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Thursday, October 31, 2013

Boo!!!





"I definitely believe in ghosts."
Jenna Dewan
 


And Jenna should know!!!
(I suppose if I were more with it...I'd know who Jenna is!)

 
No...this isn't a Mammoth house...
The last time I was in Glendale I found this great yard!!! 

There was a time when I decorated with ghosts hanging from the trees
and tomb stones in the yard...
I even taped a banshee cry!!!

I'm spoiled now...
Mammoth doesn't have street lights in any of the residential areas..
and a lot of vacant homes...
so trick or treating is relegated to one neighborhood...

They have a big box in Vons for candy donations to help out the neighborhood...
and in return for your donation...
you don't have to trick the tricksters by hiding in the back with the lights off!!!



Wednesday, October 30, 2013

Shhhhh...It's Wordless Wednesday Again!!!





The first fall of snow is not only an event, it is a magical event. You go to bed in one kind of a world and wake up in another quite different, and if this is not enchantment then where is it to be found?

Read more at http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/quotes/j/jbpriest159615.html#e0iRCVb0fe1WkHjr.99
The first fall of snow is not only an event, it is a magical event. You go to bed in one kind of a world and wake up in another quite different, and if this is not enchantment then where is it to be found?

Read more at http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/quotes/j/jbpriest159615.html#e0iRCVb0fe1WkHjr.99
"The first fall of snow is not only an event, it is a magical event.
You go to bed in one kind of a world and wake up in another quite different,
and if this is not enchantment then where is it to be found?"
J.B. Priestley
The first fall of snow is not only an event, it is a magical event. You go to bed in one kind of a world and wake up in another quite different, and if this is not enchantment then where is it to be found?

Read more at http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/quotes/j/jbpriest159615.html#uUMll641dEUrtDYZ.99




Linking to...

http://wordlesswednesday.blogspot.com/

http://blog.aquariann.com/

http://www.create-with-joy.com/2013/10/wordless-wednesday-love-in-pastels.html



Tuesday, October 29, 2013

Our Little Corner of the World...



...just turned white...


We thought this was going to be another light snow...melting by noon...

NOT!!!

In our back forty...it averaged between 6 and 10 inches...
light...fluffy...powder
the kind of snow that's extra fun to run and play in...




Kelly's favorite next door neighbor, Lucy, came up from the OC...
They rather enjoyed the snow today!!!




Linking to...






Monday, October 28, 2013

Let There Be Light...




"In the right light, at the right time, everything is extraordinary."
Aaron Rose


Back to the Santa Fe workshop with Alan Ross...

Alan said that Ansel always pointed the camera
down or close up if he wasn't moved by the landscape...
and...
when you're hearing story after story about Ansel Adams...
of COURSE you're going to
process in B&W!!!



Linking to...


Sunday, October 27, 2013

Do You Know...



...the reason for the tradition of hanging rosaries on a tree?

Loretto Chapel, Santa Fe, New Mexico

"Be faithful in small things because it is in them
that your strength lies."
Mother Teresa



Next to the door of the Loretto Chapel (where the miraculous stairs are)
is this small tree...literally covered with rosaries!

I tried looking the practice up on the internet, but didn't find any answers.
There were pictures...even of the same tree...
but no description of how or why this tradition came about...

Anybody???




Linking to...




Saturday, October 26, 2013

Deja Vu???





"To photograph truthfully and effectively is to see beneath the surfaces
and record the qualities of nature and humanity 
which live or are latent in all things."
Ansel Adams

Yep!  I was struggling to find a good recent pic that I could convert to B&W...
Well...this is Wednesday's pic revisited in B&W...
A very different experience than the golden colors and blue sky...don't you think???


Linking to...


Friday, October 25, 2013

Blue Skies Smilin' at Me...





"Blue skies smilin' at me
Nothin' but blue skies do I see
Blue birds singin' a song
Nothin' but blue skies from now on..."
Irving Berlin, 1926


Check out Willie Nelson and Kenny Rogers singing this 
1926 classic of Irving Berlin's...
and make sure you check out Willie's hair...
looked a bit different back then!!!


Linking to...





Thursday, October 24, 2013

What's Ailing Her???





"Cats are rather delicate creatures and they are subject to a lot of ailments,
but I never heard of one who suffered from insomnia."
Joseph Wood Crutch


When Sadie was a kitten, before we brought her home, she had a respiratory infection.
The shelter told us they were treating her and we could take her home when she was healthy...
We got her home and she's been a comedienne, Osama Bin Kat terrorist, and 
sweet cuddle kitty...

