Art class self portraits- Exhibit in June- Brandon Gallery

Linda Thorne

Laura Ryan
Carol Zaleski Mila Mann Sue Colby Diane Jansen Barbara FinwallJoy Brown

RoseAnne Sobcow

Virginia Melton

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I can't figure out how to place this over on the side.

Do I really need a counter ?
Do I need another widget?

Try out my other new widget- Followers- please!
Don't make me look like a loser!

( It's down below the etsy sale items.
As you're on your way there stop by etsy and buy something)

PEACOCK UPDATE

Since my last post there's been a new development on the peacock front.

Look very closely and you'll see a peahen laying on her nest of eggs. Her head is in the middle left of the picture. Her face is white with bright green feathers on either side. They're more blue/green than the leaves. The feathers of her body almost exactly match the color of the ground. The light area is a sun spot with the shadow of me reflected in it.

She's very well-camouflaged, but she's right outside the den door. (Right below the window in the picture above.) She's not disturbed when people go in and out of the door (at least not visibly). This sure seems to be a very dangerous spot, right on the ground where any predator could reach her. There are a lot of coyotes in the area. I've heard that coyotes don't bother peacocks because they're so big but I'm not sure this is true. My tenants (who live here) say that they saw two male peacocks fighting nearby. Maybe one of them is the father and is protecting the mother. Or, as my tenant said, fighting over the paternity.

Apparently a snake tried to get at the eggs while the mother was away but the young boy who lives here shot it with a b.b. gun. I'm not sure this story is true but if so, he's a hero. But now I'm worried about a gun in the house. I'm very anti-gun. Now I'm going to worry about the safety of the peahen and the boy with the gun .( He could shoot his eye out).

Here's some info I found on the internet : The hens usually lay 2-6 eggs in their 2nd - 3rd year, hiding the true nest in the woods in leaves or just plain dirt, but first laying eggs right in the open. She may lay several eggs, decoys, which just sit around, until she gets serious about it and lays a clutch or group and sits on them. She sits on the nest for 28 days, producing pea chicks which look like turkey poults (babies), yellow and brown. She leaves the nest once a day to eat and take care of personal needs, flying from the nest with loud cawing noises to distract predators from the hidden nest.

IN PRAISE OF PEACOCKS

I really miss the peacocks at my old house. I've moved from this house and have leased it to a very nice family. I hope they are enjoying the peacocks as much as I did. I must admit, though,

that they are very noisy during mating season.

The story in the neighborhood is that the woman who owned the peacocks died and her husband, (who must not have appreciated their mating calls) let them loose. The mating calls must work because there are a lot of them now.

I didn't know that they could fly but one of them lived in a eucalyptus tree in my backyard and several times they walked around on my roof. You can imagine how that sounds from inside the house.

Here's one looking in my window.

Two beautiful males. They often had fights during mating season but they didn't seem to be too serious. I think one of them just went off to another house. And the one who lived at my house went back up to his tree.

Here's the result of the mating calls.

Misbehaving while watching "Ain't Misbehavin" at The Ahmanson

We went to see "Ain't Misbehavin" and during the performance I saw what I thought would be a great shot with a beautiful backdrop, great costumes, etc, whipped out my camera and prepared to take a picture. All of a sudden the "photo police" descended upon me. I hadn't been listening when they announced about turning your cel phones off, etc. Didn't hear the part about not taking pictures. I had turned my cel phone off, tho.

Well, this lady was mad. She said she was the assoc. administrator (or some such title) of the theater and that she would have to confiscate my camera until after the performance. When I objected she said I could keep it if I promised not to take any pictures. Of course I wouldn't take any pictures... I'm about the most law-abiding person I know. How embarrrassing!!!

So then, after the performance ( which was really good) we went to a cute little gift store called Uncle Jer's. (Megan worked there when she was interning in L. A.) I bought Nancy (for her birthday) what turned out to be a $58 bar of soap. While we were in the store I got a $50 parking ticket. The soap actually cost $8. ( Did I happen to mention how law-abiding I am.)

Then we were going to go to Musso and Frank's Grill (an old Hollywood landmark) to further celebrate her birthday. It was closed on Sunday.

Here's a typical Hollywood sight: As we were leaving Musso and Frank's we found these "girls" who were being filmed for a movie. They told us we could have one photo for free.

We ended up at a really good hamburger place in Brentwood. Very good but not quite what we had in mind.

Nancy's Birthday

Here's Nancy enjoying her flowers from Megan.

Fallbrook Film Festival

Nancy and I attended the Fallbrook Film Festival last weekend. It was surprisingly enjoyable and professional for such a small town. We didn't have time to see all the many films that were being screened but some of the few we saw were excellent.

Two of our favorites were " Help" directed by Val Lauren. A suspenseful story of a young man's desperate attempt to save his dying mother. Depressing but good.

Another that we really liked was "The Last Page", a writer attempting to overcome writer's block with really funny results. It was written directed by Kevin Acevedo. He was there and we were able to tell him how much we liked it. This film was one of several by Chapman University film students. They were all good.

Other Chapman films were "Jackson" directed by Mark Jwayad, " Latter Day Fakes" directed by Jolie Hales, "Bean" directed by Giovanna Federico, "Jewsus"-( really funny) directed by Benjmin Bliss, "Eater" (a really good horror film) directed by Ross Duffer.

Films were even entered from foreign countries. "La Camera Obscura" from Argentina. Nancy commented that it could have used some editing. In other words it was waaaay too long. "Chaturanga" from India, also too long but good. Both of these films were shown in our local coffee house Caffe Primo where we were able to watch them while drinking lattes and lounging on couches. Otherwise they would have really been unbearably long.

