Volume 11 – Focus on Photography
52 – Goodbye 2022!
Even though we have a rather large number of cruises under our belt, we have never done a Christmas or New Year’s holiday cruise. Until now. On the day after Christmas, we gathered up Ron and Peri and drove down to the Los Angeles Cruise Port to board the Celebrity Solstice for a week of relaxing prior to giving 2022 a well-deserved burial. We may have to make this a habit as it was pretty darned wonderful. We ate, drank and were merry. I even wore a tux on New Year’s Eve! I forgot what a finicky pain in the butt they are to assemble and likely will never wear one again, but it was a good last time. We boys were dapper, and the girls were both lovely. Good to go and good to come home. That’s how it should be.
51 – Merry, Merry!
Christmas Eve found us up in the High Desert to see what Pastor Dan and his staff had put together. Our son’s Christmas message was an inspirational reminder to never lose the ability to view the world through the eyes of a child, without the cynicism and pessimism that the harsh realities of adulting can infect us with. To me, the loss of that perspective is the root of virtually all the problems in the world. If you forget how to see the beauty around you, all you see is the ugly. A fantastic version of The Little Drummer Boy was the highlight for me, though I had to smile at having everyone sing Happy Birthday to Jesus and blow out their candles at the end of the service as a clever way to punctuate the message of the day.
50 – Long Overdue
Back in January 2020, Wonderful Wife stated that in addition to our holiday family gatherings, she would like to add a big family and friends party to the schedule. COVID-19 said no. Fast-forward to this year and her pandemic-delayed dream came true. We sent out real (well, digital) invitations and Kim went through a dozen iterations of menu plans, dreamed up decorations and asked family to lend us enough seating for the event. I built three café tables, put up a party tent on the deck and laid out a network of heaters for the expected 50° evening temps. Even with Kassi providing the desserts, the estimated cost and effort was off by a factor of three or so. Worth. Every. Penny. (And aching body part.) Fun was had by all.
49 – High Desert, Higher Winds
Saturday found us up in the High Desert for a viewing of The Chronicles of Narnia for the Christmas at the Movies program at Dan’s church. The staff transformed the worship center into a mini movie set with the entry converted to a wardrobe complete with hanging coats and a small forest of Christmas trees representing the first view of Narnia as you entered. The White Witch even provided the moviegoers with hot cocoa and Turkish Delight. It was a good movie in a fun environment complete with falling snow at the proper moments. The day ended well with the evening trip home featuring a park and shoot moment as the strong high-altitude winds bent the clouds and the sun saw fit to add the painter’s touch.
48 – Labor of Love
It has been 11 years since I made the first of these for the Granddaughters while we were living in Georgia for a short time. I made two more as Matthew and Jackie came along. This one is for our surprise seventh Grandchild, Kai. I still owe Brady one (the oldest and was considered too old for one of the original three) and expect to have it done this year. I refer to them as a labor of love since they have over 200 individually cut pieces with close to 1,000 cuts, including 16 for the rabbet joints on each box. Labor of love? Yup. There is no way I would make one of these for someone I did not have a deep affection for. It will be weeks before I can use my fingerprint scanner on the PC from sanding all those tiny pieces.
47 – Slap in the Face
Thanksgiving has come and gone. Kim established a tradition of giving each guest for our Thanksgiving dinner a Christmas ornament that she selects specifically for that person. Son Dan got a blown glass Vader mask. Our gamer grandson, Brady got an elegant glass game controller. This year, daughter Kassi reciprocated with her own gifted ornaments. Kim got a Santa in a martini glass and I got a squirrel. My daughter has an evil sense of humor. I have battled the local swarm of bushy-tailed rodents for years as they annually defile at least 100 pounds of avocados from our tree. The furry bastards represented in a delicate glass ornament is a hilarious slap in the face. Coup counted, Kassi. Coup counted.
