December Theme Day - Circles/Spheres

The giant soccer-ball-like structure is one of two LAX radar domes on the East side of PV. Shown is its backside, from the locked gate at the end of Crest Road on the Miraleste side.
In UK, the Defence Dept. does some fun stuff with these radomes - Radar Site Gets In Festive Mood

Second photo (taken from the front of our house) is the year's brightest pairing with Venus and Jupiter 2 degrees apart and a young moon close by. See Dream with the Fishes blog for more on this.

The 1st of every month is City Daily Photo Theme Day - Click here to view thumbnails for all participants for December.

Malaga Cove School

1926, Allison and Allison; Olmsted and Olmsted, landscape architects
North of Via Almar at Via Arroyo

"Mediterranean, with a tower that seems to be derived from late-15th or early-16th-century Spanish examples." from An Architectural Guidebook to Los Angeles by David Gebhard & Robert Winter (Entry #12 out of 25 for Palos Verdes, North).

Malaga Cove School, Palos Verdes Estates, 1926

(photographer unknown) - (Picture Courtesy of Palos Verdes Peninsula Library District)

My husband is a PV native & this was his middle school. The middle school closed in 1991 due to declining enrollement and the buildings housed different private schools and PV Historical Society. Currently, the oldest buildings are going through extensive $8.5M renovation. All the old gas, plumbing and electrical lines are being changed; an elevator and ramps are being added, and new windows are being installed. The newer building in the foreground is being used for Special Ed classes.

Orange / Apple (2 Things Challenge)

Join the 2 Things Challenge hosted by D.C. Confidential.

The orange Bird of Paradise flowers(Strelitzia reginae) were my dear mother-in-law's favorites.

Apple pie is my husband's favorite dessert - all the better when homemade.

Here is the recipe:

6-8 sliced green apples & lemon juice
1 1/8 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup white sugar
1 tsp cinnamon & 1/4 tsp nutmeg
2 tbsp flour
2 tbsp butter

Mix white sugar and flour together, put in bottom of the crust. Put in the mix of apples, brown sugar & spices. Dot with butter. Add top crust. Bake for 15 minutes at 450 deg. F, & for 35-40 minutes at 350 deg. F. (I use ready made Pillsbury pie crust.)

Rain or Shine? (Sky Watch Friday)

Taken from Longs Drugs parking lot on Siver Spur Rd. The sky was actually a nicer, paler blue.

Visit the Sky Watch Friday Home Page and see the other participants from around the globe.

Happy Thanksgiving

The lovely setting is in Granville, Ohio where I recently visited. Wishing all of you who celebrate, far and wide, a Happy Thanksgiving Day.

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A special thanks to you, my blogger friends and visitors - for brightening my day, every day.

'S' is for Sublte Sunset

From a park by Trump's National Golf Cours - previously known as Ocean Trails.

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For another golden view of Palos Verdes Peninsula coastline, visit one of my favorite creative photographers Abby Lanes at Creative Vignettes.

4 Heads are Better than 3?

At the crossing by Peninsula High School.

The young man's afro caught my eye since these were still popular when I went to High School.

Fall in Southern California

This South American native, the floss silk tree (Ceiba speciosa), is still hanging on to its blooms late into the fall.

Let the Turkey Have Its Day!

Green / Yellow (2 Things Challenge)

The parking lot of the Botanic Gardens in PV, has lines/arrows of a very unusual color & the scene was complete when I saw the matching color car. It may be a stretch but I claim this is a variation of chartreuse (a green & yellow mix). A wide strip of yellow flowers found along a house on Via Rincon.

Join the 2 Things Challenge hosted by D.C. Confidential.

Mostly Redondo Beach from PV

View of RAT ("Right after Torrance"), Torrance and Redondo Beach section of the South Bay (above). The view from this spot on Via del Monte will be foreshortened as the outlined expansion of the houses takes place (indicated by the little flag lines).

A secluded spot on the cliffs next to the Neighborhood Church (below).

Arrow Marks the Spot

An old TV antenna was lit by the sun during my morning commute on a house above Crenshaw Blvd.

These antennas are no longer functional as our broadcasting recently went to digital.

Hunter, Observer & Prey

Whiskers is the hunter...

Smokey is the observer...

The prey, although he got some exercise, was safe from both.

Stairway to ... Light

Inside the Pt. Vicente lighthouse (in color).

