May 28, 2019 · 23:43

The Red Roses Remain

When we moved in last year I don’t remember the roses by the driveway being in bloom, and we only had a couple of scraggly blooms in the following nine or ten months. For the longest time I don’t think that I believed that they were actually still alive. Then they started blooming like crazy about two months ago, all different colors, and they’ve been a real joy to see every day.

It could well be that they were blooming when we moved in and I just didn’t notice – one might recall that I was pretty much balancing on my last remaining nerve 24/7 during those couple of months.

But now, the yellows and whites and pinks and orange-ishs have come and gone. There are still some raggedy, browning, dying blooms on some of the bushes. But the red roses remain in good shape.

I might rarely have time to stop and smell the roses – but I always make time to stop and take pictures of them!

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May 27, 2019 · 23:35

Jumpy A Little Bit?

It might be a small case of PTSD (Post Traumatic Stress Disorder) previously unnoticed. Or at least previously untriggered.

An hour or so I started getting a whiff or two of smoke. Very faint. Enough so the first few I wasn’t even sure that I was really smelling it.

Then there was a bit more – but not much. Enough so that I thought it might be something minor like a light heating up with some dust on it. Sort of like that burnt smell you get when you turn on the forced air furnace for the first time in the fall and the dust in the burner goes up.

But it didn’t go away, and I got a couple more stronger whiffs. Now it’s time to get up from my desk and check it out.

Nothing in the hallway at all. Go out into the living room. Nothing really, maybe just the faintest trace.

Open the front door and step out – and it hits me like a hammer. It wasn’t my imagination.

The cause was obvious. We’re hitting an unusually cool stretch for Los Angeles in late May, highs barely reaching 70°F, and the lows down into the upper 40’s. It’s 56°F now. Someone in the neighborhood, possibly a couple someones, had their fireplaces going, or a backyard firepit for their holiday BBQ. The end result was that the air was heavy with the scent of wood smoke.

No biggie, right? That’s a homey, comfortable, happy memory smell of fall and winter in Vermont, Christmas mornings… Well, it used to be. Now?

Remember last November less than a half mile from here as we had our valuables packed in the cars ready for the “Go!” command to evacuate?

That would explain the way a whiff of wood smoke put my brain into high alert mode and being outside in the dark with the air filled with the scent doubled my heart rate in a matter of seconds.

Olfactory cues can trigger strong associations with specific memories. It might be a while before the smell of wood smoke again means a cozy evening in front of the fireplace instead of panic and evacuate.

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May 26, 2019 · 23:56

Tattered

When we moved into this house a year ago (and by the way, geez louise, look back at my posts from last May, I have no clue how I survived that), we got a new flag for the front porch.

A year of the SoCal elements have taken their toll, especially some of the high winds and rain of the last month or so.

I’ve left it up like that for a few weeks since it’s sort of symbolic of how the whole country is doing.

But enough’s enough. A new flag went up today for Memorial Day.

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May 25, 2019 · 23:43

PBJ & Convection

The weather at Camarillo was quite nice, if a touch windy. But that wasn’t nearly enough to stop our PBJ or other planes from flying.

While the PBJ was sitting out on the ramp waiting for our passengers to arrive, I noticed the view with some growing convective clouds building 25-30 miles north, up over the mountains along the northern edge of Ventura County. Later in the day they grew into some significant thunderstorm cells with flash flooding along the I-5 over the Grapevine, but at this point they were just a pretty background for the gorgeous plane.

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Filed under CAF, Photography, Weather

May 24, 2019 · 23:57

Only One Choice

Sitting, keeping the idiot box off, listening to a favorite playlist with the really nice headphones on, dealing with a bit of old, familiar pain, more of a bit of discomfort really but always with that threat of having it explode into agony, but it probably won’t and I’ll just be sitting uneasy for a day or two.

Great, just in time for that three-day weekend that I so desperately need.

Juggling, lots of unresolved, low-level fears and angers, disturbances, trust issues, uncertainties, trying to figure if there’ some gaslighting going on or if I’m simply going batshit crazy at last, thinking about how unfair it’s going to be if it’s hallucinations and losing my grip when it’s not the good hallucinations, the ones with the karmic out-of-body experiences and multi-dimensional, mind-blowing colors and sounds and sensations, but instead getting the grey, boring ones that are like that last fifteen minutes of stolen sleep before you really have to get out of bed but all your stupid, stupid brain can spit out are endless anxiety dreams where you can’t get some boring accounting journal to balance.

