A long time ago, in another state, far, far away, I was born. I've been living in California since I was three years old, yet for the longest time as I was growing up, I called Indiana home. California is home now, has been for a long time. Interestingly, I have but one memory of Indiana, making a snowman and then watching my dad knock it down with a snow shovel later on.
Back in Indiana my dad flew airplanes as a hobby. After we moved out here to California, that ended for some reason. He was making more money out here than he had been in Indiana, but I know the cost of living was also quite a bit higher as well. He took us to a couple of air shows, but that was the extent of his flying for the most part out here.
In 1966, my great uncle flew his plane out here from Illinois. He had been a graduate of Purdue University and they were playing in the Rose Bowl on New Year's Day 1967. He took us up flying over Orange County. I remember taking photos with my new camera out the window of Knott's Berry Farm and Disneyland and the newly built Angel Stadium. I'm sure we violated some kind of air space laws with regard to Disneyland, but it was great fun.
When we went back to visit Indiana the next year, we made it to Illinois to visit my great uncle again and we flew over the state capital of Illinois and the nearby cemetery where Abraham Lincoln is buried today. I can remember my dad taking the controls on both of these flights. I wonder if he ever missed it, or if it just became a fading memory? Was it something that just got compartmentalized away, kept out of sight because he just couldn't afford it? Any time I've asked, he's always said it was too expensive and he didn't have enough time with growing kids in the house. I'll take him at his word.
28 years ago today I made the smartest decision I've ever made in my life. I asked my girlfriend to marry me, and amazingly, with all she knew about me, she said yes.
For whatever reason, I am amazingly blessed to have a wife who puts up with all my foibles. She said to me this morning that she wondered why I put up with her, but I actually think it's the other way around. I know myself all too well, and I don't think I'd like to live with me for very long, yet she's done it now for 27+ years. That's pretty remarkable.
During that time, we've lived in an apartment, and purchased three different houses, always upsizing to go along with our expanding family. Interestingly, our first house was a brand new house and the other two houses we've owned since then have been increasingly older.
Our three children have gone to school here in town, graduated. Two of them have graduated from college and have full time jobs in Northern California. Our youngest is still in college taking some very interesting classes, some of which I would have avoided when I was in college, but would love to take today.
Early last year, I took a series of photos entitled "Grow Old with Me." All of the photos feature my wife's left hand, for obvious reasons. This particular shot was taken on Valentine's Day last year. Grow Old with Me my Love.
So it occurs to me that I need to blog more often than once a month. My last post was for this same photo blogging challenge on the theme new. This one is on the theme red. The photos I posted for last month's theme, I thought were rather good, yet I only received 2 comments about them. It's kind of disheartening when that happens which may be a contributing factor in me not writing more.
The other reason is February has been an incredibly busy month for me. I participate in our school's Shakespeare club and our performance happens this Wednesday during school hours and then again on Thursday evening. Seeing middle school kids memorize Shakespeare has always been amazing, even more so when I get involved in the process and it takes me forever and a day to get all of my lines down.
But on to this month's theme - RED
I really haven't thought about the theme that much this past month (Sorry P.J.), but when I looked at my shots I came up with six that I think will work quite well with the theme, so here we go.
1. "K" Line
A couple of weeks ago on the 365 project, I was pushed to take a shot of some real live trains. I'd been posting shots of the model trains when I went to the Great American Train Expo in January and my push partner wanted me to think bigger. Coming home from a geocaching trek out in the desert, I stopped at this overpass in Colton, as it's right on the edge of a huge rail yard next to Interstate 10. This shot ended up being one of the ones I posted for that particular challenge. Many people at 365 weren't quite sure if it was a real shot or if it was another model train shot. I assure you, these trains are huge, nothing that any of us could pick up by hand.
2. Monorail Red
Back when I was in college, I worked at Disneyland. It was one of those great summertime jobs that worked out well with my schedule while I was in college. People always ask me where I worked when they find out I worked there.
I worked on the Davy Crockett Explorer Canoes, Mike Fink Keel Boats, worked one Christmas and New Year's on Pirates of the Caribbean and the last summer I was there, I worked on the Monorails.
Each ride had its own special appeal and you had a different thought process with each ride. Someone asked me once if I ever went back to work at the park, which ride would I go to and without hesitation, I would choose the canoes. I don't think I really appreciated it at the time, but when you think about it, there's not too many places and/or jobs where you can get an 8 hour workout and get paid for doing it.