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One of my early posts was of the lighthouse at sunset.

Another was for the 2 Things Challenge - Black/White.

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An exhibit states: "The final approval for the construction of Point Vicente Lighthouse was given in 1916. Due to delays in acquiring the eight-acre parcel of land, construction was underway until 1925. The final exhibition of the 67-foot cylindrical tower was unveiled in the spring of 1926."

Smoke over the Pacific

Fires raging in So Cal have been devastating to so many people. The lovely, tranquil view shows the Pacific Ocean, Catalina Island in the distance viewed from above the Trump Golf Course. The smoke from both sides came in and merged overhead as I drove home from visiting a friend in San Pedro. A brush fire broke out by Rancho Palos Verdes' City Hall on Saturday morning and was luckily put out very quickly by the firefighters.

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The pretty flowers are the landscaping by Ralphs market on Hawthorne Blvd.

Lunada Bay on Saturday Morning

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Lunada Bay is mostly surrounded by beautiful homes but also has a stretch of an open, unimproved field accessible to all. This photo was taken in late September and today the weather is the same except for the smoke on the horizon from the awful fires again plaguing Southern California.

Pelican Dance (Sky Watch Friday)

Pelicans cruising over Bluff Cove.
Visit the Sky Watch Friday Home Page and see the other participants from around the globe.

Opulence

And now for something a bit different:

One of 3 gorgeous chandeliers hanging in the foyer of the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion at the Music Center in Los Angeles.

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I ushered there my first year of college and did not think much of the fancy chandeliers back then. But I did appreciate listening to the LA Philharmonic under Zubin Mehta ... and concerts by Neal Young, and Jethro Tull in a very unusual setting.

'Q' is for Quest at the Shore (ABC Wednesday)

"You see a fish?"

"No, I don't. But those two guys over there might."

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The spot is right below the PV Pool at a surfing spot called Haggerdy's (after the mansion), but on this Saturday, a few weeks ago, the Pacific was very tranquil.
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Find more Q posts on ABC Wednesday hosted by Mrs. Nesbitt and team.

Around Home

A wish for a safe return home to all those serving overseas.

Veteran's Day 2008

Driving Home (2)

A classic Southern California sunset & I kept saying to myself, "Pull over, pull over!" The scene reminded me of one of Stef's Sketches.

Taken in San Pedro on 25th Street, heading home to PV, with Mediterranean pizza from Filippo's on Gaffey St.

Above Palos Verdes Peninsula

I'm back home. It is sunny, very clear and very windy in Southern California today.

The photo was taken last Tuesday morning during my departure from LA.

Bud - PVDP on Travel

Budweiser plant in Colombus, Ohio

Layover in Minneapolis, Minnesota with Samuel Adams Boston Lager.

Color & Lights - Worthington, Ohio

Doors of the Worthington Fire
Station reflected on a car roof.

North High Street at night.

Fall Color in Worthington, Ohio - PVDP on Travel

Color on and along High Street in the very charming, all American town in the heart of Ohio.

Classic Showroom

VOTE - YOU COUNT!

In the U.S., this is what's on everyone's mind today.

Billboard along the 110 freeway, heading north to L.A.

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I will be away for the rest of the week & will be auto-posting a few photos from October. I'll try and visit if I'm able to. Have a great week.

New California Standard ...

... three cars for the kiddies in every garage
Or maybe the neighbors came for a visit & drove - since NOBODY walks in LA.

Sky on All Saint's Day / Rain on Sunday

On Saturday, I visited my friend TJ in Laguna Niguel in Orange Co. The amazing clouds are over St. Timothy's Catholic Church which has the lovely adobe look of churches in New Mexico and Arizona.

This morning we woke to a bit of rain. Our Golden and two cats had a grand time getting a bit wet. All other neighborhood dogs still had their walks.

November Theme Day: Books, Books, Books

The bookcase with paperback novels by my son's bed contains some of my all time favorites:

Strangers & Brothers (3 volumes) by C.P. Snow, Pride & Prejudice, The Balkan Trilogy by Olivia Manning, Doctor Zhivago, Les Miserables (Penguin Classics translation), Brideshead Revisited and Helena by Evelyn Waugh, travel books by Freya Stark. Many, many more favorites cover 3 more of our walls.

The 1st of the month is City Daily Photo's Theme Day. Click here to view thumbnails for all participants.