Between storms 01-23-10

As always, when I want to see a distant view I go to the top of Bastanchury ("Bas-tan-chur-ee". It is a Basque name) hill. The view to the west of downtown Los Angeles can only been seen on very clear days. Usually it is smogged out. A daylight filter would crisp up the image, but no provision for that on my 'point and shoot' Canon.

The view to the north shows the mountains solidly covered with snow floating on clouds that block part of the view. When I went up the hill there were no clouds - just white mountains agains a very blue sky, but by the time I came back in an hour the clouds had gathered and so had the lookers and photographers. This image was resized from 4000 X 3000 pixels to 400 X 300 pixels.

I see this fellow with his high end camera equipment whenever there is a very clear day. I wonder if he is up there every morning - I'm not! I did not resize this image, so it is 4000 X 3000. I suppose it transmits very slowly. Fortunately I have found the camera box with all the papers and instructions - it was sitting on top of the TV. Considering how seldom I watch TV I may not have found it for months, but I was checking on the TV weather forecast and 'clang' my brain registered what my eyes were not seeing. So, now I have adjusted the camera to take images at a lower compression, which is what I need for e-mailing and the SQG newsletter.

I am in LBeach with Corky this evening - his parents should be home soon and I will drive home and sew for a couple hours. Unless I go to sleep at the sewing machine. 8>))))

Smile from a knitter 01-23-10

Knitter or not!

My dear friend Marion, a recent immigrant from San Francisco to Seattle sent me this lovely little clip from You Tube.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M6ZjMWLqJvM

"It Doesn't Matter" quilt blocks 01-22-10

Here are ten blocks I started the other day. I have discovered that it DOES matter to me if the colors work together - maybe not MATCH, but at least coordinate slightly.

These blocks are not all the same size, but after I have added a few more strips I will square them up and perhaps add yet another round of strips.

The high water mark was even higher today. We had the full range of storm 'symptoms" - rain, hail, wind, cold (for us anyway), thunder and lightning. We have something around ten inches of rain now and more storms lined up in the Pacific. It is going to be a GREAT wildflower spring.

More weather 01-21-10

When I came out of my appointment about 3pm the wind was really whipping the trees around, but it was not raining. There were two helicopters hanging in the sky (one is just barely visible over the 2nd palm from the right) - how do they do that? I can only guess they were news choppers because they both left about the same time. There are colorful pennants on wires over the used car lot, but they are flying sideways so don't show in the picture.
As I drove into my garage the rain started pounding down, though the sun was shining to the west.

I wondered if my neighbor realized that all that water was overshooting his downspout and cascading right into the back of his pickup! Since he was at work there was nothing I could do.

Tuesday when I came home it was too dark to see out in the backyard, but Wednesday morning I looked out and saw that we had a lake that had drained away, leaving a high water mark on the retaining wall. Looks like it was between five and six inches deep.

Today, after the downpour stopped, I checked out back again and the backlog wasn't quite so deep. I do worry sometimes about how much this wall can take - when it was built I thought they were digging for China! The building inspector came twice and insisted that the foundation needed to be deeper - perhaps he knew what he was talking about. You can tell how steeply the slope drops off on the other side.

This was also Wednesday looking over the slope and flood control channel into the park. I fear that all this water will be too late to save the coastal redwood trees which have been so stressed from three years of drought. There are some deodors mixed in, but they seem a bit more drought resistant - not much, though.
The storms will continue today but the weekend should give us a few days for the water to soak in, then another storm front approaches. One interesting fact learned from the TV weatherman is that SCalifornia has more tornadoes than any other area west of the Rocky Mountains. I experienced one more than twenty-five years ago when we lived in Fullerton and it left me with a very healthy fear. Guess I'd rather have an earthquake - they are, at least, familiar!

Long day today 01-19-10

This photo is just for atmosphere - it was not taken today, but in June 2005 on a highway in Colorado. Today's rain was 100X as heavy!
This morning I was in San Clemente at the board meeting and then had lunch down there. That put me right in the middle of the 'weather spectacular' - tornado warnings and all! I wasn't sure if I was going to drown, blow away, be smashed by a falling tree or just flip my lid and run for the hills! The rain was comparable to what I experienced in Missouri and Indiana a few years ago - 2004 and 2007 - which chased me off the Interstate to find a place to hideout until the storm cell blew through. I almost got off I-5 at Junipero Serra, but there are a lot of trees just off the right side of the road and they were whipping like they were doing a St. Vitus dance. I was afraid the branches, or even the whole trees, would come down on me. Everyone was just crawling along, so I just crawled along with them. Big wreck at I-5 and Jamboree, so I got off at Culver and cut over to Irvine Blvd and thence up Jamboree. I frequently take Jamboree when I am traveling at high traffic times and I knew it would be clear. And it was. The sun came out and I had to put on my sunglasses. So much wetness - the glare was terrible. More of the same is predicted for tomorrow. AND Thursday. Rainy, stormy days are good to stay home and sew - right?
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Presaging the storm fronts 01-18-10

These clouds presaged today's storm. Very odd looking and widely separated 'rafts' of clouds, but where there were no clouds the sky was so clear it hurt my eyes to look at all that blue.

Just a few miles further on the 22 Fwy I took this shot of Saddleback with a ruffled scarf of white cloud. The bank of clouds behind the mountain continued to grow and eventually most of the sky was covered.

My new Canon camera is okay. I just can't figure it out! Somehow I have managed to turn off the flash (am I haunted or something?) and though I try to follow the instructions in the book, I cannot seem to change it back to ON. I have the instruction book, which I put in my handbag with the knowledge that I would need to refer to it many times. But I put the disc and all the other paper back in the box to look at later and I put the box in some logical place for safekeeping. My logic seems to have deserted me now and I cannot find the box.

I cannot seem to switch to twenty-ten and am still writing and typing 2009. I do believe that complete senility is just around the corner.

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Rain! 01-17-10

The TV Weatherman was correct - it did start raining today. Not heavy, but just pleasant. He promises that this coming week will present us with a genuine 'rain event' with rain every day, heavy at times. It may be another El Nino year. No picture tonight and early to bed.

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Animal Love 01-16-10

Sometimes we all need some good news, some reminder that there is brightness and kindness in the world. I always appreciate it when an Internet friend sends me something cheerful about animals. Many times they seem to offer the only loving news available.

The information that came with this set of pictures was: " A lady in Harrisburg has a cat who greets a special visitor every morning." I don't know any more information about these images.

See the rest of the pictures at: http://picasaweb.google.com/DELQLTS/CatAndDeerLoving011610_files?authkey=Gv1sRgCJS9zNv8tpSCfw#