Rainbow on the Road

Just a quick post because we're ready to head out again. We left Los Angeles yesterday about 6:30 a.m. and arrived in Medford, Oregon around 5:00 p.m. The drive is really nice. Once you reach Redding, California it gets spectacular.

The mountains are beautiful although not particularly high until you get into Oregon. But they're rolling and green and dotted with trees and rock and bushes. Couldn't possibly do justice to them with words. I'm just not that talented. But they're sure worth seeing.

It rained for awhile...sometimes very heavy. After one such downpour the most gorgeous rainbow appeared. It 's the first time I can ever remember seeing both ends of a rainbow. This was amazing especially because there were actually two rainbows!

I took these shots through the car window as we were driving. The colors were so bright. We followed it for quite some time and I took lots of shots. These were the best. Look closely at two of them and you will see the double rainbow.

I think they're pretty good considering the speed at which we were driving, the fact that the batteries in the camera were going fast and I was truly using the "point and click" method of photography. Just imagine how great they'd be if I had actually used the dozens of settings available on this camera!

Well, time to hit the road. Stay tuned.

Prehistoric Los Angeles

This is the Page Museum in Los Angeles. It's in Hancock Park sitting on 23 acres right in the middle of the city. It includes the La Brea Tar Pits. It's an amazing place - part of the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County. As you can see, I took these pictures in the spring of 2006.

Anyway, there was an interesting story on the television news, tonight, about an recent discovery when the museum was excavating for new construction.

...but first, a little background:

The La BreaTar Pits are tens of thousands of years old and this area of Los Angeles was home to more than 700 different species of prehistoric creatures including sabre-toothed tigers, American lions, mammoths, bears, all sorts of birds and sloths just to name a few.

Now, in this particular area, petroleum deposits seep up through the earth and methane gas is released which bubbles on the surface. Still to this day! This has been happening for as many as 40,000 years...since the last Ice Age.

So...when these prehistoric animals would wander into the tar (or "brea" in Spanish) they would become trapped and, of course, they would die. If a predator wandered in after an animal, it would also be doomed.

The Museum has thousands of fossils that it has gathered and documented but the most rare find of all is

"a well-preserved male Columbian mammoth fossil, about 80% complete, with 10-feet long intact tusks" (Source: "Science Daily" 2/18/09).

The paleontologists are calling him "Zed." So this is the story that was reported tonight on the 6 o'clock news!

I immediately remembered that I had taken photos at the Tar Pits a few years ago, and I went to hunt them up. Sure enough, I had loaded them on the computer. Unfortunately, I don't have a picture of Zed. They're still assembling him.

Here's the link to the Science Daily story which is absolutely fascinating...great article:

Page Museum at the La Brea Tar Pits (2009, February 19). Vast Cache Of Ice-age Fossils Uncovered At La Brea Tar Pits In Los Angeles. ScienceDaily. Retrieved February 18, 2009, from ScienceDaily.com

Here are a couple of shots that I took from inside the museum the day we visited. Now I wish I had taken more.

This is just a smidgen of the really fascinating stuff you'll learn about the Tar Pits from the Official Website. Check it out. And if you're ever in L.A. you ought to visit in person. You won't be sorry. I promise.

California Sky (or every cloud has a sliver lining..)

I think the rain is gone. Took the dogs for a nice walk along the Strand, this afternoon, and the sun was warm. We really enjoy walking along the Strand. Watching others bicycling or visiting on benches or walking their pets. I like listening to the ocean. The sound of the waves breaking on the shore is one of my favorites.

We hear that at Lake Mary, too, when the waves break against the shore but it's soft and soothing - almost a whisper. Little tiny waves. Swish...swish...swish. Here the waves crash! Still, it's peaceful.

While I was fixing dinner, I noticed the sun setting from the kitchen window and got this great shot. This is absolute proof that every cloud has a silver lining!

Nice end to a nice day.

A Rainy Day in Manhattan Beach or "Pet sitting is not always pretty"

Just took this photo standing in the doorway to the roof deck. I kind of wanted to take a shot of the shoreline but wasn't quite motivated enough to step into that rain. And believe me, it was pouring.

