343/365

Day 343 was the start of a project long promised, and the deadline is fast approaching. This one is pretty neat for multiple reasons, one of which is because it is a pattern only. No kit. I get to decide the colors (since I seem unable to stick to the original) and the fabric.

It's going to be pretty. Unlikely that I finish it during the 365 project, and even if I do, it can't be revealed. But I'll post a picture eventually.

342/365

You know, when I'm all said and done with this project, I'm curious to see how many pictures of sushi end up in the project, and specifically, how many from this particular place.

A) sushi is by nature a really pretty food to take pictures of. It's an art form itself, but also a tasty treat - and for me and my roommate, a roomie tradition when I get back in town from a job or significant time away.

But also, when I'm back in town, I'm doing the mundane stuff on my at-home to-do list which quite often isn't that exciting and photographable. So the most interesting part of my day turns out to be dinner out, and more often than not, its sushi at our regular place.

341/365

Back in 2004, I was invited to join LA Opera's production department as an intern. My boss was CS. It was a fun year and after that internship, I was hired on for the following season. She taught me a lot, and her name certainly is well known throughout the industry.

I had moved away to Houston when the phone call came that CS had suddenly passed away. This was totally unexpected (she was not ill, per se) and the opera world reeled. Almost everyone knew her, many of us had worked with her, at any of the various places she had worked over her career.

A good number of us made it to LA for the funeral, and an almost equal number were unable to attend due to their then current jobs. But the turnout was good, and the memories and stories were great.

So when I was in LA this April, I knew I had to go visit and pay my respects. I wanted to leave her flowers, and when we went to purchase them, there was no doubt. This bouquet practically leapt out of its bucket and begged to be bought. Sure, roses would have been lovely, but these gerbera daises reminded me so much of her. Of her hair. Of her personality. Of her energy and love for opera.

As she is famous for saying, "Life is short, Opera is long"

We miss you, CS.

340/365

That, my dear readers, is heaven on a plate. Right there. Slippery shrimp and dry sauteed green beans. From Yang Chow, one of the best chinese resturants ever... which is located in Los Angeles, CA. And coincidentally, one of these was exactly 3 blocks up the street from me.

I was introduced to this lovely resturant at work, and visited the one in Chinatown often... but I later went to this one because of its convenience.

Slippery shrimp is amazing... actually, pretty much anything on their menu is amazing but slippery shrimp is what they're famous for.

So next time you're in LA, make the detour and go. You won't regret it. I promise.

Task #48 - Complete

48. See a sunrise or sunset on a beach.

I didn't do this one on purpose per se. I rarely went to the beach when I was in LA, (mostly due to traffic and laziness, plus beaches on the West Coast are not known for their warmth or lack of winds).

But LV and I bundled up (as one would for a chilly LA night) and headed towards the beach. The wind was pretty brisk and regretted not bringing a kite. We walked the beach, picking up shells, shell bits and smoothed glass along the way. We stopped and sat down... and then we stayed long enough for me to see an actual sunset.

I wasn't born yesterday, I have seen the sun set before. But I actually literally "watched" this one sink lower and lower. The pictures below were taken between 7:19:42-7:34:10 pm.

Go to flickr to see the larger ones, they're shrunk here for space...

339/365

My little imprint on the world... or in this case, the beach. More on the beach tomorrow.

338/365

Day 338 was our trip to Death Valley. March 2005 was Death Valley's big famous bloom. LA & the surrounding areas had had a very wet winter, and that apparently means that Death Valley retains the moisture and allows a plethora of wildflowers to bloom. So LV and a few friends and I made the trip back then. That was about a week before it became enormously popular and the park was flooded with visitors.

This past winter had apparently been similar in its rainfall and moistness but we weren't quite sure the bloom would be reminiscent of the Great Bloom of 2005.

I've uploaded pictures both from this time and last time to a flickr set here for you to look more indepth. I've included a few comparisons here. There's certainly flowers that we found last time that we didn't find this time, and there were definitely flowers we found anew this time around.

A quick summary of both trips:

2005: original Great Bloom, a night in the sand dunes, discovering dodder (a bright orange parasitic plant), seeing actually water in Badwater Basin.

2010: almost-as-good bloom, a hike in the warm sand dunes, discovering what dodder actually is called, seeing oodles of salt and feeling temperatures up to 101° while in Death Valley and understanding its name, discovering tiny but hardy new-to-us flowers.

