REDONDOWRITER'S SACRED ORDINARY

Haiku My Heart Friday: The Tulip Tree

When the tulip tree

Sheds her winter modesty

I know spring is here. 

The Malaga Cove Branch Library of the Palos Verdes Library District is a place I visit and volunteer at frequently. The peacocks wander, even in the winter, but the tulip tree is dormant, bare, but I like to think of her as a lady in waiting. When I park the car to go into the side entrance and the tulip tree has grown into a burst of lavender blooms, I stop, sigh, and get the camera. Now I know that spring is really here. 

Thanks, Rebecca at Recuerda mi Corazon for hosting Haiku my Heart. Take time to visit and you will see that a lot of people are waxing eloquent in haiku. 

Rainy World - A SoulCollage® Card

Yesterday my girlfriends and I gathered for our monthly SoulCollage® day and it was very rainy driving over and all day long it rained. Just try to remember that this is sunny California. As we all sat around Mary Lou's big dining room table chatting about our lives (we have a check-in for each person as we work), I kept gazing out the window at her beautiful yard, remembering how much we need rain and how beneficial it is. But, I am one of those people who has a hard time with winter, even though winters in Southern California are mild. Though we were primarily creating cards for Christmas and what it means to us, this card practically made itself. 

 

I am the one who internally becomes chilled physically and emotionally when the weather turns cold and rainy and it gets dark really early. Much as I love Washington state where one of my sons and a sister live, I could not thrive there because of the rain and darkness for months on end. Though I have never been diagnosed with seasonal affective disorder, I assume I might be affected by the lack of light. I am the one who, as a kid, however, loved rain where I grew up in Sunland, CA. I especially loved walking home from school where leaping into puddles and floating leaf boats in the gutters was exhilarating. Now I am the one who hibernates as much as she can when it is cold and rainy, but works hard on getting out among 'em and shifting attitudes when I become too gloomy and homebound. I take comfort in recalling "Singing in the Rain" and walking home with my girlfriends Dannie and Claudia, three umbrellas across, making as much mess as we could. Then this image created itself and I took great joy in thinking about the fact that around the planet there are whole groups of folks under umbrellas and I envision a Broadway production of "Singing in the Rain" and I'm one of the dancers. 

If I could ask this card a question, it might be, "Help me to recall all my rainy day pleasant memories and record them in my journals or in my art so I can better understand why weather affects me so deeply. 

This card would be in my Committee suit under Rainy World Me or it could be a Council card helping me to see that there is Spirit there even when I am uncomfortable. By the way, I have a nasty head cold and I swear that half the people in my school have colds, pneumonia or bronchitis, too. 

Perhaps the card answered me yesterday but I just figured it out today. Driving home at 4 p.m., I saw a huge, overarching rainbow over Torrance, CA.

Queen Anne House in Redondo Beach Decorated for Halloween

This is the Pringle Queen Anne house just a half block from where I live on S. Broadway St., Redondo Beach. It is across the street from the fire house and next to Christ Episcopal Church, where I attend. The Pringle's decorate their house for all major holidays, but Halloween is my favorite. On Halloween night, when the trick or treaters come, a spectacular witch hands out treats and incredibly eerie sounds can be heard inside the house. People stop continuously to take pictures.

I've been in this house several times (including Christmas) and the interior is fully restored and decorated for the period. 

Skeleton Parade

The skeletons are out tonight,
they march about the street,
With bony bodies, bony heads
and bony hands and feet.
Bony bony bony bones
with nothing in between,
Up and down and all around
they march on Halloween.

                                                                -- Jack Prelutsky

Let's Hear It for Daryl Muncey and His Project Earth Gallery

The two weekend art extravaganza, Power of Art, hosted by the Redondo Beach Art Group, closed tonight and I will carry memories of it for the next 12 months, until the show turns up again in 2012.

If I had the space in my home or yard for Daryl Muncey's gorgeous tree sculpture, the centerpiece of one gallery called Project Earth, I'd buy it in a heartbeat. Daryl always curates our collaborative project each year and it was Project Earth this year. Daryl's tree was constructed with lathe and the trunk of the tree was at least 10 feet tall, with its black branches spiking up at least another 10 feet. It is magnificent. I was shocked it didn't sell at the show as he was asking basically what he spent on materials--$1500. It even had a little door in the trunk where little kids could hide--and it smelled just like a forest somehow. Here's Daryl and his tree--and, by, the way, the picture hanging on the tree near his head is my contribution, "Our Lady of Sustainability." 

