Happy Thanksgiving

Brown Pelicans at Bolsa Chica Wetlands

 

Happy Thanksgiving to everyone!  In past years' Thanksgiving posts, I've included photos of wild turkeys that I took near Auburn in Northern Cal.   This year, I'm going with the pelicans.  And a little story.    

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November 6 was going to be a big day.   That was the day of Marcia's first Patchwork Indie Arts and Crafts show.  Set in Long Beach, it would be her first outdoor show and we hoped for big things.

Now, small businesses are a labor of love.   Marcia's HomeBody Botanicals is no exception.  And, as small business owners know, their ventures have a way of becoming family affairs.   So, her labor of love has spilled over to the whole family, and, in a way, all four of us have been working the business since it started more than a year ago at the Altadena Urban Farmer's Market.   

So, after a late night doing the final touches, early November 6, we all got up loaded the van and headed south to Long Beach.    Our expectations were high.   But, while driving on the 605, it started to rain.  By the time we reached the Marine Stadium in Long Beach, it was pouring.   The storm had arrived and showed no signs of letting up.

We found our assigned 10 x 10 space -- next to a boat storage area and under a couple of inches of water.  Marcia and I hauled out the deceptively-named "e-z up"  and with our 13 and 8 year olds, we started the set up.  There is simply no way to raise an e-z up in the rain without getting soaked and soon we were all cold and wet from head to toe.   The kids were great -- both helping and game as could be.  Still, midway through set up, our 8 year old broke.   She just stood in the rain and cried.   I could hardly blame her.   

So, that's how our much anticipated big day started.  

But, eventually, things got better.  By afternoon, the sun was out and crowds of people slogged through the fair.  There was music, great food and dozens of vendors, like us, offering homemade crafts and goods.    Really, the Patchworks shows are interesting places and if you haven't gone, you should.

Anyway, when things settled down and dried out, the kids and I spent the afternoon exploring.  We made our way down PCH to Bolsa Chica and walked the trails through.the wetlands.   The variety of birds there is  amazing and, after the rain, the wetlands were teaming with activity.   In particular, it was fun to watch the pelicans as they fished by diving beak first into the water.  

As it happened, we were at the wetlands about an hour before sundown and the light was perfect for photography.   As we walked the foot bridges and trails, we passed many photographers outfitted with big time equipment and scanning the wetlands for pictures.    

I stopped on the footbridge and took my place among a line of folks poised with their tripods and telescopic lenses.  I reached into my sweatshirt pocket and pulled out my little Canon Power Shot.   So there I stood among the tripods. But, you know, this pair of pelicans rose up from the water and soared right by me.  I barely had time to raise my camera and never saw the birds in my viewfinder.   I pointed and clicked and this photo is what I got.   Not a professional shot, but good enough to give me a big smile.

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Marcia's show got better and she made a little money.  In the dark, under clear skies, we packed up, then drove home to Pasadena.       

It had been a long and trying day.   But, we all pulled together and, except for a few hours of cold and wet, had fun doing it.   The kids had jumped in with both feet to help.   We made it home safely where we all slept well.  

Now a few weeks later, the wet and cold is nearly forgotten and only memories of a family adventure remain.  Even the worst of the cold and wet is now somehow funny -- strangely even crying in the rain can get to be funny.   

And, if that's not enough, on top of it all, I have my pelican picture.

Waiting for Black Friday - Two Days to Go

People are already lining up in anticipation of Black Friday sales.   This morning (Wednesday) we saw seven hardy souls camped out in front of the Best Buy on Foothill Blvd.  I was told that the first in line was there last Saturday.

Best Buy opens its doors at 12 am Friday for Black Friday sales.  These folks have today, tonight, then Thanksgiving Day and half the night until they get their prize.   If I'm out, I'll check back later today to see if the line has grown.

Get Out of Your Car and Take the Picture

 

A couple of days ago I was sitting in the Hastings shopping center parking lot waiting for my son to come out of the store.   Fortunately I had my camera with me and stepped out of the car to take this shot.   Turned out there were others with the same idea.  A woman parked her car few rows over and jumped out with her camera to take a picture.   Then, I saw a guy put his shopping bags down to get a shot with his cell phone.   Then, on the way home we saw someone set up on the Sierra Madre Blvd. median with a tripod facing west for pictures. 