Well...when we had the fires up by Shaver Lake and the one in Yosemite...
she started sneezing a lot...
I changed her litter from the dusty clay stuff to some stuff made out of corn 
that's supposed to be dust free...
but she still sneezes morning and night...

Sooo yeah...I took her to the vet today...worried that she might have some 
dreaded respiratory disease...
Lungs were clear...
no temperature...

Yep...just like mom...
she's got allergies!!!

Have you ever had a cat with allergies???


Linking to...

Wednesday, October 23, 2013

Shhhhh!!! It's Wordless Wednesday Again...





"There is a harmony 
In autumn, and a luster in its sky..."
Percy Bysshe Shelley



Linking to...




Tuesday, October 22, 2013

Our Little Corner of the World...





"A lake is the landscape's most beautiful and expressive feature.
It is earth's eye; looking into which the beholder measures the depth of his own nature."
Henry David Thoreau


TheChief, Kelly and I took a little hike on Sunday to Emerald Lake...
No...it hasn't snowed for over a week...
but as you can see...it's starting to stick up in the mountains!!!

Kelly was so excited...she couldn't decide which she liked better...
playing in the snow or swimming in the lake!!!









Linking to...




Monday, October 21, 2013

Engineer Bill???





"Children make you want to start life over."
Muhammad Ali

I never would have guessed that I would select a quote from 
Muhammad Ali...(aka Cassius Clay)!!!
I always thought he was a bit over the top!!!

This little guy was hanging out in Dad's arms while strolling on the deck
at the vista point in Santa Fe's ski basin...
 He was such a cutie...I asked dad if I could take a few pics...
I also asked dad for his email so I could send him the shots...
unfortunately, the email he gave me seemed to not be quite right...
I got the emails back...
I think he might have liked this one!!!


 Linking to...


 


 

Sunday, October 20, 2013

Do You Know the Mystery of...



...the Loretto Chapel staircase???


Have you heard of the mysterious staircase in the Loretto Chapel of Santa Fe?

In the late 1800's, the Arch Bishop Jean-Baptiste Lamy of the Santa Fe diocese 
of the Catholic Church, commissioned a chapel to be built and to be named 
Our Lady of Light Chapel for the Sisters of Loretto.
The Arch Bishop did not like the traditional Pueblo Indian style of architecture, 
native to Santa Fe, and instead had the chapel designed in the Gothic Revival style.
Apparently the architect died suddenly and before the chapel was completed.
During the building of the chapel it was discovered that there had not been
a staircase designed to access the choir loft.  
The Sisters were not happy with the prospect of climbing a ladder to get to the loft
due to the long skirts of their habits.
Sooo...the Sisters...being a religious order...decided to say Novenas (prayers) to 
Saint Joseph, the patron Saint of Carpenters.  
On the ninth and final day of the Novenas, a man appeared 
who was looking for work...  
Several months later the staircase was completed...
and the man disappeared with no thanks and no pay.
The Sisters searched for him...even putting an ad in the paper, but to no avail.
Many of the Sister's believed that it was Saint Joseph himself
who answered their prayers and built their staircase.

For all intents and purposes, the staircase should not stand, much less function.
There are two 360 degree turns with no support.  
It was built with wooden pegs, no nails.

The staircase is considered quite miraculous...in it's history and innovative design.
In addition, the lumber used was quite unusual, and was never seen being delivered.
It is quite beautiful...the detail and finish superb.

What do you think?  Is it a miracle?


Sources:


Linking to...




Saturday, October 19, 2013

Walking the Red Carpet...





As part of my photographic assignment this past weekend
I had to include the Alex Theater.
If you grew up in Glendale when I did, then you spent many an afternoon or 
evening at the movies in this grand theater.
 
The theater was built in 1925 and began it's historic run with 
vaudeville, plays and silent movies.
 Also, during the 30's and 40's the Alex
was host to many a Hollywood premier...showcasing stars
such as Don Ameche, Elizabeth Taylor, and Bing Crosby.
 

My dad was a young man at that time and used to tell of going to watch the stars
as they got out of their big, beautiful cars and walked down the red carpet to the theater lobby.
 
Of course, he also used to tell stories of going to the movies there...
but before he went, he would eat a couple of cloves of garlic....
Are you with me here???
Yep...he'd sit down next to someone and ask the time...they'd get up and leave...
he kept doing that until he had the row to himself and his buddies!!!
(or so the story goes!)
 
By the time I was of the age to go to the movies, the theater had been around awhile
and no longer featured live theater or premiers.
But it definitely was the best movie theater in Glendale.

