Where Does the Time Go?

It's been almost a month since we were at Lightning in a Bottle. I was able to get a post out about our first hour there, but that just barely touched the surface.

Since then, I've worked more as a set dresser than I have for the last 12 years, granted for ten of those I was a Set Decorator and by our Union's rules I couldn't have been a set dresser even if I wanted to. In fact, I am writing this from a pretty funky hotel in Parker, Arizona where I'm staying while I work on a train unit shooting just the the other side of the border, California's that is.

Then of course was the chicken/rooster Odyssey, which has calmed but by no means is over. Plus there is a ton of gardening and "farming"

But......time to recap Lightning in a Bottle. Or at least get us through the day and to just before it gets dark when LIB takes on an entirely different life.

Lightning in a Bottle--Part 2

After running into our friend Leslie, we realized that we hadn't eaten and headed out in search of food .




Skye and Cindy are camped out under this lovely shade structure while I forage for beer.

Chillin

After refueling we were ready to explore. There were several eco-workshops that I was interested in. They were in the nether regions of the festival and it was quite a hike to get there.

So up we hiked to the Sustainability Stage and the Temple of Consciousness. A lot of the workshops and speakers I had really wanted to see were on Friday and Saturday, but there was a speaker on Permaculture which I was interested in.




It turned out to be a pretty basic, very 101 introduction into the field which I had already researched, so unfortunately it was too basic for me and the speakers, well.....

So we left the Sustainability Stage and headed to the Temple of Consciousness.



Talks of astral travel and such was a little too fringe for me, rather it was not the fringe that I inhabit, so back to the Woogie Stage we went.

The cool human hamster ball had made it's way to a more central field with the addition of helpful instruction by way of a stiltmaster.

I have always love stiltwalkers and these were among the more creative and fun group of them. I am mesmerized.

We spent the next several hours hanging out in this area. Listening to music, people watching, someone had put up a slackline like the one we have, so we jumped on that and tried to play and impress.

As it started heating up and the DJs spun a water truck showered the crowd.



This was our audience as we attempted to cross and master the slackline. As you can imagine it was a supportive and understanding group.

To Be Continued.......

Lightning in a Bottle --Part 1

Lightning in a Bottle

The website read, "The Festival will be open from Friday May 28th at 7am until Monday May 31st at 5pm." Add to that, that the eco-workshops I was most interested in would be conducted on Saturday, and most importantly, (and subconsciously), we were swamped with more things on our To Do List at home, than is humanly possibly on even the best of days. So the obvious answer would be to cut our loses and catch the festival next time around.

So we "obviously" didn't take the easy approach and got day passes for Sunday, arriving around 11 am wide-eyed and bushy tailed, ready to enjoy the festivities.

Very early into it, we realized that the vast majority of the people were there for the entire weekend which under different circumstances in a different phase of my life would certainly be the way to go. What that meant, was that most people were still up from the night before or were just waking up.

When a topless woman calmly strode past us, I knew the lessons Skye would be learning were not the ones I had anticipated.

Let's see...Skye's comment, my response.

1. After the aforementioned female passed, "Um, that was awkward" "Think of it like a sculpture at an art museum, " A twisted look that meant either, "At this stage in my life I am uncomfortable with that as well or Dad, that wasn't a statue" to which I countered, "The human body can be very beautiful and the whole notion of modesty and covering it up is unnatural man-made construct" That didn't go over well either.
2. "I think that guy is gay, cause he just keeps pointing at you not me or mom" in regards to the stilt-walker in purple fuzzy leggings dancing to rave music at 11:30 am. Me, "I don't think it's necessarily a gay thing"

1. The above conversation continues, "OK, I think he's drunk" "At this time in the morning, with that kind of energy, I don't think it's just alcohol." "What do you mean?" A brief and cautionary explanation of recreational drugs. "I am never doing drugs" I think the disco-dancing-sexually ambivalent stilt-walker was a bigger deterrent that 100 "Just Say No" ads

That all happened in the first 30 minutes.



Skye, still getting the lay of the land and not so sure of the whole thing.




High energy music blaring away before noon, I would hate to be that DJ

As we tramped on through the dust and heat, wondering if this was such a good idea after all, I spied a very cool-looking metal human hamster ball type contraption.



"Whoa, check that out that looks so cool" and I hurried us along toward the object of my fascination.

