The Wolf

So this is an interesting story!  This is a pattern for a wolf's mask that Kathy found on the internet about a year or so ago.  Recently she looked it up again, and decided to make this wolf's mask.  And she decided to tell Liz about this and Liz liked the idea of working on a project together.  So Kathy brought all the materials to California with her.  This is just the pattern.  After assembling the pattern and taping the parts together, this will be covered with Paper Mache, and then painted.  Stay tuned!

 

The Chinese Garden

Liu Fang Yuan or the Garden of Flowing Fragrance, is one of the finest classical-style Chinese gardens outside of China. Filled with Chinese plants and framed by exquisite architecture, the landscape is enriched with references to literature and art. Visitors can find both physical relaxation and mental stimulation when exploring the dramatic 15-acre garden.

This is one of several bonsai I saw on display.  If you look closely, you can see that this is really old, as in perhaps 50 years or more.  I wish I could have asked someone but didn't think of that.

This is The Courtyard of Assembled Worthies, and in the distance, The Flowery Bush Library.  Such stunning buildings so different from the architecture we are familiar with.

A close up of the stonework in the courtyard.  Stunning in its detail.

A detail of the water lilies in the pond, from the first photograph in this series.

There is a wall with different shaped doorways and windows in one part of the garden.  Looking through the window you see a piece of limestone mined from a lake in China.  There are limestone pieces that are much larger than this all around the lake area.

Another of the structures surrounding the lake.  I failed in my duties to look for signs describing the buildings, so I don't know what this is called, but it is just beautiful in its design.

The Japanese Garden

So this is a photograph of part of the Japanese Garden at the Huntington.  The arched bridge to the left of center in the middle of the photograph is where the ladies were seated.  And the Koi pond is under the bridge.  It is such a beautiful garden.

Behind where I was standing on the top of the slope coming up from the bridge and ponds, above, is a complete traditional Japanese House.  You can walk around the outside and gaze into some of the rooms.  It is quite beautiful, but where would I put my book cases and all my books?  And my table saw and drill press and my cameras and lighting equipment?  Beautiful to look at but not a place I could live.

 

The Huntington

We drove over to the Huntington in Pasadena, supposedly to see the Gees Bend Quilts in an exhibition.  There was only ONE original quilt, and then there were smaller artworks of paintings of small quilts.  So we were disappointed, having seen the original exhibit of the Gees Bend Quilts at the Whitney in Manhattan years ago.  But the Huntington!  Wow!  It consists of a Library, one of the largest independent research libraries in the world, and then the Gardens, which are 16 themed gardens covering 130 acres and 83,000 plants, and THEN the Art Museum which features British, European, American, and Asian art spanning more than 500 years and includes more than 45,000 objects. Yikes!  And the Huntington does not disappoint!  Here Miss Vivian explores what must seem strange for a three-year old - a bronze decapitated head on its side in a garden.  The piece is called "The Landmark" by Enrique Martinez Celya.

The first garden we went to was the Japanese Garden which consists of three gardens: the original stroll garden with koi-filled ponds and a drum or moon bridge, the raked-gravel dry garden and the traditionally landscaped tea garden.  In addition, the gardens feature a large bell, the authentic ceremonial teahouse, a fully furnished Japanese house, the Zen Garden, and the bonsai collections with hundreds of trees. And that's just ONE of the gardens at the Huntington.  Here the "ladies" sit on the steps of the high arched Moon bridge over one of the Koi ponds. Miss Vivian's hat is a year out of date - she is almost 3!

 

Asking for Trouble!

I took this photograph on the airplane on the way to Los Angeles.  I was sitting at the window and Kathy was to the left of me.  I glanced over at the man in the aisle seat and was stunned to see that he had put a glass of water on the keyboard of his laptop!  YIKES!  As a believer of "Murphy's Law"  I would never in a million years do this! One passenger stumbling again this passenger's computer or an encounter with severe turbulence could lift the glass straight up and straight back down and the keyboard would be full of water!  Wow!  Unbelievable! 

