Captions of the day
December 14, 2001 - October 13, 2002

Captions after these
the last picture of the day

back home
121401 Christine was in California for Thanksgiving and I got to spend an afternoon with her in Long Beach. It was nice and rainy, and I met her family. This was taken right before I locked my keys in the car.
121501 This is from a workshop that I taught at LACMA. This little boy, with the help of his family, had made this mini installation. He was very proud, as you can see.
121601 This is Brisi and Sarai with Kate (Brisi's niece) in the middle. They're posing during sunset at Spiraling Orchard, the park I work at in downtown LA. Brisi and Kate are trying to look like sexy models, and Sarai was just confusedly trying to follow Brisi's instructions, failing, but looking more like a model anyway.
121701 This is more of a picture of yesterday, when I went out for coffee with my brother Josh. We're at The Hub, a coffeehouse in Fullerton. That's my tea is the foreground.
121801 This is my bathroom.
121901 This photo was taken for a project about displaying myself. The view is from the back door of my apartment, looking into my kitchen.
122001 If you haven't been there, this is part of the fabulous chinatown wishing well. It is large and covered with cups marked, "lotto" "suerte" and "health", things like that. I especially like the spray paint dots. You really should see it.
122101 I finally got a tv. This one used to be Garret's, it's old and sturdy. I think he had it since elementary school. A tv in your bedroom in elementary school! I didn't have a tv in my room until I was 26!
122201 Here's a picture from last summer. It's Alejandra and Isias, who live next to the park that I work at. This picture was taken when I had only known them a couple months, the first time I brought a camera to the park. Taking pictures that day was the first time I noticed how comfortable we had become with each other.
122301 Mom, Josh and I went down to Escondido to visit Grandma and exchange Christmas presents. Josh's back hurt badly, we didn't know why, and asprin didn't seem to help. Grandma offered Josh some Horse Liniment, which mom rubbed on his back. That helped a little, and smelled minty.
122401 Here's Holly, not actually on Christmas Eve but in the parking lot outside her annual Christmas party. She had had a few drinks, but still managed (as always) to be quite charming.
122501 Christmas at the Weesha cabin. Merry Christmas.
122601 Ok so this is a really good story. At the park today, we found an old, rotting crate that someone had dumped by the alley. We opened it and found dozens of photographs from the 20's, all of this woman who called herself "Valdeo". She seems to have moved out here from Chicago (where she was a dancer) around 1920 in hope of becoming a star. It didn't work, and she was stuck with all these pictures of herself in costume.
122701 This is a picture of Lauren and Lesley, Julia's sisters, from last summer. They're in their kitchen in Santa Monica, making a good dinner. I saw Julia today, but didn't take any pictures of her.
122801 Here's Diane at Millie's. This picture was taken a couple of months ago, she drove in from the valley for an interview and met Carla and I for lunch.
122901 Hop Louie has the coolest building. I don't think they actually use the tower, but I like to imagine someon'e little restaurant office up there. It's right next door to the Chinatown office of ARTScorpsLA (where I work). It's the short building to the right of Hop Louie, the one with the blank sign over the door.
123001 I totally won this Monopoly game. That's my mom with her money all neatly lined up, there. Holly was the third player and is not in this picture because she had left the room after being so thoroughly trounced.
123101 Happy New Year!
I wish for you nymphs, bacchante and costumes and fabulous as these.
010102 A cold, dry day in the San Bernadino mountains.
Happy first day of 2002.
010202  
010302 I'm sure this snow is gone by now, there's been sunny days since then. Again with the San Bernadino mountains, this one taken Christmas Eve on a hike with my mom.
010402 Barnsdall Art Park is under construction. It has a long and venerable history that I can't really go into here, but it involves oil millionaires, socialists, looting, Frank Lloyd Wright and many artists. They're tearing it all up, supposedly to make it better but I don't know, I'm pretty worried about it. It's really such a great place and such a genuinely good part of Hollywood and LA and I'll just be so sad if it's ruined. Here it is through the construction fence.
010502 This one kind of goes with the one of my bathroom. But this is my kitchen.
010602 Here's another in the Chinatown series. I like this because you can see how this part of Chinatown is kind of really cool and kind of decrepit.
010702 These are big houses on Franklin, the street that separates the Hollywood Hills from just Hollywood. You can guess which side of the street these are on. I especially liked the little fringe of bushes hanging down the wall.
010802 Here's the view from my parking space out onto my street, Harvard Blvd.
010902 Not the most attractive picture of me, but it has its merits. My digital camera (which I use to take all these pictures) can turn around so that the lens is facing me while the little view monitor is facing me. So here we all are, looking at the screen and trying to fit in (poor Alejandra isn't quite making it back there). Brisi, who has an instinct for self-promotion, is the one looking right into the camera. Those are Esther's huge, pretty eyes in the forground. I like this picture because you can really see us responding to the camera, and the camera kind of becomes part of the picture.
011002 Well, if you're going to make a website you might as well put pictures of yourself on it.
011102 This is the view from my back door.
011202 Here's me again. I've been spending time at home.
011302 Yesterday Mom, Coco and I met at the Watts Towers. I took a bunch of pictures and at dinner afterwards Coco looked through them and chose which one would be on the webpage. However, she wanted it cropped. I don't usually crop my pictures. But, she is my grandmother, it's almost her birthday and it does look good this way, so here it is: Coco's choice for today.
