Venice Beach, Sun, Snow

Monday, in deference to my still (but not as) sore ribs, I biked instead of jogging to Venice Beach.  It was a clear day by LA standards - you can see Catalina off in the distance.  I know for you Anchorage readers, those vague outlines 26 miles away are a joke.  You see Denali 150 miles away more clearly.  But, this is LA.

I also passed the Kush doctor's place and was surprised to see it was now for lease.  I've been looking online to see what happened to it.  Here's the best I could find from Yelp last June:

Sara A.

Pomona, CA

6/17/2010

October 2009

I am SO GLAD this place got shut down.  I moved to Santa Monica and was looking into investment opportunities when I decided to get a job at one of the places to see how it works from the inside.  They wanted me to hold a sign and SCREAM at tourists to "get legal", except when the cops pass by and then we were to stand back.  What a terrible job!  The two men that run this joint (ran, I should say, I heard Sean was going to jail, where he belongs!) are the BIGGEST DOUCHE-BAGS ON VENICE BEACH!  Sean is the worst.  He screamed at me several times, in front of potential customers and made himself look more like an idiot than a businessman.  Needless to say, I got stiffed my last paycheck and my attempts to collect on a measly $50 (just to make a point) was unsuccessful.  I did manage to make friends there, the staff was really cool and in this economy they figured a job is a job. I got my wages back in medicine so I felt vindicated.  I hope Sean, the ugly tattooed short idiot is really going to jail.  That is where both of them, Andrew AND Sean belong!!

 Most of the other Yelp comments weren't too complimentary either.




I stopped by the skate plaza too.  They seem to have adopted some safety protocols since it opened in October 2009.  At least while I was there, only one person was going in the near run at a time.  Or at least they were trying to.  Note how clear the Santa Monica Mountains are in the background.

By Tuesday when we rode back down to catch some chilly rays, the Santa Monica Mountains were barely visible in the clouds and Catalina had evaporated completely.

















Back to Monday, you could see snow on the top of the San Gabriel Mountains in the distance.  They get up to 10,000 feet.

It was raining this morning (Wednesday), but by afternoon it had cleared up.

Sunset, Sunrise, and Reefer Madness In Between

October and November are always the months when my exercise routines fall apart.  This year, coming back from LA in mid-October was even worse.  I got to run in LA most days, and it felt nippy back in Anchorage.  But I did keep biking and walking a lot.  But then we got ice and it was darker and I found lots of excuses.  So Friday, when it was just about 20˚F (-7˚C),  I went for a short run.  Our official sunset was at 4:10 pm.  This shot of the moon was taken at 4:55pm.  (Digital cameras are nice that way, you can see exactly when you took the picture. On the other hand, the moon's shadow is actually a spec of dust on the sensor.  It shows at certain openings but not at others.  On my Powershot, according to the repair shop, getting at the sensor is tricky and probably not worth it. I know, I can photoshop it out or hide it in the background.  But I wanted to make a point of it here.) 

Almost home, I came across our neighbor and his dog in the alley.

[The pictures are all from the curtain calls, not the show.]

We went to the Wild Berry Theater to see Reefer Madness.  From Wikipedia:   


"Reefer Madness (aka Tell Your Children) is a well known 1938 American exploitation film revolving around the tragic events that ensue when high school students are lured by pushers to try "marihuana": a hit and run accident, manslaughter, suicide, attempted rape, and descent into madness all ensue. The film was directed by Louis Gasnier and starred a cast composed of mostly unknown bit actors. It was originally financed by a church group and made under the title Tell Your Children.  

The film was intended to be shown to parents as a morality tale attempting to teach them about the dangers of cannabis use." 

Seventy two years later, it's just a big spoof.  This was done pretty low budget and compared to some of the really fine local theater I've seen lately, it was at the next level down.  There was a lot of young, buff, naked (and some older, not so buff), male flesh. (Nothing you wouldn't see at a swim meet and less than the TSA man sees, but there was enough to be remarkable - in the literal sense - especially from the front row.) The singers were all good, some of the dancers did beautiful leaps, and the audience was having a good time.  At $20 a head (online) it's live theater for not a lot more than a movie and the theater is small (not much over 100 though it looks bigger) so everyone has a good seat.  We ended up in the first row and it felt like we were part of the performance at times.  Actually, we were at one point when Jesus Christ handed out saltines.

On the way home we noticed patches of micro-fog around the bigger street lights. 

And this morning, when I drove J to her 8am workshop, a lot of the trees and shrubs were frosted.


But as we moved a little east, it cleared up and even though sunrise wasn't scheduled until 9:15am,  it was starting to lighten over the mountains to the east a little after 8am. 

We do have long twilight periods at 61˚ North, summer AND winter.

Hint of Winter

I remember back in the late 70s and early 80s when Halloween meant waist high snow berms while walking with the kids for trick or treat.  Friday night we had hint of winter as we walked to Loussac to see the movie Blood Done Sign My Name about Ben Chavis Jr. (who was there) and it started to hail.



As we got to Seward Highway the sunset was putting on a fiery show.  It was almost 6pm.  Sunrise today was 9:35am.  We're losing about five and a half minutes of daylight each day now.

And yes, the movie was good.  Ben Chavis, in the movie, was a young teacher in a still all black school in Oxford, North Carolina when a returning black Vietnam Vet was shot and beaten by a white store owner and his sons and found not guilty.  As he walks out of the school to take his class to the courthouse, the whole school follows him.   This eventually led to an economic boycott of the white shops in town by the black population and slow changes in how things worked.  It was neat to have the real Ben Chavis there after the film to answer questions.

You'd think that in times of economic stress, more people would take advantage of free events like this where you get to see a recent movie (2009) and even talk to one of the players in the civil rights movement in the United States.

