I waited until the sun was in the west, which is the direction that the cliff faces.  I wanted direct sunlight on the ruins of the house and the cliff.  What was fun was, when I was walking up to the site, I went by a house several houses away from this site, and the owners are friends of mine.  Charlie was out working getting leaves out of his gutters, and I recognized him.  So I asked what happened here.  He said the collapse of the cliff was caused by a heavy rainstorm about seven or eight years ago, and the house has just been left derelict since.  He also said that it was tough to find someone to buy the property, as you can imagine.  And then having done that, it can be a problem with the village approving the plans for building a new house.  I forgot to ask him, but I believe this was a multi story house, and since this structure was condemned, I am guessing that all the upper floors have been removed.

So apparently, the good news is that someone has bought the property, and the plans for the stabilization of the cliff and then new house have been approved.  So I will be fascinated to watch all this develop. 

I cannot imagine the day the flood of water came down the driveway, where I am standing, and flowed over the edge and down the cliff, through the opening in the lower left of this photo.  What a story!

 

House in Dire Straits

When Liz and I were walking the beach below the cliff, we saw a number of homes from below.  Then we were shocked to see this scene!  I have no idea what happened here or when.  It looks as if here was some kind of water erosion.  I wonder if this was the same water event that eroded out the hill behind the house that which I showed you several weeks ago.  That washout didn't damage the house, but this house looks like it is in dire straits.  It is amazing how much has been washed away, leaving pipes exposed, and the cement slab under the house and pieces of concrete washed down the hill.  I have found out where this home is located and what street it is on, and so I will be going over there to see what I can see from the street.  I will be sure to show you what I find.  Below is the wide angle photograph giving an overall view of the scene.

 

The Relentless Sea

 

This is one of the photographs that I took when Liz and I were taking the beach route back from the hairpin turn at The Boulevard and Cliff Way.  I have never done this walk and it is so interesting to see how owners up on the hill have tried to protect the cliff down at their beaches with bulkheads.  I have no idea how old this bulkhead is, but it is breached, and once pounding waves enter the opening they tear up everything behind it, and then start eroding the sand of the cliff.  It is a constant, never ending battle, and the cost of replacing the bulkheads has to be phenomenal.

Marble Portrait Head of the Emperor Constantine I

When we walked into the gallery to see the Met Christmas tree, this is the first thing we saw.  A collection of marble sculptures from antiquity.  But the most stunning piece faced us directly.  It is the Marble Portrait Head of the Emperor Constantine I.  It is a huge head and dominated the room.  It is 37" high, 23"wide, 26"deep and weighs 1100 pounds!  The head is from about A.D 325-370.  Constantine the Great was the first Christian emperor of Rome and his reign had a profound effect on the subsequent development of the Roman world.  By 325 he had succeeded in reunifying the empire.  He formed a new capital, named Constantinople after himself.  This head was probably part of a over life-sized statue.  What a stunning object to suddenly come face to face with.

 

Ghost Bike on Fifth Avenue

"Ghost Bikes are small and somber memorials for bicyclists who are killed or hit on the street. A bicycle is painted all white and locked to a street sign near the crash site, accompanied by a small plaque. They serve as reminders of the tragedy that took place on an otherwise anonymous street corner, and as quiet statements in support of cyclists' right to safe travel.  The first ghost bikes were created in St. Louis, Missouri in 2003. Currently there are over 630 ghost bikes that have since appeared in over 210 locations throughout the world. For those who create and install the memorials, the death of a fellow bicyclist hits home. We all travel the same unsafe streets and face the same risks; it could just as easily be any one of us. Each time we say we hope to never have to do it again -- but we remain committed to making these memorials as long as they are needed."  What was so surprising yesterday after I saw this memorial was how fast traffic was moving on Fifth Avenue.  I mean, buses, cars, trucks, taxis.  And mixed in with all that are motor scooters and bicycles.  The speed of the traffic was almost shocking.  No wonder someone was killed here.  Such a sobering thought.  I certainly wouldn't ride a bike in the city.  It is just way too dangerous.

The Met Christmas Tree

 

I went into the city today to see a couple of photography shows with Stan.  Wandering through the museum we stumbled across the Met Christmas Tree.  This is what they say about it.  "The Met continues a longstanding holiday tradition with the presentation of its Christmas tree. The magnificently lit, twenty-foot blue spruce looms over a vivid eighteenth-century Neapolitan Nativity scene, surrounded by an abundant array of lifelike figures with silk-robed angels hovering above. The scene describes in detail the Mediterranean harbor town's multicultural population."  It is a spectacular work of art.  If you go the Met's website they have some individual figures with incredible detail.

Catching Up VI

There is so much greenery at Caumsett State Park, that when I saw this bright red and yellow leaf just off one of the hiking paths I had to take a photograph of it.  The contrast is so striking of the brilliant color of the leaf and the gray gravel and sand.  Interesting that there is a gray tree branch and a gray leaf as well.

