Song of the Week - 11

I was among the masses during the 70s that LOVED Led Zeppelin. I should also add that I still LOVE Led Zeppelin. I have mentioned many times here that there was always music in the house I grew up in. My parents' were music lovers and so was my older sister. My younger sister and I fell into this tradition as well.

Also, like so many (particularly teen girls) my notebooks and Pee-Chees were covered with pictures and doodles of rock stars I loved. Not only were the notebooks covered, but my bedroom walls were inundated with posters and pictures. I may not have been able to dictate paint colors for my bedroom, but I was not stopped from hanging posters and pictures!

Flash back to 1976/1977. Zeppelin was touring. Yeah! My two fabulous friends and I HAD to get tickets. We had the concert going bug. Besides, growing up in a small town didn't offer much in those days for teens to do, other than live entertainment or parties. So, the day we knew the tickets for the Zeppelin tour were going on sale found us making the serious decision to ditch school and get our hands on tickets.

Off we went that particular weekday morning. Mind you, this was a time prior to calling a number to purchase concert tickets or going on line to buy them. It was also a time when concert tickets did frequently go on sale during the middle of the week. What really were you to do if not ditch school?

At that time, a department store called May Company had a Ticketmaster. That was a hotspot when tickets were on sale for concerts that were not happening at our local venue. We arrived and stood in line with many a young person, anxiously anticipating the future concert. As the morning went on, the line dwindled. We were getting so close the ticket window. In fact, by the time there were only two people in front of us, the Ticketmaster clerks announced that the show was sold out! Horrors! How could this be? What karmic payback was happening here?

Despair set in to my teenage mind. Surely this was a cruel joke. But, it was not. The shows were sold out. We left dejected and went to the typical teen hangout, our local fast-food drive through. Surely, others would be hanging out bitching about the tickets selling out so early.

1977 was the last year the mighty Zeppelin toured. In 1980, drummer John Bonham died unexpectedly at the ripe old age of 32. Needless to say, we never got that chance to catch the next tour.

Having grown up in a music-filled, religously free, metaphysical thinking house, I got it in my head that this song was somehow "supernatural". I really have no proof of that now, but it was my feelings during my teen years. Somehow, that feeling, although unproven, still hangs on.

What I think is the most underrated Zeppelin song, "The Rover". Enjoy.

The cats of the house - Monkey

Yes, a cat called Monkey. Monkey is the baby cat of the house, and a bit of a "fluffy" guy in stature. He even has a big cat head, according to his vet. He has short cat legs, a teeny little voice, and a desire to be alpha cat. He is famous for "making bread" and drools quite a bit when happily making that bread. Monkey came into my life back in 2005 as just a little kitten.

At that time I was living in a different house. It was in the city, yet seemed to be in the country somehow. The neighborhood was known to have all sorts of wildlife (and I don't mean the neighbors either). There were always visits to the yard by raccoons, skunks, possums, rats and cats. A neighborhood Tuxedo cat we nicknamed Sam would come and hang out in the wicker chair in the yard. One day, he brought his new little friend around. That little friend was Monkey.

It didn't take long before Monkey became a regular fixture in the yard. He was there in the morning and he was there in the evening. Turns out he'd sleep up on the roof at night where he was safe (the house was Spanish style with a flat roof.) I think he was feral. He was hard to lure in and was very skittish. It was always a challenge to catch him, and as time went on, he did seem to express a desire to get closer, but just wasn't terribly trusting.

After a few months, he began to develop a little trust (as best as he could). He had blankets and I even got a Dogloo for him to sleep in when it was cold and rainy out. He never used it though, only the skunks found it interesting. It was pretty cool when he began to trust enough to let you pet him (even if ever so briefly). He even started to come in to the house, but immediately seemed to "snap out of it" and would desperately try to get out. Now, I had a screen door and it was pretty crappy. Even though it was locked, you could always seem to get that door opened, even if you were a little cat pushing against it from inside the house with all your might. Oh yes, the beauty of rental property!

When the time came to move to a new place, we had to catch Monkey in the morning and put him in the cat carrier and take him to the vet to be neutered. Louie and Petey also spent that day at the vet so that they would be safe in one place with the action of that day. You see, when you have indoor cats, it is never a good idea to have them roaming around on moving day. Doors are always left open and that can lead to unhappy results.

Once Monkey was neutered and brought to the new house, he seemed to adjust quite well to his new domesticated indoor lifestyle. He and Petey became fast friends and they both love sleeping under my dining room sideboard. The sideboard just happens to be located over a heater vent. When the heater is on, the space between the vented area of the floor and the bottom of the sideboard is quite toasty!



Like Louie and Petey, Monkey is a bright spot and a joy. He is still a little suspicious of humans, but he's slowly learning to relax more when friends come calling.