011402 Sometimes, when I'm stuck in traffic, I take pictures from the car.
011502 Here's another view of the Watts Towers, this time with Mom and Coco looking up at them. See how tiny they look?
011602 Mom's taking a picture of me. There are nice shadows on the ground (of guess what?).
011702 Brisi has managed to get herself into three of these Pictures of the Day, and she doesn't even know how to use a computer. Whenever I pull out a camera, she's all over it. But this time her brother, Brian, managed to steal the shot with his little hand signal there. Isias is looking for an out, he ran out of the picture right after it was taken.
011802 This is Karen and Scott's house in Maine. I stayed there over the weekend, before going to Caleb's wedding in Massachusetts. Isn't it beautiful? I'm so happy for them to live in such a place. And I was so happy for me that I got to stay there. Very quiet. Snowy.
011902 Snowy walk in snowy Maine. Icy puddle and gurgling stream.
012002 Caleb and Johanna Wright got married today, January 20, 2002. So, so happy.
012102 I got to the airport a little before 6 in the morning. Here's sunrise over TF Green airport in Rhode Island.
012202 This is Karen. You saw her house on the 18th. Her nose is pink because it was very, very cold.
012302 Back to sunny California. Irvine, in this case. It's a playground by my mom's house.
012402 This is my parking lot in the evening when the lights are on. Last night the power was out for a few hours, and it didn't look like this at all. I'd never seen my street lit by moonlight, it looked completely different.
012502 Cake and coffee makes an excellent lunch. This was really good. And I dedicate it to Coco, because it's her birthday. Happy birthday Coco.
012602 Mercy lived next door to the park I work at. She died last year, before I started working there. She was a teenager, died in a car accident. On the one year anniversary of her death the neighborhood had a candlelight procession that ended at the park, where her father made this shrine on our bench. It's been there a few weeks now, he's talking about building a permanent one.
012702 Me fooling around, Garret trying to ignore my antics. Not uncommon.
012802 This is Tony, he started working at the park when I did, with a brief hiatus for Teenage Melodrama. My last day is this Wednesday, so I thought I should fit in a tribute to him before I headed out.
012902 This is from a fashion exhibit at LACMA (LA County Museum).
013002 Today was my last day of work at Spiraling Orchard. They threw a "surprise" party for me at Esther and Sarai's house. That's my cake there with the powdered sugar on it.
013102 My party yesterday was at Esther's house. Here she is in her kitchen after the party, eating.
020102 Doesn't this guy look like he's the head of the Playmobile mafia?
020202 Garret and I (that's him there) went to Avila Beach for the weekend. It was very beautiful and nice, as you'll see in the pictures over the next few days.
020302 Here's Garret on the Avila pier. Doesn't it look like an author photo from a book flap?.
020402 Sealions.
020502 Ok, last picture of Avila.
020602 This is from last week, my last day at the park. Garret gave us a balloon hat making kit as a celebratory final gesture. It was, as you can see, well received.
020702 I had a nice walk at sunset today.
020802 I had a nice walk at sunset yesterday. Tangerines.
020902 I took the girls (Esther, Sarai and Tabitha from the park) to the zoo today. They're petting that goat while it tries to nibble on Tabitha's jacket. I don't' know the yellow shirt kid.
021002 Here's another street by my house. I like that Trianon building. It has turrets and the big sign on top glows in blue neon at night, just like a real castle.
021102 I liked this tree. It made me think of my grandfather for some reason.
021202 Here's another picture from that same evening in Avila.
021302 Taking pictures of myself in a LACMA bathroom.
021402 Here's me and my valentine. Happy Valentine's Day to you, too.
021502 Shhh! I'm watching the Olympic men's ice dancing competition. Here, look in my medicine cabinet.
021602 Yesterday's picture got a good reception. Looks like you guys like looking in my cabinets...
021702 Today I woke up and decided to go skating on the beach. Really, it's at least half of the point of living in LA.
021802 There were all these sailboats out (easier to see in the larger view - click on the picture) and it was fun to imagine that it was a school of monster sharks circling offshore.
021902 Took a nice break at the Novel Cafe.
022002 Last Sunday Josh, Dad and I visited Grandma.
022102 Visited Skylight Books tonight. Charles didn't want me to take a picture of him, so I just shot his hands.
022202 From a class I'm teaching at Marshall High. Students each got a little rectangle of wood 10 minutes to make something of it.
022302 Here's Sarai at the zoo, from when I took the girls a few weeks ago. She's petting a goat.
022402 Cleaned my bathroom yesterday, including the mannequin arm I keep in the corner.
022502 I have a cold today, so I'm recycling. Here's a picture from a couple weeks ago, the observatory seen from my street through the trees.
022602 I haven't seen Brisi in awhile, but I just heard that she's taking boxing lessons and loving it. Brisi the boxer! I can't imagine anything better.
022702 While stopping at a red light in front of the Beverly Hills Hotel, I took a picture of these poppies in the median.
022802 Again I'm at a red light here, Sunset and Vine. And this fabulous elderly lady wishes Amanda a very happy birthday.