As we got closer, it looked like our friend/aerial arts instructor Leslie. I knew she might be at the festival (Facebook update) but what were the chances of actually running into her, given the length of the event, the hundreds of people and the physical acreage.(When we did try to reconnect with her later and knew where and when she was going to be there, couldn't find her)



Leslie getting a quick tutorial. I had meant to talk to the guy and give the thing a spin, but timing and various distractions wouldn't have it.

That begins to give you an idea of the event;

Hour 1...
We were there until just before midnight..
More to come

A Whirling Swirling Memorial Day Weekend

Memorial Day Weekend

Three days to chill and relax, maybe get some last bits of spring cleaning done, barbecue with friends and family, or it can be like the rest of my days, a mad attempt to cram three weekends full in one.

Guess which one materialized seemingly out of thin air.

Saturday

Two future events colliding with results of the past would dramatically shape our weekend.

One was that Cindy was hired to work on additional photography and I would be leading for her. That was a very familiar and regular work relationship, 13-plus years ago.

Two was that in just over a week I would start teaching the Ecology 101 class. We decided to keep it simpler by keeping it to one class a week as opposed to the two that I was doing before. Now the class looks to be twice as large, with a goodly mix of new people and ages.

The past events were series of things ranging from flooding, to too many projects, to Cindy returning after being gone for practically a year and her life abroad arriving in multiple boxes and of course the on-going chicken saga. This basically meant that the two rooms that I conduct class in, the living room and dining room were jammed pack of stuff.

Lots of Stuff.

This doesn't look like a classroom. Where do the children go?

And we didn't want to just cram it back into the garage and various closets, nooks and crannies, etc. That's how we ended up with have tons of "stuff" and never being able to find it when we need it.

So with that in mind, we both acknowledged that the weekend would be primarily dedicated to that major projects.

Balance

That concept ended up dovetailing with the other concept of wanting to not become beholden to our stuff and the banality of chores. Which meant that we were going to not just work over the weekend. For us that doesn't mean doing less work or lowering our goals and expectations, rather we try to just shove more into a twenty-four hour day.

The Lakers were positioned to beat the Phoenix Suns and secure their spot in the NBA Finals. There was also a big MMA UFC fight. And one of are favorite couples are huge Laker fans and MMA fans, so of course we invited them over for a multi-hour sports indulgence.

Sunday

There was also a weekend long festival I had heard about, Lightning in a Bottle. After some discussion and some debate we decided that we would work extra hard on Saturday and get a day pass for Sunday. We made these plans and purchased the not so cheap tickets prior to
realizing we would be having a sports viewing marathon with guests, something we rarely do.

Monday

By Monday, we were exhausted and far behind in our quest to get the house in classroom condition. Add to that, we had done none of the "homework" we needed to do for the job we were starting the following day. There was gear to wrangle and many phone calls to be made. So Monday, even though we were fried from the festival, still tired from the day before, we were resolved to but our collective noses to the grindstone and get some shit done.

At around 6 that morning as I am beginning to tend to the gardening end of things, our cat Daisy stumbles toward me foaming at the mouth. Mad "Googling" and calls to find a vet open on Memorial Day ensue.

Details to follow....

Warrior Dash 2010-So Cal

Warrior Dash 2010, A 3-Mile Obstacle Course, A Great Post-Race Party...Another Wake-Up Call

It was around an 1 1/2 hour drive to the race which was enough time to start getting cold feet. I hadn't been training, and again too much caffeine, too much beer, not eating right and not enough sleep. I was feeling like I was going to have similar results to the L.A. Marathon, except a lot faster as in a shorter race.



I knew I was in the right place, but was I ready?

In a word, no.

Skye who was visiting Cindy in Atlanta, reminded me to have fun not to worry about how fast I ran it. Simple stuff, the kind of stuff I would say to her were the roles reversed. I was very, very proud of her for her wisdom and with that I got ready to be a warrior.



Game On



It looked a lot like other races I'd run.



With a mud pit at the finish.



And a check-in tent in the shape of a Viking Helmet.

The Race That Is A Photo-OP




If you ignore the fence and then the houses in the background, you might think these Valkyries had just come down from Valhalla.



Although looked at from another angle, a little less idyllic.



That is one tough warrior chick.