When we went to the park a couple of weeks ago, I told them I had worked on the monorails and they asked whether I wanted to see the new look of the cockpit. I'd driven the old Mark III monorail and this was the much improved Mark VII. The driver now has the ability to go through an array of video displays keeping tabs on each riding compartment, including a rear display. One time when I was driving, the train ahead of me broke down and I had to park my train over the motor boat cruise for about 20 minutes or so while they tended to the train in front of me. Those cameras would have come in handy since one of the guests inside my train decided to jump out. I'll never understand why people will do such stupid things in order to "save" themselves five or ten minutes of time.
3. The Happiest Place on Earth
As noted above, we went to Disneyland over President's Day weekend. My daughter flew down with her friend and she took me to Disneyland for my birthday. Needless to say, it was one of the best trips I've had to the park in recent memory. When we first entered into the park, we headed over to City Hall, so I could get my birthday badge, which I wore proudly the entire day. I don't care how old you are, it's always nice to get birthday greetings from total strangers. I started to seek out other people who share my day and wished them a Happy Birthday as well. I don't think I should be that amazed in once sense, but it was quite fun to notice all the people who share my birthday.
Later on, the younger set decided they all wanted some kind of hat to commemorate the occasion and a stop at the Mad Hatter's shop next door to Alice in Wonderland was in order. Both my daughter and her friend got matching Minnie Mouse ears that they wore proudly throughout the rest of the day. My son bought a Peter Pan hat and later in the day a small child even called him Peter Pan.
4. Upland Station
Last weekend, I took the Metrolink train into Union Station on a reconnaissance mission. At school, I run a photo club and the teacher across the hallway runs an art club. We've talked about taking a field trip into downtown Los Angeles on the train for both clubs and we wanted to scout out locations ahead of time. Since the plan was to leave from the Upland station, we met here Saturday morning. While I was waiting for her to arrive, I walked around and took some photos, catching this one of the station and the light clouds in the sky. I thought the red tile roof worked as a nice color contrast to the rest of the shot. I submitted this shot and the Monorail Red shot to the Yahoo weather app as well, but neither one was accepted.
5. Go for Broke Monument
Located in the Little Tokyo district in downtown Los Angeles, the Go for Broke Monument highlights the contributions of all Nisei veterans of World War II. Most of these veterans were interred in concentration type camps for the duration of the war, yet still felt the need to enlist and serve their country of birth, the United States of America.
The memorial includes the names of all who served with the 100th Infantry Battalion, 442nd Regimental Combat Team, Military Intelligence Service (MIS), 522nd Field Artillery Battalion, 232nd Combat Engineer Company, and the 1399th Engineer Construction Battalion.
Old Glory just looked awesome from this angle. I almost wished I'd brought my wide angle lens along on this trip, but I think this shot worked out well, even though it's kind of tight overall.
Well, that's another month of shots posted for the theme. Please stop by P.J.'s blog to see other takes on the same thing by wonderful photographers. And, once again, please comment below. I really won't bite.
I have been challenged by my blogger friend P.J. to a post of randomness. 11 random thoughts about me, 11 questions from P.J. Then I'm supposed to challenge 11 other bloggers to do the same thing. That's the tough part, which won't get done, and you'll see why in the randomness below. I hope not to repeat any randomness that P.J. might have already stated, but that's the randomness I guess.
So here goes.
1. There are 58 National Parks in the United States. I have been to 24 of them. I will not list them all here as that would be tedious. At one time I had a goal of seeing them all. Whether that will happen all depends now upon how healthy I can stay over the next 20 to 30 years.
2. I think most people who read this blog don't realize that I am happily married. I post a lot of photos of my kids, but very few of my wife. I've been married for 26 years and they have been the most fulfilling years of my life. I would not be the person I am with her. Therefore, every photo in this blog will feature her.
3. I have had two concussions that I know of, but it could be more. Perhaps the dain bramage associated with concussions has knocked that out of my memory. First one was when I was 8 or so and I got run over by a neighbor while we were playing kickball in the street. I was knocked unconscious and lay there for a long time. I have no recollection of this incident outside of what my parents have told me about it. The second time was between 8th and 9th grade in a bicycle incident. Not saying I wouldn't have gotten a concussion had I been wearing a helmet, but I wish they had been mandatory back then, especially with all the evidence coming out recently over head injuries in sports.