030102 Taught a drawing class at Eagle Rock Magnet yesterday. This was (supposed to be) inspired by Braque.
030202 Mark came down to LA to see other people, but he graced me with a brief visit, as long as I promised to put up a picture on the site in honor of the occation.
030302 This is from when we visited grandma a few weeks ago.
030402 This is from my going away party at Esther's house. Here's Esther and Alejandra in the kitchen.
030502 The Gutter Girls are so called because they (we) started as a bowling group. Now we have branched off into other endeavors, such as this here party last Saturday night.
030602 Voted yesterday. Would have taken better pictures, preferably while voting, but I was afraid that that would make me get yelled at in Armenian, which is unplesant.
030702 Windy day today.
030802 My succulents are looking good.
030902 I share my birthday (more or less) with Katie (8th) and her son William (7th). They were nice enough to add me to their birthday cake. And then their friend Josie showed up and admitted that it was her birthday, too.
031002 On Sunday we had the Rebeccalympics, which was supposed to be my birthday swim meet, but the only competitive sport that made it was blackjack.
031102 This is from the 789 party on the 9th. It was a picnic in Griffith Park by the merry-go-round. That's Griffin (coincidence), Katie's nephew.
031202 When you're waiting for those masks to dry, you have to amuse yourself somehow.
031302 Had a nice day yesterday, walking around downtown. I was walking around downtown looking for Garret's birthday presents, actually, because today is his birthday. I did find him some good things, and on top of all that loot I dedicate this page, indeed this entire website to him. Trying to take and show the best pictures I can, trying to be the best girlfriend I can. Happy birthday, G.
031402 At the tortilla machine in Grand Central Market.
031502 Took the subway. The actual Los Angeles subway.
031602 Downtown LA.
031702 The chandelier at the Central Library.
031802 Mostly what I've been eating recently.
031902 Tags on the sidewalk by my house.
032002 Another tag by my house.
032102 It makes me hungry all over again just looking at it. And those are banana pancakes, to boot.
032202 We drove out to Laughlin, NV today, Mom, Coco, Josh and I. We stopped at a rest area on the way. It was a beautiful day, but windy.
032302 We got to the Grand Canyon in the afternoon. It was extremely windy, and cold. But we were staying at the El Tovar and had a great dinner, so don't feel sorry for us or anything.
032402 When we woke up this morning, it had snowed! We were so suprised, and though it was before 7 we got up to see the Grand Canyon in the snow. Of course, during a snow storm you can't see much. Here's Mom overlooking the Grand Canyon.
032502 Today, driving back from the Grand Canyon to Laughlin, we took Route 66 to Oatman, AZ. It used to be a mining "town" and is now a little tourist stop in the desert, renowned for the tame burros (left over from the mining days) that wander the streets. Here's my family and a family of burros.
032602 Oatman, AZ has another claim to fame besides the burros. After Clark Gable and Carole Lombard got married in Kingman, AZ, they stopped for an hour at the Oatman Hotel. This is the bed they used. It's still a working hotel and seems, sadly, much unchanged. For a $55 "donation" you can spend the night in this bed, but you have to share the single bathroom with the rest of the hotel inhabitants.
032702 I'm now back in LA, but with plenty of pictures of the Grand Canyon left.
032802 Here's Coco, walking ahead of me along the edge of the Grand Canyon.
032902 This is the Oatman Hotel again. This room is only $35 a night, but again, no bathroom. Burros right outside, though.
033002 The Hopi House is next to El Tovar, our hotel, and it looks over the Grand Canyon. There's mom in front if it. We prefer it in the snow.
033102 I know we left a week ago, but I like these pictures a lot and you're just going to keep seeing the Grand Canyon until I'm done with them.
040102 The sun came out and the snow melted pretty quickly.
040202 This is the last one. I know it's obvious, I know you may have seen it yourself, but it is just so, so big.
040302 Did my hand washing yesterday.
040402 In the hotel room.
040502 Gaby and Kaushik are visiting sunny, beautiful Los Angeles, and I am playing tour guide. Here's Kaushik in LACMA, weary from all the excitement.
040602 Continuing the theme of Gaby and Kaushik in LA and in museums, here's Gaby (and a strange man) at the Getty. We did other things besides go to museums, but I'm trying to show you what a cultural tour guide I am.
040702 I was hired by the Fowler Museum (at UCLA) to lead students in creating expressive, personal sculptures based on these little pine boxes. It was part of the "women beyond borders" project. Their final projects are on display at the museum. I'm very proud of them.
040802 Kaushik at a museum again. They're having this photography exhibit about trains at the Getty and they have recordings of trains passing that you can listen to. They were done by O. Winston Link, who made them so that people could hear the trains as they were looking at his photos of them.
040902 We went to the beach yesterday and took pictures, found a little creek and some puppies to play with, it was a good day.
041002 Gaby and Kaushik have gone home, but photos taken while hanging out with them remain. Here's a beach in Malibu we stopped off at. That little stream is from a creek that runs under a bridge. Yesterday's photo is from the other side of the bridge.
041302 This is by the La Brea tarpits (which is where LACMA, the county museum is, because where better to store the county's art treasures than on lakes of tar?), the burial ground of many unfortunate, uncoordinated prehistoric animals that met tar-soaked fates. They have made life-size replicas of the giant sloths that once roamed the area so that we can imagine what it would have been like to walk among them. Or maybe it's a memorial to them.