2005 Bloom:



2010 Bloom:



2005 View from Natural Bridge Trailhead:


2010 View from Natural Bridge Trailhead:

(See the water?)



(No water here.)

Some of my wildflower favorites, labeled properly thanks to a handy brochure I picked up at the Visitor's Center. Incidentally, our trip in 2010 coincided with Free Week in National Parks.





These flowers were so tiny that we almost missed them. I wished I had thought to put a penny down so you could see the scale. The gravel below them is small... and doesn't look like it in the photo.



Same here, very tiny flowers...



We found TONS of these, and LV thinks we didn't find many last time.





I think I need to hope for a good rain again in 5 years and make another trip. A CA tradition, perhaps?

337/365

Not every day can be exciting. Day 337 was a semi-lazy day, followed by an evening drive towards Death Valley, CA. Our stop at the Motel 6 included this never-before-seen-by-me bedspread. Motel 6 seems to have taken unique hotel bedspreads to a new level.

Day 338 will be much more interesting, I promise. A lot of uploading/retagging/researching is happening in preparation for the next big post.

336/365

Day 336 involved a trip to the LA Arboretum, and a lot of phototaking. I took 529 pictures, and managed to narrow it down to 112. There just was too much pretty not to share.

That same reason is why I could not just put this single picture in this post... so here are some more of my favorites, in no particular order:











There are many more, check out the Los Angeles Arboretum Set if they don't seem to appear on the first page... I've been rather prolific with photos this week.

335/365

Day 335 found us on a hike in LA, to see views from up above. It was a very vertical hike, but well worth it. We saw quite the array of wildflowers and ladybugs, but thankfully no mountain lions as warned by several signs.

There were many great pictures, which were uploaded to flickr, but this one was one of my favorites.

334/365

I'm trying to think, and I think that its quite possible that in my 2 or so years in living in Southern California that I never made it to Disneyland. It's not like I've been deprived of the Disney experience, I've been to Disney World, but I think I never quite made it to Disneyland.

Well Day 334 brought me that opportunity. A good friend of mine, VTF, was also in town (having also moved away from SoCal) and was taking her girls to Disneyland. Of course I wanted to see her, but the bonus of it all was that we were going with some friends of hers and one of those friends had a connection and we got in for free.

It was VTF, her two girls, me, a friend with a son, and a friend with two sons, one of whom was an infant. I spent part of the day enjoying the rides with kids of various ages and sometimes just watching the 9 month old nap so that kids could go on rides with with their moms. I had an absolute blast the entire time!

I really wish I had worn a pedometer that day because I think we walked my feet off and I strengthen some upper body muscles by pushing a double stroller.

I will say this, Disney is not for the faint of heart. So many distractions to the young ones! And at the full price of a regular ticket, you could definitely see other families trying to get their money's worth.

Another bonus of the day: seeing Disney "Secret Service" trying to block off portions of the park for a VIP (whom we never figured out the identity of). My only picture of this phenomenon did not quite do it justice...

333/365

Say hello to Spat, my friend LV's kitty. I remember him from when Spat was a wee kitten. After a very early morning, I arrived in LA and was having flashbacks almost immediately to place. Its amazing how much stuff I remembered from so many years ago.

332/365

Day 332 found me packing up again, but this time for fun. I used to live in Los Angeles, from about 2004-2006, and still have friends there. Thanks to a Southwest Airlines voucher and AAdvantage miles, I made my trip out there to visit friends and favorite restaurants for not too much.

This was a long overdue trip and fun will be had. And good food, too.

p.s Who knew that packing for fun and not work could be so easy?

331/365

Day 331 found me on a whirlwind tour of Washington University's campus with an alum, and when we went into the new student union, we found this display. Apparently it is Sexual Assault Awareness month, and WU has dedicated at least a week or month's worth of activities, including "Walk a Mile in Her Shoes" (that we saw later on that morning) which is a bunch of men walking a mile in heels to raise awareness. This particular Walk a Mile In Her Shoes was done by an all male group dedicating themselves to making men more aware about what constitutes sexual assault, how to prevent it, etc.

These shirts were clearly a display of real stories of domestic violence/sexual assault, etc. These three are particularly heart-wrenching.

I'm lucky enough to have not had personal experience with domestic violence or sexual assault or anything like it, but I do have friends who have. Ladies, this entry and Day 331 are dedicated to you. For being survivors of such a terrible thing, for letting your voice be heard to help others. I'm proud of each and every one of you.