46 – ‘Z’ is for Zamboni
If you’ve ever watched a hockey game, an ice-skating competition or spent any time around a rink, you have encountered a Zamboni. In 1940, Frank Zamboni and his brother opened what was at the time, the largest skating facility in the world in Paramount, CA. It took 9 years for Frank to get fed up with how much time and effort it took to resurface the ice and built the first dedicated ice resurfacing machine, dubbed the Model A. It was a tractor with a blade that shaved the ice, swept up the shavings, rinsed the ice and left a thin layer of water that froze in around a minute. They were fairly popular until one was showcased at the 1960 Winter Olympics. The rest is history…and a place in the Hockey Hall of Fame.
45 – Red Sky at Night
“Red sky at night, sailor’s delight; red sky in the morning, sailors take warning” according to the old saying. Supposedly a colorful sunset meant the clouds were breaking up and the weather would be good the following day. A crimson morning sky meant a storm was gathering and rough seas were ahead. To me, this seemed to lack some basic data such as the direction of the wind and notably, whether it had stormed during the night and those red clouds at sunrise were the remnants of the storm breaking. Catchy saying though. In this case, it turned out to be accurate since this was taken at sunset after two rare days of water falling from the sky in our semi-arid desert biome and the next day was lovely as predicted.
44 – Trick Photography
Actually, Trick-or-Treat photography. Monday evening found us in Daughter Kassi’s neighborhood, walking along as Matthew and Jackie ran from house to house gathering large amounts of candy while their father stayed home and gave away large amounts of candy to other Trick-or-Treaters. If you are thinking that this is a zero-sum process, you need to factor in the actual fun involved in wandering the streets looking at the decorations and trying to find the “full-size” houses. Their neighborhood decorates extravagantly and attracts massive numbers of drive-in visitors. The neighborhood looked like Main Street in Disneyland with hundreds of families on sugar quests. An altogether enjoyable evening!
43 – Ice Princess
The week ended with time spent at Jackie’s first Freestyle competition. Freestyle is part of the rating system for skaters and Freestyle 1 is the first big step up from the beginner levels. Compare it to moving from Elementary to Middle School. In the lower levels, the skaters compete with others close to their age. No longer is a first-place finish guaranteed barring an unlucky fall. She now competes with skaters as much as 6-8 years older. I had to smile when she took to the ice for the practice session as the smallest member of the group by at least six inches. Despite that, she turned in an excellent performance and placed in the middle of the pack. She’s not really a princess. She’s a bit of a warrior.
42 – Fall Colors
It was a busy week. Photography took a back seat to work and some more DIY stuff. Honestly, photography wasn’t even in the back seat. I think I left it standing at the curb. I guess the season is partially to blame. It’s cool enough to do outside projects without risking heat stroke, nothing is blooming and it’s a bit of a drive to where leaves turn a color other than brown. This week’s photo is of our family’s answer to fall colors. When the nighttime temperature dips below 60°, it triggers a primal urge to make vegetable beef soup from the family recipe. It is actually a “stoup” since you can stand a spoon up in it. We made enough to serve as lunch and the occasional dinner until chili season arrives.
41 – Manners Maketh the Man
Manners. My parents were big on manners. I learned pretty early what was acceptable to throw into the next booth at a crowded restaurant. Here’s a hint: NOTHING! Over the years I have noticed a decline in manners amongst children to the point that well-mannered behavior is noteworthy rather than normal. On Saturday we were invited to a birthday celebration for a one-year-old. Since it was our grandson, we weren’t comfortable pretending we hadn’t received the invite, so we went. Countless children of Tara and Matt’s friends were there, and they were almost universally well-mannered. Hope for the future! Kai’s table manners still need a bit of polish, but I have renewed faith.
40 – Officer and a Gentleman
Yes, it’s another hockey action shot. At least with the heat and home projects, I have some regular opportunity for intentional, non-random photography. I am also actually learning about a game I have ignored for 98% of my life. The rules surrounding those mysterious blue lines that generate so many whistle stops may actually require some research since nobody I’ve asked has more than a vague clue regarding the subject. Come to think of it, I should corner Grandson Matthew and ask him the next time he visits. He has treated hockey like anything else he is interested in and has learned the rules and tactics well enough to be near-unanimously voted Captain by his teammates. Hail to the Captain!