041402 Malibu.
041502 Using a face mask.
041602 This is the last picture of the grand canyon that you'll see here. Still looks good.
041702 Last night I was supposed to go to karate, but when Rachelle (pronounced "Raquel") invited me over to dinner, I decided to do that instead. It turned into a little pizza party when Scott (her husband) came home and Danielle came over
041802 Getting the pizza out of the oven. An action shot.
041902 I went to the post office to pick up a package, but the line was so long (this was tax day, a few days ago) that I didn't bother. Then it was returned to sender.
042002 Aahhhh. Hawaii. I arrived on this day, the 21st, to be in Megan's wedding and to have a vacation. Holly was my traveling mate and we enjoyed ourselves thoroughly. This is me on the first morning, right after sunrise (wearing my pajama bottoms there).
042102 The big day! Happy wedding day, Megan and Chris! As I was in the wedding I don't have any photos of the wedding, but it was fabulous. Little chapel on a lagoon looking over the ocean at sunset, attractive young couple, vows and leis, etc. Congratulations Megan Leigh Buchholz Gay, my kukenhagen, looking beautiful already here in the beauty salon.
042202 Ok. I know you probably don't think of pie first thing when you think of Hawaii. But if you are ever there on the Kona coast, and if you are a fan of pie (as I am), you must go to The Coffee Shack. You will sit on a little patio overlooking coffee plantations and the coast and the sea, you will drink extremely strong and yummy Kona coffee, and you will eat a slice of macadamia nut pie. Like pecan pie but actually better.
042302 This is Pooler. Holly and I were driving around the mountains in Hawaii, little quiet areas of macadamia orchards and coffee plantations, and we saw a handmade sign that said "Custom Boots". We pulled over and found Pooler taking a nap in a hammock outside of this shoe shed. His yard had chickens and dead shoes used as planters for vines and flowers. He woke up and told us his story, how he went to Hollywood High, learned cobbling in Catalina, became a jockey, had a daughter born in the same year and town as I was, moved to Hawaii and currently lives the good life. He does not have a computer so he will not get to see this, unfortunately. And I only noticed later, when looking at this picture, that his shirt read "Body by God!"
042402 We drove to the volcano but didn't see any lava. That's a shame. But it was sill breathtaking, just the fields of basalt (when lava cools it becomes basalt, or so I was told) ending in the ocean. We drove to the end of the road, which was cut off by a May 1995 lava flow.
042502 Our first night in Hawaii we stayed at the Hilton Waikaloa, because that's where Megan was getting married. It was beautiful and luxerious and beyond our means, so we spend the rest of the week in Kailua. But we missed the Hilton, and returned to spend our last night in Hawaii there. You can get around the resort by foot, boat or tram. Here are the tram tracks.
042602 I highly recommend traveling with Holly. It's a lot of fun. The 27th was our last day in Hawaii, and we celebrated by having a little balcony party and text-messaging people on her cell phone.
042702 Home from Hawaii now, but still have many pictures to show. My first morning there, after lying in the hammock for awhile, I sat here at Buddha point, the westernmost point on the big island.
042802 Today is Megan and Chris's one-week anniversary. Here's her dad at the reception, making a toast.
042902 There's a pretty little painted church near Captain Cook in Hawaii, where they put leis on the madonna.
043002 Holly regards the macadamia nuts with distrust.
050102 Kona coast.
050202 This is the beautiful little church that the madonna with the lei lives in.
050302 Ok so this is really cool. We're still in Hawaii, here, at the volcano. When lava flows, sometimes the outside of a "stream" of lava cools and hardens but the inside is still hot and flowing. It flows and flows and then runs out and the center empties out, but the outside is still hard rock. That makes a lava tube, a big basalt tunnel that is then there forever. This is an old one at the volcano, all overgrown with jungle-y stuff. It was very exciting to see it appear there.
050402 Now inside the lava tube is also exciting. It's wet and drippy, and the walls are all uneven and you get to think about how lava used to flow through there.
050502 The lava tube has a very official and well-maintained path leading to it from the main road. But near the entrance are these remnants of steps that used to be the way that people would get there. Now they don't go any farther than you see here.
050602 Holly (we're still in Hawaii, here) didn't notice that her leg was bleeding until it had gotten into her shoe.
050702 Remember Pooler? Well, this is where he makes shoes.
050802 Finally out of Hawaii. For now. Yesterday I drove up Beechwood Canyon because I never had. It gets very small and cute very quickly, and then ends here at Sunset Ranch. This is the nice thing about our city, how we have these bits of smallness.
050902  
051002  
051102 Happy birthday to mom! The restaurant made her wear a funny hat in exchange for her free birthday peach cobbler. They also made her kiss a brass pig butt. My mom's a fun lady.
051202 For mother's day we all went to an Angels game.
051302 The stadium wasn't full. That's the big A that stands for Angels.
051402 You may remember this picture of Danielle from before. I had to take it away but I vowed I'd put her back, and I just saw her so now I'm reminded.
051502 More graffiti by my house.
051602 Black sand beach in Hawaii.
(Star Wars today!!)