There were many magnificent and thought-provoking pieces in Project Earth, but Daryl's won my heart and soul. Hopefully his tree will find a temporary home in a Redondo Beach government office until it sells. I see it in the lobby of a huge company who supports the sustainability concept. As soon as it is placed, I will report where so that those of you who want to experience it can. Or maybe one of you who read here might want to buy it yourself. Just leave a comment and I'll pass it on to Daryl. 

And I want to say thanks to the dozens upon dozens of people who worked so hard to make the Power of Art as successful as it was. Job well done. And believe me, folks, if you live in Southern California, it's actually worth a visit to see Power of Art when it comes around again. Today is strike day, taking down the show, and everything has to be out by 5 p.m. Then all the worker bees can hopefully take a well deserved rest.

Out of my four pieces on display, I sold two of them, which amazed me. I gave another mixed media piece to my friend Mary Lou as a gift. I'll write more about this in days to come, but for now, I'm really focusing on the prep for Day of the Dead coming up on Nov. 1 and 2. 

Meet Aimee Bender: The Particular Sadness of Lemon Cake

If you have not read Aimee Bender's best seller "The Particular Sadness of Lemon Cake," I highly recommend it. Though I read it last year, I appreciate the book a lot more now that I've met Aimee Bender and heard her speak not only about the book and its characters, but her writing process in general. She teaches creative writing at USC and after hearing her speak, how I wish I could take her class. 

She was the featured speaker tonight at the Palos Verdes Library District's One Book, One Peninsula annual event and I had the pleasure of taking photos of her and members of the community prior to the event sponsored by the Peninsula Friends of the Library. Here are a few you might enjoy:

She is one of the most down-to-earth writers I've ever had the pleasure of meeting. 

Here she is with her fiancee Mark Miller--and a plate of? Lemon cake!

And here are the little lemon and chocolate cakes up close. Rose is the primary character in "The Particular Sadness of Lemon Cake," and she has the blessing/curse of tasting the emotions of the person who cooks. The person who baked this batch must have been really happy. 

If you check the Peninsula Friends of the Library blog tomorrow, there will be a series of photos available to see, if you are interested.  

Redondo Beach Spectacular Fall Sunsets

Yesterday was the hottest day on record this year in Los Angeles's South Bay. At Chadwick School where I work, it was 103 degrees in the shade by the grade school classrooms. 

Last night my friend Orma and I walked down to Redondo Beach's Veterans Park community center (the old library) for a Redondo Beach Art Group meeting and what greeted us was the most spectacular sunset I had seen for a while. This area is just two blocks from my home. On Sunday night I had worn two jackets to walk Mollie and no jacket was required at all last night. Indian Summer park and beach goers were everywhere enjoying the weather. Here are three versions of heavenly Redondo Beach last night. 

This shot was taken inside the park and I have stared at it repeatedly as the tree is genuinely mysterious in silhouette. What do you see there? 

I can't even begin to tell you how much time I used to spend watching these sunsets and what I call setting sun trails. Now I am asking myself why I am not down there more often. Because of the sciatica I was recently diagnosed with, walking has become very painful. 

My favorite tree in the entire area is this very old Moreton Bay Fig which was fenced off a few years ago to protect it. It stands south of the old library where my meeting was. The sunset turned the leaves a shade of gold which wasn't visible to the naked eye, but the camera picked it up. 

FLAG STOP: an alternative contemporary art event was a great way to spend an evening

On Friday night I attended the opening of a three day art event in Torrance,  CA called "FLAG STOP: an alternative contemporary art event" co-sponsored by the local Lexus dealer and the Switzer Learning Center.

In addition to the spacious Lexus service center and showroom filled with art, 50 PODS were rented which each became a mini-art gallery of its own. This story in the Easy Reader explains it all.

I was attending with friends and managed to take a few photos before I was spirited away for dinner out. Not everyone is as tolerant of contemporary art as I am, although there were some traditional paintings, photos and installations as well. I loved the concept and look forward to future shows, should they happen.

Below are a few photos I took but with one exception, I don't know the names of most the artists. 

Be sure to double click on this installation to get the full impact of it. As I recall, it was named "Socks," and featured dozens upon dozens of balled up socks. All I could personally think of was all the socks I've somehow lost in the washing machine in my seven decades of life. 

This is another installation that you simply had to experience. Embiggen it to get its impact. I don't know it's name, but I called it "Rubber Room" cause on some days I wish I had it to escape into. 