39 – Whimsy
Whimsy is a word that doesn’t get used much. It’s an elegant word that describes something that is quaint, fanciful or odd in a playful way. I have always enjoyed a touch of whimsy. Our house features a Murphy door that conceals one of the bedrooms, a steel dinosaur in the garden and other small details here and there that are placed for no other reason than to evoke an occasional smile. This week’s photo is of a pair of manual fan controls that were suddenly needed when we moved a fan from where it was controlled by wall switch to the gazebo where the box is direct wired. I was on Amazon looking for beaded chain extensions when I saw these. The whimsy alert went off and I ordered them.
38 – Hot Wheels on a Cold Planet
Maybe it was because I was obsessed with dinosaurs and later morphed into a Sci-Fi and superhero fan when I was growing up. For whatever reason, I never got into collecting Matchbox or Hot Wheels. I knew all the car models by sight and appreciated the ‘60s and ’70s muscle cars as much as anyone, but I had zero desire to collect tiny replicas of them. That doesn’t mean I don’t appreciate their products, especially one as delightful as the one pictured here that Granddaughter Hailee brought home from a job fair her school sponsored. In my opinion, a tiny scale model of JPL’s Perseverance Mars Rover leaves any plastic pen with a logo in the dust in the best booth swag race. Mars dust, of course.
37 – Cold Gold
A few years ago, the PAW photo featured an icy closeup of one of these truly excellent margaritas from our favorite Mexican restaurant. The price was fair, and they were the best house margaritas ever. They still are, but with new pricing. The restaurant survived the lock-down by doing take-out but the cost of doing business these days has forced them to raise prices by 50%+. At least the workers are making twice what they were. Sadly, that “living wage” is being eroded by prices being raised to provide that wage and with inflation, they will soon be back where they were on the economic scale. Too bad Economics 101 or even basic math isn’t a requirement to be an elected official or an activist.
36 – Timing is Everything
The price of gas has increasingly become an issue in the last two years. California adds its bonus on top of the general pain which makes Costco’s pricing per gallon the best around by 50¢ or so. Enough of a savings that our local store has had to reroute the gas line to circle the parking lot rather than back up the freeway off-ramp for most of the day. Experience has taught me that the “golden hour” starts 45 minutes after they open on Tuesday. The Monday commuters won’t need to refill until at least Wednesday and the opening bell line is gone by then. Still, driving up to a pump to fill up Costco-cardless Granddaughter Hailee’s car with nobody behind me was a rare, photo-worthy moment.
35 – Miss & Mister
We had our Labor Day a little early in the weekend since Saturday offered the best schedule alignment for the various attendees. Back when we started making plans, the days were in the 90°s and the evenings were falling to a tolerable high 70°s/low 80°s. What do the best laid plans of mice and men have in common? They are both susceptible to the whims of Mother Nature. By the time the long weekend arrived, we were in the middle of our annual heat stroke season which varies from early August to late September. This year we took a direct hit on the holiday. While the adults enjoyed the air conditioning, the grandkids fought the 105° heat the way kids do. Find something wet and stand in it.
34 – The Boys Are Back in Town
Fall is right around the corner and with it comes hockey season. Sunday found us around two gallons away from home (as we measure distance now) watching one of Matthew’s pre-season games. The team is getting older, bigger and better. As one would expect, their opponents are getting better as well and sadly, they lost as a result. That doesn’t mean they didn’t play hard and even when several goals down, they continued to give their best efforts and played hard. I didn’t grow up with hockey as an option. It’s expensive to play and my parents wouldn’t have been able to afford it. At least youth baseball was still fun back then without parents attacking umpires and brawling in the stands.