051702 Pumpkin pie at the Urth Cafe. I don't like the people there, but I really like the pie. The coffee cake is also very good.
051802 My hand towel.
051902 This morning Garret and I had breakfast at Tacos Delta.
052002 Saturday night we went to a party for a sort of film club called Alpha 60. I was feeling kinda antisocial and took pictures instead of mingling. Here's Steve, Garret and Cecil in the kitchen.
052102 I haven't been working much recently, which gives me the chance to complete random little household organizational feats, like building a shelf in my closet so my shoes don't have to sit on top of one another.
052202 A hallway in Eagle Rock Elementary School.
052302 Steve at the bookstore, listening to Camden Joy read from his new book.
052402 Last night Becky, Jeaux, Garret and I had an awfully good time. We ate at a Thai place, which featured pineapple fried rice served in a pineapple. There's Jeaux uncovering it, there. Very exciting.
052502 While in the Gap dressing room the other day, I remembered Laura's series of self-portraits in dressing rooms and I took some, myself.
052602 Garret sometimes gets upset when I won't stop taking pictures of him. Then, if we're in a restaurant, he'll threaten the camera lens with a fork.
052702 This morning Garret and I went to the 9 am screening of Star Wars at the Chinese Theater. It was quite crowded, with people reading the morning paper in their seats before the previews started. This is a picture of the ceiling in the lobby, by the snack bar.
052802 Here I am in the same Gap dressing room as on the 25th.
052902 Took a walk yesterday evening around my neighborhood.
053002 The Hollywood sign, viewed over the OSH hardware store on Sunset.
053102 There's a little creek in Griffith Park that Connie and I have been walking to, it's all landscaped with rocks and ferns and is really very nice.
060102 This weekend Mom, Josh and I drove up to Healdsburg to help Jean fix up her house on the Russian River. We did some yardwork (here's mom taking out a big shrub) and a lot of sightseeing and hanging out.
060202 On Saturday Dad came over and all 5 of us (see yesterday) went wine tasting.
060302 This is Lake Sonoma, which was made by damming up a river sometime when I was a little girl living up there. We visited the soon-to-be lake back when I was 4, when this bridge was there but the water wasn't. Apparently while Mom, Dad and Josh were looking over one side of the bridge I was climbing up the other side. When they turned around I was standing up on the railing, very proud of myself and very near plummeting to my death. I was snatched down, and now Dad calls this the "Rebecca Tuynman Almost Memorial Bridge".
060402 Kim Abeles is an artist that I work for from time to time. She lives in a converted warehouse in downtown LA, where the studio is on the first floor and the living rooms are built up above. It's very unusual. This is a corner of her studio.
060502 Sonoma County vineyards.
060602 The Bon Air Motel is near my house, in a whole area that used to be really scuzzy but is now getting gentrified - Starbucks and Blockbuster going in across the street. Maybe someday if you visit you'll stay there.
060702 From Sunset and Western.
060802 A storefront on Western had the door ripped off, and when I looked inside this is what I saw.
060902 Back in fern dell, walking under the bridge.
061002 On Friday night Holly and Peter stopped by after seeing a concert. They chatted for a few minutes then fell asleep more or less mid-sentence. That was fine with me, but I have to warn you that this leads to non-consensual photographs such as this one of Holly.
061102 I'm working for ARTScorpsLA again. They have the park, Spiraling Orchard, downtown. I teach art there. The office is in a studio in Chinatown, and it always has various student work lying around.
061202 This is the Chinatown Studio (see yesterday) again, a model of a building they want to put in at their other park, La Tierra de la Culebra.
061302 Here's me sitting next to Garret.
061402 On Friday Garret, Chad, Lauren and I arrived in San Francisco for the Frameline Film Festival where Garret's movie was playing. We checked in here and various problems ensued and then were solved.
061502 Yes, there's a picture there. Stick with me, here. I actually really like this picture of Everett (the director) doing Q&A after the movie, and if you can't quite see it then adjust your monitors. The movie went very well, we were pampered and treated like stars and the audience laughed and cried and then we were all very, very tired.
061602 A pirate store! Dave Eggers has a Pirate Store/Tutoring Center in San Francisco, near Amanda's house, and she took us there and demonstrated the hiding place.
061702 This is one of Kim's studio walls. The two plates with portraits are smog catchers, made by placing a stencil over the plate and leaving it out on her downtown LA roof until enough pollution sticks to it so that the image is visible. In this case, the portraits are of presidents, and she would leave it out depending on what their environmental record was like. Environmentalist presidents were barely outside at all and are very light. That dark one there is of Ronald Reagan, who was left out for days and days.
061802 On the way back from San Francisco (which was a couple of days ago but) we stopped at Casa de Fruta outside of Gilmore. Casa de Fruta is part of the Casa de empire, with nearby buildings named "Casa de Coffee", "Casa de Wine" and a train called "Casa de Choo-Choo".
061902 I couldn't get enough of the pirate store! These were some informational signs about scurvy and the ocean. There were also trap doors, glass eyes, an aquarium theater with a puffer fish named Karl and lard. It's way, way better than Captain Rick's.
062002  
062102 This is my dojo, where I take karate classes. That's Kirin, practicing after class.
062202 This one is from awhile ago. David met me at this french cafe (he's having onion soup there) after I watched Amelie for the second time.
