Fun before the summer ends...

Last Sunday, we headed off for an annual day trip to Catalina Island. It's a good way to end the summer. Jet skiing was the favorite activity for the younger set. And today, it's back-to-school time in Palos Verdes.

In Avalon, Catalina Island

"Old Ben" sea lion, "residing" on the South Side of Avalon Bay, sculpted orignianlly in concrete in 1975 by Stanley Rosin, and which was then replaced in 1986 by this bronze statue made from Rosin's original mold by students at the College of the Desert in Palm Desert.

Color Reflected - Window by Susan Hertel (Weekend Reflections)

Palos Verdes has a beautiful stained glass window by Susan Hertel but this window is a new discovery for me. I found it by first spotting a beach scene mural by Millard Sheets on a former Home Savings & Loan buidling in West LA (on Santa Monica Blvd. & 26th St.), now a New Balance Shoe store. The window is "covered" by a white screen giving a lovely, impressionistic glow inside the store, and the real deal is still visable by peeking behind the screen.
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Waiting for Sunset





Today at Hesse Park, Rancho Palos Verdes

Activity at Minarets Lookout - Eastern Sierra Nevada

Two weekends ago, at Mammoth Lakes in the Eastern Sierra Nevada mountains. I liked seeing the various interests of the group of visitors - looking at the mountain peaks, reading signs, and tapping rocks.

"F" is for Fish & Fish-net & Fingers (abc Wednesday)

Our son caught (and released) this rare California native -- a Golden Trout -- at a "secret fishing spot", a lake in the Eastern Sierra Nevadas that took a narrow axle 4-wheel drive vehicle to access.

Photo credit: ICB taken with cell phone.

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Fly Fishing (Eastern Sierra Nevada)

 A couple of weekends ago, our son was fishing the Convict Stream.

Tomorrow is school registration for the new school year and classes start on August 30th.

I know which he would rather be doing... how about you?

Sade in Los "Angelees"

"Is is a crime..."

Sade sounded and looked f-a-b-u-l-o-u-s, and she and her musicians put on an amazing show.

Friday, 19 Aug 2011 at the Staples Center.

Classic Beauty at USAF Museum at Wright Patterson AFB (Weekend Reflections)

Douglas VC-54C “Sacred Cow”: Franklin D. Roosevelt's presidential airplane

Resting in the Presidential Gallery of the Museum of the United States Air Force in Dayton, Ohio, "the first purpose-built aircraft to fly the president of the United States, the Sacred Cow is the only VC-54C ever constructed. As a modified C-54, but the Sacred Cow is unique, especially for its extensive interior modifications. One special feature is an elevator behind the passenger cabin to lift the president in his wheelchair in and out of the plane. The passenger compartment includes a conference room with a large desk and a bulletproof picture window. President Roosevelt used the Sacred Cow only once before his death in April 1945; however, the Sacred Cow remained in presidential service during the first 27 months of the Truman Administration. On July 26, 1947, President Truman signed the National Security Act of 1947 while on board the Sacred Cow. This act established the Air Force as an independent service, making the Sacred Cow the "birthplace" of the USAF."

See the reflected world at Weekend Reflections.

Greetings from... (Sky Watch Friday)

Near Dayton, Ohio, 11 August '11  (taken with a Blackberry).

Blue skies, puffy white clouds, green fields and woods ... as pretty as can be (even the temperature was moderate.)

See the awesome skies around the world at Sky Watch Friday.

'E' is for Escape to Exercise in Eastern Sierra Nevada (abc Wednesday)

Barbara from Mammoth Lakes with friend, cycling Route 120, off of Hwy 395, south of Mono Lake



Fun on Lake Mary, Mammoth Lakes, CA  (14 Aug 2011)

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MONO MARKET at Lee Vining, CA

Perched on the south-west edge of Mono Lake, in the Eastern Sierra Nevada mountains, Lee Vining (population 220 in 2010) has various motels, an up-scale souvenir shop, a good diner (Nicely's Cafe where we go for breakfast every time we visit the Mammoth area), and this well stocked, tidy and clean Market.

Here at O'Hare (3)

I did "visit the Brachiosaurus Dinosaur in the B concourse of Terminal 1. Our Brachiosaurus is one of the largest mounted dinosaurs in the world. The four-story high, 72-foot long skeleton model is on loan from the Chicago Field Museum." Next time, I'll make sure to visit the city and the museum.

Here at O'Hare (2)

On the way back home, like many of you, I got stuck at O'Hare a few hours longer than anticipated. I certainly had enough electronic gadgets to keep me entertained ... the cell phone, Kindle (reading Pigs in Heaven by Barbara Kingsolver), iPod (listening & bopping to Rodrigo y Gabriela), and of course, my camera (Coolpix L120). (I can see I'm behind the times and should be using an all-in-one iPad or such.) 

I snuck in a photo of this very pretty, chic and curvy young woman; she seemed happy with just a cell phone.

Here at O'Hare ...

... earlier this week, I was just passing through a "tunnel of light" to catch a connecting flight at Terminal 1 at Chicago's great, big airport.

Blazing Star ...

... on the Convict Lake trail.

'D' is for Darling Ducklings (ABC Wednesday)

... deciding to doze during the day, watched over by a digilent mama-duck.  

(Photographed last Saturday at June Lake in the Eastern Sierra Nevadas).

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Convict Lake in Eastern Sierra Nevada, CA (Weekend Reflections)

A belated Weekend Reflection photo of a "colorful  backdrop of Paleozoic metamorphic rock" (quote from Wikipedia) reflected onto Convict Lake, taken last Sunday morning from a path that goes around the lake.

'C' is for Canoe (abc Wednesday)

At Twin Lakes, Mammoth Lakes, CA (July 2010)

"Do you canoe?" Isn't it a neat word...which I always forget how to spell. We are heading to Mammoth this weekend and really looking forward to being there.

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The Real Bay Watch

Rescue needed? ... At the boat launch platform, Cabrillo Beach, San Perdo

Theme Day: Postcard-worthy

A couple of years ago, I created this "postcard" for a photo class.

I thought it might do for this month's City Daily Photo theme day, please do click here to view thumbnails for all participants.