 

CA Leftovers I

I have taken at least a billion photographs while in California, and we were only gone 10 days.  So what is one billion minus 10?  That's how many photographs I have left to show you from the trip!  I found this piece of driftwood in Liz' living room and took it outside, looking for an appropriate background.  I tried some red terra cotta tiles but that didn't work so I took it out to her front garden and cleared a spot on the dirt, which is perfect, I think.  The dark soil is not distracting from the wonderful twisted shape of the light colored driftwood with it's interesting texture.

 

Trying to Save a Photo

I am trying to save a picture, but it's not working!  We are home now but I have a ton of photographs that I have taken and I will be posting some.  This is a photo from the day we drove up to Big Bear Lake.  The scenery was simply astounding.  So we stopped at a turnout or two and I tried to take a photograph of these spectacular mountains with the snow covered peak in the distance.  I felt like I didn't quite have it.  This seems to be close, but there is something missing.  Maybe a really interesting foreground object would have helped.

So I tried converting the image to black and white to see if it would be a better photograph.  It's different, but I don't think that suddenly it is more interesting than the color version.  I am guessing that if you choose to vote, you would pick the color version right?

 

Safe at Home

I always have the window seat on the way to Los Angeles, and Kathy has the window seat on the way home.  So it was cloudy when I had the window.  And on both flights we were seated over the wing.  So I have no photographs of the country as we flew over.  We flew home today and it was a good flight.  So when I saw everyone reaching for their bags in the overhead, I grabbed my iPhone and made this shot because I was desperate for a blog photo!

 

How To Eat Pizza

We were sitting having dinner tonight which was pizza.  I had not been paying attention to what Vivian was doing, because I was busy eating my salad.  All of a sudden I noticed that Vivian was eating her pizza, not by starting at the pointy end and eating into the slice held level, bur rather she held the slice up to her face and was eating the tomato off the top of the dough!  I quickly went and got my camera and sat there ready to capture her eating some more off her slice!

 

"They Walk at Different Speeds"

When Liz takes the dogs for a walk, I am likely to go along just for the exercise.  I learned on this walk that the dogs, which are getting on in age, walk really slowly!  It wasn't long after we started out that I saw how slowly Allen, the white dog, is so much slower than Toby, the gray dog.  And you can see that here!  When I said something to Liz, she laughed and said "They walk at different speeds!  Which is such an understatement, and so obvious from this photograph!

 

Coming Down The Mountain

Coming down the mountain.  Kind of a journey from paradise at 7000 feet back to the reality of Los Angeles.  Here are yellow flowers growing on the hills on the side of the road, as we started down from the top of the mountain, toward civilization.

There were so many different growing zones that were so obvious as we gradually descended back to sea level.  You could see the area where the timberline stopped and it was bare above the pine trees.  This is when we were back to about 2000 feet and you can see how different things grow at different elevations.  Also, clearly this area had suffered a burn because so many of the bushes were totally burned and were dead.

Only in Los Angeles would you see a collection of overlapping bridges at one of the intersection on Highway 10, commonly known as "The Ten" a really busy freeway that starts at the Pacific Ocean in Santa Monica, California, and goes all the way to Jacksonville, Florida!

When we got back down to nearly sea level, we were on this road, and I was stunned to see high tension power going off into the distance.  I don't ever remember seeing anything like this before!

"The Ten." Eight lanes of traffic, four in each direction and packed with cars!  Fortunately there were only minor delays on our three hour trip home.

 

The Dog in the Clouds

We were headed up the mountain to Big Bear Lake, and stopped at an overlook to look at the scenery.  A couple had put their dog on this rock and were working on photographing him, and then were trying to do selfies of them with their dog.  I just thought that this was kind of unusual to put a dog up here at all!  But it made such a unusual thing to see, so here it is!

 

Father's Day

I was having my coffee out on the deck this morning when Amy and Vivian came out and said they were going to do a Father's Day Dance!  I said "Wait, I need to get my camera!"  So I did and here is a photograph of their dance!  A great way to start the day.

Here is a photograph from the day before, taken by Liz.  She and Amy and Sarah and I did a hike on a trail known as Castle Rock Trail.  It is only 1.2 miles one way, but the elevation rise is 500 feet!  It felt more like a 1,000 food climb.  It was strenuous but I kept up with the three of them and it was a great hike to the top!

