Sunday, January 31, 2010

Crowned Pool Pal

White-Crowned Sparrow, Zonotrichia leucophrys gambelii - 30 January 2010
This little guy sat on the fence surrounding the pool for a long time, letting me snap away. While I guessed him to be a sparrow, I learned further from the Golden Guide: Birds of North America that his kind is "abundant in West, in thickets, hedgerows, or wood margins adjacent to fields or open areas...Song is of clear whistles and buzzy trills." I also learned that lore is "the space between the eye and the bill of a bird" and that this particular sparrow has no color at the lore, as opposed to other crowned sparrows.

Saturday, January 30, 2010

All Decked Out... - Weekend Reflection

... with no particular place to go...waiting for summer.
This is my entry for James' Weekend Reflection.

Friday, January 29, 2010

TWENTY - FOUR - THIRTY - THREE (Take 2)

A peak into the courtyard of the gorgeous Mediterranian-villa-style apartment building in Malaga Cove.
Click HERE for an earlier post of 2433 Via Campesina.

Thursday, January 28, 2010

Old Palos Verdes - Towers

The back of the 1962 building at 2550 Via Tejon, adjacent to the 1920's buildings at Malaga Cove Plaza.

Here is a peak thru the mail slot into the tower's lovely old interior. Currently, it's an antenna station.

Wednesday, January 27, 2010

'B' is for Boy (abc Wednesday)


It's raining in Los Angeles area again today.
The photo is of my son, on a rainy day, 11 years ago.
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.
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Join the 6th round of ABC Wednesday.

Tuesday, January 26, 2010

A Warmer Shade of Pale

550 Silver Spur Dr., August 2009
In looking for a photo with some color, I decided on these taken last summer of a business building on a breezy, early evening. Other views of the same structure can be seen
B&W, and sepia.Looking up at 550 Silver Spur, August 2009

The title just rang so true to me, and of course got me thinking of the Procol Harum song "A Whiter Shade of Pale", the lyrics of which I just looked up. And beside liking the title, and the lyrics using words like fandango, and the song being in The Commitments movie, I realized that I liked the song for the Hammond organ line was inspired by my most favorite of Bach's cantatas "Wachet auf, ruft uns die Stimme". While I am on the subject of organ music, check out "Louis La Vache" SF Bay blog and Father Adam's Monastery Daily.

Monday, January 25, 2010

All Angles, Some Circles - PV Library (Monochrome Monday)

Peninsula Center Library, January 2010
(View looking up from the Silver Spur enterance, with tile texture added in PhotoShop.)
Click HERE for more Aileni's Monochrome Weekly shots.

Sunday, January 24, 2010

At Crystalaire

White on white - my son is flying solo in the Puchacz, a versitile Polish two-seater sailplane.
Glider pilots and instructors from the Southern California Soaring Academy, Llano, CA.
Amy with a new friend, AD.
(AD showed up at the field one day, looking very scrawny, and with a hurt leg, probably from a fight with a coyote. He's found a good home and is looking really well.)

Saturday, January 23, 2010

Heading North on the 110 Fwy

Harbor Fwy - North, 23 January 2010
Freeway Interchange: 110 at 105 - 23 January 2010

Friday, January 22, 2010

Palos Verdes Memorial Park (Skywatch Friday)

Palos Verdes Memorial Garden - Sundial, December 2009

From the plaque in the garden: "This Garden honors those who gave their lives to preserve our freedoms and sustain hope for future generations. Bring to this place your noblest thoughts, reflect on them in tranquility and remember the sacrifices made that we may enjoy this beauty in peace."

Thursday, January 21, 2010

Clearing between the Rains

LA Basin, 20 Jan 2010
In between the rain storms, the city really sparkles. Downtown Los Angeles is right under the knoby tree branch. Both views are taken from a walkway on the left side of Rolling Hills Seventh Day Adventist church on, the aptly named, Highridge Road.
LA Basin & Mountains, 4 January 2010
Old Mt. Baldy with a bit of snow is the right most peak, and just left of the left tree trunk is Downtown Los Angeles. The panorama is a PS3 Photomerge from 2 photos.