"You really should rethink, the Rehab thing. Amy Winehouse is not the best of roll models"



Celtic Warrior, although to be really authentic, he'd have to lose the kilt.




Don't really understand the concept here but "Bat-jama" seems to be doing something right.




The two buff book-ends to the nerdy girl warriors were in my heat. I beat them at least.







There were a lot of "Cross-Fit" types.




This tribe seemed to be in it for the long haul, like they were on tour or something.




A Boulder Heave, now that is something I should be good at.



That's me tied for first place, misspelling and all.



The "kids" posing with the cops were the only other people I saw try the boulder toss.

The Warrior Dash
The Race Part
Another Wake-Up Call

The race itself was hot and dusty. I was already dehydrated before the race began. So even though it was only a three mile run, I knew it wasn't going to be fun. Again, I was a victim of my own demons; Too much caffeine, too much beer, not enough sleep, and not eating well. It was a race that was practically designed for me; a slight down hill on trails with a couple of steep hills to climb thrown in. The obstacles were all much smaller and easier than what appears on the website. I opted not to wear the knee pads I'd gotten which was a good decision. The tunnel was just a ten foot sono-tube not the corrugated monster shown in web pics. The balance beams were twice as wide and half as far across as the ones I'd fallen off of and onto in a Muddy Buddy a couple years back that gave me the biggest bruise of my life, which is saying something. The mudpit was not that muddy not too wet or deep and the "barbed wire" was strung up pretty high which is fine cause I don't really like that part of the race anyway. All in all it was a lot of fun, but frustrating because of how easy it should have been had I been in decent shape.

So with new vigor, I resolve to get back in shape....again.

As I type this out at 1:47 am knowing full well I need to be at Universal Props at 6 am.

When will I learn?

Happy Birthday Charles

After getting up much too early to do this that and the other and watching a very fun and interesting, very interesting leg of the Tour de France, I made plans for the full social schedule ahead of us. I figured to not retreat into seclusion because of not having my better half with me and try to keeping up a face as it were.

So our social obligations would take us down to the Marina in Redondo Beach, where it was absolutely beautiful. And then back up to Marina Del Rey and finally into downtown to celebrate our good friend's birthday on a rooftop in the middle of the city. Good times





Charles and Coltrane


We got there early so we could celebrate in the family friendly stage of the party. As would have it that blended into the evening party and I finally had to drag Skye away around 11 pm.

I was and am utterly as I watch the Tour's first important day in the montains. I sure missed my Cindy yesterday.

4th of July

The lower structure is relatively new, the TSS(Tomato Support Structure) as I have come to call it.



I finally got cleaned up and had most of the food going and then the guests started arriving and the second phase of madness began.

It's hard enough to manage a grill or rather two grills on different levels. Add to that pool duties(the pumps decided to fall apart) and playing host and I was set to get burnt to a crisp.





We had a lot of kids over and there joyous squeals and splashing about made it all worth it.




And of course old friends, I mean friends I've know for a long while, like since high school.

Lots of other friends showed up and a great time was had.

3 days latter and we are still cleaning up.


I am dead tired. But it was a fun time, well worth it in the end.

Laker Madness

GO Lakers!!!!!!

Hurray the Lakers won the NBA Championship. On Wednesday there was a celebratory parade from Staples Center to the Coliseum. Now I usually wouldn't get caught up in that kind of thing. I'm a big fan and I am thrilled with them winning, but going downtown, trying to find parking and then hanging out with several thousand people to see the team go by and wave from the tops of double decker buses, is not my idea of fun.

Skye, however thought that it would be a great idea. So that was that and of we went.

No, wait.

First we had to run over to the Santa Monica Farmer's market to get some food for the little get together we were having later that evening. And I had to make sure I got several e-mails sent off . And get ready for the party and bunch of other stuff. No wonder I had woken up, all stressed out at 3 am. Well at least I got those e-mails out of the way. But I had a long day ahead of me.




I love the Farmer's Market. So much wonderful foods. Skye made some wonderfully yummy Roasted Carrots with Sage. I know its more of a Fall/Winter thing but tasty nonetheless. I ending up grilling peaches.

Heading Downtown to Celebrate

I loaded the bikes onto the car, so we wouldn't have to deal with parking, just trying to bicycle around downtown Los Angeles with an 11 year old and the traffic and crowds. I turned out to be a pretty good idea, although it stressed me out a bit.