Burnaby Mountain 1: Night and Day

Simon Fraser sits on top of Burnaby Mountain surrounded by forest.  Here are two comparison views - taken last night at dusk and this morning.

This one's looking west toward Vancouver. Not exactly the same shot, but close.

This one's looking north.  This time it's pretty much the same shot.

Chugach Views and McLaughlin Moose

I was busy today and lots to post, but I was busy so this is filler and maybe I'll catch up.   I'd forgotten how beautiful Anchorage is in the summer, because it's all been shrouded in clouds for so long now.

It's like this in Anchorage.  We were riding home from dinner when J kept saying something about "to the right."  I biked right past this huge moose and didn't even notice it until J finally said 'moose.'  It was walking along the fence around McLaughlin.

Lake Otis and Tudor vs. The Clouds

I walked over to Lake Otis and Tudor to get some pictures of what the intersections looks like as the State tries to take it off the top of the traffic jam list in Anchorage.  [OK, those of you who live in LA or Chicago or New York would laugh at what we call a traffic jam.  It's all relative.]  My aim was to go up on the St. Mary's hill and take some pictures from above.  You can  click here for earlier post of a public meeting showing what they were planning back in April.   But I really wanted to see the 16 bull-noses and 2 pork-chops they said they were installing a weekend ago. 

Well, already as we walked south on Lake Otis toward Tudor, I could see that the clouds were much more photogenic than the street. 





I'm guessing these orange things are the bull-noses, and I'm delighted that these appear to be temporary. 

We crossed over Tudor and walked south to the church driveway.  It looks to me that the sidewalk/bikepath area here is going to be wider than it was, but I'm not really sure.


It seems that going into the intersection from all directions, things will widen into a right lane, two left lanes, and two through lanes.  Coming out of the intersection in all directions there are just two through lanes.  It's not completely clear, because right now they have the lanes limited.  In the next picture, you can see that approaching the corner from the south, there is only one through lane. 

There were two cops and a smattering of cars in the parking lot.  I walked over to the end of the parking lot and into the wooded area leading to the corner.  But they had a chain link fence that meant my great picture wasn't going to happen.  There were too many trees and bushes between the fence and the ledge to get any great pictures.  This was the best one.  (It's looking to Lake Otis on the north side of intersection.)

Here's a street level view from the SW corner.  Each corner has a little pedestrian island (I'm pretty sure this is a pork-chop) like this.  It appears the cars will be clear in the right lanes to just turn right.  I'm guessing pedestrians and bicycles will be able to push a button to make them stop. 








But once we crossed Tudor to go back home, I gave up completely on the construction and succumbed to what was happening overhead.

9:33pm

9:34pm

9:36pm

Does anyone else see what I see in this last cloud?

It was only this morning that I decided I wouldn't abandon the corner altogether and kept a couple of those pictures in this post. 

When the light's just right

Just as the earth is about to shift back, the eve of the longest day in the northern hemisphere . . .

Reichstag and Other Berlin Shots

Today was a great day at the Hamburger Banhof Museum and wandering around with M and J.  But those pics aren't coming off the sd card right now.  So here the ones I didn't get to put up Tuesday. 

 This is the Berliner Dom.  An old Cathedral on the Museum Island.

This is a memorial for the legislators who voted against Hitler and were killed for it.  Each stone has the name, party, and camp where they were killed. 

This is the Reichstag - the seat of the German Government.

The sky there was worth a shot.

The Dome at the Reichstag allows you to walk around the perimeter to get better and better views of Berlin.

Here's the skyline to the west as the sun sets.

We have an early flight to London tomorrow, so that's it for now. 

Did I Mention How Beautiful Juneau Is?

I got to sleep in and didnʻt get up til 9am. Then I worked on some posts and since the sun was shining again, went for a run.

It turned out that in the Channel it was foggy again.

 

Since I met that geologist while I was taking a picture 

like this, there will be no stopping me.

On the way back the creek was generating its own fog.

And when I got home, the crocus had opened.  I guess this is included in the rent.  The stigmaʻs bright orange reminded me that crocus stigmas are the source of saffron.  But it turns out not just any crocus.  From Local Harvest:

The expensive saffron spice that you buy in the store is the dried female portion (stigma) of the Saffron Crocus. Why not grow your own? Saffron is the world's most expensive spice. Fortunately the home gardener only needs a couple dozen Saffron Crocus to produce enough saffron for some occasional dishes throughout the year. The corms will multiply each year, and to prevent overcrowding, corms are divided every 4 to 5 years. Saffron is grown mostly as a culinary and medicinal herb, having been cultivated for at least 4,000 years. Historically saffron has also been used as a natural dye for hair and natural fabrics, and for use in perfumes. Medicinal: Traditional use for its spasmolytic and sedative effects. Ornamental: Saffron blooms in mid-fall, producing exquisite brightly colored, lilac-purple blooms, each with three vibrant red stigmas. Even if you never harvest Saffron Crocus for food use, it deserves its own special place in the flower garden.

 Unfortunately,  the site also says it grows in zones 6-9.  That would work in Juneau I suspect, but not in Anchorage.  

So then I went down to the capitol and sat in on the full Finance Committee hearing on the medicaid budget which was interesting, but they didnʻt talk about the mental health budget or Bring the Kids Home.  But Iʻd gotten a call from Rep. Jouleʻs staff to pick up the spread she they were working off of at the subcommittee meeting so Iʻll try to make the corrections this weekend. 

And when I was back home, K and P knocked on the window and invited me to walk back up Perseverance Trail.  P picked up a friend's dog - Apollo - and off we went.  Except an almost full moon was coming up as the sun was setting and I kept pulling out my camera.

From the street outside our gate.

Looking back as we walk up Basin Road past the houses.

Looking up ahead.  

 

Walking back.