33 – Bigfoot Buffy
While our Granddog Buffy did have big paws when I went with Daughter Kassi to pick her up at the rescue center, that isn’t how she has earned my nickname for her. This shot was the first unblurred (by speed) shot of her since her first day home. She’s a Covid puppy and we think the lack of exposure to people other than her immediate family is what makes her very skittish around others. Trying to get a photo of her or even a pat on the head is like tracking a Sasquatch. She’ll peek from behind the couch or around the kitchen counter but vanish as soon as you point a camera or phone at her. Sitting very still and aiming the camera at where she would likely pass by finally did the trick.
32 – Some Progress
The photography drought continued this week as I replaced the windows and siding after last week’s tree removal. Since my Picture-A-Week project is more of a journal than an art project, this week’s photo features the house’s facelift that is eating my hobby time. With the trees gone, the front-end renovation returned to the top of the get-it-done list when we realized you could actually see it. There is one big bonus so far. The new windows are decades farther along the evolutionary path of building materials and the double strength, double-pane gas-filled vinyl sliders muffle street noise more than expected. This is a huge plus since kids these days don’t seem to know that cars need a muffler.
31 – DIY Has Limits
I am a fan of DIY. DIY has saved me untold thousands of dollars and I truly enjoy working on the projects. Part of our DIY path is a facelift on the front of our 70-year-old home. For years we have put off a major part of the facelift that involved removing the 60’ Italian Cypress trees that predated our ownership and were planted too close to the house. They were causing damage to the eaves when the big winds made their annual visits, so it was time for them to go. Acrophobia and not owning a large truck and chipper to deal with the literal tons of trimmings led us to pay for removal. DIY is great but hiring pros that do a great job at a reasonable price has its own type of satisfaction.
30 – Baby Steps
The last two years have been a seemingly never-ending series of home improvement projects. With some located in the back yard or inside, the location of tools and leftover bits of hardware have had no definite home. The result is that over time, clutter has multiplied like a remake of the Trouble with Tribbles Star Trek episode. With projects still in process, there’s no time to stop and sort it all out. If only to cut down on the time spent looking for a specific tool I “put away” in one of four possible “storage” areas after the last use, I have resorted to a baby steps method where I organize one thing at the start of the weekend project cycle. I fear the baby steps will be in their teens by the time I’m done.
29 – A Hot Mess
Sunday morning found us in the High Desert area for the second week in a row to watch Pastor Dan enlighten his congregation then head over to his new house to do handyman stuff. We stopped for breakfast as usual but not at the same diner. Someone had suggested a place a few exits back, and we tried it out. The Outpost Café has been in the same arid, remote location since 1961 and based on the photos on the wall, hasn’t changed much. The truck stop next to it has grown but the café seems frozen in time. A time when food was good, people were friendly, and prices were fair for the period. I doubt the hot mess of a breakfast burrito shown here was on the original menu, but I’m very happy it was added.
28 – Time Machine
Linoleum floors. Worn formica tabletops. Padded booth seats. A chalkboard daily special menu hanging on the wall. The diner we stopped at on Sunday was not much different than a couple dozen others we can recall. You get the feeling that if you rolled the clock back a handful of decades, the look wouldn’t change much other than the patron’s clothes and the cars parked out front. Ask “what’s good” and you’ll probably get good advice. The menus are seldom more than a couple of pages and usually list calorie counts as “available on demand”. We don’t demand. We go to diners for comfort food, and we know there are commas in the numbers. A country skillet with gravy is worth a comma or two.
27 – One Door Closes, Another Opens
At the end of 2021, our favorite little speakeasy had to close forever due to a series of personal tragedies heaped upon the owners. The final New Year’s Eve party was memorable and sad since we suspected that the announced “closed for renovation in January” was actually going to be permanent. It was. We thought about finding another local place but decided to turn inward and take advantage of the two years of work converting our home bar and back yard into a Lockdown Oasis. We started having our friends and/or family over on weekend evenings, cooking smile-making food and developing our own set of signature cocktails. This Blue Curacao Daquiri is one, though it’s almost too pretty to drink.
26 – Bad Rusty! Bad! Bad!