A lot of people turned up. It was way too crowded near the coliseum, so we headed north where it was a little less crowded.




Less crowded? Yes this is less crowded.

Skye decided it would be a good idea for her to try to get closer on her own, so she'd have a better view. I was not thrilled with this idea but let her have a go.



Well, she did get closer. She ended up squished and couldn't see much. That's the top of her head under that guys armpit.




Here they come.



Lamar's up there some where.




Sasha getting the crowd going.




Ariza, Jordan Farmar

Where's Kobe?





Oh there he is or rather there he goes, holding the trophy for all to see.


And just like that it was done. A bit anit-climactic to say the least.

Then we raced back to cook and garden and clean and get ready for the little Salon Milagro we were hosting. But that is for another blog.

The New Year's Eve Party

The Lead Up--A week before

I made every attempt this year to thoroughly plan out this New Year’s Eve party so that I wouldn’t have to wake up at 4:30 in the morning, work at a breakneck pace all day, lose my patience with Cindy several times and apologize profusely later, end up 86ing several of the dishes because I either ruined them in haste or didn’t have time to start or complete them and then invariably after all of this I am still preparing things as guests arrive and in the shower at around 10pm.

This year was going to be different. I had simplified the menu, stuffing it full of recipes I had made in the past, only a couple of experiments this year. I had finished shopping for all but the perishables the week before, leaving just the fresh ingredients and the flowers to be shopped. And to further prepare, I went down to the Flower Mart the week before to preview where and what I would get, checking on their holiday hours several times.

The Days Before

We hit the Farmer’s Market on Saturday and picked up what we couldn’t find there at Whole Foods, Pavilions and a Japanese market on Sawtelle. Won Ton Skins are harder to find than I remember.

What could go wrong?

The Day Of

I woke up at 6 am on New Year’s Eve. I know it’s early but it is a big improvement on 4:30. Checked out the E-vite, again. “Wow, more people than expected, maybe need more Champagne, fine no problem. I’ll get it after I go to the Flower Mart, which as I double/triple check, opens to the public at 8 am. “ I roll up to the Mart at a little after 8. And it is, what the f**k, closed? Oh, Sh*t. Ok fine I see a few of the smaller stores open, I’ll improvise. After buying a substantial amount of flowers to make everything work, not as planned but it can work, I think about what was going to be the center piece of the entry way arrangement. A huge cluster of beautiful barnacles that I had spied in one of the stores that was closed that none of the smaller shops had. Do I forgo this concept as wonderful as it might have been or do I try to find a cluster of barnacles early in the morning on New Year’s Eve?

Two closed aquarium shops, 2 open pet stores, a gift shop, a nursery and the only barnacles I found were fake and about 1/30^th the size I needed. And then finally, at an aquarium store that happened to be open I found barnacles. Three smaller groupings were enough to make up the shape of the one I had fallen in love with a week before at the Mart and for half the price. Hurray, except now I was running hours behind schedule.

I got home, unloaded the car and went at it with a fury. I was catching up. I came up with a brilliant and simple idea(so I thought) for an arrangement that I had been struggling with in my mind all day. After hours of struggling with horsetail reeds, plexiglass, goop and floral foam, and losing patience with Cindy, once (and the only time that day/evening) my concept was realized. And I was again, further behind.

Now I was jumping between flower arranging and cooking. But things were going well and because I knew most of the recipes, there weren’t many surprises, except with the coconut battered shrimp popsicles which ended being the sacrifice of the evening. Oh well.

In the end, most everything was finished on time. Cindy was dressed by the time the first guest arrived and I was showered by 9 instead of 10, and much more relaxed and rested along the way.

The Flowers










Note the barnacles



The experiment-I wanted to somehow integrate the hardlines and glass of the coffee table with the arrangement. I think it finally worked. It does make conversing across the table interesting.

The dining room-An marriage of flowers and food





















Prosciutto wrapped figs were delights to be plucked and eaten




A bit phallic, I guess, but delicious. A wasabi-edamame puree with tuna sashimi on toasted Won Ton Skins




Putting on the finishing touches. Thank you Tom




The bartender is ready

The Children











The Guests- I'm not labeling everyone, you know who you are





































Thanks to everyone who came and shared the passing of 2007 and welcoming of 2008
A special thanks to Michael and Helene for taking pictures and to Cindy and Skye for their patience and love