The End of the World

The weather around here is kind of gray and the light has not been that interesting, so it's hard to go outside and look for a photograph.  So instead I went back through some of the aerial photographs I did of the landscape while flying around the Los Angeles basin.  I just think these clouds around the mountains are so spectacular and I love how it gets darker and darker as we look into the distance.  Happy New Year to everyone, and I will try to keep making interesting photographs for you in 2017.

Family Murder Mysteries

We had a family reunion of sorts in Redondo Beach, California.  We haven't seen our friends Ken & Ronnie and their kids in perhaps four years.  They used to live across the street from us in Sea Cliff.  Amy found some "family movies" and brought them with her and we all sat down to watch them.  These are not ordinary movies - they are family murder movies!  Yeah, I know it's strange, but we have been doing them for years and they are hysterical to watch, as you can see from the children sitting on the couch watching.  They were laughing, and some were covering their faces, and everyone had a great time.

"Hollywoodland"

I saw some interesting things from the air on my flight, and this scene is a favorite.  What we are looking at here in the right side of the photo, is the Griffith Observatory.  It is a large white building with a brown dome.  At the upper left is the famous Hollywood sign.  That iconic sign was originally created in 1923 as an advertisement for a local real estate development, called "Hollywoodland."  Eventually the "land" was removed in 1948.  In 1978 the sign was completely rebuilt.  The letters are 45 feet high, and the sign is 350 feet wide.  At the top of the photo is "The Valley" which you have probably heard of - as in "valley girls."  This is a larger image, so please click on it to see more details.

"Goliath"

We made a pilgrimage when we were in California.  We drove up to Santa Monica to see a famous restaurant and motel.  Well, sort of.  We have just finished watching an Amazon Studios series called "Goliath" which is a legal drama starring Billy Bob Thornton and William Hurt.  It is a stunning series.  And it was filmed at the Ocean Lodge, where Billy Bob lived, and at Chez Jay which is a restaurant and a bar where lots of things were going on.  So we HAD to make a trip up to Santa Monica to see both locations. And we walked into Chez Jay to take a look around.  For me what was really interesting was the lighting at night, especially the neon signs.  It was all very cool!

Building a House

Liz and Amy and Kathy decided, when we first arrived in California, that they wanted to make a gingerbread house!  A lot of planning went in to the design of the building.  Here, using paper,  they are deciding the size and dimensions of the building.

They have rolled out the gingerbread, and are putting the paper templates on the uncooked dough, which they will then cut out with a knife, before baking.

Here are the cooked, decorated parts of the house, waiting for assembly.

And here is Liz, putting the finishing touches on the completed house.  What a brilliant creation!

I Get to Go Flying!

Liz and Amy have a friend named Lauren, who owns this incredible airplane.  It is a Cirrus SR22 Turbo.  During last year's party when we met for the first time, we talked flying and airplanes.  At this year's party she asked if I wanted to go flying with her the next day.  Did I?  You bet I did!  This airplane looks as if it is going two hundred miles an hour, just sitting on the ramp.  It is based at Santa Monica Airport.

We took off heading west toward the Pacific Ocean, and when we crossed the beach, she said "It's your airplane!"  Wow!  So I got to fly it.  Interesting to learn how a new airplane like this flies.  It has a side stick, instead of a control wheel, which took a bit of getting used to.  We flew for 1.6 hours and went almost all the way to Palm Springs, before turning around and flying back to Santa Monica.  I can't begin to tell you what an amazing day that was!

We headed East from the airport just south of the San Gabriel Mountains.  I wanted to see Mt Wilson Observatory from the ground, but the clouds were too low.  The mountains were absolutely beautiful in their dusting of fresh snow,  with dark clouds overhead.  I felt that this photograph looked like the dawn of creation.

Christmas Eve Selfie

Amy has been master of the selfie since selfies started.  She does great photos just by extending her arm and guessing whether or not people will be in the photo.  Now she has a selfie stick.  So we had a gathering of the two families, and we had a friend of Liz and Amy's who has no family in Los Angeles, so he was invited to Christmas Eve dinner of Chinese food as well.  It was a grand time of wonderful conversations, and a couple of rounds of "Catchphrase" just for fun.  Then Amy said that of course we would need a selfie to mark the event, and she went to work.  I thought that this view, as I saw it was really wonderful.