The Power of Art

I bought a book by the photographer Robert Adams when I was in Santa Monica.  It is called "Art Can Help."  These two statements are from the introduction: "It is the responsibility of artists to pay attention to the world, pleasant or otherwise, and to help us live respectfully in it."  And this:  "More than anything else, beauty is what distinguishes art.  Beauty is never less than a mystery, but it has within it a promise."  I immediately identified with all of that.  I recognize that beauty is what matters to me and what I try to find in my photographs.  So this is a pallet of succulents for sale on Abbot Kinney at a place called "Grow" and I thought the collection was just beautiful arranged like this.

Happy New Year to everyone!

All Gone...

This is Abbot's Habit, or rather it was Abbot's Habit.  It closed about six months ago, sad to say.  When Liz moved to Venice, she said "There is this really cool, funky coffee shop, you have to see it!"  Well, we first went to Venice is 2007, and after one visit we were hooked!  This is one of the all-time great coffee shops in the country!  It has been here for 24 years.  All kinds of people come here, young and old, artists and writers working on movie scripts, and others just on computers, hanging out. It's great not only for coffee, but for people watching as well.  I did photographs here a number of times.  So disappointing that it no longer exists.

Christmas Bank Robber?

This is Beth, who was one of the many amazing guests at "The Salon."  I don't remember what was going on, but I looked up and Beth was clowning around.  She had pulled down her regular Santa's cap to completely cover her face, and then for some reason had held up these glasses on a stick.  She started to take the glasses down and I said "Hold it!" and explained that I needed to take her picture, which I did.  And best of all, you get to see this!

California Fires

I remember seeing video of the California fires while reading the Los Angeles Times online several weeks ago.  I was stunned to see fires right by the exit on the 405 that I use every time I visit the Getty Center.  So I was curious when I visited there earlier this week, to see how much evidence of the fires I would see.  This is the view from the Getty across the 405, and you can see all the burned hills.  It appears that firefighters saved all the houses which you can see are still surrounded by green.  Then a man came over to where I was viewing with his daughter, and said "There's our house right there!"  I went over and spoke to him - his house is on the ridge in the upper center of the picture.  He said that he was so thankful that his house was spared.  Two houses next to his burned to the ground!  Please click on this image to see it in greater detail.

LAX Departure

On the way home!  It was wonderful, of course, to be in Los Angeles for a week, and to spend time with Liz and Amy and Sarah and Gus, and with so many of their wonderful friends.  There was so much musical harmonizing that went on that we were constantly smiling.  The JetBlue terminal at Los Angeles International airport has moved from the north side terminal to the south side, and the view is so much better.  I was idly looking at all the aircraft tails when suddenly this Boeing 777 came out of the left side of the frame, climbing into the sky.  LAX is the fourth busiest airport in the country, so there were plenty of other aircraft takeoffs to watch after this one!

L.A. Landscape

I went over to Whole Foods this morning to get some goodies for breakfast. When leaving I walked by this scene at the building next door.  What?  What interesting plumbing - I have never seen this kind of plumbing before.  Then I remembered that there used to be a laundromat here!  When I got back to Liz' and Sarah's I mentioned this, and was told that Whole Foods apparently bought the building, and I am guessing it is so that they can expand.

Telestrations

Everyone in our two families just loves all kinds of board games or parlor games.  We started tonight by playing "Catchphrase" which uses an electronic device to dispense phrases which each team has to guess.  Then we switched to "Telestrations" which is like the old game of "Telephone."  In this modern version, we each get a little booklet, and the name of something to draw.  Then the first person draws the object and passes the booklet to the right.  Then that person guesses what the object is and writes the name down.  Then they pass to the right and the next player draws based on the  name of the object.  Many times by the end of the round, the original object and the final guess are not even remotely similar to each other!  We have lots of laughs.  So my object was a "Trapeeze" - I thought I did a good job, but at the end of the game, people were hysterical at my original drawing.  They even wanted to photograph my drawing.  You can see them laughing as they photograph.  I will let you judge for yourself - here is my original drawing below.  Don't laugh!   :-)