Fun With a Rock

Today Liz and Amy and Kathy and I went to the Los Angeles County Museum of Art.  I haven't been here in a number of years because I always go to The Getty Center.  So this is Liz taking a photo that inclused her fingers.  What do you suppose she is up to?

So this is Amy and Liz doing something else with the subject at hand that Liz was photographing.

The thing that they were having fun with is called "Levitated Mass" by the artist Michael Heizer.  It is a 340 ton boulder which sits on top of a 456 foot long concrete slot in the ground that goes downhill until you are under the boulder then it comes back up to ground level.  It is amazing to stand under that boulder and think about its weight and then hope that the boulder stays up there while you are underneath.  It is an amazing thing to contemplate, and then to have fun photographing.  This last photograph gives some sense of scale.  It is a BIG rock!

 

The Cactus Gardens

After I photographed the fog, I kept walking up and over to a couple of other streets where I thought I might find photographs where the surroundings might also make interesting photographs.  But the fog began to thin and slowly dissipate.  But I found myself on the street where two houses next to each other both have wonderful cactus gardens.  In the soft morning light which was perfect for these gardens, I took two photographs.   This is a huge Agave that was lit perfectly by the light.

And this is a good view of the whole garden at one of the houses.  I cannot believe the work and the love that these two gardeners have put into their gardens. Liz knows both of the women and when walking with her I have gotten to talk to the women.  There was another interesting thing that happened to me which surprised me.  I was standing a bit closer to this garden, not using the camera, but just taking all of it in, and I suddenly felt this overwhelming sense of joy within me, because of what I was looking at.  This has never happened to me while photographing gardens before.  Not sure what caused it this time, but I accept the gift.

 

The Famous Fog of Los Angeles

Yesterday morning I woke early and when I looked out the living room window I was stunned to see all the fog outside!  So I grabbed my camera and started shooting outside Liz and Sarah's house.  I only walked about 25 feet to shoot this, because in this frame there were all the parts I needed.  I need a tree very close to me that will register as black in the photo, then I needed trees further in the distance that get lighter the further away they are, and that is what gives you the sense of the fog.  I was pleased with this photograph.  Oh "The famous fog of Los Angeles" was a joke.  The famous fogs are in San Francisco, of course.

 

Dinner With Amy & Gus

Liz drove Kathy and I over to Amy & Gus' home this afternoon and we got to play with Vivian and talk to her and take part in her little scenarios which was so much fun.  For a while Kathy and I wore tiaras and I was the king and Kathy was the Queen.  We stayed for dinner, and Amy had planned this for us all.  It is chicken teriyaki on cabbage slaw with ride and sesame, and broccoli along with a cucumber salad.  It was out of this world! I have never photographed my meal in restaurants, which is of course the new thing.  But this dish demanded it. Wish you all could have been here.

 

Playing Squigz with Vivian

Amy and Vivian came over to Liz and Sarah's house today in the afternoon and Vivian loves to play games or have people play with her toys with her.  Here Vivian and Kathy and Sarah are all playing with a game called "Squigz."  All the parts have suction cups on them and the parts will stick to each other or walls or tables or furniture or floors.  Not sure what they were building but they were having fun. It is wonderful to see Vivian and see how she has grown and learned more things.

 

Shiprock from 34,000 Feet

New York to Los Angeles again, this time for Christmas.  We booked late for some reason and when it came to seating, the only seats left were on the left side of the aircraft. For some reason I always pick the right hand side of the airplane, and of course, only a window seat.  So believe it or not, everything looked different on the same trip we have made so many times.  The main reason was the sun was shining on the landscape from "behind" meaning that everything had a shadow and was more dramatic.  As we flew through New Mexico, I saw this black pointed object, and it hit me: "Is that Shiprock?"  I have photographed  this astounding feature which is made from lava that hardened in a volcano and then gradually the outer part of the volcano was eroded, leaving just the hard lava. And there are also two "dikes" leading away from the plug.  They were openings in the ground - cracks - which also filled with lava.  When I saw them I was sure it was in fact Shiprock.  What a thrill to see this monumental geological feature from the air for the first time!  It dominates the landscape from the ground and you can see it from miles away. If I was home, I would have found my print of this from the ground to show you what it looks like as I have known it. 

 

I Didn't Do This Right

I calculated what time hight tide would be today and went back to the beach to photograph how different it looks from the really low tide of six days ago.  But I didn't do it right.  I would have to be standing in the water to get an exact match.  I SHOULD have taken last Thursday's version of this photograph from the part of land that sticks out into the harbor, where that tree and bench are. That way both photographs viewpoint would be the same.  But still, you can see the huge volume of water that it takes to fill up Hempstead Harbor to the high tide mark.  As you can see, it takes a LOT of water!  So here is today's photograph, and below is yesterday's photo so you can more easily compare them.