4. I have broken my right pinkie finger twice and my left arm once, all between February 1972 and July 1972. Let's just say that the last part of my 8th grade year, I was always splinted up in some way. I broke and dislocated my pinkie playing basketball. Three days after the doctor took the splint off of my finger, I bumped into a friend of mine and broke the finger again in a different place. That splint lasted until the end of the school year. My left arm was broken in the above mentioned bicycle accident. As an aside, I am still very good friends with the girl who I bumped into when I rebroke my finger. She doesn't know about the incident, unless she figures it out by reading this. Also, when I hold my palm up on my right hand, my right pinkie doesn't meet with the other fingers. These are the only bones I've ever broken.
5. I have cool looking eyes. They are bluish gray with gold flecks in them. Looking at some photos of my youngest son, he has similar eyes.
6. I do not read very many blogs. In fact, I don't think I could tag 11 other bloggers to get them to repeat the process, so I won't be doing that part.
7. I used to do counted cross stitch. I entered several of them in the Los Angeles County Fair and one year, my design took home a first place ribbon. Our home is decorated with many of my designs, most from patterns that I used to buy. When people visit and see them for the first time, they always compliment my wife over her stitchery and she always has to refer them back to me. I don't do this anymore because it aggravates my carpal tunnel syndrome. My hands go to sleep in minutes after starting to stitch.
8. There has been a teacher in my family since 1896. I consider myself a fourth generation teacher. My dad was a teacher as were both of his parents. I have a newspaper clipping from 1896 that shows my great aunt as the teacher in a one room school house. There is a little doe-eyed kindergartener sitting in the front row - my grandmother. She was being taught by her oldest sister, who was basically a full generation older than she was. My daughter has continued on the tradition.
9. If I wanted to recreate my proposal to my wife, I couldn't. I proposed to her as we floated over Fantasyland in Disneyland on the skyway. That ride doesn't exist anymore. Why Fantasyland? It was too noisy on the Tomorrowland side, so I waited until we rode through the Matterhorn into Fantasyland where it was a little quieter and then popped the question.
10. My favorite painter is Pablo Picasso and my favorite photographer is Ansel Adams. I could look at paintings by Picasso or photographs by Adams for hours on end. When we go to the Los Angeles County of Art, I always head to the Picasso area first. After Adams died, I went to a showing of 100 of his photographs. He is a fine landscape photographer, but I don't think he could do portraits very well. In my opinion, they lacked something that the rest of his photographs had.
11. My favorite singer when I was in high school was John Denver. I saw him in concert twice, once at the Universal Amphitheater and once at the Inglewood Forum. The concert at the Forum was in the round and he was on a revolving stage, so he faced the entire audience at one time or another. He put on a very good show both times.
Well, those are my random thoughts about me. P.J. also posted 11 questions that I'm supposed to answer too, so here those are.
1. What is your dream vacation spot and why?
One of the national parks I have not visited is Arches National Park in Utah. I would like to go there, spend an entire day sitting near Delicate Arch and watch the light play over it, all the while taking photos. I guess, in the long run, any place I haven't been to yet would be a dream vacation for me. I love to travel and going somewhere new would be incredibly fun for me.
2. Where did you come up with the name of your blog?
At the time, I was doing my 365 project, taking at least one photo every single day. So this is another part of it - A Photo a Day.
3. How do you define blogging success?
I think success is dependent on the blogger. What some people would consider success, others would consider failure. As long as I continue to write here, I consider that a success however.
4. What is your favorite type of "going out" entertainment?
Getting outdoors and hiking with someone, or geocaching with a friend is what I enjoy the most.
5. How many states have I lived in?
I was born in Indiana, lived there until I was 3 and a half, then my parents moved us out to California where I've lived ever since. Interestingly, it wasn't until I was in my 20s before I stopped thinking about Indiana as "back home."
6. What is my favorite holiday and why?
This may sound selfish, but I like President's day. It happens right around my birthday which usually means I get a three day weekend out of the deal. I kind of like that.
7. What your favorite number and why?
13 My favorite football team is the Miami Dolphins and my favorite football player is Dan Marino who wore 13 during his career. I also like the fact that most people view 13 as unlucky. That makes it good for me.
8. What would be your dream vehicle to own?
Pretty much anything from the 1950s would be really cool to own.
9. What is your favorite hobby?
Geocaching. Some would say it's an obsession of mine, but I enjoy participating in the silly game. It keeps me busy and out of trouble for the most part.
10. How do you try and keep your blog fresh?
My first blog was entitled Electronic Breadcrumbs and it was solely about geocaching. After awhile, you can only talk about geocaching for so long before you end up repeating yourself. I found I was doing that and started to write less and less on that blog. That's one of the reasons I started to write this blog. It's about anything I want it to be, which keeps it fresh. I don't think I'd write a specialty blog again.