It's always fun to see people taking pictures.  Not so much to watch them, but to try to see what they see that is so interesting.   There was no mystery here.   Lately we've had spectacular clouds and sky well worth some pictures.      

Baby Alligator Lizards

Alligator lizard eggs hatch in late summer and early fall and it is about this time each year that I see these young alligator lizards with their amazing tails.  

Unless eaten by a cat, hawk, snake or another lizard, these young alligators will grow to maturity in about 18 months and reach possibly 16-20 inches long including their tails.  They'll eat a lot of insects along the way and will develop markings on their back.  They will probably lose their tails, grow a new tail, and grow up to look like this:

So, there's my 2011 lizard post.  

Mother Moo Creamery Opens In Sierra Madre

  

A small crowd gathered Saturday afternoon for the grand opening of Mother Moo Creamery.   Located on Kersting Court in downtown Sierra Madre, Mother Moo Creamery is the latest effort of local gourmet and master canner, Kathy Klemens, who is better known as Mother Cluck.   The new store will be offering her ice creams, preserves and classes (this Saturday's class will be canning peaches).   

Here's the ice cream menu.   I had the fresh mint with chocolate flakes and the triple joe.  I sampled the cinnamon, ginger and salty chocolate.   All were incredible.  But, if I had to choose one, I'd probably go for the fresh mint and chocolate flake.   I've had mint ice cream before, but never mint ice cream made with fresh mint.  Wow, was it good!   We'll be back.

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Now, here's the thing about Mother Moo Creamery -- in every sense of the word, this is a local effort.  Mother Moo-Cluck is a local talent who makes the gourmet products she sells and offers them at events around town, including the Altadena Urban Farmers Market.    She hires local folks --  my wife and son both knew people working behind the counter.    And, as much as possible, she's using locally produced ingredients.   On that score, the menu tells the story -- fresh mint and oranges from local farms and honey from Leona Valley in northern LA County.

Mother Moo has great ice cream.   And, they've got a strong Local Factor too.   I hope you'll check it out.     
 

The Oldest Existing In- N- Out Burger

The In-N-Out on East Foothill is the oldest existing In-N-Out restaurant.   This landmark neon In-N-Out sign was taken down a few weeks ago and apparently hauled off to HQ to be refurbished.   The refurbished sign was reinstalled this afternoon and tonight it looks pretty good. 

The compact red and white In-N-Out drive throughs, the palms and, of course, the signs have become classic southern California images. 

East Pasadena's In-N-Out was built in 1952.   There were a few In-N-Outs built before this one.  But, the earlier restaurants have been torn down and rebuilt leaving this East Foothill location as the oldest standing In-N-Out. 

Memo to In-N-Out corporate:    It is time to take the banner sign down from the roof..   

Pasadena Blogging and the Pasadena Sky

 The last two nights have given spectacular views in the Pasadena sky.   The photo above is of the international space station as it orbited over us Saturday night about 8 pm.  It was fascinating to watch. I was surprised at how fast it moved and how different it was from stars or planes or anything else in the sky.  Pretty amazing stuff when you think that there's a crew of six orbiting the earth and living up there.  The  NASA website has a nice little feature that allows you to find out when the space station passes over a particular town.   The station will pass over us again tonight (Monday) at 7:47 pm.

Because of the heavy cloud cover and rain, we could not see the space station last night. 

Which brings me to our weird weather.   The weather started changing late yesterday afternoon.  A few raindrops fell and I spotted this rainbow to the east.   We don't see a lot of rainbows around here, so I ran to grab my camera and got this shot before the rainbow was gone.  Within an hour, rain was falling and then came some good rounds of thunder and lightening.    Thunderstorms are forecast for today.  Strange weather for us.

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With all this talk about sky, it seems an appropriate time to say thank you and best wishes to a departing Pasadena blogger -- Ben Wideman of the sky is big in pasadena.   I followed his daily photo blog for much of its four year run.  His blog frequently showed me aspects of my city that I hadn't seen or appreciated.  In particular, his photos of City Hall were spectacular as were his shots of the Colorado Street Bridge and, of course, the local sky..   In his blog's last month, he listed his top 20 positive and top 10 negative things about our fair city.  It was interesting to see the final perspective of this young Canadian who spent four years here preparing for the ministry.   Friends and City Hall were his top two positive things; disparity between rich and poor and smog were his top two negatives.  I'll miss Ben's photos and commentary and wish him and his family well.