062302 Laundry baskets at Ikea.
062402 At the park today the kids were collecting bugs in paper cups. It's educational.
062502 Ikea Burbank is remodeling.
062602 Cutting up Polaroids in one of my photography classes.
062702 This is the same girl from a couple days ago that was showing me her cup of bugs, but I forgot her name. Every week Judith (not pictured) and her kids come and teach Aztec drumming and dance. She makes the drums herself.
062802 On Friday we drove to Weesha for Camp Gutter Girl, our former bowling group's retreat to the mountains. Here's Darrell, Christine and John in the kitchen. Notice all the fruits and vegetables.
062902 Here's Chad at Weesha. We spent a lot of time sitting out on that porch. Darrell and I made the flower centerpieces.
063002 This is our same central table from yesterday. This is Connie and our jello.
070102 Brisi has made her way into yet another picture. She's the one on the left. You can go to the index and find other pictures of Brisi. She doesn't have a computer, but when I told her she's on my web page she wanted the address, so I wrote it down for her. Next time I saw her she just asked me why there weren't more pictures of her on my site.
070202 Yesterday Julia came over and we went to the Thai grocery store. She spotted the durian and decided we should bring one home to her parents. We did, and were ordered to take it out of the house. Durian is a large, spiky fruit that smells, well smells like fart. There's no other way to describe it. We cut it open and tasted it, the smell was terrible and the taste was terrible but in a different way. I don't recommend it. It's outlawed on airplanes because of the smell, by the way.
070302 Breakfast today.
070402 Sarai and Brisi in the alley behind the park. Brisi will be checking up on me to see that I put up more pictures of her. Here you go, Varsity Brisi.
070502 I went to The Huntington Gardens alone last Wednesday. It was supposed to be a work trip to look at the gardens, but in the end I was the only one who could go. I had tea by myself and realized that it had been 5 years since I've been living in my apartment in LA. It was an anniversary tea.
070602 Garret and Charlie, Grandma Lee's dog.
070702 Holly is in Hawaii again, this time for work. This is a picture from when she and I were there in April and visited the volcano. Wish I was there.
070802 Sarai running away from the photo shoot. She can only take so much.
070902 Lucy is the cat that lives at Skylight Books. She doesn't like to be photographed during her ablutions.
071002 Succulents at Huntington Gardens.
071102 Today's picture of the day is dedicated to Kathy Parkman. It's fruit candy at Casa de Fruta.
071202 Here's Sarai in the alley behind the park, Kate way behind her in pink, the neighborhood behind that.
071302 My mom's a cowgirl.
071402 Kathy and Richard's wedding cake. It was delicious.
071502 Dressing room.
071602 A cup of bugs.
071702 I made special birthday cakes with animals on them last week.
071802 One of the weightlifting benches at the dojo. I don't actually lift weights, but I admire those who do.
071902 My bed by the window.
072002 The window in my bathroom .
072102 This is where I'm sitting right now. It usually looks something like this.
072202 I'm teaching a photography class at the park, and for the first class we walked to the library so that we could poke around all the cameras in a cleaner, better controlled environment. Here's my class and some groupies (kids who were too small to take the class but still wanted to come with us) walking back to the park.
072302 Still life next to my computer.
072402 Ikea.
072502 A student from yesterday's class with her picture.
072602 Ali has to be fetched out of a tree yet again by ever-suffering husband.
072702 I know we've all seen pictures like this before but I can't emphasize enough how much I would like to be this cat. Also, I'm seeing mom today and she'd like this photo.
072802 It's my lovely brother's birthday today.
072902 The girls from the park in front of Sarai's house.
073002 My hair.
073102 A little, grumpy yard in Venice. I like how the owner capped the gate corners with laundry detergent lids.
080102 This man was so great. Mark, Ali and I were admiring his apple tree and he came around all small and old in a blue jumpsuit and slippers, and talked to us about the burden of the apple tree for awhile. I wanted badly to take his picture, because he looked so good next to his tree, but I was too shy to ask so I snuck this one.
080202 My bathroom window again .
080302 Esther paints a chair at the park.
080402 Nice sunny summer yard in Venice.
080502 Summer is camp time, and this picture is from last week's art camp at LACMA. This week is photography at The Huntington. Then that's it for me. I try to limit my camp teaching.
080602 Today I taught the kids how to make cyanotypes. The nice thing about doing this project at The Huntington is that we can go into the gardens and (under supervision) clip off bits of whichever plants we want. You can see here the impressions the plants made on the papers.
080702 This photo is not recent. It's from when Julia and I bought the durian and tried it. Here it is being sliced, before the smell hit completely. I put it up today in honor of the Stinky Flower, which should be blooming today (one day only!) at The Huntington. It is an enormous, rare flower, about five feet tall, and apparently when it blooms it smells strongly of rotting flesh. I'm sure my students will be very excited to see it today.
080802 The stinky flower blooms! And many people come to see it. It really does smell, too. Just like rotting meat. Apparently that's supposed to attract flies and beetles that spread the pollen.
080902 This is my classroom this week. Today's my last day to be in the cool lab and get to cut up the pretty plants.
081002 You drive your car around every day, knowing but not really believing that it can break down at any moment. At least standing by the side of the road gave me some time to take pictures - and movies.