Physical discomfort, mentally off-balance a bit, all leading to a headache that I could really have done without, especially when I’ve already taken Extra Strength Excedrin and can’t take any more so I’m just going to have to suck it up and keep breathing.

The playlist spins. Garth Brooks. ‘Til Tuesday. Linkin Park. The Eagles.

“Life In The Fast Lane.”

Only one choice.

Fuck the headache, it will be there either way. Hit the volume and see if the really nice headphones can take it to eleven.

Then play it again. Just because.

Lower the volume as it fades. Move on. Still breathing.

Got a website article to write for tonight.

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Filed under Health, Music

May 23, 2019 · 23:17

Is It Less Beautiful

…because it’s a day or two past its prime?

…because it’s got ants and bugs on it?

I do love the lacy, delicate, pink highlights on the yellow leaves, as well as the texture and patterns as it starts to brown and shrivel around the edges.

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Filed under Flowers, Photography

May 22, 2019 · 23:41

May’s Weird Weather In LA

Rain. Thunder. Lightning. In May. In Los Angeles.

Yeah, I get it. You live in Tornado Alley and weather like this just means that it’s a day that ends in “Y” and you think I (and everyone else in LA going ape over a little bit of convective activity) am a real goober.

Fine, wait until you come out here and run into Anne Hathaway or Keanu Reeves in Starbucks and you can’t remember your own name for five minutes…

I wasn’t sure we would actually get any rain at our location, but then the first drops hit the window.

The the lightning started and with it the downpours.

It was great to watch at lunch from the dry safety of my office.

(Image from NOAA Hi-Def Weather Radar Pro app)

Yeah – that’s a lot of yellow, orange and red!

(Image from Weather Underground app)

After the fact I noticed this on Weather Undergound – look at that temperature drop! 14°F in about an hour.

Fun times!

 

 

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Filed under Los Angeles, Photography, Video, Weather

May 21, 2019 · 23:48

A Journey Of Discovery

Well, to be honest…

“Journey” might be a bit of a stretch. More like a “commute.”

And it’s not just Discovery. It’s Sports, Evoques, a Velar, and the old fashioned Range Rovers.

Tjree years ago there was a time when I was seeing Maseratis everywhere and commented on it. It turned out at the time that they had just introduced an “affordable” model (which I believe to be a shitty business decision, but that’s a topic for a different day) and there really were a whole lot more of them around than normal.

Now it’s Range Rovers.

I understand that LA might not be Omaha or even Denver or Raleigh-Durham. For example, these days Teslas are literally a dime a dozen around here. In my fifteen minute, six mile commute to work, I’ll see dozens of them every day. Granted, I see more Chevys and Fords than I do Teslas, but compared to how many Teslas I saw in Raleigh-Durham, they’re everywhere.

Other makes are more rare. A Ferrari or a Lamborghini? Every once in a while, a few times a year maybe, and they’re attention getters. On the other hand, some of these vehicles only have a couple hundred cars produced by hand per year, so even seeing one is pretty rare.

Somewhere in the middle are the cars that you see every now and then, but they’re not common. They’re also not really that head turning. For example, I drive a Volvo C70 convertible so I might tend to notice other Volvos, but I can go days and weeks at a time without noticing one. They don’t sell that many.

In that  category are the Range Rovers. My old office was across the street from one of the only dealers in LA so I would see them all the time out my office window, but rarely on the street. Until this month.

Are they having a Buy One Get One free sale or something? Or is this just the most bizarre selection effect going for some reason?

From “oh, there’s one” every now and then to “shit, I’m surrounded!” in just a matter of days got my attention. And once I started noticing, we’re hip deep in them. Literally every single commute to or from the office I’m seeing two or three dozen. Different colors and models, but a large number of them have the new paper, temporary plates.

They’re not cheap vehicles, but they’re nice. I’m just not sure why the number that I see on the street has so noticeably skyrocketed.

Maybe I should go check out that BOGO thing?

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Filed under Los Angeles

May 20, 2019 · 23:46

The Raindrops’ Origination Story

They had to come from somewhere to get here. Their aim was true!

My prime suspects were these guys, lurking overhead.

Refugees from the North Pacific, starting out somewhere between Honolulu and Anchorage and getting to us via Santa Barbara.

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Filed under Photography, Weather

May 19, 2019 · 19:58

Raindrops On Roses

No juvenile felines were present, whiskered or otherwise. But one of the the orange-ish roses looked amazing.

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Filed under Flowers, Photography