For those of you who know me well, you knew I would love this one, didn't you? Wish I knew the artists name. I love the red, black, white and gold palette and it fits into my category of art I call femmage. 

I do know the name of this artist: Gloria D. Lee. Her studio is in San Pedro and every show I see her in, it's her work I vacillate toward.

So, what did you do on your Labor Day Weekend? 

Earthquake Warning San Pedro Style

This evening I drove up to San Pedro to the Loft Artist Studios and Gallery at 401 Mesa St., near the Los Angeles Harbor, for an artists reception. Hosted by Gallery Azul, this show was called "Woman and the Apple." The 'hood where the gallery is located is a bit iffy and at first I thought the old brick building was closed because of the black iron gates across the doors. I parked the car and saw this ever-so-California warning sign etched on the glass of one of the doors. 

I walked around to the rear of the old building and found that was the entrance. I've been there before, but the old three-floor warehouse (a customs house, I think, in the olden days) always takes my breath away. The floors are dirt and concrete on the first level and stacked high with boxes. A very rickety staircase takes you up to where the lofts and gallery are. It's a wonderful gallery once you get inside--a ton of character and some excellent artists paint and create there.  

I went specifically to see a painting by someone in my artists group, Cindy Parker-Cooke, whose work intrigues me, and someone I've written about before at Sacred Ordinary. I loved her painting that was on display with the others tonight. It's called "Magdalena Adriana in the Garden in Her Red Party Dress." 

Here are two other photos of other paintings in the show. 

Next I drove down to the harbor and watched one of the huge freighters go by in the channel and then went home to watch "Never Let Me Go" on Netflix, smelly Mollie by my side. It's bath time for her tomorrow. This film really creeped me out. 

My day started beautifully with a nice breakfast out with my daughter and granddaughter and now I'm ending it with you. I'm in a very funky mood which I hope has gone away by morning--nothing bad, just a feeling of unsettledness. Our Carmageddon 405 freeway closure this weekend has been anti-climatic. In fact, even in my neck of the woods traffic was really light. I guess everyone either stayed home or went out of town. 

Happy 4th of July From Redondo Beach, CA

My next door neighbor Nancy invited us all for BBQ and fun late this afternoon. After we ate, we went to Jane's deck which faces west right over the Redondo Beach Pier where we watched the fireworks, wore silly hats, screamed USA in unison, and ate yummy watermelon and chocolate. What a fun day this was. 

Mollie came to the BBQ at Nancy's, too, and gave me a big kiss. 

We watched the sunset over the Redondo Beach Pier from Jane's deck. 

Here we are reveling on the 4th, proud to be Americans. This is Jane's deck and she provided hats with two pin wheels on the top. Her deck had a breeze and our hats spun merrily. This is Maddy, Nancy's granddaughter, her son Kevin, Jane, Nancy, Julia and Sonia. I'll write a post on Kevin McQuiston soon as he is a DJ and singer/songwriter in Pennsylvania. He serenaded us before and after the fireworks.

 

So, what did you do today? 

Personal First Day of Summer in Sunny Southern California

Though we are well into official summer, today felt like the first day of my personal summer. 

• Day started early playing with my grandsons Henry and Fritz while their parents ran.
• I actually made a huge dent in cleaning the garage. 
• Wrote in my handwritten journal for an hour on the patio.
• I grocery shopped at Vons, Sprouts and the 99 Cent Store. 
• I turned the fan on for the first time this season while I read for an hour. 
• BBQ'd bratwurst, corn on the cob, and will soon have a fresh peach smoothie with Greek Gods Honey Yogurt. 
• Walked with Mollie for an hour on the Esplanade right on the Redondo Beach Harbor with camera in tow. Dogs are such ice breakers. Talked to several total strangers. 
• Soon I will spread out in the TV room to watch Hereafter and work on a few SoulCollage cards. 

Following are a few photos from tonight with more to come tomorrow. There is not a day goes by that I don't say thank you for ending up living in Redondo Beach, CA. 

This is the corner of Torrance Blvd. and Catalina St., one block from my house. 

Several things, including dogs, are not allowed on the beach. You can see the pier behind this sign at Ruby and Esplanade. Note: no smoking on the beach! There were hundreds of people on the sand and still swimming tonight. The marine layer is in, however, which means Monday's fireworks will be harder to view if the layer continues to gather at night. It's glorious to fall asleep with the sea lions barking in the harbor. They hang out on the buoy bell. 

This is Mollie resting up after her walk, the longest she has had for a while.