081102 A book one of my students made.
081202 Scientists and their students examine a sea turtle.
081302 Nancy and the other kids paint chairs at the park. You can tell how hot it is.
081402 Christmas in August.
081502 A tiger! A real tiger kitten. I know, I couldn't quite believe it, either. At the karate dojo last night Heather came by with her ward. She works at an exotic animal ranch and they got a litter of white tigers (by the way, I'm not sure if the terms "litter" and "kitten" are accurate for tigers, correct me if I'm wrong, please) so she's helping give the constant care they need at this young age (7 weeks old). Here's Desiree petting dazed little kitty. She's just a little bigger than a big cat, but her paws are huge and she's extremely solid.
081602 A counter in a tattoo parlor.
081702 These leaves are on a bush along a regular stretch of road in LA. They're not by a freeway or anything. And look how they're covered with pollution. That's the same stuff that gets on my tables when I don't dust often enough. I suppose it's the same stuff that gets in our lungs, too.
081802 The tiger kitten considers going on the mat.
081902 Tiger attacks tiger. Notice how huge and strong the paws are.
082002 The Disney Concert Hall downtown is almost finished. Our little piece of Bilbao.
082102 The problem with watermelon is that there's just so much of it. They need to invent a watermelon the size of a cantaloupe.
082202 Josh at Figaro with our fancy coffee drinks.
082302 Well, it's still summer. I hope you're making the most of it.
082402 Michele and Jessica are visiting from New York and today we went to fancy Rodeo Drive and drank fancy iced tea.
082502 Today was the Sunset Junction street fair, which was tremendously exciting for several reasons, one of which was The Zipper. So fast it spins! And bands and funnel cake and friends and people watching. I like street fairs.
082602 Michele and Jessica took their rented convertible to the beach (they're on vacation in LA, after all) and I stayed home to work.
082702 This picture is from Sunset Junction a few days ago. Charles lives right there on Sunset and we went up on his roof to watch the festivities and take pictures.
082802 Student work from art camp at the Huntington. They got to choose which plants clippings were taken from to make the cyanotypes.
082902 A student poses for another student at the Huntington.
083002 Little front yard with pumpkins.
083102 Today is my show. You may be reading this before August 31, and that is because in the days before the show I must be away from my computer and in the gallery. I must neglect what the show is ultimately about, which is this very website. If you're going to be in San Francisco, please come by. The link to show information is below.
090102 At my show. These are the flowers I got (at least some of them are for me, I'm not sure about the rest) and the binder with all the artist information and stuff. It was all so great, it went so well.
090202 While I was in San Francisco setting up my show, the weather was really beautiful. It was gorgeous and all the San Franciscans were so excited to be outside with only one layer on instead of their usual 2 or 3.
090302 I'm home now and it is very, very hot. Too hot. These are Italian sodas Mark made for us at his house last weekend. I wish that I had them now.
090402 This tart. Oh my goodness. It's from a place in San Francisco called La Tartine and it's absolutely as good as it looks. That's vanilla almond cream, there, and spectacular nectarines. I kept taking a few bites, making quiet happy noises to myself (I was alone) and taking pictures. I have a whole series of photos where the tart just gets smaller and smaller.
090502 This is Adobe Books, the gallery is behind me.
090602 Packing up my pictures for the show. Yes, this picture is not from today but from last week. That happens sometimes. This was taken at Mark and Ali's house, with their dog Dallas.
090702 Today was Max's first birthday party. There was a fish theme, including a little fish cake that the kids all dug into together. Mostly just the frosting was eaten off.
090802 Amanda in the doorway to her gallery. Those are a couple of pictures from my show, there.
090902 Jackie at Max's birthday party, playing with Max's new toys. I suppose that is the function of the big sister.
091002 The view from Spiraling Orchard yesterday afternoon.
091102 Mercy passed away before September 11, 2001. I showed a picture of her memorial at Spiraling Orchard earlier on this site, it tells a little more about her. Her father recently showed up at the park in camoflage, and explained that he gives one day each month to Mercy, and since her favorite thing to do was go camping in the woods with him he dresses in camping clothes on that day. But not to work. He also asked to have this permament memorial at the park, he keeps flowers at it and we tend them (the non-plastic ones). It seems like today is going to be our new day of memorials, and we're all going to hear a lot of stories. So that's mine.
091202 A blast from the past. Holly in Hawaii eating a papaya. She's eating a papaya at The Coffee Shack, which you may remember is where the macadamia nut pie comes from and the place Kathy contacted to get said recipe. Holly is a big fan of papaya and enjoyed this one very much.
091302 I want to go to karate, especially since I have a test coming up next month. But I hurt my leg a little bit last Sunday and am trying to stay off of it until it's healed. Erg.
This little tiger is much bigger now and she has her first job next week. She eats about 5 cups of meat a day.
091402 Today Garret and I went to Universal Studios courtesy of some free passes Coco gave us. Last time I went was in high school, and I was amazed by the "movie magic". I've learned a lot more about movie magic since then, and such wonders as this collapsing bridge didn't quite do it for me.