And here is a portrait of the four of us, taken by another hiker who came down the trail after us.  We asked if he could do the shot, and what's funny is that his partner stopped out of the way of the photo, but still ended up in the photograph!  It was so nice of him to take the photograph and we had a nice chat with them both.  So the second two photographs are not ON Father's Day, but they seem to be a lot about what Father's Day is all about.  I love hanging out with my girls!

 

On The Water

Today is "On The Water" day.  Liz and Amy have become friends with one of the next door neighbors, and she said they were welcome to borrow her paddle board and her kayak.  So Amy was the first to go out this morning on the paddle board and explore a bit.

Later on Liz and Amy took the kayak out for a spin and paddled around exploring the lake.

This is Heather, the next door neighbor and her dog Izzy and I was amazed that Izzy is so comfortable going out on the paddle board with Heather.  After a while he lay down on the front of the board and seemed really comfortable as she paddled around.

And last but not least, for the last two days, late in the day this Heron would land nearby and walk to the shallow water.  Then it would walk around for a bit, and then just stand completely still.  For 5 minutes or more.  Then suddenly the Heron would suddenly stab at the water with its bill, and come up with a small minnow!  What an amazing thing to see!

 

The Birthday Video

Amy came up with a brilliant idea for Kathy's birthday.  She contacted some of Kathy's friends and family members and asked if they would make a 30-second video on their iPhones telling Kathy why they loved her and then wishing her a happy birthday!  So she gathered all these videos together and made a movie of all of them which Amy played for her on her birthday.  It was such a powerful expression of love for Kathy that she was moved to tears.  She was completely blown away, and afterwards was so thankful for all the expressions of love.

In addition to the pink T-Shirts that Liz and designed and had made, they bought us all these pink trucker hats that say MCAVOY on the front.  McAvoy is Kathy's maiden name.  So here Kathy is contemplating the beauty of Big Bear Lake while sitting at the end of a dock.  This photograph only works because Kathy is wearing her pink hat! 

And here is the A-frame cabin that we are staying in.  It is really beautiful, and as you have seen, has wonderful views of the lake.  It's the perfect time to photograph architecture like this, when the lights are on inside, and there is still some light in the sky.

 

A Spaceship Landed!

We rented a pontoon boat powered by an outboard motor today, and took a tour around about half of Big Bear Lake.  This is the Big Bear Solar Observatory which we can see from our deck and I wanted to get a closer look at it so we motored over near it.  An amazing looking observatory.  It is located out in the lake because that way when the sun heats the ground and causes air currents to rise, it degrades the view of a telescope like this.  So if you build it out in the lake, you get better images of the sun.

This is our view of the lake from the deck of the home we are renting.  You can see the observatory as a small dot in the distance in the line between the trees and the water, on the right hand side of the photograph.  A beautiful, relaxing view.

And this was our view after sunset today, of the lake and the docks.  We met two of our neighbors from next door, a mother and daughter and their family has owned a home on the lake for years.  It was so nice to talk to people who have lived here and get to ask questions about the history here.

 

The Birthday Girl

This is a big birthday for Kathy.  She turned 80 today!  So Liz and Sarah started her day with a raspberry danish slice and two candles for breakfast.

They found a lovely A-frame cottage on the shore of Big Bear Lake so we all drove up there this morning.  It is about 2 1/2 hours from Venice.  They serenaded Kathy with "Happy Birthday" after we all arrived here.

Liz and Amy designed this 80th Birthday Shirt, and Amy's friend Ryan helped with the mechanics of putting it all together.  So we each received one of these shirts, and a Lei as part of the Hawaiian theme for her birthday party.

And here we all are on the porch of the cottage after surprising Kathy with our shirts and leis.  It was a wonderful day with Liz and Amy preparing a delicious pasta dinner and a surprise birthday cake, and Amy had put together a video of clips she asked family and friends to make with their phones, wishing Kathy a happy birthday, and telling her why they loved her.  She was moved to tears with all the love from so many friends and family members!