Wednesday, January 20, 2010

A Magical Place - the Library

Peninsula Center Main Library (4th level exterior), December 2009
On February 6, 2010, the Peninsula Friends of the Library are holding a celebration of the 80th anniversary of the Palos Verdes Library District with A Magical Evening. For those of you nearby, please join in.

Tuesday, January 19, 2010

Teens - Peninsula Center Library

The main PV library provides a comfortable corner for teens.

Monday, January 18, 2010

The Gate House (Monochrome Monday)


Harden Gatehouse - Portuguese Point (Private Property), 17 January 2010

The author Joan Didion lived in Palos Verdes in the '60s... for a month, and I believe it was at this gate house. She evokes images of the place in her memoir of loss (both her husband and their daughter died within a year of each other), The Year of Magical Thinking: "… One day I would notice a familiar stretch of coastal highway in a television commercial and realize it was the gate house, on the Palos Verdes Peninsula at Portuguese Bend, to which John and I had brought Quintana home from St. John’s Hospital.… Neither the house nor its gate could be seen in the commercial but I experienced a sudden rush of memories: getting out of the car on that highway to open the gate so that John could drive through; watching the tide come in and float a car that was sitting on our beach to be shot for a commercial; sterilizing bottles for Quintana’s formula while the gamecock that lived on the property followed me companionably from window to window. …"

Click HERE for more Monochrome Weekly shots.

Sunday, January 17, 2010

From the Met! - the next best thing to being there...

Can there be anyone as beautiful and hot as the Latvian mezzo-soprano Elīna Garanča playing Bizet's Carmen? (Of course not...and it is a rhetorical question.)
My opera loving friend TJ, her opera buff friend & I went to the movies on Saturday to see the Metropolitan Opera (NY City) live (in HD) broadcast of Carmen. Marvellous experience all around including wearing jeans and muching on popcorn (with increasing fervor) as the opera progressed. There are 3 more broadcasts in the 2009/2010 season coming up...look for it in a theatre near you.

Saturday, January 16, 2010

Leveling - Push/Pull (2 things challenge)

Even though many residents disapprove, construction is on its way at the corner of Crestridge & Crenshaw. This plot is one of the last along Crestridge that's left for development (we all hope).
Join the weekly 2 Things Challenge hosted by Larry at Eeyores Ramblins.

Friday, January 15, 2010

Rainy morning (SkyWatch Friday)

On my commute, with alteration in PhotoShop with artistic-underpainting filter.

Thursday, January 14, 2010

The best gift - Mask




A Christmas gift from my son which he made in sculpture class.
Mask
I.C.B., 2009
Hand Painted Plaster of Paris

Wednesday, January 13, 2010

Gate at 550 Silver Spur (Sepia Scenes)

Enterance gate to one of my favorite buildings in the business district, previously shown HERE.
To view others visit MaryT, theTeach at Sepia Scenes Blog.

Tuesday, January 12, 2010

Trust is the new Love?

My friend TJ gave me these lovely plates as a New Year's gift (we spare each other the Christmas shopping fenzy). I really like the square shape and the pretty colors. And as I was taking each one out of the box, I came across Joy, Hope, Peace...and then the unexpected Trust. Something to ponder.

Petrea of Pasadena Daily Photo recently found a different set of message squares.

Monday, January 11, 2010

Himself Surprised (Monochrome Monday)

Surfer-boys taking their lunch to a lookout spot off of Paseo Del Mar, 3 January 2010.

Check out all of Alieni's Monochrome Weekly submissions by clicking here .