091502 A view of Universal Studios backlot. The interesting thing is, and you may have to go to the big image to see this well, but past the golf course there you can see Warner Brothers studios. And I'm pretty sure that Disney is just past those tall buildings there. Last year on September 11th when we were getting the idea that someone wanted to attack American power points, I was worried they'd go for this area as well.
091602 You can see this trip to Universal was very fruitful, picture-of-the-day-wise. My favorite part is all the little fake streets. Once I did a workshop at Warner Brothers and I got to sneak away (I had a story all ready in case someone confronted me but nobody did) and go around the empty, fake streets. It's very cool because you turn the corner and you're in France, then turn again and you're in the old west, Chicago, suburbia, whichever. Very fun. My next goal is to get inside a prop house. Can anyone help me with that?
091702 A false front.
091802 My show is still up in San Francisco. I don't think any have sold yet, but I'm really happy to think of them still up there. This is a picture of the framing process. See? You can figure it out from this picture and make one at home. It's craft of the day. You can further recreate the show by going to my links page and hooking up to the art of the mix website, where Garret posted the rad mix CDs he made for the opening.
091902 A funhouse from Sunset Junction that consisted entirely of this mirror maze, some distorting mirrors and a - woo! - spiral slide.
I need to get into the gypsy funhouse operator business.
092002 A very happy birthday to Mark!
092102 This is a second happy birthday to Mark, because I was late on the first one and because I really like these cookie pictures.
092202 Danielle and I went to a really fantastic art thingy (performance? I'm not sure how to categorize it) at London Street Projects on Saturday. There was a guy on the roof of the building pretending to be Ernest Shakleton with styrofoam ice and a fuzzy "arctic" hat. We sat in the gallery and watched the projection of what was happening above us. Sometimes he would stand behind the camera and crumble up styrofoam so it looked like it was snowing. There he is moving one of the "ice floe fragments".
092302 On Sunday night there was a little fair on a nearby corner (again with the gypsy rides - this time we avoided them) and played this game where we threw ping-pong balls into the ducks. We won a bear. Also had delicious corndogs (see tomorrow).
092402 Garret and the delicious corndog. See how he enjoys it!
092502 A closer view of Shakleton's rooftop ice-laden ship.
092602 The tables under the tree at Spiraling Orchard.
092702 Brisi standing on some rubble, looking much smaller than usual.
092802 At Max's birthday party again, towards the end of the day.
092902 Steve laughing in extreme close-up.
093002 At Adobe books, a guy sleeping on the couch (not uncommon). Today my show comes down.
100102 It's a rainy day today. I should probably go get a haircut.
100202 Today is my last day working at Spiraling Orchard, at least for now. This is the not often pictured and somewhat mysterious Big Ramp on the oil side. (There are 2 lots at the park, the Orchard side which is very developed and the Oil side which is owned by an oil company and we don't have permission to develop.)
100302 Well I don't mean to disappoint you but this is the last picture that you'll see here for awhile. I'm going on vacation and I wouldn't be suprised if the site doesn't get updated until October 14. We'll see. Maybe sooner if you're good. But then there'll be all new and great photos for you, so I'll be thinking of you and working for you even while I am gone.
Here's Sarai, Brisi and Kate to keep you company while I'm away (though clearly Kate is not interested in the job).
100402 The lovely couple begins their trip to the exotic East Coast. This is actually a photo from October 8 when we took the train from DC to New York, but I didn't have any pictures from our Long Beach - Dulles red eye. Strangely.
100502 Funny flying things at the Smithsonian.
100602 Girls posing for a picture (not mine) in front of the White House. Notice how the flag is at half-mast? We saw that all over town and couldn't figure out why. Any ideas?
100702 We were at the Air and Space Museum on Monday while the space shuttle was taking off. They set up a big tv in the room with the space shuttle stuff and everyone sat around it and counted down.
100802 On Tuesday we took the train from Union Station (very pretty, see above) in DC to New York. Well, we were supposed to take it to New York but instead it broke down in Newark. I know they sound similar but really they are very different.
100902 We went to the top of the Empire State Building, and saw where the World Trade Center isn't.
101002 It was a really nice, coldish day in Central Park and we came upon this shallow lake made for sailing model sailboats. We drank coffee and watched the old men sail their boats (they had remote control rudders and sails) and discuss the latest issuse of "Model Boat Monthly" (seriously).
101102 The Magnolia Bakery makes just the most exciting cakes and baked sweets (the Cupcake Cafe rivals it for cupcakes, however). After a very long and tiring day of sightseeing we enjoyed some Hummingbird cake, which is like carrot cake but with banana instead of carrot. It is not pictured here because we were focused on devouring the cake until it was gone. Then we rested.
101202 Ok this is not the best picture ever but the content is very exciting. That there is the first Apple Computer. Yes, it's wood. I tell you, the Smithsonian is full of fun suprises, some of which you may see in the coming days.
101302 We're back from the East Coast by this point, but I still have pictures to regale you with. This is the lobby of the Air and Space Museum, and everything you see here is very important and historic but I've already forgotten most of it. Well, the coolest one I remember - it's the Wright brothers' plane, the one the flew in Kitty Hawk. It's there on the left side, cut off. It's the REAL ONE! Isn't that exciting? And I think that's the wing of the Spirit of St.Louis there across the top of the picture.

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