She was a sweet kitty, always wanting to be close even though she didn’t like to be petted or touched. I will miss her.
All the Planets
On my way home from a meeting in the Antelope Valley, I had a few extra minutes as the sun was setting to stop at Vasquez Rocks. It probably looks familiar from innumerable science fiction and western movies and television shows. Click the picture to see a 360 Panorama.
Back to the Farmer’s Market
It’s no secret that I love living in Los Angeles. One of the best things is going to the Hollywood Farmer’s Market year round. I haven’t made it there for a few months, but managed to get myself up and out to get some fresh, organic produce. I’ve even made a meal plan for the week to make sure we eat it all – check back next week to see how we did.
Music I liked in 2011
Here are 11 albums I enjoyed in 2011, in alphabetical order. I don’t claim to be an expert, and the amount of time and effort I have to spend on new music varies throughout the year, but these all captured my attention this year. I’ve put them all on a Spotify list, if you use it. (Except GusGus, which doesn’t seem to be available on Spotify at the moment.
Austra – Feel It Break
Chilly Gonzalez – The Unspeakable Chilly Gonzalez
Cults – Cults
Cut Copy – Zonoscope
Foster the People – Torches
GusGus – Arabian Horse
Ladytron – Gravity the Seducer
M83 – Hurry Up We’re Dreaming
Timber Timbre – Creep On Creepin’ On
tUnE-yArDs – W H O K I L L
Yelle – Safari Disco Club
Out and About – Dec 16
Out and About Dec 16
The first day of my vacation and I mostly cleaned house and read a book. I did get out an wander around DTLA for a bit. I browsed at the Last Bookstore in LA, perused an art gallery, and stumbled through a film shoot.
Vintage Marimekko tulips
I’m not generally nostalgic, but when I ran across the Marimekko pattern on Etsy, I was transported back to my childhood bedroom. I picked out this pattern sheet and my mom stitched it into a quilt that I used all through high school and college. I insisted that I paint my bedroom the color of the blue flower – the color in the photo is a little faded from what I remember, it was a bright, cobalt blue.
This is where my love of design began.
At least someone has been trained well
This is Cheddar’s newest favorite place to sleep, under the covers of the bed. Of course, he can’t get under there by himself so he sits on the bed pawing at the cover and meowing until someone (okay, it’s always me) comes and lifts the cover so he can scoot underneath and sleep.
Happy Father’s Day
Going through some computer files this morning, I found this photo of my dad from pretty early in his teaching career. Happy Father’s Day, Dad!
I also found a couple of photos of my brothers, who are also celebrating being fathers today:
Happy Father’s Day, little brothers.
In which I am sick and make some tea
I’ve had a horrible cold/flu/whatever the past week. Today I went to work for part of the day for the first time all week and then came home to rest. I made a trip downstairs to the market to pick up fresh ginger and lemons for ginger tea – my new favorite cure-all – and a couple of avocados. There was some activity in one of the spaces that has been empty for a few months, and I stopped by to see what was up. The man making bread said he was going to have a bakery and candy shop and offered me a delicious dark chocolate and almond treat, sprinkled with sea salt. He also gave me the mini loaf of bread, apologizing that he was still adjusting the ovens so it wasn’t as good as could be. It was delicious, and I’m very much looking forward to tasting the ‘real’ thing.
I looked at a couple of different recipes for fresh ginger tea and ended up steeping a teaspoon of grated ginger in a cup of hot water, then straining it into a cup with one teaspoon each of honey and lemon.
Out and About: Chimu & Disney Hall
There’s always a lot going on in LA, but sometimes a body needs to have a lazy day at home. Saturday started out that way, and I went down to the market to find a late lunch. I’d read about a new place in the market and was excited to try it out. Living above Grand Central Market has its advantages, but during the week we are rarely home from work early enough to do any shopping before it closes.
Chimu occupies a space that has been empty ever since I have lived down here, on the patio area facing Hill St. I’ve never had Peruvian food before, and the guy recommended lomo saltado – large chunks of perfectly cooked beef, tomatoes and onions over crispy fries. I also ordered chancho con trigo served with stewed barley and peas. To drink, I had chicha morada, a drink made from purple corn. It is sweet and grainy at the same time, and a lovely shade of dark purple. Everything was delicious and I can’t wait to try more from the menu; I’m thinking of going again today.
After lunch, we felt a bit more energetic, and decided to check out the Red Bull Soapbox Races on the way to the bank. We had waited too long – all the excitement was done for the day other than a dude doing motorcycle tricks and lots of people walking around.
As we walked past Disney Hall, we remembered the public garden that Huell Howser described in his show on hidden suprises of downtown LA and decided to check it out for ourselves. It is much larger than I had anticipated.
Although there were many people in the street, the garden was almost deserted. There are places to sit, hidden nooks with interesting views of the building, a rose-shaped sculpture made of broken pottery, and an outdoor ampitheater.
I also didn’t know that there are stairs and other mini-ampitheaters tucked into the metal folds of the building, with interesting views of the city. There were at least two wedding parties taking photographs, and we saw the Angry Birds soapbox racer in the parking lot across the street.