Sunday, January 10, 2010

Walks on Sunday - Pt. Vicente Lighthouse & View of South Bay

Upper Vicente Trail, 10 January 2010

Walking with friends on trail along Paseo Del Mar, 3 January 2010

Saturday, January 9, 2010

LA Murals for Hand / Pink (2 Things Challenge)

Touching Art, Old Torrance, CA - November, 2009

6 LA Artists
Kent Twitchell, 1979
1220 Engracia Avenue (close to Torrance Blvd and Cabrillo) on the side wall of the State of CA Employment Development Department building. Sponsored by the Office of the State Architect/CAC. Acrilyc, 20' x 110'.
The mural portrays LA muralists, all graduates of Otis Art Institute as was Mr. Twitchell:
Marta Chaffee Stang (shown below), Alonzo Davis, Paul Czirban, Oliver Nowlin, Eloy Torrez, Waynna Kato.


Join the weekly 2 Things Challenge hosted by Larry at Eeyores Ramblins. Click the link for Larry's delightful Hand/Pink entry.

Friday, January 8, 2010

Lamp Post (SkyWatch Friday - reflected)

Dusk at the Peninsula Center Library parking lot, 3 January 2010

golden glow reflects
pool of light on deepest black
ripples on my heart

Join SKYWATCH FRIDAY.

Thursday, January 7, 2010

Still Busy

Valmonte neighborhood, Palos Verdes Estates, Dec. 2009

Wednesday, January 6, 2010

On a Warm Winter Day

From the Seal Beach Pier, 31 Dec 2009
This may be one of my first sepia toned posts - the scene just looked right that way. To view others visit MaryT, theTeach at Sepia Scenes Blog.

Tuesday, January 5, 2010

Announcing a New Day

Sunrise, 4 January 2010, 6:56 am
A spectacular sunrise as seen from the church parking lot on Highridge Road, looking toward LA Harbor, Long Beach and beyond. And to think that as I left the house on the first workday Monday of the year, I hoped to see a bit of color.

Monday, January 4, 2010

Morning Walk Companion (Monochrome Monday)

Smokey, January 2010


Our cats are great companions during walks with Amy, our golden retriever. And we all plan on walking lots more this year.

Check out all of Alieni's Monochrome Weekly submissions by clicking here .

Sunday, January 3, 2010

Lita Albuquerque's Zenith of Stellar Axis at Palos Verdes Library

Yesterday was Lita Albuquerque's birthday. I found Lita's name on Facebook and it sounded so familiar. Then I realized that I've been admiring her public art work at the PV Main Library for years. Lita Albuquerque - Public Art
"Stellar Axis (1992-1997) – Palos Verdes Peninsula Center Library, Palos Verdes Estates, California. Architect: Zimmer, Gunsul & Frasca Partnership. A cylinder (or “viewing tube”) slices through four floors of lobby space and jutts thirteen feet above the roof. The sun aligns directly overhead two days a year and fills a transparent onyx oval on the floor. The remaining three floors each have a shallow gold leaf dome on the ceiling, reflected in an oval polished stone on the floor, going from gold to blue to red to black. From the fourth floor to the third floor is a gold leafed curved wall. A glass door on the third floor etched with a poetic narrative of what can be seen through the viewing tube throughout the year. These doors lead to a room that contains a glass book on a pedestal, upon which astronomical information is etched. Here the information is contained within the walls of the library itself." from Lita's web site.
View from the upper parking lot. I'll be back for the sun alignment thru the tube.

Saturday, January 2, 2010

Stearman PT-17

A very cool sight at Torrance Municipal Airport.

Friday, January 1, 2010

Theme Day: Changes

View of toward and of Palos Verdes from Seal Beach pier (31 Dec 09).
As to changes, what struck me was the woman surfer (standing with paddle)...and I am again grateful for all the opportunities that are available to women today due to changes in attitude and norms - here is to "going a longer way, baby" in 2010.

Click here to view thumbnails for all participants of City Daily Photo January 2010 Theme Day.