And I'm really proud of the three individuals who have these stories on these three shirts. I'm so terribly sorry you had to go through this, but your stories caught my eye, gave me pause and my few minutes of time spent reading led to me talking about it all day, and again here.

Thank you for sharing your stories so that we may hopefully prevent others from happening.

330/365

Day 330 was a quiet day, and thusly, it was hard to find something at my house (which I virtually never left) to photograph that I haven't already.

This is a side table in our living room that is very attractively mosaic-ed.

329/365

Two friends were in town for a wedding and crashing with me, and one of them went to school here. We hunted down Ted Drewes, a St Louis classic and landmark, something I hadn't had in years, JG hadn't had since he left, and BW has never had. Good frozen custard was had by all!

328/365

I really do love these animals, the sifakas. I recently discovered that a few of the species in the primate house have outdoor runs and I spent a good 45 minutes trying to catch the sifakas sitting still. Unfortunately, they were hyper and their cage wire is really non-conducive to good photography. But I managed to catch a few... and of other animals. A lot of animals were napping that morning.

327/365

I love spring... it brings blooms, cool but not chilly weather and unfortunately, pollen. Day 327 found my car COATED in pollen. Thankfully, a few hours later, an April shower washed it all away.

326/365

Day 326 found me at the Missouri Botanical Garden... there were oodles of flowers (though not as many as in peak season) and oodles of photos to put my daily label on, but the beautiful simplicity of this photo made me chose this one.

325/365

You know what they say about April showers... they bring May flowers. And boy are there showers in April. I got caught in two (or maybe the same) cloudburst. One second nothing, the next second DOWNPOUR. Those May flowers better be worth it...

324/365

Happy Easter! For me, its an excuse to eat lots of sugar and chocolate - and for this year, reprieve from my massive to-do list. For others, there's definite significance.

However you celebrate Easter, I hope it was with friends and/or family.

323/365

Day 323 included exploring the Compton Hill water tower. I "grew" up around it because my elementary school best friend lived nearby. We'd go there to sled in the winter.

The tower actually masks a standpipe that is 5 feet wide and 100 feet tall, which was revolutionary in the time for water delivery. It was built and put into service in 1899. It's 179 feet tall and built in French Romanesque style. One must climb 198 spiral steps to reach the top of the tower to enjoy the views.

The actual tower was retired in 1929, became a city landmark in 1966 and a national landmark in 1972. It was occasionally open to the public up until 1984 because of building deterioration. In 1999, the tower reopened after a four year renovation.

If you live in St Louis, or love great views (and can handle the climb), you should go see it. It's well-worth the $5 entry fee.

Information from the Compton Hill Water Tower brochure

Upon further research, I learned that there are only seven remaining towers like Compton Hill, and three of them are in St. Louis.

Check this out for more information.

313/365-322/365 aka a massive catch-up post

This should catch me up, all the way to today. I had gotten massively behind on posting, but not on taking! I'm so close, I can taste it! I can't believe I've come this far...

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

322/365



On day 322, we planted radishes and carrots in the garden. I would've taken a picture of that, but it just wasn't that visually interesting. Tom came out and joined us and enjoyed the sun and breezes.

321/365



Mmm... it's Girl Scout cookie time. I sold these when I was a Brownie, Junior and Cadette Girl Scout, but I shall never tire of my favorites.

320/365



Finally back in town - which mean roomie night! Sushi at our favorite place and then popcorn and a movie. Except we didn't quite have enough time for a movie but watched TV and had popcorn instead. I love our little traditions.

319/365



Passover a day late. My favorite: matzo ball soup - with matzo balls made by yours truly. (Well, I shaped them... I didn't mix up the recipe...)

318/365



When I got back to St. Louis, I was so over being in the car, that I immediately hopped out and helped out in the garden. This loveliness was there to great me and to beg me to rid the surrounding area of weeds.

317/365



The beginnings of a beautiful (hopefully) project. She will be a ballerina, and this is an extraordinarily complex and covered piece. The finished product will have almost no white fabric showing. I won't finish it within the 365 project, but I will post a picture of it when I'm done to my Flickr photostream.

316/365



Pretty flowers on closing night. The orange-y one is mine from the costume coordinator, and the red one is my host's. I could never tire from photographing roses, they are just stunning.

315/365



The chandelier above the table where we hold game night.

314/365



I saw this sitting out and was just struck by the beautiful color of the glass. It's more intense in person.

313/365



Yet another snowy day in Spring. What is going on with this weather?