For Father’s Day, I usually just ask for Amazon gift cards to offset the latest tool or camera gizmo purchase. This year my Wonderful Wife decided that the kids would get together and chip in to help with the back yard renovation. On one of our main routes to anywhere, there’s a little nursery with a huge collection of pots and metal sculptures. For literal years, we have said to each other as we passed it, “we should stop sometime.” Well, we finally did and spent the better part of an hour wandering around the eclectic collection of yard decor and plants jammed into the tiny venue. I lingered over the metal dinosaurs, and I assume this is why we ended up adopting Rusty for Father’s Day. The gnomes are not pleased.
25 – In Absentia
An odd week. Not photographically friendly. Three quarters of Monday was spent in an airport or on a plane and work returned to the daily schedule Tuesday morning. Kim had started feeling stuffy on the trip home and Tuesday found her fatigued and burning through Kleenex. The stuffy nose descended on me in the AM and the fatigue hit that afternoon. Opened the box, took the test and officially started celebrating our future hybrid immunity granted by recovering from Covid-19. By Friday, we both felt pretty normal, but a second test came up positive. That ruled out the Friday night party for Matthew’s birthday and Jackie’s on Saturday. This was my little solidarity party in absentia, Friggin’ Covid…
24 – Sister Time
Our family is cursed. Our daughters took after their Mom and were both bonafide heartbreakers. I came up with a lot of potential boyfriend advice like, “Don’t worry, I won’t kill you if you hurt my daughter…castration is rarely fatal.” Time passed and the granddaughters arrived, all carrying the curse. If there’s a saving grace, it’s that the sisters pictured here are both great kids. Smart and not too bent by years of social media. Somewhere inside I know their Grandmother and I aren’t responsible for them, but the urge to protect is hard to suppress. Fortunately, our recent trip went smoothly and I didn’t have to threaten anyone or spend a lot of time sheepdogging them. That was their Mother’s job.
23 – Perfect Day
After two years of delay and three re-bookings, we finally went on Hailee’s graduation cruise. For eight days, we were able to pretend we were important as people took care of us and wanted us to be happy. Our first stop after sailing was Royal Caribbean’s private island, Coco Cay. Along with our daughter’s family and our two friends, we split the cost of a cabana at the Coco Beach Club. Worth. Every. Penny. It was large enough to accommodate all eight of us (plus the baby) comfortably, surrounded by a wall of jungle and had a semi-private beach. Just before noon, we were served lunch that consisted of filet mignon and lobster served in bamboo carry-out boxes. A “Perfect Day”? Yes. Yes, it was.
22 – Hi, Drangea!
It’s been about eight years since our hydrangea made the cut for the Picture-A-Week project. With all the fuss over renovating the back yard over the last two years, the garden residents have been watered but more or less ignored. With most of the hardscape and lighting done, our attention is returning to the foliage that has been patiently waiting for their turn in the spotlight. With California in a drought condition caused by weather and worsened by abysmal management, we are picking our favorites and setting up a water conserving landscape with most of the vegetation in planters or pots fed by drip irrigation. The hydrangea seems to have sensed this and has put in the work to be noticed. We did.
21 – Kindergrad
Schoooooool’s out for summer….schoooooool’s out forever! So said Alice cooper in the classic rock anthem from the early ’70s. Now as then, school’s is out. That means that Granddaughter Jackie has finished her inaugural year in the world of public education. While her school didn’t have an official graduation ceremony commemorating her successful promotion from kindergarten to first grade, her mother thought that the kindergarten version of a senior photo shoot was a good idea. Darling Daughter knows I’m a sucker for any project that involves computer graphics or photography, so I answered the call Sunday morning and met them at the designated spot. This photo explains why I’m a sucker. Way too cute!
20 – Consequences
Consequences. Remember those? When somebody did something bad, there were consequences. When you slipped up in front of Mom or Dad and blurted out one of those words you learned at school, you tasted soap for the rest of the day. When you acted out in class, you got to visit the principal for a refresher course in acceptable human behavior. When you looted a store during a riot, you were arrested and spent time in jail to consider your chosen life path. In hockey, when your grandson performs a check that the ref considers excessive (maybe unintentional?), he spends a few minutes in the penalty box. It’s nice to see that youth sports still enforces its rules and teaches kids to respect those rules…or else!