11. Where do you do your best thinking?
When I'm out mowing the lawn. Mowing the lawn is pretty mind numbing, so I think about all sorts of things while I'm mowing the lawn. It keeps me occupied and seems to shorten the process of getting the grass cut.
Well, there you have it. That's probably way more than you ever needed to know about me. I'd love to hear your feedback, preferably here as opposed to on Facebook, but I'll take it either place.
A friend of mine who writes several blogs has put out a photo challenge for bloggers, so I thought I might give this one a whirl. As usual, I forgot about it until the very last moment, but since it's still April, I'm good to go on this one. The challenge was to take five photos throughout the month centered around a certain theme. The theme for this month was Transportation. Here are my five photos.
1. Space travel
OK. This one may be cheating since this isn't the actual space shuttle, but it fits the theme and I'm going to use it. This is the Ellison Onizuka Challenger Memorial in Little Tokyo near downtown Los Angeles.
As President Ronald Reagan spoke in one of his eulogies following the Challenge disaster back in 1986, "The crew of the space shuttle Challenger honored us by the manner in which they lived their lives. We will never forgert them, nor the last time we saw them, this morning, as they prepared for the journey and waved goodbye and "slipped the surly bonds of earth" to "touch the face of God."
I didn't have enough years of teaching experience at the time to apply for the Teacher in Space program. If offered a chance today, I'd go in a millisecond.
2. Walking
These people were just cool. I took several shots of them and in reality, what I should have done was call out to them to get a better shot, or possibly a strangers photo of one or several of them. Each of them had their own style, from the two tone yellow and red pants, to the two toned hair style of the guy leading the group. It's hard to see, but each side of his head, left and right, was a different color.
I've come to appreciate walking much more as I've gotten older. I've never been a runner, but I enjoy hiking and I get out and walk the neighborhood as much as I can to get some exercise. It's becoming more of a habit for me the older I get, which I view as a good thing (the habit of walking, not the getting older part).
3. Traffic
Not much transporting going on here, at least on the westbound side of the freeway. Traffic was pretty much stopped with only cars getting by on the right shoulder of the freeway when I took this shot.
I had been on my way home when I spotted the smoke from what I assumed was a brush fire. I calculated where the fire was based upon my position and decided to get off one off ramp beyond my usual off ramp. That was a big mistake because as soon as I got around a curve in the freeway, traffic stopped dead and I realized the fire wasn't up in the hills, but right in the middle of the freeway.
I was able to get off at the next exit, but it took upwards of 30 minutes to get there and I didn't think I would have gotten a really good shot, but I parked my car, walked over the bridge overlooking the freeway and just about the time I got there, this flare up happened. It must have been really burning earlier while I saw in traffic. Had I gotten off at my normal exit, I think I would have gotten more flames, but I'm pretty satisfied with this shot.
Los Angeles freeways are our life blood. They get us where we want to go, but when some kind of "cholesterol" clogs those arteries, things tend to break down, as witnessed here.
4. Scooter
I spotted this scooter parked in front of a garage door in our neighborhood this week. It represents a cheaper form of motorized transportation, something that can get you around those kinds of jams depicted in the photo above. I wouldn't take something like this on the freeway though. It's way too small.
I rode a Honda Supersport back in the summer of 1983. I took it many places, gave many friends lifts to different things. It's amazing how many girls just want to ride a motorcycle. I always carried a second helmet just "in case." I took that motorcycle to and from my summer job at Disneyland on city streets most days during that summer. I made the mistake of taking the freeway late one night home instead of city streets. Riding next to a tall truck, I suddenly realized how vulnerable I was next to it and realized that if the truck came over, even though I was wearing all of the proper safety equipment, I would be hamburger. I took a break from riding. A couple of weeks later, my dad got into an accident, destroyed his knee in the process and neither one of us ever rode a motorcycle again.
5. Bicycle
When I lived closer to work, I used to ride my bicycle. It was only a mile and a half ride. I still have that bicycle, but I haven't ridden it in years and I know it needs an overhaul. I think one of the things I do during my summer break will be to get the bike safety checked, buy a new helmet and get back into riding.
It's funny, that although I enjoy riding my bike, I prefer walking and hiking for the simple reason that it's hard to take photos when you're riding. Walking, if you see something, you can stop, compose your shot and fire away. Riding would be a little more cumbersome to take photos, because the camera would be strapped away, so I'd have to stop, get the gear out, compose the shot and hope the shot I wanted was still there. So in a way, I think I'm trying to talk myself out of riding a bike.
Now that you've read all of this, here's a link to others who have participated in the challenge for this month.