"Thinking Grande" was an interesting documentary about a man who emigrated here from Mexico and built a beautiful amusement park to recreate places that were nostalgic to him from his hometown. He did a great job but neglected to get any building permits. When they caught up with him he was so discouraged that he went back to Mexico. His son is now in charge of it but so far they haven't gotten the permits and it's sitting there empty. There's still hope and several interested people trying to help. Some of the craftsmanship was so georgeous- the bandstand for instance. It's going to be shown on PBS, so watch for it.

Most of the screenings were in the Mission Theater which was still being used for movies when I first moved here in the 80's. Now it's used for plays and special occasions. When our company was in the craft kit making business we had about 20 employees and we had an awards banquet at this theater. It was quite a memorable affair. Everyone dressed up in gowns and tuxedos. Our shipping clerk and his date arrived in a limousine. The catering was done from the candy counter- but was a full dinner. After the awards were given out we had a band and dancing on the stage.
It still has some of it's original decor including these seats.

Book club photos- April 8

Laurie made a delicious stew.

We read Unaccustomed Earth by Jhumpa Lahiri. We previously had read The Namesake also by her. She usually writes about the experiences of Indians who have come to live in the U.S. We all liked both her books. I'm a real fan of hers.

We met at Kathie's house. She's still recovering from her recent knee replacement surgery and not quite ready to drive, yet. Luckily we have such a great bunch of ladies in our club that there's never any cleaning up to do after everyone leaves. Vickie, Laurie and Roxanne are especially good at this.

Beth brought this beautiful tart made by the new baker at The Lace Apron.

Nancy, Helen, and Barb add some final discussion about the book while Vickie
starts cleaning up.

A very tasty salad.

Barb and Vickie

At the Mark Taper Forum - "Lydia" a play by Octavio Solis

April 5- Wonderfully acted but very disturbing. About a Mexican family in El Paso in early 1970.
The daughter, Ceci, has been badly injured in an auto accident. The mother hires Lydia as a maid and mostly to take care of Ceci. There are two brothers, one a gangbanger and the other a sensitive budding poet. The father has pretty much opted out, sitting in his lounge chair with earphones on drinking beer. They all love Ceci and are all damaged in various ways by her accident. It was a very complex play with lots of levels. At the end the audience sat stunned for several minutes before giving the cast a standing ovation.

Frost/Nixon at the Ahmanson Theater, L.A. & lunch at Phillipe"s

March 29- We saw the movie and loved it. Frank Langella should get an Academy award for his portrayalof Nixon. But the play was even better! Stacey Keach was supposed to play Nixon but was sick so Bob Ari played the part and was wonderful. I had never heard of him but now will watch for him in other roles.

After the play we had lunch at an L.A. favorite, Phillipe's. It's famous for it's French Dips. Has been in downtown L.A. forever. Near Olvera Street and the Train Station. Also near Chinatown.

Another thing it's famous for is pickled eggs. You have to line up to order and the lines are usually quite long. The waitresses are always patient and polite and fast. They wear the old time waitress outfits with the hankie in the pocket and they make the sandwiches right there. They're absolutely delicious. So are the desserts especially the cheesecake. If you're in L.A. check it out.

Note the sawdust on the floor and the community tables.

OUR FOOD PHOTOGRAPHY JOB- NEW ASSISTANT

We actually do take our job very seriously, and we don't usually let the new assistant into the photography studio. She was hired to answer the phone and pay bills. But sometimes she feels that something is important enough to disturb us. She noticed that this particular food wasn't on the layout. Then she noticed that it wasn't even in the pan. Lucky she caught it before we started to shoot.

Finally, blossoms on the avocado trees

Last season we had almost no blossoms on the trees and a very bad harvest. So we were thrilled to see all these blossoms. We've had so little water.

THE "HOVER SPOON"

We needed a shot of a casserole with a spoon scooping out a portion. It takes too long to shoot to have someone standing there holding the spoon so Steve (our photographer) rigged up what I called "The Hover Spoon". See it here hovering above the casserole.

The final shot.

Blue Pacific Realtors Client Appreciation Party

Every year our friend and realtor, Kurt Kinsey, has a party for all his clients. He has a drawing and the prize is a trip to somewhere in the world. This year it was Thailand. A couple of years ago Nancy and I were the winners of a trip to Ireland. You can see photos of it on the right, at the top of the page.

The party was held at a Thai restaurant in Oceanside.

Kurt gets down with the dancers.

Two of Kurt's clients pose with the dancers.
These very young guys just bought a foreclosure and are fixing it up.
Very foreward thinking.

art class critiques

Our mixed media teacher, Mary Tomaskevitch

Here's some of the art from my class, mostly watercolors.
I didn't write down all the artists names and now I'm not sure which are which. Here's some of Mary's comments:

(Mine ,done about 3-4 yrs. ago) Should do something with background-maybe something should go off top of page.

(Linda ) - nice piece. good color

(Linda) -background, lovely . Tree looks a little flat. Would look better if cropped at top.

(Mila)- neat little piece

a lot to look at

fun thing

(Sue)- ginger peachy !

(Carol) - no dominant value- no cold or hot. (I really like this one.-B.F.)

(Margaret)-

(Mila)- perfect. like the way it's mounted

(Joy)- good start

(Diane)- fix hand, nice handling, tone down leg, add shading to leg, nice painting.

I didn't get all the paintings and not nearly enough of the comments.