19 – The Price of Progress
Aren’t before and after photos wonderful? In a word, no. I hate to take the before component because those images usually showcase some sort of disaster or neglect that was bad enough to inspire one to work towards a more attractive or functional after state. This week’s photo is an exception to my rule for a couple of reasons. First, the before state wasn’t a victim of neglect or a disaster but simply a location we identified as a good space for some additional storage. Secondly, this and other interruptions kept me from spending any time with a camera. So, instead of some grand scenery or a swath of beautiful flowers, this week’s image is the photographic equivalent of “the dog ate my homework”.
18 – Flower²
Earlier this year, I made a promise to myself to pay less attention to the lingering pandemic projects and more to my favorite hobby. To date, the resolution has been moderately successful with only a week or two finding me scrambling at the last minute to find anything remotely photogenic. This week had a lot going on with our Mother’s Day family event. It happened on Saturday to accommodate work schedules so all the family’s mothers could attend. It went well but left me with no photos since I was doing the grilling. Fortunately, I spent some time earlier in the week playing with the macro lens and Photoshop to capture and process a stack of ten images into a closeup of one of this week’s tulip blooms.
17 – A First Time for Everything
Sunday was a big day for Grandson Matthew. For some time now, he has been receiving instruction in the Catechism of the Catholic Church. I don’t have much of a religious background and though I heard the word here and there all my life, I had only a vague notion of what a catechism was. This compelled me to do a bit of research into what was involved in getting ready for one’s First Communion. Needless to say, I was impressed with the amount of doctrine these fledgling Catholics have to study and master before their big day. (Matthew, being Matthew, is now likely an expert on the subject.) The ceremony went smoothly, and the family after-party organized by his mother and grandmother was epic as usual.
16 – Let There Be Lighthouse!
This year we decided to take a short cruise from a local port for Kim’s birthday. It seemed like a good idea and the prices were ridiculously low for five days of pampered leisure. Our first attempt was shot down by son Dan’s abrupt need for a copilot to drive his car out from Houston. Reschedule number two was due to the “sometime in May” date our daughter gave us for our grandson’s first communion suddenly solidifying smack in the middle of our cruise. We rescheduled once more and notified the family that this was the last time, no matter what. Nobody suddenly scheduled anything, got sick or worse, so off we went on our trip. Five days of relaxing and just hanging out together. Could be a disaster for some couples, but we did just fine.
15 – Whoa!
Easter was a bigger than usual family day this year. We drove up to the High Desert to attend the Easter service at Son Dan’s church and listened to him deliver a remarkable message on why Easter is such an important day to so many. With his new job bringing his family back to California there were a few more seats at the Easter dinner table for the incredible feast Daughter Kassi hosted. For the first time in seven years all three of our kids and six of seven grandkids were in the same state and able to attend a family gathering. Add some in-laws and it was quite the event with lots of catching up done. The egg hunt was a colorful success, and everyone enjoyed watching the younger family members having even more fun than we did.
14 – 100% Improvement
For three or four years, we have had a Peony plant growing in a pot next to the gazebo in the back yard that produced a total of zero blooms over the course of its existence. We gave it proper water and nice potting mix, but it stubbornly refused to show us anything but green. We are nice people, so we decided to do a little research before ripping it out of the pot and sending it to the great composter in the sky. The research confirmed that our water and feed regimen of the little bush was all proper for our zone and that “Paeony” is an accepted spelling of its name. We also found that they are a full-sun plant and the partial-sun location it had been in inhibits blooming. Damn. Full sun was provided this year and it has produced a bloom. One. So far.
13 – When Pigs Fly!