I took the hounds for their mandatory morning walk...not fun. I had rain boots and a slicker on but still got soaked to the bone. Dakota was very cooperative and did her duty quickly but Imo had to sniff every single tree and shrub and we trampled through acres (okay, not acres - but lots) of ice plant before he found the perfect spot.

Jack offered to go even though he's the evening walker and I'm the morning walker...we both do the long middle-of-the-day walk. Anyway, I decided to just get it over with and I'm really glad I did.

I love these dogs but I gotta tell ya...cats are waaaaay easier. Pet sitting is not always pretty.

I think I'm going to bake, today. Or make a pot of soup or chili. Something warm.

NOTE TO SELF: Never own a dog that has to be walked three times a day. A fenced yard is the only way to go.

Dale Chihuly, "The Nature of Glass" - Desert Botanical Garden - Phoenix

Red Fiddleheads

Our visit to the Dale Chihuly Exhibit "The Nature of Glass" at the Desert Botanical Garden was so worth the trip.

I probably snapped a hundred photographs and absolutely none of them will do justice to the actual pieces themselves. I'm totally serious about that. Totally serious. It's really one of those "You have to see it to believe it" situations. The works are beyond description.

The Sun

The pieces glow from within and on the outside look silky smooth and you just want to touch them. But you can't. It's against the rules. We learned that each piece is assembled randomly each time it's placed in an exhibit. Like "The Sun" pictured above. The artists who work with Dale Chihuly construct this piece so that it's balanced. Each section is placed at random but the piece is totally balanced. That's how perfectly each glass section is blown.

Blue & Purple Boat

Walking through the Botanical Gardens is a great experience at any given time...the desert plantings are beautiful. If you're lucky enough to visit while they're blooming, you're pretty darned lucky. Well, they're not in bloom at the moment so it was a perfect time for this exhibition.

Wine Colored Persian Glass Piece

Inside the building there is a collection of his smaller works. This photo is an example of the "Persian" series that he did.

Float Boat

Desert Towers

Orange Hornet & Eelglass Chandelier

If you want to visit the exhibit in Phoenix (not sure how it is elsewhere) you choose one of three times for your reservation...we chose Noon to 4 p.m. There is another between 4 p.m. & 8 p.m. and I wish I'd thought to make our reservations then. Why? Well, they light the works in the evening and I understand that it's really spectacular at dusk.

I would really encourage you to visit the Official Dale Chihuly Website. The photos are set in a black background. The glass pieces really pop out and the colors are as intense as they are in "real" life.

Not only will you be able to see many more works but you can see where he's exhibiting next and where the permanent exhibits are located.

Here's what I recommend: Go to the website. Click on the "Glass" link and then choose a series like "Persian". Then you can scroll through some of the photos but the best part is reading the "Artist's Statement" for each of the series. They're in his own words and it's fascinating to read about his inspiration for each of the series. Like looking at his soul.

Tell you what...when we get to Washington, I'm heading to Pilchuk. That's where his studio is and I think there are tours. I'm checking it out. Will keep you posted.

Dale Chihuly - A Preview of Tomorrow's Post

We're off on another adventure, this morning...leaving Phoenix where we have had just a wonderful time for the past few weeks. I love it here.

But we're headed back to Los Angeles...back to Manhattan Beach and the two beautiful Siberian Huskies, Imo & Dakota. We'll be taking care of them for about ten days and then on to Seattle for a few weeks; then down to Mendocino, CA for a couple of weeks. More about that, later.

So a few days ago I joined some friends for a trip to the Desert Botanical Garden here in Phoenix. It's amazing in it's own right but we were visiting at the perfect time...Dale Chihuly was exhibiting. If you're not familiar with his work, I can only say that you need to attend an exhibit if at all possible. His glasswork is world class which is, of course, the reason he's so famous. This picture is just a tease...it's an enormous work called "The Sun".

Tomorrow (or the next day) I'll post a bunch of the photos I took. The only regret that I have is that I couldn't photograph at dusk because I'm certain that they were even more spectacular all lit up. Thought of it too late.