 

Catching Up V

I still have a lot of photographs that I took when Liz was here, that I haven't posted.  This is another photograph from the little gem of a preserve called the Louis C. Clark Sanctuary.  I have shown you one photograph already of the two large clumps of trees that were next to one another and that suffered a blowdown.  This is something more delicate but so colorful, with the leaves changing to both red and yellow.  I have no idea what kind of tree it is - at first I thought it might be a maple tree, but this trunk is so smooth.  But this tree stuck out among all the others because of it's beautiful colors.

 

Stickers

I saw this car on Sea Cliff avenue which is the main street.  Why would someone do this to their car?  I wonder if they have every been stopped by the police because of limited visibility.  I want to be able to look in the rear view mirror and see as much as I can behind me.  That's not going to happen here with stickers all around the rear window.  And the two side windows behind the driver are completely blocked.  I guess the owner wants to call attention to themselves.  Gee, what does this do to the resale value?  Not my cup of tea, thanks.

 

Catching Up IV

What a relief!  When I woke this morning Blogspot fixed whatever the problem was trying to import photographs, and now I can post the photographs and write the blog.  Whew!  So when Liz was here and we were doing the "treasure hunting" which is actually called "Letter Boxing" we went to the Garvies Point Museum and Preserve on one of our stops.  The Museum is a center for research on Long Island geology and a valued resource in the study of the Island's Native American archaeology.  I descended the stairs down the cliff to the beach, and while looking around for photographs, saw this purple rock!  Wow, a purple rock?  Wow!  Looking around on the wet sand and gravel a short distance from this, I found some gooey purple "stuff."  It turned out to be soft clay, of all things!

As I turned around to climb back up the stairs I saw these colors in the bottom of the cliff.  What you are looking at are, from the bottom up, layers of clay - a whitish clay, a purple clay, a dark gray clay and then the sand of the cliff above.  What an astounding sight to see these at the bottom of the cliff.  I am guessing that the Native Americans who lived here would think of these clays as an amazing thing to have at their disposal for making pottery.  Now I need to go back to Garvies Point and view the museum and read about all of this.

Catching Up III

This photograph was taken not 20 feet from the green photograph with gray branches I posted yesterday!  Amazing how quickly things change in the woods.  I am not sure what I saw first - the crossed fallen tree trunks, or the monochromatic color scheme.  As I was attracted to the green and gray in yesterday's photograph, I was immediately taken by the almost complete lack of color in this photograph.  Quite a contrast between the two photographs.

Catching Up II

Towards the end of the day while hiking and photographing in Caumsett, I walked through an area of trees to get to a pond to see if there was something I wanted to photograph.  Suddenly I looked down and saw this - a branch from a silver-colored tree lying on the ground among green flora.  The richness of the green background was in contrast to the silver branch which was bluish because it was only lit by skylight, not sunlight.  There were no decisions to make about composition, it just framed itself.  Some objects just do that. 

 

Catching Up

There has been so much going on, like exploring some nature areas with Liz, and field trips and going to Rochester, that I have a real backlog of photographs that I have taken and not even edited yet!  This is one of those photographs - a field with native grasses lit by two shafts of sunlight late in the day at Caumsett State Park.  I love the subtlety of this scene and the photograph of it.  It was shot in color, but after quite a bit of thought, I think it is best seen in black & white.  Please click on the image to see it larger.

 

Expectations II

This is actually the first photograph I did when the Sun came out from under the clouds yesterday.  After walking for an hour under overcast skies, the beautiful light was just stunning.  These sycamore trees are the gift that keeps on giving.  As many times as I have photographed them, I never tire of trying to find new views.  And because of yesterday's late afternoon light, this is one of my better photographs of these trees.

 

Expectations

I learned another lesson in photography today.  Or, rather, learned all over, once again, not to have expectations on what you might find when you go out photographing.  I needed some good exercise after sitting in the car for 8 hours driving down from Rochester yesterday.  It was overcast today and no sun,  so I didn't expect much in terms of photographs, but I needed the exercise so off I went.  Turns out the overcast sky was a beautiful silver gray in color and I got a couple of nice shots, but near the end of my walk, after an hour and a half, the clouds moved south, the sun came out and everything changed!  I got two really nice photographs, and this is one of them.  The other I will post tomorrow.  So take your camera, go for a walk, and have no expectations.  You just never know what will be revealed to you on any given day.  This particular photograph is all about the horizontal "V" in the sky and the water!

 

Two FBI Agents

This is Cormac and I after Thanksgiving dinner.  We both showed up wearing the same outfits!  So his dad suggested we do a photograph of us together!  He went out to his car and found two pairs of Raybans, which completed our outfits!  Here's the funny part - About 40 years ago an identical photograph was taken of Pat and I when he was the age of his son!  Now if only I can find that photograph!  If I can, you will get to see it!

 

Fun in the Cemetery

I went out to buy some coffee beans at Starbucks.  On the way I drove by this cemetery and it really grabbed my attention.  I was on a road that was a bit higher, and I was able to look down on to all the gravestones.  The cemetery is called Webster Rural Cemetery.  I have always loved spending time in and photographing cemeteries.  They are peaceful places.  In the Victorian era, cemeteries were designed so that families could come out to them to have picnics and spend time with their departed relatives.

I took a lot of photographs, and both of these are OK, but not great photographs.  I could not decide which of these photographs I liked better, so I decided to show you both of them and see what you think.