When pigs fly! That was my answer when someone asked me when or if I would ever take a trip or visit a major attraction without a camera. I guess it’s still true. Technically true because the camera I took to Universal Studios on our family outing last Friday was wrapped in a flat, pocketable slab of glass, metal and magic. I have previously commented on how a series of ever more advanced phones have replaced a compact camera for casual outings and the latest bit of tech is moving the “take a camera or phone” slider farther than ever. Antarctica, Alaska, Iceland? Two bodies and a bag of lenses. Outing with the family when I might partake in a bone-jarring coaster? A phone with a camera and more real magic in it than all of Hogwart’s.
12 – Maybe Someday
While walking through the Riviera Village retail row in Redondo Beach, I spotted an optimistic (and misspelled) declaration adorning the barricade that protects the outside dining that took over the parking areas during the height of the pandemic panic. The LA area was one of the last to lift its indoor dining ban that ruined hundreds of small restaurants without the option to implement outside dining and though the need has gone, the restaurants that could aren’t in any hurry to give up the free extra seating areas and the city hasn’t pushed to end the practice. That’s the bright side. Half the people we see are still wearing the mostly useless masks and empty storefronts are everywhere you look. Is everything gonna be allright? Maybe someday.
11 – Palms
This week’s picture was taken earlier in the week than usual. Monday morning found us in Las Vegas for a wedding. For their 10th anniversary, our daughter Kassi and favorite son-in-law, Ronnie decided that they would renew their marriage vows in a city famous for weddings. Unlike many of the weddings performed in Sin City, they planned it ahead of time, neither were drunk or otherwise incapacitated and their children had already been born. The ceremony was brief, the pastor made it fun, and The Little White Chapel was surprisingly charming. After the ceremony, we all went over to the Neon Sign Boneyard museum for family pictures. Many photos were taken but when I saw this sign, it was impossible to resist the visual pun.
10 – Ch-Ch-Ch-Changes!
On Saturday morning, we had a house full of guests. Our granddaughter Savannah and, of course, Lila the dog had arrived Friday afternoon to visit with their sister who is staying with us while attending college (location, location, location). Saturday morning, the girls (minus Lila) left to “get their hair done”. Savannah returned with her usual subtle purple highlights, but Hailee has gone from her natural California-girl blonde to anime-pink. Her Grandmother and I have a decidedly greater ability to adapt to changes in cultural norms than the generation that preceded us. I am reasonably sure that our parents would have pooped live kittens if any of their children or grandchildren came home with pink hair. For the record, we rather like it.
09 – Golden Girl
We spent Saturday and Sunday in the San Diego area to watch Jackie compete in a major competition. Skaters from as far as Las Vegas gathered for the first big competition of the year. The event consisted of preliminaries for each group that consisted of a simple routine that displayed their competency in the basic skills. The second was open format with costumes and props determined by the skater. Jackie experienced a first on Saturday when she fell during the prelims. She had never fallen in a competition before but popped right back up and finished second. Her main competition on Sunday was where she could perform her practiced routine and she nailed it for the gold. A serious and solid competitor at five years old. Seriously cute too!
08 – Oasis for the Soul
On Sunday, we took a drive up the Victor Valley region of California’s high desert to do something somewhat uncommon for us. We attended a church service and didn’t need to ask where the bride or groom’s family was seated. The sermon was uplifting. The newly arrived Pastor Dan used enthusiasm, relevant passages from the Bible and humor to deliver his message. It was worth the drive to see this new pastor captivate the congregation, inspire them and lift their spirits with his words and obvious passion. We were very impressed and from overheard comments in the lobby afterwards, we weren’t alone. Believe me when I say (with none of my usual implied humor) that we would have been impressed even if Pastor Dan wasn’t our son.
07 – MMBA
Back in Britain’s exploration boom in the mid to late 1800s, the explorers and missionaries brought back tales of traversing the vast expanse of the African continent. In answer to an interviewer’s question regarding what they saw, one famous explorer supposedly answered, “MMBA” which he explained stood for ”miles and miles of bloody Africa” This week featured a more contemporary version that son Dan and I saw while relocating his car from Houston to SoCal. Driving 1,583 miles in a span of 30 hours with a five-hour hotel stay and breakfast with his son in Phoenix included, was rather tiring but afforded a lot of time to chat about things and see our own version of MMBA. For us, MMBA was Miles and Miles of Beautiful America!