That's it for now...we're "on the road, again."

Search & Earn for Charity - It's a Good Thing

I keep a notebook where I jot down notes to myself, ideas for blogposts, ideas for Squidoo lenses - stuff like that. I also make a note of websites that I'd like to visit. Usually I've heard about them on the radio while driving and jot the url's down on any scrap of paper I can find in the car and then write them in my notebook. Need to start keeping my notebook beside me, I guess.

So I had a dozen or so that I decided to check out this morning. Boy, some of them were really odd and I have absolutely no idea what prompted me to make note.

For example, there's PoleForTheSoul. I dare you to check it out, ladies. Uh huh...that's right...pole dancing lessons. I must have had a glass or two of wine that day. Why I'm even admitting this is beyond me. Just peeked at it this morning and promptly exited.

But I digress...there's a little gem of a website out there that you've got to look at. It's a way to earn funds for your favorite charity or charities just by searching for whatever you're searching for through GoodSearch.

What is GoodSearch? Well, here's a quote from their "About Us" info:

"So, what if we could raise money for our favorite charities and schools by doing something we do every day — searching the Internet?

That's the question Ken Ramberg (the former founder of JOBTRAK, now a division of Monster.com) and JJ Ramberg (an MSNBC anchor and the former Director of Marketing at Cooking.com) asked themselves a few years ago. After realizing what a fraction of the $8 billion generated annually by search engine advertisers could do if it were directed towards organizations trying to make the world a better place, they launched GoodSearch in 2005."

You just enter your favorite charity - right now my searches will earn for Juvenile Diabetes because my nephew's little toddler was just diagnosed. Anything that will help fund research for that scary disease is worthwhile.

You don't always have to contribute to the same charity, though. Leukemia and Lymphoma and MS are two of my other favorites. If you don't have a favorite charity, there's a link at the bottom of the page listing the participating nonprofits. You can even add to it, if you like. I checked out all the Minnesota charities.

And, if that's not amazing enough for you, you can visit the sister site GoodShop . You won't believe all the online stores that are a part of this awesome plan. Plus there are coupons to use. What's not to like??

In any case, just do yourself a favor and pull up GoodSearch. You can get there just by clicking on the banner at the top of this post or the one in the sidebar. I think you'll like what you see.

P.S. Let me know if you decide on those poledancing lessons? I could do a post on your accomplishments! With pictures, even. Worth a thought,no?

Persistence or the lack, thereof...

I've actually got several blog posts in the works but just can't seem to pull any of them to a conclusion. Plus, we've been on the go the past few days. At my age, I need to focus on one thing at a time...being on the go doesn't help!

So I was just thinking about that and decided to give myself a little "talking to"...all about being persistent. I have a Word document that is a repository of sorts for quotes that I find here and there. I just type them in and save the document. Here are some quotes that I have stored all about persistence.

"Nothing in the world can take the place of persistence.
Talent will not; nothing is more common than unsuccessful men with talent. Genius will not; unrewarded genius is almost a proverb.
Education will not; the world is full of educated derelicts.
Persistence and determination are omnipotent."
-- Calvin Coolidge

I find that quote exceptional because it defines something I've always believed and something that I struggle with constantly. I don't know why. Probably a little bit insecure. That's one reason I began blogging. I needed a way to "practice" writing. (plus I was trying to win that AARP contest - see my very first post). I really had no intention of making it a public blog. Just sort of evolved.

Anyway, here are two other favorite quotes about persistence. Well, they don't address persistence per se (they're more about courage, I think) but they're definitely related:

"It is not because things are difficult that we do not dare; it is because we do not dare that things are difficult."
-- Seneca (a Roman playwright and philosopher)

And the most inspirational of all (in my opinion) is this thought from a very remarkable woman:

"It never occurs to me that there are things I can't do."
-- Whoopi Goldberg

Today is going to be another full day. We're meeting some old friends who have just arrived in Phoenix for a week or so. Haven't seen them for a very long time so we're really looking forward to this visit.

I'm going to purge my brain of anything but fun, today...tomorrow I'll buckle down. I think.