New York to Los Angeles

This morning, early, we left for JFK and our flight to Los Angeles.  We are spending 10 days with Liz and Sarah and Amy and Gus and Miss Vivian.  This was a really unusual flight in terms of viewing the country from above.  Shortly after takeoff and climb out we entered the clouds and then quickly climbed above them. We cruised at 35,000 feet across the United States, and there were clouds underneath us for the entire flight!  I have never seen this before!  We had a brief view of the ground for a couple of short periods when we were over Arizona and Nevada.

This is Lake Mead and at the bottom center of the photograph where the road meets the blue waters of the Colorado River, you can see Hoover Dam!

As we approached Los Angeles we flew past the San Bernardino mountains, and it was amazing to see the low clouds completely filling the valley and running up against the mountains.

When we got to Amy & Gus' home were completely surprised when our long-time friends Ken and Ronnie Schwarz who now live in Charleston, SC walked in the front door!   They have been visiting their two daughters and their families for the last 10 days.  So they had plotted with Amy to surprise us on the day we arrived in Los Angeles. What an amazing surprise!  We were blown away, and so pleasantly surprised that they made the effort to surprise us!  This called, of course, for a giant photograph of parts of our two families!

 

The Rose Bush

Kathy was amazed that her Rose bush was looking so good this year.  Not sure why that is, perhaps it has to do with the weather being just right.  So I watched it for several days and photographed it in different kinds os light, both in bright sunshine and in shade and on overcast days.  This shot was done after the sun was low in the western sky so the light was soft.  It does look beautiful with so many blossoms on it.

 

A New Fountain Pen

This is one of my favorite fountain pens!  It is an inexpensive pen costing about $30 but it is such a great pen it writes as smoothly as my $100 fountain pens.  It is called a Lamy Safari pen and how they manage to make such a smooth writing nib at that price is just unimaginable.  In February of 2016 Stan and I went to Albuquerque for an opening of a photographic show which we both had photographs in.  Afterwards we went down to visit a long time astronomer friend in Magdalena, NM, and we also did some hiking in the area.  We walked up to an old abandoned mine and took photographs and walked around.  When we were back at the hotel I discovered that my beautiful Pelikan fountain pen was missing.  We looked everywhere, where we had breakfast and some other spots, and it was gone!  Broke my heart.  That fountain pen cost about $100.  So when I got home and was at a fountain pen show here on Long Island I saw a pen like this on display.  I immediately bought it, and THIS is the pen I take when I think I might be at risk of losing a pen on a trip!  My original pen still works perfectly, but the cap is a bit loose, and the nib is liable to stain my white shirts with ink, so I bought this new one.  Just for fun I photographed it against a blue sky with clouds.  I held the pen up in the air with an opened paper clip in the bottom, and then retouched the paper clip out, so that this looks like a rocket headed for space.  I have no idea why I did that! 

 

Military Honors

Last Monday a long time family friend passed away at the age of 93.  Ernie Zahner was such an interesting guy and we have known him and his wife for years and years, because they were part of a group of parents we have known whose children grew up together.  The children of the ten couples all attended St. Boniface Martyr School in Sea Cliff.  Each Christmas one of the couples would host a Christmas Party and we would all come and bring a dish.  That's when I had a chance to really talk with Ernie.  The obituary describes him this way:  "In his youth, Ernie was a pilot and learned to fly a plane before he learned to drive a car.  He served in the United States Army between 1951 and 1953 and graduated from Columbia University with a degree in biology followed by a doctorate in microbiology from St. John's University. He worked as a cancer researcher before becoming a professor of microbiology at Queensborough Community College.  He was passionate about his hobbies which included meticulously building and flying model airplanes as a longtime member of the Long Island Silent Flyers."  What an amazing guy and a joy to talk to.  He had such a wonderful life with his wife and four children.  We were seated in the church when a young woman came in and said that there would be military honors in front of the church.  The military honors included the flag, seen here which was carefully folded into a triangle and taps were played with a bugle, and the flag was presented to his wife.  I have forgotten how powerful military honors are at a funeral.