Historic West Adams District

When I wrote out my 2010 goals, one is to have more fun. In keeping with that, I went on a fabulous bus tour of the Historic West Adams District of Los Angeles. The tour was offered through a local company called Esotouric. If you're in the LA area, I highly recommend them. This was the second tour they offer that I've taken. Well worth the time and the price. It was a beautiful, rain-free day (after nearly an entire week of rain) and just perfect for some photo ops.

We toured neighborhoods, viewing beautiful homes and beautiful architecture. Just amazing. We would also stop in front of various homes to hear tales of a murder or a crime that happened at those exact locations decades ago. We also stopped in front of the house where Marvin Gaye was shot to death by his father. A particularly disturbing fact was that during the 1920s, child abduction, molestation and murder, seemed quite prevalent. Made me think of the movie "The Changeling".

Near the end of the tour, we paid a visit to Angelus-Rosedale Cemetery. What a magnificent place! Founded in 1884, this is the resting place of many notable characters such as Louise Peete (convicted serial killer) and Fernando Lamas. The grounds are kept well and are peppered with flowers and tall palm trees.



What intrigued me the most about this cemetery was all the headstones and mausoleums. I felt like I was in New Orleans. I had no idea that a cemetery with so many headstones exists in LA. These became my photo op.

Massive headstones of winged angels and towering crosses with possible guardians on watch:





I can only imagine back at the turn of the last century these amazing sculptures were handmade and surely quite pricey. However, I haven't researched this and could totally be wrong and possibly molds were in existence. After all winged angels, guardians, crosses, and the like, surely was common cemetery decor. Of all the wonderful headstones, the one that mesmerized me was the one I call "The Mourner":



This is something I don't think I've ever seen. I have seen footage and photos of cemeteries, but none that contained anything quite like this "Mourner". It was as if I could feel her pain:



I think I shall have to make another trip there in the future for more photo ops and to see if I can find the graves of the notable "residents". This trip found me so caught up in photographing the cemetery "art" that I didn't think to look for the famous.

Song of the Week - 10

Music and song has always been a big part of my life. I grew up in a house where music was always on (or at least when the TV was off). My mom used to say that there was something wrong with people that did not like music. Probably true. Music is so vast and has made such a huge contribution to the world. No matter what your taste, there is surely something out there for you.

I have been doing a lot of reflecting lately. Not sure why. Maybe it's just normal. We get older, our lives change and take off in a direction that might be unfamiliar. I also believe that as we get older, we do get bolder. There's a sense of freedom to getting older. You can finally be OK with what you feel and think and not really be too concerned that your peers may find that odd. Actually, peers that are your friends, tend to be around for that ride, and can lend a great deal of support.

What I've learned over the years is that I (and most people really) are constantly changing and evolving. Oftentimes, that is good. Sometimes, it is a scary thing, and sometimes a sad thing. Losing what was once a part of you, can be both frightening and liberating. Our ideas and perspectives change. We sometimes even find that we don't recognize the person we once were. Is that really bad? Probably not, as being stagnant would be far worse, in my opinion.

What exactly does all this have to do with the song this week? I don't really know, other than I have spent a lot of time reflecting lately and feel this song addresses that. My reflection is evident in many aspects of my life. It plays a big part in my art, my thoughts, my journals and how I respond to things now compared to how I responded to things when I was in, say, my 20s. Shooting from the hip is much less a part of the current me. Sometimes I feel I'm less of a bitch than I used to be, but sometimes I feel I'm more of one. I completely embrace that, yet, when I was younger, the concept of changing seemed foreign to me. I'm glad that is no longer an issue. I think the inability to change and grow would truly be a drag. I can't even imagine now, being "stuck" where I was 20+ years ago. Could it be I've actually learned something about aging? Could it be that I'm handling the seasons of my life?

My song selection this week is one I love and one that I find haunting. I also think this one is timeless. When I was much younger, I loved many of Stevie Nicks' songs, but never really considered the person, or where these songs came from. Now that I've "grown up", I admire and respect her and in reflecting, am amazed at her ease of talent. Her ability to powerfully say things. Her gift of telling life stories so well through songs that you can't seem to get out of your head, I find amazing. If only more people had that gift (like myself, for one).

Sit back, listen, reflect and enjoy. Maybe this song will somehow talk to you, too.

Lazy Weekend

A lazy weekend indeed. I think it was necessary after the stress of the holidays! Did some of my on-line class, talked to my mom and one of my friends. Read a lot! Slept in. Nice.

That was yesterday. Today, I slept in and ventured out to go on a spending spree. Started with Borders Books. Love that place. I get these fun discount coupons weekly and, being a book junkie, I find it nearly impossible to pass the discounts up. So, at Borders, searching through the Arts and Crafts books, I came across an obviously misplaced book. Surely this must have been meant for me to find. It fits right in with my 2010 goal of being a better housekeeper. Plus, the graphics in this book and on the cover are just so fab! The book I picked up is called "No-Hassle House Cleaning". I can't wait to dive into that. I really need to do some house cleaning as I have friends coming next weekend. We will be going on a scandal-filled bus tour of the West Adams district of LA. This will be followed by food, fun and revelry at my hopefully clean house.