I saw Disney's Fantasia there when I was just a little girl...
and of course in high school...
went on many a date to the movies there...
remember Bonnie and Clyde with Faye Dunaway and Warren Beatty?
You name the movie in the 50's and 60's, and if I saw it...it was most likely there.

In the early 90's the theater was renovated and it is now a Performing Arts Center.
The theater is managed by Glendale Arts, a non-profit organization
and is owned by the City of Glendale.
 The theater is a registered historic landmark.

Currently the theater is home for five resident companies:
Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra
Gay Men's Chorus of Los Angeles
Glendale Youth Orchestra
Alex Film Society
Musical Theater Guild.
 
The theater also hosts many other concerts, performances, and events.
Including...
Celebrate Dance!!!
A wonderful Dance production
produced by Jamie Nichols...one of my high school classmates!!!!

If you're in the area around March of next year...
keep your eyes open for this wonderful production!

Friday, October 18, 2013

Heavenly Skies...






"When scattered clouds are resting on the bosoms of hills,
it seems as if one might climb into the heavenly region,
earth being so intermixed with sky,
and gradually transformed into it."
Nathaniel Hawthorne



Linking to...


Thursday, October 17, 2013

Throwback Thursday...



On Sunday, I headed south to pick up my sunglasses at the Optometrist in Glendale...
(there are some things I've chosen to continue to take care of down south!!!)
But part of the reason I went down Sunday was so that I could take some meaningful photos
of Glendale for the family of a childhood friend who recently passed away...
She was a lovely person and I was honored that I had been asked.
One of the spots I headed to was our Jr. High School...
(so just what was so politically incorrect that they had to change from Jr. High to Middle School???)


Well...as you can imagine...this conjured up a bunch of memories!!!
For instance...10 of us girls (including Marilyn) did a black light dance for the talent show...
(it was quite successful!) 

Another year, and another talent show, I played guitar and actually sang...
(why they let me onstage for this one I'll never know!)

At every assembly, our principal spouted off his inspirational mantra...
"Good, better, best,
never let it rest, 
'til the good is better, 
and the better best."
(indelibly etched in my mind)
(can't remember his name, but I'll never forget the mantra!!!)
(Oh!!!  Wait!!!  That would be Mr. Harvey!!!) 

My math teacher used to call me "Wilt the Stilt" after basketball player Wilt Chamberlain
(because he saw me stuff the basketball during PE-I was one of the tallest girls back then)

Our girls PE teacher...Miss Brolier...
(she always wore a long pleated skirt, white blouse, cardigan sweater buttoned at the top)
Posture tests in the girls gym with those icky bra-like things we had to wear...
walking around the gym (with the doors shut tightly, but which the boys always managed to open!)
and exercising while the PE teachers checked our posture and knocked us out if we slumped...
(I always did well...but a friend, who had scoliosis, always got a bad grade...
definitely not a fair practice!)

Mr. Gorby...Vice Principal...all the boys were wary of him because he wielded a big paddle... 

Our cooking class teacher who used to lick her lips all the time 
(and of course, we used to count the number of times per class) 
(I actually often think of her when I'm cooking...she was a stickler for precise measurements...
I'm of the ilk that 'if it's close, it'll do'!!!)

Our sewing teacher who used to have a bottle of mouth wash on her desk at all times
(and took a nip frequently throughout the day)

The young female teacher who always sat on her desk with her legs crossed in a short skirt...
(no boy ever fell asleep in that class)

And Miss Cailor, 
the best English teacher I ever had, and who I credit with any success I've ever had in 
navigating the English language and writing...
(she'd probably be appalled by my use of extra punctuation in my blog posts!!!)


And who could forget...
lot's of chatter and flirting going on under the dome during snack and lunch breaks...


It just so happens that I remember meeting a tall young man, a class ahead of me,
in this very spot...
(I seem to remember that he had hair back then...)
his brother was in my class...
but then we girls all were more interested in the older boys rather than the ones in our class...
Yep!!!  I remember chatting and flirting with TheChief back in the day!!!

Update!!!
Haha!!!  One of my school daze friends just emailed me reminding me of having to kneel
down to measure the length of our skirts...if the hem touched the ground while we were kneeling
they were the right length...
I remember kneeling in a dress that my mom had just made for me...my skirt was too short...
the teacher excused me saying that I was growing so fast that my hems couldn't keep up with me
and that even if my hem was a bit short...my legs were long enough that I was still
decently covered!!!



Linking to...


 (It's probably a bit of a stretch to include the front of the Jr. High School as a sign...
but hey!  A little creative license here!!!)


(and...yeah...well...an indelibly etched mantra in my mind
and lot's of memories from way back...definitely qualify for "enduring"!!!)