Overnight Trip

The public school is closed for the entire week of Thanksgiving (the three days of classes that used to be this week are now before Labor Day, meaning the first week of school has three days of classes, the second week has four days, and the third week has five days). We decided to take a little trip with another mom and teenager.

Our first stop was brunch and A. took pictures of the food, but I did not think to do that. We ate well, trust me. Next up was the Palm Springs Art Museum, which was fantastic.

We helped to make a mandala from
petals, acorns, and other natural items.

This piece by Dale Chihuly was fun to photograph,
including the shadows it cast.

I love the way this one piece looks different depending on the angle it is viewed.
I know it is done by an Israeli artist, maybe Yaacov Agam?

My favorite exhibit was about Alexander Girard,
although these are Herman Miller pieces, which I also like a lot.

These are Girard's wooden dolls, which seem familiar, but I am not sure why.

From there we walked to the architecture and design annex of the museum, which is housed in a former bank.

The vault contains part of the gift shop.

The focus of the current exhibit is Barbara Stauffacher Solomon,
a graphic designer based in San Francisco.
Her ping-pong table paintings are in the background.

On the second day we had Dutch Babies (German pancakes) for breakfast at Elmer's

before heading to Joshua Tree National Park.

Cottonwood Springs

Cholla Cactus Garden

close view

skeleton (?) of a dead cactus

But the best parts were the rock piles and climbing opportunities.

That little human-shaped object in the background is my kid.

It was good to get to have a little adventure and get home before the storm and before the crowds hit the road.

Day Trip

photo credit - Carolyn L.

Maybe we were so busy looking at the snow we missed our exit to catch the light rail. No problem, we just got off at another exit and there were plenty of parking spots.

Then I spent time looking down.

This is definitely the newest sidewalk marking I have ever seen.

Different crosswalk designs, the same color

as the blue honor line for the New Year's Day.
At 11:00 PM on the 31st, spectators are allowed to
move to a blue honor line marked on the street. 

One more snow picture from another friend.

photo credit - Marina S-L

Excitement in the Garden

About a month ago I noticed new growth on the cactus!

s

Finally on the morning of November 19 it was in bloom!

And that is it! I was told it will not bloom again. I am so lucky I noticed!

Reputation

Apparently I am known as the person who knows where the free fruit is (aren't you proud, Dad?). My friend does not like the type of persimmon that grows at her house and said I could come pick as many as I wanted.

The Hachiya persimmons can be picked when they are firm but need to be very soft to be eaten. Many people use them for baking, but I like to mix them into oatmeal.

Even with a stepstool I could not reach them all, 

but I picked enough for myself and to give some to other people.

Not show, pomegranates picked a week or two ago and avocados found today.

A Bit More Time in LA

After the Union Station tour we decided to give up the search for the perfect restaurant and eat at Grand Central Market. We were lucky to find a table outside where we could enjoy our falafel

from peta.org
and ramen.
Even though it was a fake egg it looked too much like the real thing so I skipped it.

My feathered friends at lunch.

The last part of our adventure was a quick visit to the central library (the train back home runs more frequently than before, but that means once an hour and I did not want to miss it). The original plan was to see a Coretta Scott King ALA Award exhibit, but it was locked

from https://www.lapl.org/on-assignment

so we visited an Ansel Adams show next door.  In order to make a living he took a job with Fortune magazine, which wanted him to photograph Douglas and Lockheed airplane manufacturers. They used some of his photographs and later he donated the negatives to the library, which were assessed at $150 for tax purposes.

We found someone who could open the door to the ALA award exhibit (like this?).

Many pieces of art had QR codes with a link to the artist describing one of the illustrations in the book, like this example.

A wonderful reading area was set up (maybe they have storytime there?).

The ceiling was beautiful!

Visiting the big city was a great way to spend the day, especially since we didn't have to deal with driving and parking.

Union Station Tour

I have written about art at public transit sites before so I was pleased to find a free art tour of LA's Union Station. There aren't so many morning Metrolink trains but the tour was scheduled to start less than ten minutes after our train arrived. Coincidence? I am not sure, but it was a good start.

We looked in the former Fred Harvey restaurant
and spent some time in the ticket room, which
I had seen before but had never been in.

Union Station was created when the voters chose to have one central station for the railroad lines that each wanted their own station. I had never noticed this sign listing departures and arrivals from the Southern Pacific, Sante Fe, and Union Pacific lines.

I am sorry my picture of the equinox mosaic is not great, but you can read more here.

I had been in the bus plaza only once and had not noticed that the gates, Guardians of the Track, were supposed to be like bright Mexican paper cuttings, papel picado. We were told that the symbols on the floor are from local native and Chinese tradition, memorializing the people who lived there before the station was built. The bottom photo is of the ceiling in the newest part of the station.

The final part of the tour took us into the Metro Headquarters Building, which had several murals.

I hope the security guard does not mind being photographed by a whole tour group.

More in this series, Los Angeles (Circa 1870, Circa 1910, Circa 1960 and After 2000), 1995–96, can be seen here.

My favorite was just outside the board room, but was very hard to photograph and also hard to find good pictures online. You can check out Epoch, here and here.

It was not the best tour ever, but it was free and I got to see some things I had not seen before so I am glad to have done it. I would even consider taking another one, maybe the art of the metro rail line I take the most or the Hollywood stations.

Happy Day

Last February parents spoke at a city commission meeting in hopes of bringing updated playground equipment to their neighborhood park. Today was the grand opening.

One of the parents donated a Little Free Library.
After I left there a local author was going to read to celebrate its installation.

A good time was had by all!