I also went to Fresh & Easy, Trader Joe's and Target to spend even more money. Since all the local weather reports said the upcoming week of pretty much non-stop rain was not starting until tonight, I ventured out on this spending spree without my umbrella or raincoat. It's a damn good thing I don't bother spending lots of time blow drying my hair into a straight style of some sort since the clouds opened up early and the drops of rain began to fall!

When I got home I decided I wanted to make not one, but two dishes. New vegetarian recipes I came across. Both recipes contain red lentils. I should add that the house smells really good.

One is a red lentil and barley casserole



and the other is a red lentil and artichoke stew



Funny (or maybe sad) how the weekends just fly by. Tomorrow, I begin a new work schedule at the day job. It's called the 9/80 work week. This basically means, you work 9 hour days Monday through Thursday, 8 hours on Friday, repeat Monday through Thursday the following week, and then have that Friday off! I can't wait. I think my first assignment for the off Friday will be to have the landlord replace my archaic electric stove top. Said stove top, completely shut off while I was sauteeing onions and carrots for the casserole. A cooks worst nightmare. Who's idea was it to make electric stove tops anyway? Surely, not a cook.

Relief and Aid for Haiti

Like so many people, I have been touched by the devastation of the recent earthquake in Haiti. I am also touched by all the outpouring of support from the people of the world. Humanitarian is defined as concern for human welfare, especially as manifested through philanthropy and the belief that the sole moral obligation of humankind is the improvement of human welfare. To me, being a humanitarian has nothing to do with politics or religion. It's beyond that - it's human (humane).

If you are inspired to donate, there are many avenues available that should suit any political or religious viewpoint.

You can also contribute by participating in an art auction. A local Southern California mixed-media artist, Shari Beaubien, is auctioning off an original painting. Starting bid is $60. The bidding will be open until midnight, Friday, January 22, 2010. What's cool about this auction is that the total donation will be made through her husband's employer, Warner Bros, to one of the following charities: American Red Cross, International Rescue Committee, CARE, and/or UNICEF (all established relief organizations currently on the ground in Haiti) and that Warner Bros will match whatever donations they get dollar for dollar. So, not only can you help, but you might just get a cool piece of original art.

If you're a creative-type, you can also take an on-line workshop. Another Southern California artist, Mary Ann Moss, is offering a workshop and if you enroll between January 16 -31st, 100% of the proceeds will be donated to The Red Cross Haitian Relief Fund. The cool thing here is not only are you helping out, you are going to get a fun and inspiring stenciling workshop!

Coincidence or Divine Timing?

Does coincidence really exist? According to dictionaries, coincidence is the occurrence of events that happen at the same time by accident but seem to have some connection; also : any of these occurrences; a striking occurrence of two or more events at one time apparently by mere chance: Our meeting in Venice was pure coincidence.

According to metaphysics, nothing happens by mere chance. There is a reason for everything and a "divine" timing. Oddly enough, I can relate to the Divine timing theory, even though I'm not what you'd call a "religious" person. In fact, I'm turned off by a lot of the religious dogma. I am comfortable with the concept of a time for things to manifest, although, I'm have never been comfortable when that time doesn't jive with what I want. I was not raised to believe that there is a God and a Devil out there, both trying to get your soul. I am so thankful for that, BTW. I was raised to believe that the "Devil" is a sort of fable; not a horned creature hiding in the shadows, waiting to steal my soul, but rather a concept of the negative aspects that we can attach ourselves to and buy into.

I was raised with the idea that things will happen when we are ready for them and that "God" (or whatever you wish to call it) gives us what we can handle when we can handle it. All is in a "divine" order. Again, I was not raised to believe in traditional religious dogma, and am very, very thankful for that.

So, where am I going with this? I'll tell you. As I've mentioned here many times, I'm searching for my grandmother, Lola. A few odd chain of events occurred over the past two days.

Yesterday, one of my co-workers was telling me that all the information available on ancestry.com (a pay-for vehicle for genealogical research) is available for free at the LA City Library's website. She promised to send me that link. Then today, my PI friend sent me a message that she spoke with a woman from the State hospital where Lola was incarcerated and that this woman was gathering information to send, per our request. My PI friend had sent the original request before Thanksgiving and followed up today due to lack of communication from the hospital. Within minutes of receiving this message from my PI friend, another co-worker started to tell me about the LA City Library's site.

Well, how's that for timing? When my PI friend sent me her message, I was definitely choked up. Maybe they will be able to answer my many questions about Lola - did she die there? Was she released to anyone in particular? What were the dates of her time there? Since I cannot find anything to date about Lola after the 1930 census, this possibility is exciting.