06 – Big Bada-Boom
Late Saturday evening, Kim was already in bed watching TV and I was still up watching my own show. Neither of us were asleep at the time, but a loud “boom” that is both from an unknown source and obviously close by is never welcome. It was very loud for her as the bedroom is at the front of the house. Several walls away, I was confused for a moment by an Imperial Star Destroyer exploding at the exact same moment with a resounding response from the subwoofer. We went out to look and there were more neighbors than we see in a decade already on the sidewalks. Thankfully, everybody walked away with no ambulance needed. Two hours later, all that was left to see were a few bits of car and some kitty litter sprinkled on the stains.
05 – Next Stop Skynet
Last week, I posted a photo of a 1.44MB floppy disk with a tiny 128GB micro-SD card sitting on it. The contrast in size and capacity of media over a 30-year span illustrates the speed at which tech is advancing. The 212MB hard drive shown here is from my first DIY computer. It was the size of a small suitcase, had a 486-33 processor, 4 MB of RAM and more storage than anybody needed in late 1991. The reason my phone is there is because it has roughly 1,000x the processing power, 600X the storage, 1,500x the amount of RAM and can transfer data with no wires at 100x faster that that (for its time) beast of a computer. This advancement is amazing and will continue to amaze until some idiot gives a smart AI legs and a gun. Then the screaming begins.
04 – In it to Win It
Sunday at the Toyota Sports Center in El Segundo for more youth hockey. Matthew’s team has come a long way since we attended the first few games a year or so ago. Back then, the team looked less like the Mighty Ducks and more like ducks in a pond when you throw bread in the water, with the puck as the bread. How practice has changed things. The flock has become a winning team and I saw something that I wish there was more of in everyday life. The kids regularly passed up a chance to shoot and instead, passed the puck to another teammate who had a much better chance of scoring. Matthew doesn’t often get a chance to score but knows that his defensive work contributes equally to a win. We need more teamthink like this in our lives.
03 – Iron(ing) Man
Our isolation-driven house projects continued this week. Reasons to isolate have mostly evaporated, but when something looks good, everything around it that doesn’t look good looks worse. The “storage room” is now becoming a bedroom again after years of cluttered misery. The closet/cabinet area has been gutted, patched and made into a pristine canvas on which modern storage concepts were applied. Now I need to add closet doors and that means making stuff pretty. We chose maple, stained to compliment the floor and with maple boards costing what they do, I turned to maple plywood and heat-glued edge banding. Picture me with my trusty Sunbeam, ironing boards in the garage. Now take away the apron. I didn’t wear an apron.
02 – Meat Substitute
It looks like some of the things that made 2021 less shiny than it could have been have carried over to cloud the promise of unicorns joyously pooping rainbows across the country in 2022. Last year we suffered supply chain interruptions of many products. Meat and milk were disrupted when demand fell as schools and restaurants were closed or restricted. With no demand, the supply side ramps back and it takes time to raise cattle to the point where they can be milked or made into steaks when demand returns. Empty shelves are bad and retailers have taken to filling them with the stock they have to maintain appearances. This would be less obvious if they took the Corned Beef Brisket sign off the case filled with boxes of potatoes.
01 – Resolution
Hello 2022! With a bright, shiny new year ahead, it is general practice to make resolutions to better one’s life or self in some way. Lose weight. Get more exercise. Abandon a bad habit. Few resolutions survive past January, mostly due to over-resolving. Resolving to lose forty pounds and weighing in eight ounces lighter on February first can put a serious dent in one’s resolve. For 2022, I have decided to settle on a couple of resolutions that I can stick with. The first involves my Sony cameras, both with resolutions of 24MP. The second is the new phone that records 12MP images. I also hope to do more intentional photography like dragging out the old A-mount macro lens, taking nine pictures of a flower, then focus-stacking them in Photoshop.